Pub Rants

Category: Agent Kristin

Is HarperCollins Pitting Authors Against Booksellers?

by Kristin Nelson

Just this week, HarperCollins announced that they would give authors a royalty incentive (35% of net instead of 25% of net) on any sales of an individual author’s book(s) that are sold via an affiliate link to HarperCollins’ new consumer-facing branded book retail site.

In other words, if the author is directly responsible for the sale, they get a higher royalty percentage. (Note: this only holds true for sales of books by the author. Authors can’t provide HarperCollins links to other author books and get an affiliate commission on the sale.)

To sum up, authors are rewarded if the sale is made directly through their publisher.

So does that pit authors against booksellers?

In my mind, the answer is no. Here’s why. HarperCollins is not mandating that their authors provide and feature ONLY links to the HarperCollins’ branded retail site.

HC is simply asking that the link be included along with all the other retail links to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Google, Indiebound (the consortium of independent booksellers), etc.

If HarperCollins mandated that authors could only use their links on websites, newsletters, and email blasts, that could create a problem.

But it does raise another interesting thought. If Publishers have online storefronts? Are they in direct competition with booksellers? After all, they are now selling direct-to-consumers.

(By the way, Publishers have always had the ability to sell directly to readers via mail order, phone sales, catalog, and special sales, but it hasn’t been a big revenue avenue in the past, except for some specific titles.)

That answer is probably yes, if a publisher’s retail store starts building real market share.

If It Sounds Too Good to Be True, It Is

by Kristin Nelson

As I was reading Digital Book World‘s daily email blast, I came across a press release in the form of an article called Writer’s Digest Inks Deal with Book Baby. It was about a new self-publishing imprint called Blue Ash Publishing.

What struck me was this bullet point:

  • 100% Net Earnings on all sales: Blue Ash Publishing takes no commission on any book sales. Authors keep 100% of their book’s net earnings. Once retailers are paid their percentage, all remaining revenue goes back to the author. BookBaby offers the largest eBook distribution network, including Amazon, Apple, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, and many other popular retailers in more than 170 countries around the globe.

One-hundred percent of net earnings on all sales goes to the author. Sounds great, right? So immediately I started thinking like an agent. And the first question that pops to mind is, “What’s the catch?” There is no such thing as a free lunch. Just how exactly will Blue Ash Publishing make money in this venture?

Always follow the money…

I decided to do a little digging. First stop, check the source–Blue Ash’s website. Sure enough, right there on the home page was a link to Blue Ash’s publishing packages.

In actuality, writers need to think of this as a service or one-stop shopping for independent contractors to convert the book, do the cover, hire the editor, etc. This is not a publishing house. I repeat: This is not a publishing house. And from what I see on the website, they offer nothing that you can’t do on your own pretty simply, for a lot cheaper—and you’ll get paid directly rather than via a third party.

As my indie authors constantly remind me (and other writers who will listen), no one can publicize your book as well as you can. And it’s certainly not worth the $3,000+ for Blue Ash Publishing’s “Ultimate Package.”

Last but not least, because you are thinking like an agent, if you are going to explore this “service,” be sure to get a very clear definition of what “net” means to Blue Ash.

Bottom line? Pass. You can do this all for a lot cheaper than these price tags.

Worth The Conference Registration Cost

by Kristin Nelson

Last month I gave a webinar on how Digital is rapidly transforming publishing.

I love giving this workshop at conferences every chance I get because most writers are completely confused by the stories that are making today’s headlines and how that impacts writers. It’s my chance to really explain all that is going on.

Attendees always walk away telling me that my workshop alone was worth their conference registration cost. (Of course they could just be humoring me…) LOL

Still, it makes me happy. I always want aspiring writers to be informed as much as possible.

We are doing something unique this month and making the recording available for streaming.

Amazon: Hypocrite. Customer is not Always King

by Kristin Nelson

One of the reasons why I wanted Hachette to be forthcoming when I started asking about the shipping issues (many moons before the news became public) was because I had already guessed that Amazon was flexing some muscle in a contract negotiation.

So confirming it wasn’t telling me anything I didn’t probably already know…

But also so I could tell Hachette and the editors that my authors and I were firmly on their side and hugely supportive of what they were having to face.

Amazon – I have been very appreciative of the many changes you’ve already created in publishing but now you are just being a big old fat hypocrite.

Because your motto is customer first, always.

Well, this kind of hardball in no way serves your customers. It hurts authors (whom you claim to support) and you deserve the public fall-out that this spat creates.

The Amazon – Hachette Spat

by Kristin Nelson

This just hit the newswire in the last week but I’ve informally known about this since late fall 2013 (as early as November). The problem? My Hachette authors and I noticed this “shipping issue” multiple times and brought it to our Hachette Editors’ attention. 

Multiple times. Repeated emails. We were assured that all was fine. (Which we, of course, did not believe since it kept happening….)

This is yet another moment where big publishing could have chosen to partner with authors and agents by explaining the truth behind Amazon’s muscle flexing.

Instead, Hachette choose to go with “we don’t discuss contract negotiations” tactic, which leaves their authors in the dark, agents like me fuming, and fosters a general atmosphere of distrust that the publisher is not being forthright.

Not the end goal here! What we need is more communication, not less.

Let agents and authors help you take a stand–which is actually what’s going on now and is detailed in this New York Times Article.

As happens time and time again, the truth does emerge and leaves those of us who have been asking about it for the last six months with exasperated hands in air, the desire to bang head against desk, and authors who now won’t believe the publisher when the response is “all is fine” in the future.

2013 Year End Stats!

by Kristin Nelson

I’d like to cordially welcome you to the new year! Out with the old and in with the new but before we move on, I know readers love to get the tally of our end-of-year statistics. This went out to our eNewsletter readers first but for the archives, here’s the list.

Enjoy!

40
books sold (up from 33 last year).

128
foreign rights deals done (way up from 83 last year—holy cow!).

7
number of new clients (down from 16 total last year: 3 for Kristin and 4 for Sara).

35,000+ or some big number…
estimated number of queries read and responded to. Down from last year as we closed queries in the month of December.

67
full manuscripts requested and read (down from 81 last year).

972
number of sample pages requested and read (down from 1029 last year).

2
number of projects currently on submission

3
tv and major motion picture deals – Kristin

2.8+ million
number of copies in print/sold for my bestselling long-running series this year

1.5+ million
number of copies in print/sold for my bestselling indvidual title

1.6+ million
number of copies sold for my bestselling hybrid author

3+ million
number of ebooks sold for my bestselling Indie-only publishing author

300,000+
number of of copies in print/sold for my bestselling debut series

800,000+
number of of copies in print/sold for Sara’s bestselling author

13
number of conferences attended — 6 for Kristin (which includes Digital Book World, BEA and Frankfurt Book Fair), 5 for Sara, 2 for Anita.

31 
number of Kristin’s career New York Times Bestsellers (up from 20 just last year). I did 11 more in 2013 alone. Wowza!

32
total number of New York Times Bestsellers for NLA as an agency (Sara had her very first with Jason Hough’s THE DARWIN ELEVATOR this summer. Woot!)

130
number of  consecutive weeks on the NYT bestseller list for a Kristin author

170
number of physical holiday cards sent

468
number of electronic holiday cards sent

Not telling it’s so embarrassing
number of eggnog chai consumed in the months of November and December.

Lots
number of late nights reading on my living room chaise with Chutney

All
number of great days loving my job

Where Did All of Kristin’s Good Content on Contracts Go? To our eNewsletter!

by Kristin Nelson

In October, NLA implemented a new feature–a special News Alert eMail blast for subscribers of our newsletter. Today, a blast went out informing readers of how Harpercollins subscription service with Scribd will work and how authors will get paid.

Because my time is so limited these days (sadly!), regular or daily blog posts that alert readers about changes to publishing contracts and how that impacts authors just isn’t possible for me. But I am still doing great posts 2 or 3 times a months. Those columns can be found in NLA’s Monthly newsletter for our subscribers.

If you’ve been suffering from Pub Rants withdrawal, that would be the place to go to get your fix. Our eNewsletter is free. Just click on the Newsletter button at the bottom of our web page to sign up.

And for those of you who weren’t subscribers yet and missed that blast,  here’s the link to where you can see the news.

By the way, this is exactly the type of content I plan to tackle in tonight’s webinar:

Wednesday, November 13, 2013 at 6:00 p.m. Mountain Time.

THE NITTY GRITTY – HOW DIGITAL IS TRANSFORMING THE PUBLISHING LANDSCAPE.

There’s still time to register.

Climb To The Super Important Twenty Thousand And One Word

by Kristin Nelson

Last week my author Marie Lu came to Boulder, Colorado for the Breathless Reads tour — rather apropos given the event was on Valentine’s Day…

There were four authors featured: Marie, Andrea Cremer, Jessica Khoury, and Brenna Yovanoff. They did short reads from a breathless scene from each of their novels. They were smart though, they switched scenes so they didn’t have to read their own. It just works better that way! When the audience got a chance to ask questions, one attendee asked what advice would the four of them give to young aspiring writers.

This one stuck out the most in my mind. Ms. Cremer said that all writers need to remember this (and I’m going to paraphrase here): when she starts a project, she’s just so in-love with it, she can’t wait to sit down and write it. She’s excited. The words fly onto the page. Every idea, every bit of dialogue she writes is a gem. Then she hits word 20,001. Bam. The wall. And it happens every time. Then she has to force herself to sit down to write each day, none of the scenes come easily, she ends up deleting half the dialogue. In other words, she has to slog through the next 20,000 words until she breaks through to the ending section.

It happens to her with every manuscript she writes. And even more astonishing? Every other author on the panel agreed with her. They had never thought of it that way but it was so true!

Now why am I bringing this up? Because I think any number of authors hit that 20,001 word and either give up on the idea or polish the heck out of those first chapters and then NEVER GO ANY FURTHER and finish the novel.

I also see any number of sample pages that have an incredibly strong beginning, I’m excited, and then the middle sags like nobody’s biz. As an agent, I haven’t got time to slog through that part to get to what might be a great ending. I stop reading. On to the next author who has mastered the saggy middle, the art of gritting your teeth through the hard work revision.

Those are the authors we agents want to work with! So ask yourself, do you have what it takes to suffer through the middle abyss?

2012 Year End Stats!

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Off and running. Need to play catch up on everything that wasn’t completed by Dec. 19 when I headed out for winter break. And I’m so close to finishing up the text for the new website so we can finally launch!

What’s playing on the XM or iPod right now? BITTERSWEET by Hoodoo Gurus

Happy New Year! I hope your 2013 is off to a raucous start!

I’ve got contract work aplenty. Sara has an offer on the table and signed somebody new literally as we were closing. The query inbox is crammed with 341 queries from folks who wanted to send in December but couldn’t because we were closed to queries that month. 

33
books sold (slightly down from last year).

83
foreign rights deals done (up from 65 deals last year).

16
number of new clients (5 for Kristin and 9 for Sara). Updated to 11 for Sara –she signed two authors right as we were closing for the year!

32,000+ or some big number…
estimated number of queries read and responded to. Down from last year as we closed queries in the month of December.

81
full manuscripts requested and read (up from 69 last year).

1029
number of sample pages requested and read (up from 618 last year).

3
number of projects currently on submission

4
tv and major motion picture deals

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

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

300,000+
number of copies sold for my bestselling eBook-only title this year

23
number of conferences attended (8 for Kristin (including BEA and Bologna Book Fair), 1 for Angie, 8 for Anita, and 6 for Sara)

20  Forgot Manga edition of SOULLESS that hit #1! Smacks forehead. so it’s not 19 but 20
number of career NLA New York Times Bestsellers (I actually sat down to count them up. I was surprised it was that many.)

1
number of books named to Publisher’s Weekly list of top books of the year (that would be Sara’s THE PECULIAR by Stefan Bachman this year).

135
number of physical holiday cards sent

450
number of electronic holiday cards sent

Uh, 30?
number of eggnog chai consumed in the months of November and December. I’m embarrassed to say.

Lots
number of late nights reading on my living room chaise with Chutney

All
number of great days loving my job

Because The First Thing That Comes To Mind Is The Size Of The Advance – Not.

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: With New York Publishing shut down, I’m working on a UK contract and catching up on email. I think it’s going to be this way for most of the week.

What’s playing on the XM or iPod right now?  HOPE I DON’T FALL IN LOVE WITH YOU by Tom Waits

Obviously the Random House – Penguin merger is all the news in the publishing world right now. It’s a big deal. But I read this article in Publishers Weekly and pretty much snorted my tea.

PW makes it sound like an agent’s biggest concern might be the reduction in advance amounts paid for books.

I’m concerned about MANY things that might come about because of the merger but smaller advances is not one of them. It’s not even on my top 10 list of things to be concerned about.

Publishing saw the consolidation of publishing houses into smaller and smaller numbers in the early 90s. That evolved into what had been known as the “Big 6” of the last decade.

It’s now down to the “Big 5” and quite honestly, I don’t see NewsCorp (which owns HarperCollins) settling for the status quo. Wouldn’t surprise me at all to see the “Big 5” become “4” with two more houses merging in the not-so-distant-future.

Of course this all has to pass anti-trust rulings, etc.

What does fewer publishing houses mean for authors?

That answer is pretty simple. Fewer choices. Less competition. More uniformity of royalty rates (like that hasn’t happened already because houses are already more interested in status quo among themselves rather than actual competition). Narrowed vision of what is the market and what should sell (and they already have tunnel vision as any number of digitally self-published successes have recently proven). More emphasis on commercial blockbusters and less building authors from the mid list.

Getting the picture? Smaller advances? Not a main issue on my radar.