Pub Rants

A Year In Statistics–2010

by Kristin Nelson

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STATUS: Uh, ask me tomorrow morning. Still working to try and wrap stuff up.

What’s playing on the XM or iPod right now? SLEIGH RIDE by Babyface

This week has just been crazy with no time to blog. Nobody wants to go into the holiday season with a bunch of stuff still outstanding and cluttering the desks. I know authors who have submissions with us wouldn’t mind an answer either. So, our goal is to finish everything up by today.

With that in mind, I’ve been hitting the office at 8 in the morning and pretty much every night this week, I didn’t leave until after 8 p.m. (and some evenings not until after 9).

Well, I’m going to have to come in tomorrow as not everything is done but hey, I came close. Blogging just wasn’t an option with everything that needed to wrap up—including 3 deals that I literally was negotiating this week.

Still, I can’t end the season without one more post. The year 2010 would not be complete without my annual Year In Statistics entry so voila! Here it is. Enjoy!

28
books sold (up from 15 last year and mostly thanks to Sara! Also interesting to note, of the sales I did, all but 3 were deals well into the six-figure range and two were 7+. Sweet!)

64
foreign rights deals done (up from 53 last year. That’s a big increase. Foreign rights went gangbuster.)

9
number of new clients (Kristin & Sara combined)

36,000
estimated number of queries read and responded to (this is actually down a bit from last year. Last year we averaged around 150/day. This year it was more around 120/day)

98
full manuscripts requested and read (way up from 55 last year.)

839
number of sample pages requested and read (down from 1053 of last year)

6
number of projects currently on submission

5
tv and major motion picture deals

1.5 million
number of copies in print for my bestselling series this year

668,000
number of copies in print for my bestselling title this year

144,000
number of copies in print for my bestselling debut this year

9
conferences attended (also includes BEA and Bologna Children’s Book Fair)

5
number of New York Times Bestsellers this year

10
number of career New York Times Bestselling titles

1
Number of books named to Publisher’s Weekly list of top books of the year

82
number of physical holiday cards sent

398
Number of electronic holiday cards sent

10+
number of Starbucks eggnog chai consumed in the last week (sort of embarrassed to admit it!)

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! See you back here on Jan. 3, 2011.

40 Responses

  1. Kat said:

    Really interesting stats, particularly for us writers that staggering total query stat. Wow. And congrats on everything. Looks like it was a stellar year. 🙂

  3. Jillian said:

    Congrats on a great year. That number of queries vs. new clients really puts it in perspective on how lucky someone is to land an agent. Hope 2011 is just as grand for you.

  7. J. T. Shea said:

    Impressive statistics! The last most of all. How many can claim to love every day of their job? Season’s greetings!

  10. Joseph L. Selby said:

    I know authors who have submissions with us wouldn’t mind an answer either. So, our goal is to finish everything up by today.

    There was a blog post, it might have even been here, discussing the effect rushing (or feeling rushed) had on an agent’s response to queries/sample pages/fulls. The question was whether an agent’s skill and professionalism allowed them to treat a submission with an accurate eye regardless of pressure or haste.

    Not being an agent, I can only reference my own reactions when I am rushed, so in that vein, on behalf of all the authors whose fulls you still have, take your time and have a merry Christmas. We can wait. 😉

  12. Greg said:

    Congratulations on a successful year. It’s always bewildering to consider the amount of drek you must wade through, but there is no doubt you have talent at sifting out the gems.

  15. Anne R. Allen said:

    A revealing set of stats. It shows:

    1)Why it’s so hard to get a read from a top agent.

    2)A top agent doesn’t have to live in New York City and its environs.

    3)An agent with a popular daily blog can ALSO do great work for her clients.

    Congrats on real success in this tough economic environment

  16. Rena said:

    Congratulations on those numbers, Kristin. I hope you can get yourself all caught up so you can relax for Christmas. 🙂

  17. Down the well said:

    I finally got to be part of your stats report this year! Only for a brief month, but hey I was in that 98 this time. That’s better than last year. 🙂

  18. Sherryl said:

    Fantastic year – congratulations!
    Isn’t it great to look back and add it all up?
    It’s the one thing I love about goal setting, too – when I can check my goals and tick them off. This year was a good one!

  19. Marie Andreas said:

    Thanks for posting these stats- things like that (and the blog in general and newsletter) are why you ladies rock!

    You really help writers see the “magic behind the curtain” ;).

    Have a great Holiday!

  21. Tia Nevitt said:

    This is the first year since 2006 that I did NOT have a submission with you. It was also the year of my first fiction sale. No, the two are not related. 🙂 When I’m finished with my next novel, off to you it goes, hopefully with a few more short fiction sales to put in my bio!

  22. Jen Zeman said:

    Congratulations on what appears to be a very successful year! 36,000 queries… completely blows my mind! 😀 Here’s to an even more successful new year!

  23. Jeff Baird said:

    Outstanding statistics for a growing company. It is such a pleasure to see how well you are doing after just adding people. Not only a great agent in my opinion who fights for their writers but also very knowledgable! Happiest holidays and peace with REST for the New Year. Thanks, Kristin & Sara for this Blog. Without it new writers would have little hope to start to query right. I have grown so much and most the understanding started in some part from this Blog!!!!

  25. Anonymous said:

    Happy New Year, Kristen! Thanks for teaching me everything I know about publishing. (Well, at least most of it.)

    ~Anon

  32. Dolores J said:

    Thank you a million times for having the consideration and tenacity to read all of the thousands of submissions and responding to them. We writers/illustrators really appreciate it. And congratulations!

  33. Roni Loren said:

    Always love these year-end wrap up posts–so eye-opening. And so excited that this year I’m one of those nine new clients. Woot! Hope you all have a wonderful holiday! 🙂

  40. Pip Hunn said:

    Hi Kristin;

    Loved this blog post. It’s so good to make people aware of just how crazy-huge your job is!

    In fact, you got me all inspired to write up a rant over at Write Thing pointing out the sheer volume of queries agents get each year.

    Thanks again for an excellent post. Have an awesome 2011!

    Cheers;
    Pip