Pub Rants

Posts from October, 2008

The Demon’s Lexicon Cover: Behind The Scenes

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Happy Halloween!

What’s playing on the iPod right now? GHOSTBUSTERS by Ray Parker

It’s not often you get a glimpse of the behind the scenes discussion about a cover but there were quite a few interesting points for this one.

1. Cover image. Did we want iconic (a la TWILIGHT) or did we think that had been done to death?

Now, I have to say that I’m often drawn to iconic image covers but when you look around on shelves right now, there are an awful lot of them.

So when the Art Director suggested actually having a model shoot to do an image of Nick for the cover. We were intrigued (nervous too because how often does a real human depiction of a character seem right?). We reviewed the models in contention before the cover shoot took place (it’s a hard job, I know, but somebody has to do it!).

For Sarah Rees Brennan, this model was hands down the winner. It was pretty dang close to the Nick she envisioned.

2. Demon Mark. This plays a huge role in the story so Sarah did a nice drawing of how she envisioned it in her head. S&S didn’t end up doing anything with the image but they did play around with the idea.

3. Talisman. If we had gone the iconic image route, I imagine this would have been featured somewhere on the cover. S&S designed the beautiful talisman themselves and created it for the cover shoot. Here’s a close up shot.

4. The Menacing Birds. The Art Director just loved them so we knew they’d make the cover. There were, however, several variations of them but here you see them in their final form.

Sneak Peek: The Demon’s Lexicon

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: I just walked over to my early voting location to hand deliver my ballot and drop it into a secure ballot box. Now all we can do is wait until Tuesday.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? IN THE DARK by Billy Squier

Okay, I’ve been dying to show this cover to the world and guess what? You blog readers get to see it first.

Mark your calendars! THE DEMON’S LEXICON releases on June 2, 2009 and S&S has already announced a 100,000 initial print run (and since they “announced” it, I can share this info with you!).

Doom & Gloom & Google

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Four more hours until I can go home and vote!

What’s playing on the iPod right now? BOBBY JEAN by Bruce Springsteen

Oh my. I’m reading all my daily news feeds this afternoon and I have to say that even I was stunned at the Media Bistro headlines.

Get a load of this:

Time Inc. plans 600 layoffs

Christian Science Monitor to go Web-only (not bad news per se but certainly sign of the times I think!)

Gannett will Cut Ten Percent of Newspaper Jobs

McGraw Hill Cuts 270 Jobs

Yowza!

In other big, big news, from Wall Street Journal Google settles lawsuit [link from the AP] regarding book scanning and book search. And yes, it means one more thing to talk about during deal negotiations as this is yet another revenue stream. Luckily, my contracts manager and I already have discussed Google revenue and where it falls in many of our contracts.

Publishers Marketplace has several key stories regarding the news. [Click here and here] You may or may not have to subscribe to see the full story. And if you want to read the 141 page settlement, you certainly can by clicking here. I suggest, at the very least, reading Attachment A: Author-Publisher Procedures. Also, here’s the settlement administration link.

One of the big questions being kicked around is the difference between commercial availability and “in print.” Does the presence of a book in Google’s book search program constitute a work being in print? There’s a lovely explanation of the two tests to determine so in the Author-Publisher procedure. And, according to the Author’s Guild, the answer is no as the OOP clause in the contract still prevails and that should contain a sales threshold that defines whether a book is in print. From what I’ve read of the settlement, that is indeed correct.

But it’s still tricky. What happens when a book is considered OOP (and the rights have reverted to the author) but Google still makes the text searchable on their book search site (and is potentially generating revenue for that)?

Good question. And this too is addressed. Will Google then send statements (and checks) to the authors who hold the rights? Yes, they should (as that is covered under the Author-controlled Section 4.1 of Author-Publisher Procedures Attachment) but the onus is solely on the author and there are a lot of steps outlined! [Payment is detailed in 6.2]

And authors and agents thought it was hard enough extracting information from publishers regarding their royalty statements. This could take revenue tracking to a whole new level.

It’s a brave new world, isn’t it? Happy reading.

Early Voting—Finally!

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: So very happy because finally, I’ve got a ballot.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? BEAUTIFUL DAY by U2

This is unabashed non-publishing-related blog entry. For the past month, I’ve been in mail-in ballot hell—as in I never received my ballot and since I’m on the permanent mail-in ballot list, I was starting to worry as the election loomed ever closer.

Five calls (yep, count ‘em) five calls to the Denver Elections Commission yielded very little helpful information as they had in their records that the ballot had been mailed.

I didn’t believe it could take 12 days to come when it was being mailed in the same city. In fact, I was getting ready to call up a news channel myself when this story hit the wires. I wasn’t alone in my mail-in ballot frustration. There were 18,000 missing ballots because of a glitch in the mailing and the company responsible, Sequoia, didn’t bother telling anyone.

I couldn’t make this stuff up.

And today of glorious days, after much hassle, numerous calls and a contingency plan to get my replacement ballot, I opened my mailbox and there it was.

I can’t wait to rush home from work tomorrow and vote!

Speaking of eBook Royalty Rates…

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Monday madness! Sounds like a new game show. I can’t believe it’s 5 pm already. Lots of phone calls and prep work for my NYC trip in two weeks.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? HEARTS AND BONES by Paul Simon

Which I blogged about a couple of weeks ago, I just received a letter in the mail today from Random House stating that as of Dec. 1, 2008, they’ll be changing their eBook royalty rate policy.

Sigh. Here we go. RH used to have one of the nicer royalty rates in the industry (of the big NYC Houses that is. I think a lot of the smaller, ePublishing houses have more aggressive standard rates from what comment posters have mentioned.)

RH’s standard royalty rate was 25% of retail (as opposed to 15% of retail that most houses use).

Now they are moving to 25% of net amount received. A big difference. Now it’s still on par with what industry “standard” tends to be in New York but I’m still disappointed.

From the letter: “The new rates are very much in line with the ebook and digital audio rates being offered today by our major competitors. Previously, Random House’s digital royalties represented a considerable premium over the digital royalties offered by other publishers. As the economics of publishing in digital formats come into clearer focus, we realize we can no longer afford to offer such a rich premium if these businesses are going to mature and become profitable.”

I was tempted to add some commentary in there but refrained. For me, RH’s generous eBook rate gave them a bit of an edge if all other factors were equal. Well, that’s going the way of the dinosaur.

If you are a new author, chances are good you are going to get the industry standard in your first contract (barring crazy auction and publishers throwing around huge pots of money that is). And if you are an established author (with a solid track record that’s building), well then, all royalty rates are negotiable, aren’t they? eBook being just one of the factors to play with in the deal points negotiation.

Why You Have Bankruptcy Clauses In Contracts

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: TGIF! I really enjoy writing that every Friday. I finished one contract and got ready to dive into another but alas, too many interruptions. Will have to tackle on Monday.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? GAUCHO by Steely Dan

This week I read in Publishers Weekly that Sports Publishing, LLC has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Well, lately, just about every day I read a tidbit in Media Bistro or Shelf Awareness about a newspaper, magazine, bookstore, or what have you calling it quits.

In fact, I received an email today from a wonderful editor at Rager Media (a small independent literary house out of Ohio). He was writing to tell me that they were closing the doors.

That’s very sad news as they were doing some powerful books over there.

But all this got me thinking about bankruptcy clauses. When I heard about Sports Publishing, I immediately got out the contract file for one of my early books—CHAIR SHOTS by Bobby Heenan and Steve Anderson. This was way back in the day when I was foolish enough to take on nonfiction projects before I realized that my expertise was much more focused on fiction and the occasional memoir.

There it was on page 6—a nice bankruptcy clause highlighting how rights will revert. Today I wrote a formal letter requesting the reversion and final accounting so I have it in writing. I’m glad it’s there in black and white on the contract page–which is why we have this clause in all our contracts.

But my contracts manager recently told me that she’s seeing some push-back from publishing houses wanting to eliminate the clause. (I’d have to dig a little to find out what the rationale is behind that.) Now I’m also not a corporate bankruptcy attorney so I really can’t detail the vagaries of how corporate bankruptcy unfolds. All I know is that I’d rather have the clause in that contract so rights revert—even if the courts don’t allow that to happen automatically. Good thing I have an intellectual property attorney and his firm on retainer. Looks like I’m about to learn how it works.

Responding to Full Manuscripts

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Just watched Casino Royale. Liked the movie. Definitely one of the more intelligent Bond films I’ve seen. Can’t say the blonde Bond does it for me but I’m all for the edginess of his character. Much more interesting and satisfying in the long run I’d say.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? Nothing at the moment.

Since a lot of the blog readers can’t be reading all of my entries from the beginning of this blog, it’s good to highlight NLA policy every once in a while. Long time blog readers will know two things about our agency.

1. We never ask for an exclusive. This means that any writer who sends us a full manuscript is free to shop that manuscript to other agents. All we ever ask for is the courtesy of knowing if another agent has expressed interest and if the writer has signed elsewhere (so we don’t read a manuscript that is already off the table).

2. We always write a letter of explanation as to why we are passing when we request and read a full manuscript.

Now it’s not a detailed editorial letter or anything like that but we do explain (hopefully in some detail) why we are passing. Often times we even mention that we are open to seeing a revision.

So I always try and do my best to read within 2 months of a request (as stated on the website) but despite my best effort, it doesn’t always happen. The good news is that no writer is obligated to wait on me.

Which, sigh, is often the best that I can do.

With Regret

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Heading home to work on client editing actually. One of those long days. I have two contracts to tackle tomorrow…

What’s playing on the iPod right now? GROOVE IS IN THE HEART by Deee-lite

Ugh! Today I passed on a full manuscript that I’ve had since June. Now it didn’t take me five months to read it and figure out that I needed to say NO. I actually started reading it about 4 weeks after we received it. It took me five months to figure out if there was any way that I could say YES.

What do I mean? I mean that I literally couldn’t decide. I went back and forth and back and forth. My assistant Sara was fully behind the novel and really advocated for it.

What was I hung up on? Several things actually. I personally had a love/hate relationship with the writing. While I was reading, I often had moments where I thought the prose was brilliant and dang it all, manuscripts like this deserve to be in print.

Then I would read a chapter and think, “what the heck is going on here?” I’d have to reread, re-orient myself in the narrative, and then move forward. Trust me, I asked myself numerous times if an edit could fix this.

I think an edit could but it’s going to need to be an intense, in-depth edit. The key question is do I have the time to devote to what I think is a worthy manuscript? Well, I think I could have made the time but ultimately, I started thinking of my submission list and as I went down it, I could just hear the editor responses.

“I personally loved it but couldn’t get support in house.”

“This was inventive but I didn’t see readers feeling emotionally connected to the story (because it’s literary and not commercial fiction but sometimes there’s no arguing that…)

and

“I hated this.” (Let’s just say the novel had a very complicated narrator and a very complex narrative style and editors will either love it or hate it. There will be no in-between).

Ultimately, I don’t think I could sell it and it was with a lot of regret that I passed. I have a feeling this will be a manuscript that stays with me and that I’ll think about it. I hope another agent can see what I couldn’t.

Like You Haven’t Got Enough Novels Waiting On Your Nightstand

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Lately I’ve been mulling quite a few blog topics and I must say I’m itching to do a series of entries on something. What I haven’t determined quite yet.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? SULTANS OF SWING by Dire Straits

And I’m going to recommend that you add a few more because the 2008 National Book Award nominees were announced this past week.

In Young People’s Literature:

Laurie Halse Anderson for Chains (S&S)
Kathi Appelt for The Underneath (Atheneum)
Judy Blundell for What I Saw and How I Lied (Scholastic)
E. Lockhart for The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks (Hyperion)
Tim Tharp for The Spectacular Now (Knopf)

In Fiction:

Aleksandar Hemon, The Lazarus Project (Riverhead)
Rachel Kushner, Telex from Cuba (Scribner)
Peter Matthiessen, Shadow Country (Modern Library)
Marilynne Robinson, Home (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
Salvatore Scibona, The End (Graywolf Press)

From RITA Nomination To Hollywood

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: You know you are having a busy day when your stomach starts telling you that you need to eat lunch. You swear you’ll get to it after just one more thing and the next time you look up, it’s 3 in the afternoon.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? BEVERLY HILLS by Weezer

I don’t often cross reference to another blog post of mine but this story I shared on Romancing the Blog last Friday is too good not to repeat here.

The post obviously hits the target reading audience for that Blog but it’s a good lesson to put here as well. If an award is prestigious or important enough, it’s worth the time and money to enter. You might just win or it might open another door you hadn’t even thought of. Just ask my author Kelly Parra.

From my Oct. 17, 2008 post—and here’s the link.

Have you been thinking about entering your novel into the RITA awards? Have you been waffling because you’re crunched for time? Let me remind you that the deadline is fast approaching (Dec. 1!) and regardless of how little spare time you have, this is a contest you don’t want to miss.

Why? Because I can tell you first-hand the power of a RITA nomination. It can land you in Hollywood.

I just closed a major motion picture option deal for my author Kelly Parra because of the double RITA-nomination for her young adult novel GRAFFITI GIRL. Yep, you heard that right. My author didn’t even win this year’s 2008 RITA but she’s winning in a whole different way (although she was very sad not to take home that beautiful statue).

This past July, several movie producers decided to check out Romance Writers Of America’s National Conference. Obviously, they gave special attention to any work nominated for the prestigious RITA award. Several weeks later, this producer got in touch with us. One call to my film co-agent and a week later, we had spanking new film option. This in turn is generating new excitement by foreign publishers in Frankfurt (as I write this).

All a year-plus after initial publication of the novel. And to top off the good news, Kelly’s new novel INVISIBLE TOUCH is releasing this month and this film interest is igniting excitement for her second novel. In fact, you should check out her cyber launch on The Secret Fates Blog.

So let me ask this question again. Have you been thinking about entering your novel into the RITAs?

Why are you waiting? Hop to it.