Pub Rants

Author Archive

Should Dorchester Remain on Probation? Yes.

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Was all set to potentially launch something cool on Friday and lo and behold, ice storm in Seattle. Trust me, this makes sense because we are based in Denver but our tech person, who manages all things digital, is in Seattle. She had no electricity or internet for 3 days. Shudders.

What’s playing on the XM or iPod right now? FREE by Graffiti6

Last week, the Vice President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America reached out to SFWA members about Dorchester Publishing.

Dorchester’s probationary period is scheduled to end on January 31, 2012 and SFWA would like to evaluate their progress in meeting the benchmarks SFWA set for them.

By their request, members could contact them with any information that the Board should consider.

Well, let me tell you, I was happy to oblige. I wrote a letter clearly outlining my stance that that Dorchester should remain on probation or be delisted altogether based on not making any progress whatsoever on benchmark 1: That it fulfills its contractual and financial obligations to the authors it has already published, including full and accurate accounting of royalties per contract, with scheduled payment of any royalties outstanding.

Despite repeated requests for updated accountings and the thousands of dollars still owed in back royalties to NLA authors who used to be with Dorchester, we’ve received excuses, delays, and no good faith efforts to resolve their obligations.

And I have no problem making my sentiment on the situation public.

Weighing In On SOPA-PIPA

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Rather a quiet week. I’m finally catching up since beginning of year. This might last a week or two but I’m going to enjoy it while it lasts.

What’s playing on the XM or iPod right now? FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD by Jimmy Buffett

I love sopaipillas! Add a little honey and powdered sugar and you’ve got yum. Truly one of my fav desserts.

But SOPA-PIPA, not so much.

As most of you have probably heard by now, there is an internet strike occurring and thousands of sites have gone dark (such as boing boing and wikipedia) in protest.

Both Acts have lovely-intention sounding names: Protect IP Act and Stop Online Piracy Act.

Who doesn’t want to protect intellectual property or stop piracy? The act of piracy steals money out of authors’ pockets and is often like whack-a-mole to stop.

Despite the backing of almost every major publisher, I do believe that both Acts overreach in their scope and there will be serious ramifications if passed.

I could offer some analysis but to be honest, greater minds than mine already have.

Web Goes On Strike

Legal Expert Says Online Piracy Bill Is Unconstitutional

Technology & Marketing Blog

Controversial Copyright Bills Would Violate First Amendment

Libraries Are the Best Counter to Piracy

Cory Doctorow: Copyrights vs. Human Rights

Because It’s Cool & Hip: World Book Night 2012

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: I’ve seen the first beta page for our website redesign. I’m so excited!

What’s playing on the XM or iPod right now? MEXICAN RADIO By Wall Of Voodoo
(Just saw the sale for the tell-all by the original MTV VJs. I’m feeling nostalgic!)

Are you an author? Want to be a part of something terrific and spread the love of reading? Then you’ll want to know about World Book Night. NLA has signed up to be a book giver as have some of our authors! We are committed and then some.

Originally started in the UK last year, Carl Lennertz is now taking it on to make April 23 extraordinary in the US.

Find out more about it and how to sign up here. The deadline is Feb. 1, 2012.

Friday Funnies

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: 7 pm on a Friday night. This is lame. Oh the glamorous life of an agent…

What’s playing on the XM or iPod right now? Listening to Youtube

Finished with auction. My brain is mush. This is a punt (pun intended).

To borrow from Jon Stewart, this is your Denver Moment of Zen.

*grin* Huge beverage alert.

Monday is MLK day (so no blogging) but coming later next week, a whole new something on the blog called Fridays With Kristin. Stay tuned!

Importance Of Specifying Format Of Initial Edition

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Auction tomorrow. Always fun.

What’s playing on the XM or iPod right now? FADE INTO YOU by Mazzy Star

Here’s a contract tip that is both simple and yet can have a large consequence if not done.

As an agency, it’s been a long-time policy for our deals that publisher must specify initial publication format in the contract. For example, if a publisher wins a book at auction and part of them winning was a commitment to doing the book as a hardcover (for example), then when it comes time for publication, we don’t suddenly want the publisher to do the book as a trade paperback original instead.

One reason for this has to do with the author’s ability to earn out an advance. If a publisher paid a solid six-figures for something, the author is going to need the hardcover sales (with the higher price point) to earn out. Not to mention, with a hardcover initial edition, the author gets two publishing shots toward earn-out as the publisher, as a general rule, will publish the trade pb edition about a year later.

Makes sense.

Here’s another reason for specifying format of initial edition. As agents, we want to ensure that a publisher will do both a print AND electronic edition and not just publish a digital-only edition if that was not the original intent for accepting deal/contract. (Sidenote: Obviously, if an agent is selling a title to a digital-only publisher, then ebook only as initial format is understood.)

In this rapidly changing publishing landscape, and the rise of ebook sales, it is conceivable that a publisher buys a book with the intention of doing both formats and then decides later to not do the print edition and publish it only as an ebook.

I have not heard of this happening–yet. But why chance it?

Part of our job is to anticipate possible issues.

Big Reveals Shouldn’t Happen In A Conversation

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Gosh, it was too gorgeous outside to work. What the heck. It’s January. I need it to snow so I don’t want to skip work!

What’s playing on the XM or iPod right now? RIGHT DOWN THE LINE Gerry Rafferty

One of the problems of having blogged for so long, since 2006 if you can believe it, is that I often feel like I’m repeating myself. When I mentioned this to an agent friend of mine who also blogs, she said that I simply can’t worry about it.

I think she’s right. So I’ve probably blogged on this topic before but what the heck, it’s worth saying again.

A novel’s plot should not be a series of conversations where characters move from one place to another and all they do is have chats with other characters.

(Anne Rice’s INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE might be the one exception. But even at closer look, you can see that Rice didn’t fall into that trap. Even though that novel is basically one long conversation, the vampire narrates scenes as if they were actually happening so there is sense of immediacy, action, and event plotting to carry the novel.)

We see this a ton in fantasy manuscripts but hey, it’s not limited to that genre. Recently, I’ve seen this structure in a lot of young adult samples we’ve been reading.

By the way, established writers can fall into this trap–usually when they are on deadline and simply trying to get the story on the page.

Take a moment to evaluate your own novel. How many times do you have characters sitting down and having a conversation? If it’s a lot, you might want to start rethinking your “plot”!

Games Agents Play

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Started off the day with 80 new e-mails in the inbox. That’s a tough Monday.

What’s playing on the XM or iPod right now? GOLD by John Stewart

When we obviously have nothing better to do….

Last year, I had dinner in the home of a client and her husband. After the dessert, we decided to play a game that they often do with their friends.

From a bookshelf in their office, the player grabs a published book from the shelf. Any book. Once back at the table, the player reads aloud a page from anywhere in the novel.

The question is two-fold. For the non-agent players, would they have continued reading? Why or why not? For the agent, would I have offered representation for the book based on that one sample page?

It was eye-opening and hilarious. The basic idea is that a novel should be able to hold up to intense scrutiny even if a random page is selected from anywhere in the story.

For my part, I would have passed on a well-known romance writer (oops!). To be honest, the writing didn’t hold up. I was completely surprised when the author was revealed.

For several readings, I admired the writing but knew I wouldn’t have represented it–despite the obvious quality of it. Sorry Cormack McCarthy! (Remember, taste really does play a factor in this!)

And out of the all the readings we did that night, there was only one that when the reader came to the end of the page passage, I said, “absolutely! I’d have offered rep for that in a New York minute.”

That author was Margaret Atwood.

Kind of interesting, don’t you think? I wonder how much we are swayed by recognizing an author’s name and reputation. In this game, you didn’t know and had to make a judgement based solely on the words on the page.

2011 Year End Stats!

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: I’m baaaaacccckkk!

What’s playing on the XM or iPod right now? YOU DON’T BRING ME FLOWERS by Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond
(oh the nostalgia….)

Happy New Year! I hope your 2012 is off to a rip-roaring start. Mine is. I’ve got exciting news on the film front for two of my authors and an auction unfolding next week.

I even signed a new author when we were closing for the holidays. Talk about cramming stuff in as the year closed.

My New Year’s resolution is to be a better blogger in 2012 so I better get started.

41
books sold (up from 28 last year). Why the big jump? Two agents on fire during the year.

65
foreign rights deals done (pretty much on par with last year).

7
number of new clients (Kristin and Sara combined)

36,000+ or some big number…
estimated number of queries read and responded to. We get so much spam these days, despite good filters, it’s hard to tell. We estimate anywhere from 80 to 100 a day. Times that by 365 and you get approximately 36,000.

69
full manuscripts requested and read (down from 98 from 2010)

618
number of sample pages requested and read (this is down from last year–mostly because I took a several month hiatus from reading submissions actually. I’m back to reading lots in 2012 though so bring it on).

5
number of projects currently on submission

2
tv and major motion picture deals

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

1.1 million
number of copies in print for my bestselling title this year

8 for Kristin (including BEA, RWA and Frankfurt), 4 for Anita, and 9 for Sara
number of conferences attended

13
number of career NLA New York Times Bestsellers (who says that’s an unlucky number!)

1
number of books named to Publisher’s Weekly list of top books of the year (that would be LEGEND by Marie Lu this year)

105
number of physical holiday cards sent

451
number of electronic holiday cards sent

20
number of eggnog chai consumed in the month of December. It was probably 31 but that makes me look like a glutton!

Lots
number of late nights reading on my new chaise with Chutney

All
number of great days loving my job

2012 is going to be a GREAT year!

December–The Slow Month?

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: If I hear that “I want a hippopotamus for Christmas” song one more time…

What’s playing on the XM or iPod right now? ANOTHER YEAR HAS GONE BY by Celine Dion

Traditionally, December is the month where publishing starts to quiet down as editors get ready to be away for the holidays. Kind of like how August tends to be an unofficial slow down period that then picks up after Labor Day.

If it’s true this December, I certainly can’t tell yet. We close next week but we are working like there is no holiday around the corner. Sara just wrapped up a deal earlier in the week. I’m announcing on Pub Lunch a deal I closed recently. I’m in the middle of two other negotiations–one of which was out of the blue from a publisher who couldn’t offer earlier in the year but now is.

Love that!

And lots of agents are obviously hard at work during this month as some fulls we’ve requested have gotten offers of representation–literally only days after receiving the actual manuscript.

So I would say it’s kind of like business as usual and probably will be right up until we close a week from tomorrow.

Do Agents Buy Books For The Holidays?

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: The agency is only open for another week and two days. I’m a little intimidated on what needs to be done between now and then!

What’s playing on the XM or iPod right now? HOUSE FULL OF LOVE by Michael McDonal

If an agent buys books as gifts for the holidays, do they only buy their client authors?

Good heavens no–although I’ve certainly bought my share of NLA books to give as gifts. But it would look a bit self-serving if that’s all I did!

Not to mention, I often share extra ARCs with family and close friends so a good majority of them have read the NLA book long before it’s available to the public. It’s one of the things my nieces have LOVED about my being their aunt. *grin* LEGEND by Marie Lu was quite popular with them last March. They laughed when I told them it was releasing this week. For them, it’s been out forever.

So this Saturday I popped down to The Tattered Cover to browse and buy a few more items to wrap and put under the tree. I’m also a TC member and I had to buy my books asap to get the “share the love with members” 20% discount.

What caught my attention?

The Sisters by Nancy Jensen

I have not read this one yet but I’m hearing enough great things to take a risk. I’m rather enamored of the cover as well. I wish one of my client books had that cover!



Rin Tin Tin: The Life and Legend by Susan Orlean

I received a complimentary copy from the editor. At first, I was skeptical. I didn’t know much about Rin Tin Tin and didn’t feel overly like I needed to but I am a dog person. I cracked it open and I got sucked in. It’s a really cool book about more than just the dog actor but about Hollywood history etc. My husband got sucked in to.

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

I just read an article about the making of the cover, which is visually interesting and unique. Publishers are floating around ideas about making book covers a work of art in and of themselves as added value for the physical book.



Unlikely Friendships: 47 Remarkable Stories from The Animal Kingdom by Jennifer Holland

A girlfriend was with me in the store and pointed this book out to me. I took one look and had to buy it immediately.

And I imagine my TC shopping isn’t quite finished. Very likely I’ll be there again this weekend.