Pub Rants

Category: agenting

Best. Story. Ever. (Part II)

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: It’s been a little quiet. Fewer emails than normal. Let’s me get stuff done!

What’s playing on the XM or iPod right now? DREAMGIRL by Dave Matthews Band

Ah, I just so love torturing my blog readers. Just to be nice, I’m doing my blog entry early today.

So as I mentioned yesterday, the one thing everyone else wants to know is why did the editor change her mind and decide to offer for a book she had initially passed on?

Before I answer that question, here’s another fun facet. A day or two after I got that call from the editor who originally passed but now was offering for the book, this same work received another offer from an editor at another house.

All this after the project had been on submission for a little while. It’s like one offer knocked the universe open for the other.

So not only did we have one offer, we had two. There is no better place for an author to be. So I had the author do phone conferences with each interested editor. Get their vision for launching the title. For us, it just wasn’t about the advance. We wanted to be with the editor who best “got” the book—especially given the unique circumstances of one of the offers. Ultimately, the author did go with the editor who originally had passed.

So why did that editor change her mind?

She couldn’t stop thinking about the project and decided she had been wrong to pass on it. She figured out how to do the book and once that answer was clear to her, she called me to offer for three books—not just one.

The author and I were super pleased. After all, when we were working on the novel, we totally had this one editor in mind for it. We were actually flummoxed when she passed as we thought it was tailor-made for her.

So, I love an editor who can say, “hey, I was wrong. Is the book still available and if so, I’m going to offer right now for it. On top of that, I’m going to show you some serious commitment by offering for more than one book.”

And I’m just saying I’m around today if any other editors want to call me about past submissions they passed on…

Best. Story. Ever.

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Just another manic Monday. Can’t believe it’s 3 pm already.

What’s playing on the XM or iPod right now? BEMSHA SWING by Roy Haynes

Recently, I had something that has never happened to me before as an agent.

I had an editor ring up, out of the blue, to offer on a book that she had passed on 2 months previously. And she didn’t just offer for one book.

If the term “gaping fish” comes to mind, you won’t be far off in terms of how I looked when the call came in. I was so surprised that I think I even asked: “You’re calling to offer?” As if she were pulling my leg.

All my agent friends want to know how I made this happen.

I replied: “Uh, I answered the phone when it rang.”

And of course, the one thing everyone else wants to know is this: Why did the editor change her mind?

Tune in tomorrow…

Reminiscing The Early Days

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: TGIF! Here in Denver, it can decide whether it wants to be sunshiney or snow. I’m being serious…

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

When I first started my agency, feels like eons ago now, I remember how hard it was to land clients in those initial 2-3 years. After all, I was just some new agent and out in Denver to boot. Now there are so many good agents outside of New York, folks don’t really blink an eye but then, it was a bit of hurdle. I certainly wasn’t high on anyone’s radar. In fact, the previous agency I worked for did nothing but nonfiction.

I was on my own when it came to signing up fiction clients.

So in thinking back, I remember what I did to build my list.

1. I read queries and sample pages in record time. Seriously, I could turn around anything in like two weeks. I figured if I got there first, I might have a chance to convince an author to sign with my newbie but growing agency. I actually aspire to get back to that model—some day. When I catch up. Grin.

2. I did fiction and nonfiction in those early days. Huge mistake. I have no innate ability for good nonfiction (excluding the memoir which I love but is hard to find). Prescriptive nonfiction is definitely not my bailiwick!

3. I took on authors with a voice—even if they needed a ton of editing work. Other agents weren’t fighting for those projects (or not as much). I got those novels into shape and ready to shop. These days, I’m not sure I’d have the time to put in that amount of editorial work. Just to be clear, I still do intense editing if needed but we turn it around in one draft rather than three or four. But the three, four, or fifth draft wasn’t unusual back in the early days. Should I return to that model? I don’t think I’d have enough time to really manage my current client list if I did that and they come first. But this might be one reason to look for a newer, hungrier agent—like Sara Megibow. She’s definitely putting in a little elbow grease and it’s paying off.

On this blog, I’ve also previously mentioned agents like Holly Root and Barbara Poelle who are actively building lists. I just recently met Joanna Stampfel-Volpe and Suzie Townsend at the Missouri Writers Guild Conference. If they aren’t on your radar, they should be. They are going to be my stiff competition in the near future—if they aren’t there already. Grin.

4. I lost any number of possible clients to more established agents. I was always gracious and encouraging when that happened. Good Karma and all. I’ve gotten writer recommends from some of those folks that didn’t sign with me but remembered that. It did pay off but not in the way I had originally imagined.

5. I started my blog Pubrants back in 2006 as a way to maybe get a leg up over the competition. Writers would know me from my blog. This, by far, has had the biggest impact on my success. I owe the blog to getting such wonderful clients as Sherry Thomas, Sarah Rees Brennan, Jamie Ford, and Courtney Milan (and probably others but I can’t think of them right now….)

ps. Lala is shutting down so sadly, I can no longer embed songs onto my blogs until I find a new medium. Any suggestions? I’m bummed.

When Contracts Directors Have A Sense Of Humor

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Off to a terrific start today.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? STAY UP LATE by Talking Heads

From a lot of my posts lately, I imagine that you think all my recent conversations with contract directors at the big houses have been contentious.

In reality, that hasn’t been so. I have to say, that I personally like all the contracts directors at the major houses. They are under the gun and yet they’ve handled differences of opinions with good temper, grace, and with reason—even if I don’t agree with their stance.

In fact, one of the contract directors from a big six house even made me spit coffee and sputter with laughter in our last conversation.

When I mentioned that I didn’t agree with the 25% of net publishers were currently sticking with and that I was not inclined to accept the same percentage if we were to negotiate an expanded or enhanced electronic book, the director, totally deadpanned, quipped in return that I must obviously share his opinion that the split percentage to the author should be lower for an enhanced ebook as they are more expensive to produce.

I was so surprised that I just burst out laughing as did my contracts manager. You gotta respect a contracts director with a sense of humor. Grin.

A Difference of Opinion I’m Sure

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Just a twinge of a cough remains. Kristin—9 flu—1

What’s playing on the iPod right now? HOME by Daughtry

Rumor has it that several of the big 6 publishers are coming out with new boilerplate contracts in the next couple of weeks. I know for sure that Hachette is working on a new one as is HarperCollins.

With these new “boilerplates,” I already know there is going to be a significant difference in opinion about what a Publisher thinks is a boilerplate item and what an Agent will consider as a boilerplate item versus a right that needs to be negotiated up front.

I have a feeling (call it intuition—snort) that the definition of what constitutes an “enhanced ebook” or a “multimedia product” (that’s a new catch phrase I’ve been hearing as of late) will be at the center of these new boilerplate contract debates between publishers and agents.

I, myself, have yet to see a new “boilerplate” contract but am waiting with bated breath… Oh being an agent is just daily fun.

Things You Don’t Want to Learn While In New York!

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Back at the hotel for 30 minutes before I need to run out again.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? COME BACK TO ME by David Cook

I mentioned in our November newsletter a couple of weeks ago that Sara and I just absolutely loved a submission that came our way, offered rep, but alas the author went with another agent (as there were many agents interested).

I heard today that the project sold at auction for some money–with tons of houses bidding on it.

Ack. Hate that. But you know what? We tried for it; we were in the game. We loved it. Obviously lots of people agreed.

And for all of you, this is good news. This means Publishers are willing to step up to the plate for projects—something I was rather worried about as of late.

But truthfully, I wish editors hadn’t told me about it. Ignorance can be bliss…

LOL!

Brightening An Agent Friend’s Day

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: I had a routine Doctor’s appointment late this afternoon. The first thing the nurse asked me to do was step on the scale. Right. Exactly what I want to be doing the Monday after Thanksgiving.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? 21 GUNS by Greenday

I had an agent friend call me today because she was just feeling a tad blue. A client she had loved working with had unexpectedly decided to leave her agency last year. In the past couple of weeks, this agent friend had spotted the sale for the project they had been working on together before the author left.

That’s just hard.

But I had just the thing to cheer her up. I said, “You can’t help when a client chooses to leave. It happens. But at least you didn’t pass on a novel that has been on the New York Times Bestseller list for more than 16 weeks.”

Yep. Yours Truly.

That and a pot of tea cheered her up immensely!

Grin.

How An Agent Earns Money From A Conference

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: October is a big royalty month for us so a lot of statements and a lot of money coming in.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? I CONFESS by The English Beat

So my blog entry on Tuesday totally got me thinking. Agents can make money from conferences and here’s a terrific example.

I have a debut middle grade novel coming out this week (October 6) and this novel totally made me money from a conference.

How?

I actually met Janice Hardy at the Surrey International Writers Conference two years ago. She had scheduled a pitch appointment with me. She sat down for a 10 minute session and pitched me the project.

I was immediately intrigued and asked for sample pages. I emailed my associate Sara Megibow and told her to be on the lookout for it. The sample pages came in. I read and liked them so asked for the full.

Then I signed her. We did a revision (because the ending needed work). When ready, we went out on submission to editors.

I accepted a six-figure pre-empt for the Healing Wars trilogy.

I’d say that’s making money! It’s a project I may not have landed if I hadn’t attended the conference so technically, this is money I made from a conference. Grin. Just not in the way that writers mistakenly assume.

I actually can’t remember if Surrey charges an extra fee for the pitch appointments or whether that’s part of the general conference price. Either way, agents don’t receive that money; the conference does.

Happy Release Week for THE SHIFTER Janice!

How Agents Make Money—Hint: It’s Not By Attending Conferences

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: And no one ever talks about the late nights we agent keeps.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? CORNFLAKE GIRL by Tori Amos

I have to say I was highly amused to read a hypothesis from a writer that agents make their money from attending conferences.

If that were true, it would certainly be a poor way to make a living.

For the record, the good majority of conferences pay for travel, hotel lodging, and food. Occasionally, a conference will pay a small honorarium. I’ve personally seen remuneration of $150.00 to $250.00. Let’s say an agent attends 8 conferences at that level. That would be a whopping $2000.00. To put that into perspective, that would just about cover my business class internet for the year and maybe one-quarter of my yearly phone bill. As the honorarium stands now, it might cover our yearly office coffee budget for Starbucks and Common Grounds. Big grin here.

Now I have heard rumors of conferences paying anywhere from $500 to $1000 as an honorarium but I’ve never had the good fortune to participate in any of those conferences (although can someone tell me where I could sign up?).

No, agents don’t attend conferences to earn money. We attend conferences in the hopes of meeting an author and finding a project that will, in turn, earn us money.

It’s actually pretty simple. Agents make money by taking a percentage of what authors earn when an agent sells a project on that author’s behalf.

And there are a variety of revenue streams:
1. The initial sell to the US publisher
2. UK sale
3. Foreign translation sales to foreign publishers
4. Audio
5. Film
6. Other subsidiary rights such as first serial, book club, etc.

And trust me, I’m in my seventh year of agenting and this is certainly not the path to get rich quick. However, it’s a more than comfortable living—for which I feel extraordinarily blessed.

Why We Have A Marketing Director

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Heading out for the night but plan to do some much needed client reading in the next couple of nights. Hubby is out of town. Amazing how much more work gets done when that happens.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? SUNDAY MORNING by Maroon 5

Early this year, I realized I was spending in ordinate amount of time talking with editors and in-house marketing and publicity people about my clients’ upcoming releases.

In fact, I was spending so much time doing that, I started wondering when I would have the time to read new material and take on new clients. After all, I’m an agent, not a marketing coordinator.

And that’s why this past March, I hired Lindsay Mergens to be out Marketing Director here at NLA.

Here’s a link to her bio so you can see what a great background she has for this job. However, being a Marketing Director for an agency is not the same as this corresponding title in a Publishing house. What exactly would she be doing? Would she be duplicating Publisher effort by actually doing marketing and publicity? Nope, that’s not what Lindsay does.

So here’s what she does—think of it more like coordinating.

1. Tracking all upcoming releases and doing a timeline of what is being done in-house and when we need to be following up with the author’s assigned publicist about the marketing plan.

2. She works on the marketing plan with all our authors so they have something to say other than “I don’t know what I’m doing with this.” All authors know more than they think they do. She adds these things to the Publisher’s plan and helps to tweak what will be done.

3. Sometimes she gets money out of the Publishers for an author visit that they might not have done otherwise if we hadn’t simply requested it.

4. She is the liaison for the in-house publicist and marketing person assigned to the author.

5. If the author would like to hire an external PR company as well, Lindsay hooks the author up with the right people. She also reviews any PR proposals that an external company might present.

6. She attends meetings with me in New York when we are meeting with the Publishing marketing and publicity people. As she used to be one, she knows exactly what to ask.

7. When the marketing plan is formed and finalized, Lindsay is the point person to see that all things get implemented and that all the info is disseminated to me, to the author, rights co-agents, etc.

8. She helps authors fill out the client Author Questionnaire (which can be a huge deal as that is often the in-house template that will be worked from).

9. When folks contact us about having one of our authors come and speak, Lindsay handles that and coordinates with the publisher,

10. Book Trailers. Marketing Materials and so forth, Lindsay reviews it all, requests changes if necessary or generally helps guide this whole process.

11. Book tours abroad. Lindsay handles it and coordinates with US publisher.

This list could go on and on. In fact, I’m probably leaving out tons of stuff but this should give you an idea of why I would hire someone to do this for the Agency. As the main agent, I’m cc’d on all communications but honestly, I’m not sure how I did without her for so long. It’s a job in and of itself.