Pub Rants

Category: Agent Kristin

Demon’s Lexicon: Letter To the Editor

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: I lied yesterday. Today I’m finishing that contract if it’s the last thing I do…

What’s playing on the iPod right now? (I JUST) DIED IN YOUR ARMS by Cutting Crew

Now that we’ve had a chance to look at the query letter that Sarah sent to me, I thought it might be interesting to see the submission letter I emailed to editors for THE DEMON’S LEXICON. [Note: this is the main bones of the letter since I often tailor it to a specific editors etc.] Since Karen Wojtyla won the auction at S&S, I’ll use her name in the salutation.

Before I share the letter, here are some interesting tidbits about this manuscript and its submission.

1. This novel sold to an editor I had never worked with before. In fact, Karen didn’t know me as an agent at all. I had to ring her up and introduce myself so she wouldn’t think I was some lunatic who wanted to send her something. Now Karen is delighted I made that phone call. We are having lunch next time I’m in New York and that will be the first time we will meet in person.

My point? Agents don’t know every editor on the planet. Now we know a good majority but not all.

2. Here’s another fun tidbit. I knew the minute an editor had finished reading the manuscript because they just had to talk to me immediately about the ending. I received some late night emails and phone calls because of that. Editors couldn’t believe that they hadn’t seen it coming (even though I had warned them in the submission letter). It’s also the only submission I’ve done where I think every editor who loved it, read it twice before the auction unfolded. They had to see for themselves that all the clues were there and they could have figured it out.

And so without further ado, the letter:

Hello Karen,

Let me tell you why I love this novel. First, it’s a story of two brothers—Alan and Nick. Think for a minute. When’s the last time you read a YA urban fantasy that was about two brothers? I certainly haven’t seen one in a long time. But it’s also the story of a brother and sister—Jamie and Mae who get caught in the events unfolding around the Ryves brothers. In fact, their interconnecting lives become absolutely essential to the outcome. Here’s the other reason I love this novel, right at the minute I think I’m brilliant and I have the novel figured out, the author turns the whole story on its head. To say there is a twist would be an understatement. But if you go back and reread, you’ll see that all the subtle clues are there.

So what is THE DEMON’S LEXICON? It’s a story set in modern-day London. It’s about two brothers who are on the run with their mother because she was once the lover of a powerful magician and when she left him, she took an important charm amulet with her. When the eldest son gets marked by the magician’s demon, the family must stand and fight and only the strong yet mysterious bond between the brothers can save them.

The author, Sarah Rees Brennan, is Irish and currently lives in London. For a short stint, she lived in New York and became involved with a wide circle of writers and publishers who encouraged and supported her, including New York Times bestselling authors [Name removed] and [Name removed] (both have already agreed to read the advanced copy for a blurb) and Anna Genoese, a former editor at Tor. She has developed a wide audience through her popular blog, http://mistful.livejournal.com/, where she writes movie parodies, book reviews and some stories, and has around four thousand registered readers (she was also recently interviewed about her blog in The Washington Post). She participates in http://community.livejournal.com/fangs_fur_fey –an adult and YA urban fantasy writers’ community started by Melissa Marr (Wicked Lovely). Currently, Sarah is completing a Creative Writing M.A. with her dissertation tutor Liz Jensen (shortlisted for the Guardian Fiction Prize for her book Ark Baby).

I’m super excited to share this novel with you, and I can’t wait to talk about the ending. So call or email me when you are finished and then I can gush all I want.

All Best,
Kristin

What Not To Write About

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: It’s almost 6:30 p.m. and I’m shaking my head as to why I didn’t accomplish more during the work day…

What’s playing on the iPod right now? EVERY MORNING by Sugar Ray

Media Bistro is a fountain of good stories lately. Despite the gory nature of this news clip, I just had to laugh. If you are a writer and you commit a crime, don’t write about it in your “novel.”

I mean, duh. This doesn’t even qualify as a decent rant because really, how stupid can some people be?

Polish Writer Convicted of Murder He Described in Novel (AP)Fishermen dragged the dead man’s body — hands bound behind his back and tied to a noose around his neck — from the cold waters of the Oder River in Poland in December 2000. Police struggled to dig up any clues until a tip five years later led them to a novel with an eerily similar murder — and its author, Krystian Bala, who suspected the victim of having an affair with his estranged wife.

Foiled by Tech Issues

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Need to go home and pack because I’m leaving for New York City and BEA tomorrow.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? BOYS AND GIRLS by Bryan Ferry

This is definitely a blog light and for that I apologize.

Most of my day was spent transitioning my website and email over to a new company and server.

Remember all those email issues I was having? Well, they weren’t getting solved so I had to move on. I don’t even want to think about how many people never received a response to their query letters because of all the trouble we were having and all the emails that weren’t delivered.

If you never received a reply from us, you might want to resend that email query just to be safe.
The transition has happened but there could still be glitches. If you visit our website and your cache hasn’t been emptied or your web browser hasn’t refreshed, you might still be seeing the old site on the old server or you might get an error page. Don’t worry. You don’t have to do anything extra and it will shake out in the next 3 days or so.

Consider yourself forewarned.

Ps. The electronic submissions database is fine. Everything transferred without a problem.

Critique Me In St. Louis?

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: This has been a crazy day. I really needed to finish an edit for a client but it’s already 4 in the afternoon and I haven’t touched it. Guess I’ll be up late tonight.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? SHOOT THE MOON by Norah Jones

Okay, I’m embarrassed to admit that my Mom & Dad read my blog (and boy did I get in trouble when I didn’t call to tell them about Chutney’s trip to the emergency room.) I got a cold blast when my Mom called to tell me she had read about it ON MY BLOG. Sniff.

Won’t make that mistake again!

But she did send me a tidbit to share with writers because she noticed that commenters often asked about how they can find people to critique their work.

So, if you happen to live in St. Louis, Missouri and are looking for a critique group, this post is for you (and you can give a warm thank you to my mother and the article she found).

You might start with the St. Louis Writers Guild. This association has many different affiliate chapters such as the Chesterfield Writers Guild (which is a township within St. Louis). According to my Mom (and the article she was reading), they each have a mission of providing for and promoting a community of writers of all genres and levels of experience within the area. They offer workshops, peer reviews, groups, speakers etc.

If St. Louis has this, I bet other communities to do. Just do a Google search for [YOUR CITY NAME] Writers Guild and see what pops up. Get connected.

Writing is solitary business but it doesn’t have to be.

Goodbye Miss Snark! I’ll Miss You

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: A little sad. See below. Just a heads up to let you know that Chutney is doing well. Her stomach is giving her occasional problems but you don’t really need details about that.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? SAVE A PRAYER by Duran Duran

I heard the very sad news this morning when a friend emailed me the link. Yes, it’s true. Miss Snark is retiring.

Why am I sad? Because she would often say (and rather bluntly) what I could not as a non-anonymous, very nice literary agent.

She could be our mouthpiece for the truth that needed to be said without any sugar-coating. And I know I’m not the only agent who felt that way.

But don’t worry, I don’t have any plans to end my blogging but I can sometimes sympathize with Miss Snark and Jennifer Jackson. Some days it’s a real stretch to come up with a topic worth blogging about. As long as you don’t mind a few blog lights here and there, we’ll probably be fine.

Now on to the topic that still has me steamed. I’m particularly enjoying the S&S’s most recent press release where they manage to dance around everything but the real issue—that without sales thresholds for POD copies, there’s no way for rights to revert (which is not in an author’s favor) despite all those good proclamations about how this is really a benefit to authors. Read the press release for yourself right here.

Snort.

Oops. Did I just do that aloud?

So some key phrases: “we are willing to have an open and forthright dialogue on this or any other topic.

I guess I’ll soon find out.

Another key phrase: “to keep the author’s book available for sale over the term of the license.”

Well two things here folks:

1. We have OOP clauses so we don’t have to specify an exact term of the license in the publishing contract because once it’s out of print, rights revert (when sales thresholds are included that is).

2. As discussed with my contracts manager, we would be open to specifying an exact term for the license but at the moment, we didn’t have to because we had very specific Out of Print clauses that made the term of the license clear. And the vote is not in yet on whether S&S will be “open and forthright” about a dialogue concerning license term limits specified when negotiating the initial Grant of Rights.

I guess I’ll soon find out about that as well.

Multiple Voices (Or Are They Just In Your Head)?

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: I’m dragging today. I stayed up super late last night but this time it wasn’t because I had an exciting full manuscript to read. Nope. It was excitement of a different kind. I had to run Chutney to the emergency room. Her face swelled up like a hippopotamus out of nowhere last night. Don’t worry, she’s not perky today but doing well. I guess a swollen face is a sign of an allergic reaction. She had a big welt on her leg so we think she was bitten by a spider. She has got to stop playing with those 8-legged friends.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? PERSONAL JESUS by Depeche Mode

I did a phone teleclass today and one of the attendees asked me an interesting question. She asked, “can writers have different voices for different genre projects.”

The question stumped me because I had never really thought about it before. I rather assumed that a writer’s voice is his or her voice regardless of what the person is writing. That your writing voice is essential and unique to you and even though you might bend it to different genres, it will ultimately still “sound” like you or have your unique feel.

And that’s what I said but maybe I was just pushing air. Can writers have different voices for different genres?

Another Pearl of Wisdom?

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Had a terrific day snowshoeing in fresh powder since it snowed some last night.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? No music sadly.

I tend to think deep thoughts when snowshoeing–or maybe not so deep and I’ll let you be the judge.

Obviously there are a lot of people who want to be published authors and statistically, not all will become so.

Chances are good that a good portion of those people who would love to embrace this dream will not have the perseverance or the talent to make it.

Statistically we know this is true but when writing, you have to be in touch with your heart–not the logic of your brain that wants to weigh you down with statistical fact.

You may never be published but you need to live your life with the thought that you will. And ultimately, you have to write for the personal joy of it (not because you have to be published) because the sacrifice you make (the price you pay if you will) would not be worth it.

Gotta love the peace and quiet of Winter Park for getting one to a place of good thinking.

A Pearl Of Wisdom?

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Great because I’m taking a little ski break in Winter Park for the “long” weekend.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? Well the local bar has some Reggae music going. I’m sitting in the lobby to get the wireless connection.

Since I’m supposed to be on vaca, I’m going with blog light for the next 2 days.

As I was hiking through one of the beautiful National Forests of Colorado with Chuts and my hubby, I was thinking about one piece of advice I would give to writers if I could only give one.

Ultimately I decided that the most valuable asset a new writer can have is a mentor–preferably an already published author.

Having such a valuable resource can make a world of difference in how the publishing world unfolds for an aspiring author.

A published mentor can share the hard times, be a real critique for current work, and really give an inside perspective that only a previously published writer (who has been through the process) can offer.

In any profession, a good mentor is worth her or his weight in gold–this is especially true in publishing.

Will Critique For Charity

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: I got to the office early just so I could tackle business details this morning and ack. It’s almost 11 a.m. and I’m still reviewing the books.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? EDGE OF SEVENTEEN by Stevie Nicks

I’m constantly trying to drive home the fact that most agents don’t have time to critique—either sample pages or queries. Sometimes we’ll give feedback on full manuscripts but that’s about it.

Except… I always find the time to do a critique if it’s for charity. So, if you’ve always dreamed of an Agent critique, here’s your chance.

Last year I did two charity critiques—spending an hour to two hours reading the winner’s first 50 pages carefully. I made detailed notes on the pages, and I wrote up an extensive revision letter. All positive and encouraging but also honest on why I would have passed if I had requested these sample pages. (And maybe this year I’ll get some exciting pages from an auction winner and I’ll request the full. It can happen!)

If this sounds like your cup of tea, it’s time to check out best-selling author Brenda Novak’s diabetes auction. For me, it’s also very personal. One of my best friends in the world and my brother-in-law suffer from diabetes so I’m particularly eager to participate in this charity function every year.

My donated critique isn’t up on the site quite yet since I just sent in my materials but check back in the next two weeks or so and it will be there.

Auction happens May 1-31st, 2007.

And if you are an author/editor/agent and have something to contribute, please join me.

Piracy—All Too Real

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Besides that fact that it’s snowing again in Denver, I’m good. The keyboard and the mouse dried out and are working fine. Yea! And don’t worry, I know that there are plenty of mighty and wonderful librarians who fight for free speech etc.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? COOL CHANGE by Little River Band

This isn’t the first time it has happened and I’m certain it won’t be the last. Piracy. Illegal eBooks being offered for sale via a website. Last time one of my author’s series of books was offered for sale in the Philippines. A quick email to the publisher got their legal team on it and within 24 hours, the webhoster had pulled the site.

It was probably up again a week later under a different hoster but hey, you do what you can.

This week, it’s a file sharing culprit right here in the U.S. (or I think it’s the US, the origin isn’t clear) A website called eSnips. Funny enough, sharing books isn’t an obvious part of the “community.” You need to go here to see what is being offered. Deliberate? Hum…

First off, if you are an author, you might want to check the site to see if your book is featured there. If so, contact your agent and your editor. We need to speak up in the face of copyright violation.

After all, this is how writers make their living–by selling books and earning royalties. If the books are posted (in full) on a site that allows free downloads, then the author is not earning money they are owed for their work.

Even if the books are being made available by misguided fans who think they are simply boosting the fan base of their favorite authors, it’s just plain wrong. (Besides, nothing like dissing an author you like by not allowing them to earn a living.)

And even if the author is already super millionaire, they still have a right to earn that money from their work (and to dispose of those earnings how they choose–even to charities etc.). Being a bestseller doesn’t matter for this issue.

Just imagine if it were your work being made available so casually—especially if you’re eyeing your bills for next month and wondering just how creative you’ll need to be to pay them…