Pub Rants

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RWA—Orlando, Florida (Day 2 After)

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Hum… I thought August was the slow month for publishing. Couldn’t tell by all the action we are seeing this week at the agency.

What’s playing on the XM or iPod right now? WILDFIRE by Michael Martin Murphey
(Holy cow does this song bring back memories from the 70s! If you can handle the sap, click on the title. *grin*)

Today I promised you my notes from the tidbits and insights gleaned from editors at RWA.

Here’s the consensus:

1. Although editors and agents are a little tired of seeing paranormal proposals, demand from readers remain unabated. So, if you’ve got a great novel with a fresh take on it, well, bring it on I guess.

2. The latest catch word from editors is “heartfelt.” Seems like regardless of whether it is contemporary, historical, paranormal, women’s fiction, editors want that heartfelt emotion. What that really means—you’re guess is as good as mine. I don’t tend to lean toward the small-town Debbie Macomber-like sweetness and light in the romances and women’s fic so if it means that, probably not right for me. I gravitate more toward emotional complexity, sexy, and a little edge.

Probably it’s a term that’s just as nebulous as editors want fresh stories with a great voice. Still, it probably wouldn’t hurt to read some up-and-coming new romance authors such as Sarah MacLean.

3. Whispers of Westerns and Medievals. Haven’t heard that in a long, long time! Two different editors mentioned they had bought new authors they just loved—even though they are in this tough category. Bring that on!

3. Huge uptick in eSales for romance. Stats are running close to 20% of 100% of the sales pie. That’s a big increase in a short period of time. No surprise though. Romance readers tend to be early adaptors simply because they read so much.

RWA—Orlando, Florida (Day After)

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Well, you can see how well blogging went during the conference!

What’s playing on the XM or iPod right now? LONELY NO MORE by Rob Thomas

I took a ton of notes so I could share with all of you during the conference. I had one hour on Friday to do it but ended up getting sucked into answering emails during that time frame. I know! Blog readers should come first.

So I’ll have lots to share tomorrow but today I want to say a HUGE congrats to Sherry Thomas and Simone Elkeles for winning two RITAs at Saturday night’s awards ceremony. Even with six RITA nominations, a win is always tough. We couldn’t be more thrilled.

Here is Sara Megibow and I with NLA’s RITA winners.

RWA—Orlando, Florida (Day 1)

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Spotty blogging this week (as if you couldn’t already tell) but I will try and pop on when I can to send on any inside scoop.

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

Monday was crazy as I tried to wrap up anything that could be finished before leaving for Orlando. Yesterday was a travel day so spent the time on the plane getting lots of reading done! I sat next to a lady also heading to RWA who had both a Kindle and the Apple iPad with her. She let me play with that new iPad.

Oh, I like shiny things and was much enthralled. Did it make me want to run out and buy one? Yes and no. Mostly to me, it’s just an oversized iPhone without the capacity to call someone. So I liked it (of course I did) but I think I’m going to wait for the next generation before contemplating a buy. I’d like it to be smaller (something easier to fit in a purse) and to be honest, I still want an unbacklit screen for big chunks of my reading. It’s just easier on the eyes for long stints that we agents end up doing. Nice if iPad could create toggle switch so we could have it both ways. The iPad itself is nice eye candy though.

And I would judge that my seat row companion was in her fifties (if I had to make a guess). So interesting.

Since I just got to Orlando late last night (and just had dinner with one of my clients), I haven’t got any good juicy gossip from RWA to start the blogging week.

Instead, you get lame picture of the Swan & Dolphin hotel on the Disney compound.


As added bonus, Ally Carter had a great turn-out in Boulder. 75 people. The next day she went to St. Louis where 170 fans showed up for her reading. Wow. Go St. Louis.

So here is Ally with a NLA Colorado local author Kim Reid who came out to show support. How fun is that?

Ally Carter In Colorado

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Sorry! You know it’s a tough week when I can’t find 15 minutes to squeeze in a blog. RWA is next week in Orlando. Probably don’t need to say more.

What’s playing on the XM or iPod right now? LOVE MY WAY by Psychedelic Furs

I’m going to start today’s entry with a totally non-publishing related rant. All I want to say is that just once, I want to walk to work in the morning without seeing some male stranger’s underwear. Seriously people, pull your pants up or use a belt. This isn’t complicated because if you don’t look like a ripped athlete or Calvin Klein underwear model, then it’s not sexy. It’s just underwear (and not all that attractive at that!).

I don’t think I’m asking too much here…

But in fun news for ONLY THE GOOD SPY YOUNG, Ally Carter in the flesh is coming to Colorado (Boulder to be exact) this Sunday, July 25. I’d love to see you there and come say hello.

Barnes & Noble
Crossroads Commons
2999 Pearl StreetBoulder, CO 80301303-444-0349

Here’s the link to check out the event and to get more info!

Another Reason To Nail Your Query Pitch Paragraph

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Blogging before noon! That means I’m head of my To Do list.

What’s playing on the XM or iPod right now? YOU’RE ONLY LONELY by JD Souther

There is an interesting trend I’ve noticed lately in publishing. I think it has to do with the tightening of budget and the laying off of staff (actually, I’m just speculating that is the case.)

More and more lately, my clients and I have been practically writing our own cover copy for upcoming releases. Lately, it’s been clear that the copy writer has maybe seen just a brief synopsis of the plot before coming up with copy. By the way, this is not unusual. There is no way a copy writer could read every single book he/she has to write cover copy for. Still, in my mind, you don’t have to read the entire manuscript to be ready to write good copy. You really only have to read the first 30 pages of a novel to knock it out (and that’s easy enough to do even if the copy editor has 30 or 40 books to handle).

As I’m typing, I realize that this entry might sound like a complaint but it’s not. I actually prefer when the author and I are intimately involved and really get a say in the copy text (especially if the first draft we’ve received is really bland or just off).

So it’s more of an observation—as something I’ve noticed in the past 6 or 7 months. You folks are going to hate me for this but yet another reason to nail your pitch blurb paragraph in your query letter. You might actually be called upon to significantly contribute to the final copy that will go on your book jacket. You might as well master the craft now…

Public Knowledge Now

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Mondays. I wish we could have Tuesdays without the Mondays.

What’s playing on the XM or iPod right now? PLEASE COME TO BOSTON BY Dave Loggins

For those of you who might not have seen the news, Romance Writers Of America (RWA) has declared that Dorchester cannot attend the 2010 RWA conference in Orlando next week because of past due contractual and financial obligations.

I won’t comment further except to say that I’m glad this is now “public” knowledge and that RWA has taken a stand on it.

Friday Funnies

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: It’s supposed to be 100 degrees here in Denver tomorrow. Say what?

What’s playing on the XM or iPod right now? BLUE BOSSA by Joe Henderson

To counter balance any perceived insensitivity from yesterday, today’s “funny” is more serious but I like it all the same. I always respond to clever.

Enjoy and have a nice cool weekend…

Better Left Unsaid?

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: The day started with a laugh, it’s going to be great.

What’s playing on the XM or iPod right now? SMILE by Lonnie Plaxico Group

I know I’m going to get lambasted for posting this link and by mentioning that in reading these blog posts, I snorted my iced chai this morning but I’m going to share it anyway.

Some days, this is exactly what we agents are thinking when we read some of the odd query letters we receive.

And yes, I know, not all writers are as savvy as my blog readers and we really shouldn’t think it funny but trust me, if we didn’t have a sense of humor some days, we’d go nuts…

The July 13 entry might be my fav.

Bookscan Is Great—Except When It’s Not

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: I’m sure I don’t have to say that yesterday was a little hectic.

What’s playing on the XM or iPod right now? SIMPLE DAY by One Eskimo

As an agency, we have a subscription to Bookscan and every Wednesday, we send out a sales reports in Excel spreadsheets to each of our clients for their published titles. (FYI–Nielsen is a subscription service that captures point-of-sales information from certain retail outlets.)

This sounds great. Real sales numbers! Except not every retailer reports to Bookscan. Some key accounts like Costco do report but other key accounts like Walmart do not.

Which means that Bookscan is not a whole picture of how a title is doing.

So over the years, I’ve created our own system of calculating how accurate it is by comparing the royalty statement sales to the Bookscan number sales and capturing the percentage difference.

For some genres, it can be off by 50 or 60%. That’s a lot. The numbers for literary fiction tend to be a bit more on target as Bookscan seems to capture about 70% of sales for this segment.

Why is this important? Well, if you are a midlist author looking to move houses, well, guess what numbers the editors are looking at in order to base a decision of whether they want to offer for you or not? You guessed it. Bookscan.

And if that number is only capturing 50% of the sales… I have to firmly argue the actual sales numbers and sometimes, that doesn’t matter. The house will often make a decision based solely on those Bookscan numbers. Hugely frustrating as you can imagine.

By the way, Bookscan does not currently capture digital point-of-sales. Yeah, that’s going to need to change as more and more sales are done digitally in the upcoming years. And yet another problem with Publishers deciding that Bookscan is a reliable reflection of sales…

Gratuitous Chutney Shot

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: It’s a crazy Monday and I haven’t posted Chutney pic in ages.

What’s playing on the XM or iPod right now? DON’T FORGET by Brett Dennen

Today our client Courtney Milan was in town so we went to lunch. Knowing that Chutney likes to hang at the office, Courtney brought her own fur baby, Pele, to keep her company while we went and got some Thai noodles.

After a minute of furious growling, how dare another dog enter her domain, Chutney decided she really liked Pele and they spent the rest of the time snuggling on the couch together. (Couldn’t catch that shot!)

But here they are at the park post lunch.

Yep, I’m holding treats so I have their undivided attention… Clients and pets are always welcome at NLA.