Pub Rants

Author Archive

Books Coming To The Big Screen

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Feeling re-energized after the long weekend.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? YOU CAN LEAVEYOUR HAT ON by Joe Cocker

On Thursday night, as the holiday weekend was beginning, I met up with two girlfriends for dinner. Once ensconced at our table, one friend said she was dying to see the movie My Sister’s Keeper and were we game?

As much as I love movies, it’s rare for me to get my act together enough to actually see a film while it’s in theaters. I tend to rely on Netflix or the DVR if something is on cable. So when given an opportunity to see a book-to-film movie, I’m going to say yes (despite knowing this one was going to be a Kleenex fest).

Sheesh. What a way to kick off the holiday weekend.

(Disclaimer: I cry at movies. Doesn’t matter the movie. If it has a hint of sadness, I’ll cry. My husband has never let me live it down that I cried at the end of Terminator III. Hey, in my defense, Claire Danes as Kate just lost her pet and her entire family—I thought that was pretty sad.)

So My Sister’s Keeper was designed to be a real tear-jerker and I’m happy to say that I used plenty of Kleenex. As I had read the book several years ago, I was most interested to see how the film would handle the ending—as there was a lot of discussion around the ending of that book. (No spoiler here so I won’t comment further.)

But here’s what I found most interesting and hence the point of this entry, all the previews shown before the movie were all book-to-film projects. I wish I could remember all the trailers I saw but only Julie/and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously comes to mind (which looked pretty hilarious).

So very interesting. I don’t remember such a high percentage in previous years but that may be because I don’t get to the theaters often enough.

15 Out of 2,625 & Friday Funnies

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Tomorrow is a holiday so I won’t be blogging. Have a great 4th!

What’s playing on the iPod right now? HOUNDS OF LOVE by Kate Bush

Oops. Perhaps I should have clarified yesterday’s statistics because requesting 15 sample pages from 52 queries sounds pretty great.

That is until you hear the explanation. Be forewarned, the real statistics are daunting.

So yesterday I read 52 queries. That is true. However, these 52 queries were set aside for me to read out of three weeks’ worth of queries.

On average, the agency gets 100 to 150 email queries a day. So in the last 21 days, we received 2,625 queries (using an average of 125 queries a day). Out of those 2,625 queries, Julie and Sara set aside 52 queries for me to read and review.

Out of those 52 queries, I asked for sample pages from 15 writers. In reality, I just basically asked for 15 sample pages from 2,625 queries.

Now before you die of heart failure, that’s probably not wholly accurate either. I know Sara has also been requesting sample pages and I actually don’t know how many she has requested from queries over the last 3 weeks.

So I’m guessing the total is more like 30 or 40 requests for sample pages out of 2,625 queries.

Now you know why I’ve spent so much time teaching you folks how to write that silly query pitch blurb!

And because I can’t leave you in doom and gloom right before the holiday weekend, just remember that ‘re’ is a drop of golden sun…

This put a huge smile on my face. I hope it does the same for you!

More than 200 dancers performed their version of “Do Re Mi”, in the Central Railway Station of Antwerp. With just 2 rehearsals, it is a promotion stunt for a Belgian television program where they are looking for someone to play the leading role in the musical of “The Sound of Music”.

15 Out Of 52

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: I’m actually planning to stay home from the office tomorrow to do a reading day. The trick is to not check email….

What’s playing on the iPod right now? SATELLITE by Guster

Tonight I read 52 queries.

I asked for sample pages from the following

1. two folks who had met me in person at a conference.
2. two fantasy queries that had caught my attention.
3. four YA paranormal queries that sound interesting but will really have to blow me away in this crowded market
4 . two literary novels that will have to be all about the writing
5. one military SF novel that was really very cool (I just wish the market was stronger in SF right now. I did just sell an SF novel a couple of months ago but that wasn’t an easy task.)
6. one historical romance query that had a unique premise
7. one middle grade novel that didn’t have anything to do with paranormal (who knew that was a plus?)
7. one project recommended to me by another agent (whom I knew of but don’t know well) so interesting
8. and one contemporary romance novel

I also respond ed personally to two queries that were for crime novels because the author had been referred to the agency by people I knew. Why I came to mind for crime novels is beyond me. I don’t represent them. Still I did write back explaining why I was passing on looking at pages. I also recommended a few folks who actually do crime fiction so maybe that will help.

And now I’m ready to call it a night.

Mea Culpa—Never A Position Of Strength

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Ack. Is it really almost 1:30 in the afternoon? Time to hit that TO DO list hard.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? LONESOME TOWN by Ricky Nelson

Or another title might be—don’t tweet in anger if you don’t like your book review.

I’m not sure how many of you have followed the Alice Hoffman Tweet debacle but here is briefly what happened. After a non-positive review in the Boston Globe by reviewer Roberta Silman, Author Alice Hoffman shot off 27 twitter tweets in response—one of the tweets included Silman’s email and telephone number and Hoffman urged her fans to respond to the review.

Uh, authors don’t do this. A reviewer is entitled to his or her opinion (hence, the point of reviews).

If you don’t like a review, you don’t like it. Move on. Trust me, mea culpas are not a position of strength. Regardless of whether you are justified or not, this does not put you, the author, in a positive light.

And, as Hoffman realized, you’re just going to end up having to issue an apology through your PR firm.

Now I think you can tweet about how sad you are about the bad review but why draw attention to it? Lots of readers pay very little attention to reviews. Recommends by friends are the largest seller of books. Your friend might not have remembered the Globe review but they might remember this tweet debacle.

So what will be accomplished? Is all publicity good publicity? Maybe this was a great promo stunt and readers will wonder whether they agree with the Globe reviewer and thus buy the book to read it?

What do you blog readers think?

My thought? I think people reading about this incident will just think Ms. Hoffman can’t handle criticism and maybe that old adage applies: if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. Criticism and bad reviews are a risk in publishing.

A Head Scratcher

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Doing some client reading.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? TAXI by Bryan Ferry

I just finished reading a query where the writer spent the first two opening paragraphs talking about the interesting setting of Alaska but when the writer hit the pitch blurb, no mention was made of how the setting influenced the story.

It could have been set anywhere.

Well that’s a head scratcher.

I couldn’t help but wonder why all the detail on the location if the writer wasn’t going to use it. So my recommend, If you are going to great lengths to describe an unusual or important setting, make sure the connection to your actually story is clear.

Time For A Cool Change

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: I’m working on two different contracts this afternoon. So necessary, so time consuming, and always delightful when it concludes.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? P.Y.T. (PRETTY YOUNG THING) by Michael Jackson
(of course!)

It’s no longer okay for Publishers to say to me in a negotiation: “we have a policy that we won’t do that.”

Especially when I’m talking about royalty structures and for this rant, the royalty structure for a trade paperback.

Just to be clear, there are three main types of print formats for books. There is hardcover–which is of a certain size and has a hard cover covered by a dust jacket. There is trade paperback—which is usually the same size as a hardcover but with, funny enough, a soft cover and no jacket. Then there is mass market—which is the smaller soft cover usually associated with “pocket” size (although some of them are tomes that wouldn’t fit in a back pocket or otherwise).

Today I want to rant about trade paperback royalty structures. For twenty years, the “standard” royalty percentage authors earn from trade pb sales from publishing houses has been 7.5% flat.

Why is that? Why is the trade paperback royalty lower than the mass market version where “standard” starts at 8% and usually escalates to 10% (typically around 150,000 copies)?

Trade pb has a higher price point for point-of-sale so that’s not the reason. Yes, it’s more expensive to print than a mass but it’s not as expensive as a hardcover. And why is there no escalation?

Especially now when publishing is rapidly changing and there is a movement away from doing hardcover publication and doing original trade paperbacks instead—even for debut literary authors.

So why in the world are we stuck with an outdated royalty structure that doesn’t match how publishing is currently operating today?

And it’s not enough to tell me, “well, we’ve never done an escalation for a trade paperback royalty. It’s just not done here at our house.”

Just because it hasn’t been done in the past doesn’t mean we can’t talk about it in the here and now. Publishing is not the same as it was 20 years ago so why are the royalty structures?

Very good question I think.

I’m out. TGIF!

R.I.P The King Of Pop

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Maybe I’m a little too attached to old pop culture but Farrah and Michael in the same day? I have to blog about it.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? BILLIE JEAN by Michael Jackson

What news. I feel like an essential part of my teen hood has just died. MTV. Thriller. King of Pop. It doesn’t feel like it was 27 years ago.

In Loving Memory…

Here’s the link to the original MTV video.

It’s worth a little nostalgia for the 1980s Michael

Editor Rejection Remorse (Definition)

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Technology can make working effortless. When it’s not working, let me tell you what a headache it can be. What a miserable Wednesday.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? HUNTING HIGH AND LOW by a-ha

I have to say that I got a kick out of reading all your definitions for editor rejection remorse. In fact, just about every entry had a terrific definition. No one quite nailed what I had in mind when I was coining the term but more on that in a minute.

In the comments, the most popular definition for editor rejection remorse was an editor who had turned down a manuscript only to later see it be really successful or hit the NYT list.

I think that would also be agent rejection remorse. Grin. Funny enough, I’ve had two books I passed on hit the NYT list and sure, I took a moment to second guess myself but the truth of the matter? I still don’t like either of those books. It so wasn’t right for me. But there is an upcoming release that I went back and forth, back and forth on and then passed—mainly because I was crunched for time and had to make a decision so I let it go. It’s building in buzz as of late so I’ll probably have good regret on that one. Oh well, I only have so many hours in the day.

And editors I’m sure have a moment’s pause as well but every editor I’ve asked said that they can’t spend too much time on things they passed on because maybe it took that certain house with that certain editor to have the vision to put that title on the bestseller list or to give it the good success it had.

Do we believe it? That’s the question….

Now I think it’s normal to have genuine regret if you are the editor who was the underbidder in the auction (as in the editor lost out but really wanted the project). That just plain sucks—especially if the editor did everything in his or her power to get the higher ups to go the distance and they didn’t. Nothing the editor can do there and then to see the project they really wanted be successful can be painful.

Now for me, here is the definition of editor rejection remorse I had in mind when I was typing up last night’s entry. This actually happened. I had an editor pass on a submission with a really glowing rejection letter. The editor used words such as “savored” this novel and “was mesmerized by the beautiful language.”

Yeah, I know. I still can’t believe that was a rejection letter.

A week later, the editor couldn’t stop thinking about the novel and so out of the blue, wrote me an email with an editorial revision letter for the author. The editor mentioned how she would very much like to see this novel again.

She was obviously having rejection remorse. Editors have a lot on their plates in any given day or week so the fact that it was still in the forefront of her mind a week later says a lot. Now whether that will than equal a sale is the crucial question.

Editor Rejection Remorse

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: It’s rather late but I’m thinking of squeezing in one quick sample page read before I call it quits for the night.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? WHO WILL SAVE YOUR SOUL by Jewel

This is rather like playing a round of Balderdash. Do you remember the party game where you are given a rather obscure vocabulary word and each player has to create a definition? The captain of the round then writes down the actual definition, mixes up the entries, and then the players get to vote on which entry is the real one.

You win points as a player if other players vote for your made-up explanation. If you vote for the real dictionary definition, then you win extra points as well.

So I though tonight we might play a little round of balderdash because editor rejection remorse rather sounds like a phrase that I made up. (In fact, I may very well have but surely I can’t be the first agent to call it such.)

It does occasionally happen and tomorrow I’ll talk about it but before then, come out and play and give the definition your best shot. What do you think it means?

Silence A NO Answer?

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Good. I still have a lot of reading that needs to be done but I’m starting to catch up.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? SUDDENLY I SEE by Kt Tunstall

When I was in New York, I did spend some time talking to a variety of writers at BEA and at the Backspace Conference.

One writer asked me if silence on a full request meant a NO.

Not knowing the agent or agency, I didn’t really have an answer to that but I might be able to shed a tiny bit of insight on to the question.

I would not consider silence a NO response, but I also wouldn’t wait around for this agent or agency to get back to you. Get those queries out there. Get more sample pages in agents’ hands. Don’t pin your hopes on this tiny glimmer of interest.

Because some agents are like a few editors that I know and avoid, they won’t start reading until they get a heads up that there is other interest. I know, it’s awful to say but often times the truth.

At my agency, I really do try and stick by the maxim we highlight on our website that says we will respond to full manuscripts within 2 months. The key word there is “try.” I can count numerous times where I’ve been woefully behind and the fulls we requested were the last thing on my to do list. I hate that; it happens.

Now we never ask for an exclusive so it doesn’t really matter if I’m late to the read or if I don’t get a chance to read at all because the writer has been offered representation by an agent who read in a more timely fashion. It’s simply too bad for me.

If I were that writer though, I’d still continue my inquiry as to the status of my submission—politely, professionally, but persistently (as in maybe once every 3 weeks). Because you are owed a response. I’m not saying that you’ll get one but you really are owed one.