STATUS: On vacation! We are officially closed now until Monday, January 5, 2009
What’s playing on the iPod right now? JINGLE BELL ROCK by Bobby Helms
I’m so sorry I didn’t get to this on Friday. What a crazy wrap up to the year! I had not forgotten my blog readers and the final entry for the year. I just didn’t quite have time to go through the records and compile the statistics. But now it’s a relaxed Sunday morning so here you go.
I won’t be blogging again until the New Year, but then I’ll be back and in rare ranting form!Here are the stats for 2008:
21
books sold
22
foreign rights deals done (and that includes several overseas auctions)
2
number of new clients
35,000
estimated number of queries read and responded to (and yes, that is up from last year)
88
full manuscripts requested (up from last year)
3
number of projects currently on submission
1
major motion picture deal
3
auctions
1
Pre-empt
8
new deals for previously published clients
6
deals for debut clients
700,000+
number of copies in print for my bestselling titles this year
100,000+
number of copies in print for my bestselling debut this year
8
conferences attended
2
number of New York Times Bestsellers
1
Number of books named to Publisher’s Weekly list of top books of the year
350
number of holiday cards sent
6
number of Starbucks eggnog chai consumed in the last week
Lots
number of late nights reading on the couch with Chutney
All
number of great days loving my job
Have a safe and happy New Year. I’m out!
Congratulations!
…what’s a pre-empt?
Congrats on such a fruitful year. Here’s hoping the next one is even better for you and yours.
Thanks for blogging this and everything else – I’ve really enjoyed reading your posts this year. Have a great holiday!
@Joseph: A preempt is when a publisher says, I’ll give you $X, if you don’t go to auction.
And can I just add, this
2
number of new clients
just floors me.
Just… wow. I’m honored.
Wow. That’s very impressive! Congratulations.
Happy holidays from one of your lurkers.
Happy Holidays!!!
Merry Christmas, Ms. Nelson and congrats on a very successful year. May the next be just as successful but hopefully more so!
Kristen, It’s all good, but I especially liked your last stat. In the end, that’s all that really matters. Happy holidays to you and your family.
Wishing you the best of luck, joy and peace in 2009!
Rashda
Happy New Year, and thanks for your entertaining and informative blog. From the perspective of this unpublished novelist, the most interesting (and somewhat depressing) of your statistics are:
2
number of new clients
35,000
estimated number of queries read and responded to (and yes, that is up from last year)
Merry Christmas!
BTW, has Santa ever queried you about his memoir?
Thank you for your time this year, and have a wonderful holiday season!
Congrats on a successful year Kristin. Have a Happy and Healthy Holiday, New Years and well deserved break. Best of Luck in 2009! 😀
Congratulations on a great year and Happy Holidays! It was great meeting you in SF.
Always good to see stats to put everything in perspective.
2 new clients out of 88 fulls requested out of ~35K queries is a very sobering thought.
Hope you have a great vacation!
Happy holidays! Enjoy the break. 🙂
Have a great vacation!
I too thought the number of new clients was a sobering thought!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I look forward to your return!
Congrats on a brilliant year, Kristin — such amazing stats and I know next year will be even better for you. Thanks for blogging for us!
Have a good holiday and good new year.
Thank you so much for the valuable gift you have so generously given all of us this year: your time. I am sure I speak for all of us when I say your blog is appreciated more than you can possibly know.
May this Christmas be your most merry, and may your New Year be your happiest ever!
Two new clients may be a sobering thought for some–but it’s a drinking thought for me. And it’s not done in the spirit of a toast.
Yikes. Lotto odds seem better.
Aha, and I recommended one of those 2 clients.
Not that Kristin and Sara wouldn’t have spotted her in the slush pile, but that does make the statistics even more daunting given that at least 1 of those 2 didn’t come from the slush pile.
But I came from the slushpile myself so I’m still a total believer in it.
I’d guess that about 5k of those queries were people who queried her twice (for different projects, maybe) or spam and another 5k were mass-sent e-mails. Still a scarily large amount.
Guess I’d better go back to poking my query letter- at this rate, I’ll be sending it out in 2012, not next year. But hey, my query may stand out from the pile by that point!
Wow! So many of those numbers baffle me! 35,000+ queries! *feels small*
But the last statistic really made me smile. I hope it never gets old! =)
~Courtney
Whoa 0_0 If I had to do all that, then I’d be lying on the kitchen floor right now. Keep it up (it’s a surprise you’re still alive) =]
number of rejections: 40
number of books written: 3
number of books published: ZERO
number of monthly columns published: 20
amount of determination and hope left: A BAZILLION POUNDS.
🙂 Happy new year.
Unlike some of the comments on here, I think 2 new clients is a very promising number.
Sure, eighty-eight queries were sent, and sure eighty-six were not picked, but then again eighty-six people had the fortunate experience of having their full manuscrips read by a big agency. How many authors can say that? Not too many I suppose.
Congrats on the impressive stats, and thank you so much for this blog! Happy belated New Year.