Pub Rants

Author Archive

Writing as Business (Part 3)

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: I finished up to client full manuscripts this week. I’m finally catching up.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? ICE CREAM by Sarah McLachlan

As promised, here are some of the books that I’ve read over the years. Please note that this isn’t an endorsement of any book. Read at your own risk. Big grin here. I’m simply highlighting some of the books I have read.

This is by no means a complete list. Just what I can remember off the top of my head.

Live It Up Without Outliving Your Money by Paul Merriman (probably the best book I’ve read….so far)

The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley and William Danko

The New York Times Complete Guide to Personal Investing by Gary Klott

The Motley Fool Investment Guide by David Gardner and Tom Gardner (I actually read a much earlier edition of this book but it’s no longer in print)

Rich Dad Poor Dad By Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter (not really an investing or money management book but an interesting read).

I also have a subscription to Better Investing Magazine. Good, solid articles that are practical. (Note: I belong to an Investment Club, have so for 4 years, and we follow Better investing guidelines)

I also read Smart Money magazine for a while and Kiplinger’s.

And I bet there are a ton other good reads out there that I wouldn’t mind picking up so feel free to add some recommendations in the comments section.

Writing as Business (Part 2)

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Bursting at the seams. Got two bits of exciting news for one of my clients and it’s under gag. We’re not allowed to share yet. So I guess I’ll just tease all my blog readers with it instead.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? LET’S STAY TOGETHER by Al Green

This topic obviously resonated with quite a few people. In all honesty, I probably should have one of my clients do a guest blog about the topic of finances as a published author. Hopefully they’ll all just chime in on the comments section.

Okay, if you are a published author, here are some things that I recommend.

1. Find and then pay for a good tax accountant who can give you sound accounting advice for your writing business. You may start as a sole proprietor but as many of my authors have done, when real money starts coming in, it may pay (as in tax advantageous) to be an LLC or an S-corp instead.

When I say “pay for,” I mean it. It’s worth every dime to pay a CPA for his/her expertise. Be sure to ask around to other writers and get recommendations for a good one. Like all people in service industry, levels of expertise vary.

Gee, that’s true of agents as well.

2. When you have your contract, note the dates in your money management software for when you can expect to get paid. Then pad it by two months at least. I say this because things don’t always happen on time. The contract can take 2 to 3 months to negotiate and then it’s always another 6 weeks after signing for you to get paid. Foreign monies take even longer than that. As the agent, I always expect payment 6 months from when I’ve sent off the contract to my client for signing. It can take that long. For one client, the foreign publisher lost the contract and it took us a year to get paid. And that was even with me bugging them every other week for it.

You as the author might run into draft problems and not deliver the manuscript on time and so that d&a payment you were hoping to trigger might not happen until several months later. Trust me, this happens more often than not so keep that in mind.

So a couple of addendums to this:
–If you are a debut and your career is young, don’t start by living off your writing. I think you’ll find yourself in a world of hurt if you do that. Writing money is gravy money. Not factored in as part of the monthly living expenses but it can pay for a great vacation or a down payment on a car or what have you. Personally, I say put all of it into a good interest CD that you can’t access for a year. That way you’re forced to ignore it for a while. But heck, I know that’s not always feasible. I’m just suggesting it.

–Don’t quit you day job until the back end royalties can pay for your daily living expenses without issue. Back end is the royalty money you earn once your advance has earned out. This does not include the advance you might earn for your next book because that’s an advanced that hasn’t earned out yet. And just an FYI, statistically speaking (and this is by no means exact), only about 10% of books actually earn out their advances. The good majority of them don’t. And here’s another interesting tidbit, if a book does earn out the advance, it can take 2 years or more before that happens. One of my authors just earned out (which is hugely exciting) but it took 4 years. Now you know why I emphasize back end royalties that pay your daily living expenses without an issue.

3. When you get your check, pay your taxes right then and there. Now some folks are really great money managers. If you are, then you can ignore this. However, I think the majority of us are not quite that anal and I’ve heard stories time and time again where authors don’t do this and find themselves in a world of hurt. Work with your tax accountant to find out what is the likely percentage that you’ll owe and don’t wait, just mail the dang thing to the IRS and tell yourself, this was never my money anyway. If you don’t have a tax accountant, a good rule of thumb is 20% of whatever the check was and send that in. If you’ve overpaid, you’ll get it refunded.

If you’re disciplined money manager, okay, stick the monies you owe the IRS into a high-interest bearing account and then only draw from that account to pay your quarterly taxes (April 15, June 15, Sept. 15, Jan. 15). Make some money on the interest at the very least. Now if your honest with yourself and know that you’ll fall into the trap of thinking the next advance will pay those taxes, don’t wait. Mail your check to the IRS the minute you get your check from the publisher or agent. I can’t force you to do this but I’m really encouraging it.

4. When you get your check, pay yourself first. What exactly does this mean? That means you put away money for retirement even before you pay your bills. If you’re under the salary cap, open yourself up a ROTH IRA (one of the best investing tools out there because when you retire you won’t be taxed on monies you withdraw from a ROTH because you will have already paid the taxes on it). Damn straight folks. And even if you are not good with numbers and investing, just go to Vanguard’s website and look at the ROTH IRA here. Sign up for an index fund that follows the S&P 500. Usually those are the safest with the least amount of crazy ups and downs.

Max it out. Pay in the full amount you are allowed to legally in any given year.

And folks, I’ve been investing for years but I’m no expert. My suggestion here is not to replace advice from a professional financial advisor but if you don’t know where to begin, maybe this will help you to get started.

I’ll also try and dig up the money management/investing titles of all the books I’ve read over the years. It might be a good reading list for you.

5. Open up a SEP (Simplified Employee Pension Plan). You’re a writer and you’re self-employed. This is a retirement vehicle for the self-employed and it allows you, percentage wise, to put the most money away for retirement than you can in an IRA.

6. If you are living off of your writing, create a budget with all your expenses and only pay yourself X amount a month and stick to that. That way you won’t suddenly run out of money and be really anxious for your next payment (see above—which might get delayed, or yikes a contract canceled, or a manuscript rejected and you have to pay back the advance). All grim scenarios but can be a reality.

7. Buy yourself something nice to remember your first check by. I know. Totally opposite of everything I’ve said above but your first check from your first book advance is special. Celebrate it.

Then do all of the above.

Do You Run Your Writing As A Business?

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: I tackled exactly one thing on my To Do list today and there are something like 20 items that need immediate attention. I’m still wondering how that happens.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD by the Beatles

Today I had a morning meeting with my tax accountant to review my company’s P&L (Profit and Loss Statement) and the Balance Sheet. We wanted to review how we were doing in comparison to last year. We analyzed our current cash flow, upcoming expenditures, quarterly taxes, and generally made certain that we were financially sound and would continue being so.

Just three weeks prior to this meeting, I had connected with my bookkeeper to evaluate the P&L and Balance Sheet to see if anything was out of whack—which, interestingly enough, always happens. Just the nature of accounting.

Years ago, I read in a book (and I wish I could remember the title) that Americans who spent at least 1 to 2 hours a month reviewing their finances, discussing budget (or for heaven’s sake creating a budget), learning about investing, reviewing one’s 401k or Roth IRA, and just generally doing money management ended up 10 times wealthier than their fellow Americans who didn’t. (And it didn’t matter where these money planners started in terms of their income.) This book also highlighted that 90% of Americans spent more time watching TV did they spent on managing their money. I believe it.

So where am I going with all this? If you are a writer, even if you are unpublished, you need to treat this like a business. You need to sit down at the beginning of the year (or the beginning of the quarter) and create a business plan for yourself and your writing. This is how much I’m going to budget for my writing, for paper, for ink cartridges, for getting an agent, for attending a conference to learn the craft, or for joining a site like Backspace, and so on. You need to an excel spreadsheet or quicken or whatever money program you use to track expenses and hopefully, monies earned.

Why? Because even if you are unpublished, it makes good money sense to know exactly how much it costs you a year to pursue your dream. It allows you to plan. It shows you the cost benefit (or not) of pursuing this as a career. It gets you primed and ready for when you are published author and you definitely need to be doing this, budgeting appropriately, paying your taxes, and deciding on when you can write full-time versus when you need to keep that day job.

You might as well start making a good habit of it now. Besides, don’t you want to be one of those people who are 10 times wealthier than their counterparts who never discuss money on a regular basis? I know I do—which is why my tax accountant and I spent 2 hours discussing it this morning and this is just one of many sessions we’ll have throughout the year.

Because Inquiring Minds Want To Know

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: I worked on outstanding issues on two contracts, did a phone conference with an author and my film co-agent, touched base with my marketing director on two outstanding issues from last Friday and answered 118 emails. Maybe tomorrow I can actual tackle my To Do list for the day.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? THE MUMMER’S DANCE by Loreena McKennitt

At the end of each day, I do try and catch up with what is going on in the blog world. I like knowing about what other agents and editors are writing about.

So that was what I was doing when I stumbled upon this entry by Editorial Anonymous. I avidly read the entry and looked at the comments. Only 20 people responded? Unbelievable. I get comments like this every day on my blog and here we have an editor answering some key questions such as:

Q1. Given these recessionary times, are nervous publishers holding back on making decisions to take on a book?

You bet I’m reading that with interest.

Q3. As agents go, do publishers give them a pecking order, and so my agent may be lower in the pecking order?

Inquiring minds what to know!

Q7. Do you think it’s a good thing or a bad thing that I’ve yet to receive a response?

So I obviously need to point out this revealing entry. On submission right now, get ye over there and read Give Me Your Tired, Your Confused, Your Huddled Masses Yearning to Know What the **** Is Going On

And if you’re not at that stage and wondered about these Qs, you’ll also want to check it out.

Q8. From roughly what proportion of partial submissions do you then request the full?

Q9. Of those fulls you request, what proportion of manuscripts would actually be acquired?

Q10. Are you more likely to request a full if you met the author and got on reasonably well with them at a conference or workshop, or would that have no bearing whatsoever on your decision?

Q11. Or if the author had already been published, would that be more persuasive?

The Proverbial Cat Out Of The Bag

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: TGIF! And I’m really ready for a relaxing weekend. No white-water rafting or extreme sports scheduled.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? WONDER by Natalie Merchant

When I was at RWA, three different people came up to me and said, “I think it’s absolutely amazing what Sara is doing.”

When I looked at them blankly, they said, “your associate agent, Sara Megibow. I think it’s amazing what she is doing.”

Aha, it finally clicked for me. I knew now what they were talking about but I couldn’t figure out how three totally different people at RWA knew.

It certainly wasn’t some deep dark secret that we were keeping hidden but nor had we made an announcement to the world either.

Except unbeknownst to me, we had. The Boulder Weekly newspaper ran an article on the amazing thing Sara is doing this year and my client Sherry Thomas saw the article and twittered about it.

So are you dying yet to know what it is that Sara is doing?

I won’t keep you in the dark. The cat is out of the proverbial bag anyway (especially if you follow Sherry’s tweets!).

So here at the Nelson Agency, we are definitely into make dreams come true. Sara just takes it to a whole other level to say the least and if you’ve met her, you’ll know that’s just how she rolls.

It’s amazing, every day, to have her as part of the agency.

The Boulder Weekly Article.

One Good Reason For An Agent

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Working on a reading day from home.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? WHEN I DREAM OF MICHELANGELO by Counting Crows

I know that a lot of frustrated writers view agents as evil gatekeepers.

This is a problematic view on so many levels and not just because I’m an agent! I always fear a mindset that buys into the idea that “somebody else is to blame.” Hard to succeed if you’re wed to that viewpoint.

But that’s beside the point. I’m actually writing today’s blog entry to point out one good reason to have an agent.

Remember last Friday when I related the horrific story of an agent who had received an offer and was in the middle of negotiating it when the publisher decided to rescind it? (Bad Sign Of The Times, July 23).

Here’s an update.

The agent went to bat on the issue and told the publisher, “Yo, that ain’t cool.”
(Actually I’m positive that’s not what the agent said but you get the picture).

After several rounds of discussion, the publisher agreed and the offer was reinstated.

Without the agent, I’m convinced that this resolution would not have happened for the author.

So, one good reason.

Speaking Of Bad Covers

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: I’m heading to Red Rocks tonight for a concert. I want the rain to hold off. It never rains in Colorado—except for this summer and on the evenings I have a concert in an open venue.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? LEAVIN’ ON YOUR MIND by Patsy Cline

Today, an editor emailed me to say that I was going to get the publisher’s catalog in the mail but not to freak out regarding the cover for one of my author’s titles.

This is never a good sign.

The editor went on to say that the picture was a place holder for the catalog only and that the cover was changing.

Good to know. So of course I email back and request that they send me the jpg of whatever cover they used in the catalog so I can be prepared (and so I can prepare the author).

The editor does.

Oh my. Truly a hideous cover. I’m so glad the editor emailed to say that it wasn’t going to be the final cover, don’t worry about it, she hates it too, it’s changing.

And no, I can’t share it on the blog (however sorely tempted).

I shared it with my marketing director, Lindsay, and we just had a moment of commiseration. Sometimes you have to wonder what the art department was thinking because honestly, I can’t imagine who thought this cover was okay. I’m not even a design person (really, it’s not my strong point) but even I looked at this and went, uh, no.

There’s no symmetry, no beautiful colors, not even an interesting person on the cover. Bland would sum it up.

But hooray, this isn’t the cover. The editor called us both to talk concepts and ideas and get our input. Love that.

So, I won’t worry unduly. That is until I see the next jpg. Grin.

When Cover Art Goes Bad—Guest Blogger Brenda Novak

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Woot! Only 128 emails in the inbox. Two contracts on the verge of being finished up. Two projects on the verge of being optioned for film. Not a bad week.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? SAILING by Christopher Cross

As you know, publishers are doing a lot of cost-cutting measures and belt tightening in this tough economy. I certainly understand that. One casualty of all this though is the disappearing cover flat.

It used to be that before any original trade paperback or mass market edition pubbed, the publisher would send out to the author and agent at least 6 to 10 cover flats (sometimes more) so we could review the final cover. Generally admire it. And for the author, use them for promo.

Those were the days. In the last year, I’m lucky if I get one (1) cover flat to review before publication. More often than not, I’m only getting a copy of the book with the final cover, hot off the press, about two weeks before pub.

Now if everything is sailing smoothly, this is no big deal. However, if there is a large snafu as detailed in the cautionary tale below, we’ve got a problem, Houston.

Author and agents always see a jpg of the cover early but as you can tell by Brenda’s story, just seeing a jpg can’t substitute for seeing the final cover art in the flesh so to speak.

So my advice for you published authors (and agents) out there? Make sure you see a copy of the finished book or a cover flat in enough time before pub to problem solve if that becomes necessary.

So, from NYT Bestselling author Brenda Novak….

What’s an author to do….

You work hard to write the best story you possibly can. You polish that manuscript through three rounds of edits. You give cover art and back cover copy input. And you partner with your publisher to put a marketing plan in place that is costing you both a substantial amount of money. At this point, you think you’re finished–finally ready for the book to be released. And this isn’t just any book. This book is the fulfillment of your fondest dream, the first to have “New York Times Bestselling Author” emblazoned above your name.

And then you get your author copies and realize that there’s a serious problem.

This just happened to me. My author copies arrived less than four weeks before THE PERFECT COUPLE was due out. Eager to take a peek at the real thing, my husband got to the box first and opened it. Then he held my eagerly anticipated book in one hand—and frowned. “Um, honey? Aren’t they going to put your name on this one?” he asked.

I think he’s joking. He’s color-blind, for one thing. I laugh and nudge him to get him to hand it to me. “What are you talking—” I start to say, and then I see for myself. It’s not because he’s color blind that he can’t see my name. It’s because the turquoise foil is so dark there isn’t enough contrast against the black background. Held in the right light, it glimmers and shines and shows up just fine. But place it straight in front of you, and you can’t read “New York Times Bestselling Author” (which is a bit ironic, isn’t it?), my name (even though it’s in a huge font—which would also be exciting if you could see it), or part of the cleverly done title (the “Perfect” part, which is also ironic, since it is anything but perfect). To make matters worse, my agent is out for several days to celebrate the 4th of July, and this book is the first of three to be released in consecutive months. If it tanks, the others could go down like dominos.

At this point, I pictured my career dying a sudden death. LOL Without the help of my agent (thanks to her vacation and the timeliness of this issue), I was forced to do what I could to salvage the situation, but my publisher hadn’t yet seen a copy of the finished book and didn’t even know there was a problem. I dashed off an email to my editor and started the hive buzzing…and buzzing…as they, too, went into panic mode.

Fortunately, I write for a great house and their ultimate decision was to reprint and reship, but I’m sure that wasn’t an easy call to make. It will cost someone (either the publisher or the printer) a fortune. And the process doesn’t happen overnight. Some accounts will respond to the recall, others will ignore it, just as they often ignore street date (I’ve been hearing from fans who’ve read THE PERFECT COUPLE as long as two weeks ago, even though it wasn’t supposed to come out until yesterday).

But will this debacle ruin my career? I hope not. I’m choosing to look at the bright side. Initially, there will be many more of this title in print and, as those with the dark, unreadable foil are collected and destroyed, any that survive…will become collector’s items? Yeah, that’s it. That’s the way to spin it. Everyone wants a book where you can’t make out the author’s name!

The original jpg of The Perfect Couple:


A shot of the unreadable cover next to one of Brenda’s previous books:


New York Times Bestselling Author Brenda Novak has three novels coming out this summer—THE PERFECT COUPLE (7/28), THE PERFECT LIAR (8/25) and THE PERFECT MURDER (9/29), all part of her popular Last Stand Series. She also runs an annual on-line auction for diabetes research every May at www.brendanovak.com. To date, her auctions have raised over $770,000. Brenda considers herself lucky to be a mother of five and married to the love of her life.

Beyond The Call Of Agent Duty—Part II

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: I think I need another weekend to recover from my weekend. Grin.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? ROUTE 66 by Natalie Cole

Really? Could I blog about anything else today? Enjoy!

So you can track us, I’m wearing a white visor and Simone has on a blue bandanna.

Watch the chick in front of Simone. She ends up falling into the boat. Better than the alternative I have to say.

Lesson of the day: tuck you feet securely while in the raft.

Also, we are going through two sets of the rapids. In the second set, look at the rock to the right of the picture.

My personal favorite is the shot where pretty much everyone in the boat disappears in the spray.



Beyond The Call Of Agent Duty

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Yesterday, one blog commenter said they didn’t want to hear any more doom and gloom so in good news, I’ve done three deals in the past 2 weeks for already established clients. All six figure deals. That’s positive.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? YOU’RE THE ONE THAT I WANT from Grease soundtrack

Yesterday, my author Simone Elkeles flew into town to do some research for her next YA title that is going to be set in Boulder, Colorado (sequel to her wildly successful title Perfect Chemistry (almost 100,000 copies in print!).

She has never been to Boulder, Colorado and since she’s a big believer in experiencing what she plans to use in her books, here she is.

Well, little did I know that she also wanted to have her main character, Carlos, do white-water rafting in this new novel.

Yep, you can see where this is going. Who else is going to take her to go and do white-water rafting but her Colorado agent?

Hey, I never want to hear that I don’t go the distance for my authors.

So tomorrow morning bright and early (heading out at 5 a.m.) we are tackling the class III and IV rapids of the Arkansas river through Brown’s Canyon.

Don’t worry, it’s mandatory to wear life vests (not to mention Simone’s editor emailed and said her author had better be wearing one and I don’t want to upset her editor).

Hope to see y’all back here on Monday…