Pub Rants

Category: agenting

Words of Wisdom From Julie The Intern

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: It feels a little disconcerting to “get back to business” after the historic win last night.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? JUST CAN’T GET ENOUGH by Depeche Mode

Over the years, Sara and I have received numerous requests from folks interesting in interning at the agency. Well, we considered ourselves a pretty well-oiled machine (cough)—okay maybe a creaky slow machine—but in other words, we felt like we had our processes down and we didn’t see a good role for an intern.

Until the superintendent of Denver Public Schools called us earlier this summer asking if we’d consider one of their high school students. Now how can we say no to DPS? Both Sara and I believe that it’s our civic duty to teach and mentor young people so for the first time in our history, Nelson Literary Agency took on an intern.

And we are so glad we did. Julie has been wonderful to have these past months and in even better news, she’s willing to share with you blog readers some of things she has learned.

So, in her own words (and not edited by us), here are a couple of blog entries from our intern.

My name is Julie. I’m a high school student doing an internship at the Nelson Literary Agency who hopes to one day be a writer. My time at the agency has been a great learning experience. While I knew I wanted to be a writer for awhile, I was completely clueless as far as the business aspect was concerned. In my naive mind I thought it was as simple as sending in your manuscript to a publishing company and hoping for the best. The literary world is far more complicated. Here are a few rules I have learned through my observations on query letters and sample pages:

Don’t go out of your comfort level. Don’t write about an Alaskan wilderness survivor if you know nothing about Alaska or wilderness survival. The readers interested in your work will be able to tell if you don’t know what you’re talking about.

Focus. If your main character has an evil twin who is a time traveling wizard that only gains power by eating muffins baked by her long lost lover’s ghost, that is a lot to digest in one story.

You’re a writer, so write. Writing is the biggest part of the battle, so complete your work. That might seem like a stupid thing to say, but several people that we have asked to see sample pages and even full manuscripts have said they can’t because they haven’t finished. Don’t even worry about going on to the next step if you don’t have your manuscript finished and polished.

Decide what genre your work is, and search accordingly. There are several websites listing agents, but it’s not as simple as sending a query letter to the first one you find. It might take awhile to find an agent that fits what you write, but it’s better to send to five agents who represent your type of book then ten that don’t.

Submission guidelines, need I say more? I can’t count how many query letters we receive that have their own idea as to what should be sent. If the agent wants five sample pages right away, then send them. But never assume one agent wants the same information as another. That goes for sending method, too. If an agent only wants email, only send email. At the Nelson Agency we don’t even look at a query letter if it’s sent by snail mail.

Agents are really helpful, and I’m not just saying that because I work with one. October was big on royalty statements, and if anyone ever has a question to the usefulness of agents, this is the time to prove their worth. Not only are contracts a pain in themselves that an average writer would never know a thing about, royalty statements are the follow up kick in the rear. Agents have to study the statements to ensure their clients are getting what they should be based off of their contract. That means lots of pages with lots of complicated jargon.

Why You Have Bankruptcy Clauses In Contracts

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: TGIF! I really enjoy writing that every Friday. I finished one contract and got ready to dive into another but alas, too many interruptions. Will have to tackle on Monday.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? GAUCHO by Steely Dan

This week I read in Publishers Weekly that Sports Publishing, LLC has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Well, lately, just about every day I read a tidbit in Media Bistro or Shelf Awareness about a newspaper, magazine, bookstore, or what have you calling it quits.

In fact, I received an email today from a wonderful editor at Rager Media (a small independent literary house out of Ohio). He was writing to tell me that they were closing the doors.

That’s very sad news as they were doing some powerful books over there.

But all this got me thinking about bankruptcy clauses. When I heard about Sports Publishing, I immediately got out the contract file for one of my early books—CHAIR SHOTS by Bobby Heenan and Steve Anderson. This was way back in the day when I was foolish enough to take on nonfiction projects before I realized that my expertise was much more focused on fiction and the occasional memoir.

There it was on page 6—a nice bankruptcy clause highlighting how rights will revert. Today I wrote a formal letter requesting the reversion and final accounting so I have it in writing. I’m glad it’s there in black and white on the contract page–which is why we have this clause in all our contracts.

But my contracts manager recently told me that she’s seeing some push-back from publishing houses wanting to eliminate the clause. (I’d have to dig a little to find out what the rationale is behind that.) Now I’m also not a corporate bankruptcy attorney so I really can’t detail the vagaries of how corporate bankruptcy unfolds. All I know is that I’d rather have the clause in that contract so rights revert—even if the courts don’t allow that to happen automatically. Good thing I have an intellectual property attorney and his firm on retainer. Looks like I’m about to learn how it works.

The Established Agent

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: I had a relaxing weekend so I’m feeling ready to face the week.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? TAKE IT WITH ME by Tom Waits

Last week I was talking about stages in an agent’s career. I hit on the new agent and the building agent. I didn’t actually take the time to talk about established agents because I actually think there are many stages in this part of an agent’s career.

An established agent at year 6 or 7 isn’t in the same place as an established agent in year 20 or 25.

So building and established are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

What is interesting to me is that good agents don’t ever stop learning. Just look at the evolution in the last 10 years of digital technology and how that has impacted the publishing industry. That’s a clear case of many established agents having to learn on the job.

Even an agent who has been doing this job for 20+ years had to learn about eBooks and royalty structures that would be associated with it. This isn’t even something that existed when those agents first learned the biz.

So what makes an established agent? That’s a good question. To me it’s a fluid definition.

I’m solidly in year 5 of having my own agency. Am I established or am I still building? If I want to consider myself established, what is the criteria for that? An established reputation? X number of sales? X number of well-known clients? X number of years? Perhaps it would be a sales threshold reached?

I do know one thing. Being established, if you consider yourself there, doesn’t mean there aren’t new things to learn. The smart agents, regardless of where they are in their careers, know that.

Agent Stages

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Feeling pretty good about what I accomplished today.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? FEVER by Michael Bublé

I’m in a philosophical mood tonight. I’ve been thinking about agents and the different places we can be in our careers. I’ve been chatting with agent friends who are starting to build their lists. I’m chatting with agent friends who have been around for 25 years. I’ve been chatting with agent friends who are in what I would call mid-career—right around 10 to 15 years.

And what’s clear to me is that there are agent stages.

Stage 1: The new agent who is building his or her list. What’s most important to this person are these things: a) finding projects that will sell, b) establishing one’s taste, c) teaching editors that one’s opinion can be trusted.

There are a lot of lessons to be learned in this stage. After all, every agent I know has a story of an author they took on but probably shouldn’t have. We also have a story of the author we sold for little money and then the client exploded and did well.

Stage 2: The building agent. This is an agent with a few years under his or her belt. Some success. Is really building into a player. Now this to me is the most interesting stage to contemplate. Everything is crucial in this phase of the agent’s career.

And nothing strikes me as more crucial than an understanding of how many clients a given agent can take on and represent well. This number will obviously vary for different people and for different reasons.

For me, I’ve always been careful (and pretty picky) about what I’ve taken on but I can feel a shift happening. I have 30 clients currently. I’m not convinced that I’m “full” per se. There is always room for that project that just sweeps me off my feet and I’m really excited about. Or there’s room for a project in a field I’m looking to continue building my reputation in (such as SF&F which has been a slow build at my agency).

But there’s not room for just any project I know that will sell. It really has to blow me away to have me contemplate taking on a new writer because I know that the time I give to this new writer must balance with the time given to current clients.

So what’s interesting to me as of late is that I’m passing on a lot of projects that when I respond to the writer, I tell them I’m pretty sure this is going to sell but I’m not going to be the agent doing that sale. And a bit about why.

Is there a point to this entry? Not sure actually. The point might be that newer (and often times younger) agents have lists to build. Your odds of landing an agent as a debut author might be a little higher when an agent is hungry.

But let me tell you, even established agents, agents with “full” client lists love the day when they read a full manuscript they can’t live without. That feeling, that discovery desire, never goes away. There’s always room for that magic project—which is why writers shouldn’t give up on established agents either.

More about a couple of other stages tomorrow.

Do You Look At Rejections?

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Totally celebrating. Instead of 300, I only have 60 emails in my inbox. It’s the small things in life.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? ZOOT SUIT RIOT by Cherry Poppin’ Daddies

This month I’m putting several projects out on submission and I just read a discussion about this on the Backspace chat forum so it seemed like a good topic to bring up.

If you are an agented author with a project on submission, do you request to see your rejection letters?

At my agency, my clients don’t really have a choice (or at least I never really gave them one). When a rejection letter arrives, I immediately forward.

Why? Well, for several reasons.

I, in general, believe that an author has the right to see any communication regarding their project. It is, after all, their work.

Besides, if I don’t forward it right there in then, it’s unlikely I’m going to remember to send it later on. We do everything electronically here and yes, I do save the email letter in the client’s file but I almost never look at it again once a letter comes through. I know some agents wait until all the responses are in and then send them on but I think that would drive me crazy—like work hadn’t been completed or worse yet, I’d forget to send the letters at that point in time. Better to forward right away for my general peace of mind. Now I realize that it might not cause peace for the author so I always forward with commentary—either an encouraging note, or some inside insight to the editor and why he/she personally might have passed etc.

If editor feedback is helpful, I ask that the author to keep it in mind. If it’s not, I say just roll with it. Rejection is a part of the publishing game and I think in the long run, it’s in an author’s best interest to develop a thick skin. If the rejections in the submission stage bother you, just imagine how hard it will be to take a bad review?

Buck up and deal with it. It’s not personal (though it feels so). It’s simply a part of being a writer. Now of course, any client can call and bemoan the letter. I’m okay with that as that is a normal, human response. Or write a venting email to me about the editor’s lack of vision. That’s just fine too. If you can’t vent to your agent, who can you vent to?

Luckily, as of late, I’ve sold just about every project and for clients, rejections are so much easier to take when there is an offer already on the table. Funny how that works.

And if you are a writer who hasn’t reached the agent and the publisher submission stage and may still be looking for that elusive agent, then rejections just signal that you are in the game.

Considering that 90% of the population wants to write a novel but never have the guts to go for it, being in the game is a huge thing. Even though it sucks, rejections are a badge of honor. A rite of passage for when the publishing day finally arrives. Every published writer has a story of a rejection.

You can’t tell a good keynote speech without it!

Something Learned In 6 Years In The Biz

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: It’s ten minutes to midnight and I’m now going to leave the office. Needless to say, there were quite a few things that needed to be taken care of before I left town. Normally it’s not quite so silly that I’m here until midnight. Just one of those flukes.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? nothing at the moment

So reading Molly’s interview got me thinking about what will I know in another 23 years from now. Since I’ll be in my 60s, I guess I might have my fingers crossed for retirement. Big smile there.

But I do know one thing I’ve learned over the course of the 6 years I’ve been running my agency and that is this. Life is too short to deal with crazy editors.

Early in my career, I did a negotiation with an editor who thought that the best way to get her way was to simply yell at me–loudly. So loud I had to hold the phone at arm’s length.

Since this was early on, I didn’t hang up on her although I should have. After that bit of nastiness where I did finally get the editor to talk like an normal person the very next day and the deal concluded, I decided that I would never put up with that again—nor would I ever submit to that editor again (which I haven’t).

And I haven’t had to deal with anything similar until just this year and even then, I still can’t believe it. This time I didn’t put up with it.

Because as Molly points out (although she was talking in the context of problematic author clients and not editors), the deal is ultimately not worth the drain on your energy nor does it remotely create a sense that as an agent, you’ve done the best by that book—either in the negotiation or placing the author with the right editor if you know what I mean.

Life is just too short.

I’m on a plane all tomorrow and honestly, with the Maui Writers Conference going on, I’m not sure I’ll be blogging for the rest of the week but we’ll see.

Thirty Years In the Biz

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Downtown Denver is a zoo with the Democratic National Convention starting today. On the walk this morning to my office, I counted at least 10 people standing on the street with at least 5 cameras strapped to their persons.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? (DARLIN’) YOU KNOW I LOVE YOU by Tina Turner

I’m just a baby in this industry if you think about it. I worked for another agency before going out on my own in 2002 but even if I count up all the years, it’s certainly under 10. So just imagine what an agent who has been doing this biz for thirty years might know.

Well, you don’t have to imagine as editor Jofie Ferrari-Adler from Grove has been doing a series of interviews for Poets&Writers and this month he interviewed Molly Friedrich—who started agenting back in 1977 when I was all of 9 years old.

I took a lot of good things away from this interview but here are some points that stand out in my mind:

1. Credibility and respect are built over time. Honesty and integrity, for agents, may very well be our greatest asset.

2. That writing is often about original voice rather than labels. (Amen!)

3. That loyalty can mean a lot in this biz—loyalty to an agent, loyalty to a publishing house, loyalty to an author’s vision and career.

4. Selling a novel for a ton of money may not necessarily be the best thing that could happen to the book or to the author. And it’s a myth that all writers will be seduced by the big money. Some don’t necessarily want lots of dollar signs if it ends up being a detriment to a long term career.

5. As publishing gets reduced to fewer houses, there’s a sameness to the type of books that get published and become popular. Could an Annie Proulx be published today as a debut? (There’s a frightening thought!)

6. Some authors, no matter how much they are earning, aren’t worth keeping if they drain your energy as an agent.

7. Whining. There’s too much of it. From authors, from agents, from editors.

8. That we, as agents, know when we’ve done well by a book (and she’s not talking about large advance) and when we’ve messed up. (yep.)

And to me, these seem like good words for agents to live by: “If you’re just going along like a hamster in a wheel, then you’ve lost the pure white heat that makes this business so much fun. And it should be challenging. That’s what separates the great agents from the good agents.”

Authors Behaving Badly

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Just finished watching the Walsh-May recent set domination in Women’s Beach volleyball.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? TV is on and will probably be for the next week.

Something must be in the water but I’ve heard three stories just this week of authors behaving badly. Gee whiz.

Obviously it’s time for me to blog about this topic again. If you are an established author looking to change agents (for whatever reason), there is a professional way to do this. There is an etiquette that should be followed or you are in danger of burning some bridges and if there’s anything I’ve learned in this biz, burning bridges, in general, does not help your career.

There is a way of severing a relationship professionally and there are many authors I’m hearing about lately who should have kept this in mind.

1. An established, already agented author should not be shopping for a new agent without formally ending the current representation.

Folks, publishing is a small world and no matter how discreet you think you are being, word often filters back to the agent in one way or another.

2. If an author is planning to leave and has already made that decision but has not told the current agent, he/she should not be career planning with the agent he/she is planning to leave nor should that author be availing him/herself of the current agent’s hospitality by attending agency functions at RWA or Worldcon. That’s just bad behavior.

3. If an author is planning to leave his or her agent, expect to be held to the letter of the agency agreement the author originally signed—especially if you behave badly before severing the relationship.

Most agents I know aren’t interested in standing in the way of an author’s career. Most are reasonable and would probably come to some sort of agreement or compromise on certain points (such as projects currently on submission) if the author behaved ethically in the severing of the relationship. If you didn’t, well, what can I say. An agent is not going to be in the mind frame to be conciliatory. Nor do they have to be legally if an agency agreement is in place.

And my last point is just something I want y’all to keep in mind. Whenever an already agented author comes to me looking for new representation, I always ask the question, “Does your current agent know you are looking?” My second question is always “have you had a conversation with your agent about your desire to leave? If you haven’t, you should.”

Now I realize that sometimes an agent/author relationship has gone so far south that any communication isn’t possible and this is not an option. Fine. Then your path is clear to sever that relationship before seeking new representation.

So make that clean break. Make sure your behavior is beyond reproach. At the very least, that gives you the ability to say you held the moral high ground regardless of anybody else’s behavior.

In the end, that strikes me as the most important aspect.

All In A Day’s Work

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: In San Fran for Romance Writers of America national conference. Even more alarming to me is that Worldcon will literally follow right on its heels. I’ve got a crazy two weeks ahead of me.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? WALK ON THE WILD SIDE by Lou Reed

After I got here, I realized the one thing I forgot to pack. A jacket. Dang it’s chilly here in San Fran. With several weeks of 95+ degree weather in Denver, I just plum forgot.

So what has happened to me today?

1. While boarding my plane, I ran into a children’s book publicist I knew and we spent the flight chatting about the biz (well, amongst other things).

2. Had a lovely afternoon tea with said publicist.

3. Checked into my hotel room (which took blessedly only about 5 minutes or so). I don’t think that’s ever happened to me before at RWA. Lines are usually long.

4. Wrestled with the hotel internet connection. I’m happy to announce that I was victorious.

5. My dinner plans were derailed but happily an agent friend took pity on me and invited to me to her agency dinner instead.

6. Had a blast talking with her clients—one of which mentioned that she didn’t know that agents could be friends with each other (and she didn’t ask in a bad way—she was just surprised). Yes, agents are often friends with each other and we celebrate each other’s success.

7. Authors are so loquacious when wine is involved. I heard some great stories this evening (but client confidential—even if they weren’t my authors!).

8. Some writers are coming from as far away as England and New Zealand for this conference (waves to all the Kiwis I hung out with last August—be sure to say hello).

9. Checked email. Frightful amount I might add. Still lots of it is last minute planning that needs to be accomplished for the week to kick off right.

Tomorrow morning I’m having coffee with an editor from MacAdam/Cage (and no, they don’t do romance at all but they are based here in San Fran and I love to connect when possible).

I’ve got lunch with an editor. Afternoon tea with a client. Literacy Signing and then the evening parties begin.

This year’s RWA is especially exciting as the agency has 6 RITA nominations for 4 authors:
Linnea Sinclair
Hank Ryan
Kelly Parra
Simone Elkeles

And to top off the excitement, I also have a new client who is a Golden Heart nominee:
Courtney Milan

Boy am I going to be on pins and needles come Saturday evening when the Awards ceremony takes place.

Good To Great?

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: TGIT! I think it’s going to be a lovely weekend in Denver. I’m looking forward to it. Yes, I’ll probably work some but hopefully not until Sunday night.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? THIN LINE by Indigo Girls

Last night I was reading GOOD TO GREAT by Jim Collins. It’s a nonfiction work on why some companies make the leap and others don’t. I’m only into chapter 2 so I can’t relay a lot of info about what I’m learning yet but it did put me in a philosophical mood.

As I see the world, it’s not enough to simply be a good agent with an eye for good material. Well, that’s not exactly true. If you are an agent working for an already well established agency, that’s probably accurate as the agent only needs to find good material, work with individual clients, etc. He or she isn’t also running the company.

But if you are an agent who also runs the show, then having a good eye for excellent material is not the only factor on what will make the agency successful. You also have to know how to run a company well.

And therein is the reason why I’m reading two “business” books currently: GOOD TO GREAT and THE 10-DAY MBA.

Because guess what? I don’t have an MBA. In fact, I only have one agent friend who has an MBA. I also know a few agents who are also attorneys (which is a nice combo) but doesn’t really teach you how to run a company. To be successful, I not only have to be a good agent, I have to be a good CEO of the company.

So what have I learned so far from Jim Collins? CEOs that have taken companies from good to great where not flashy, celebrity-type leaders a la Lee Ioccoca. In fact, they were people that held the good of company over their own personal success—be it in wealth or in reputation.

They were soft spoken, self-effacing, and often had great humility—but not one of them was weak in character, drive, or determination. Collins called these folks Level 5 leaders.

Dang. I might have already failed the first step to becoming good to great. We’ll see. The second thing I’ve learned, and I’m pretty sure he’s going to talk about this more in the book, is that it’s not enough to have all the people on the same bus. What’s important is having the right people on the bus and those people are the key to implementing good to great elements beyond the CEO.

Now I’m feeling pretty confident that I’ve got the right people on the bus with Sara, my contracts manager, my attorney, my accountant, my bookkeeper, and my co-agents.

That’s a start!

Collins also mentioned that it was a conscious choice on the company’s part to make the leap. One reason why I’m reading the book. He also says that being a “good” company is also the biggest obstacle to becoming great. Interesting, isn’t it? I consider Nelson Literary Agency to be a good company—so in a sense, according to Collins theory, we are our own worst enemy. We could be keeping ourselves from making the leap.

Have other agencies thought of this? Have specific agencies gone from good to great? If so, I wonder what agencies I’d name that have made the leap. Could that be measured? In GOOD TO GREAT, Collins only looks at public companies where data could be measured in sales/stock growth over a 15 year period. That rules out private companies—of which most agencies are.

I haven’t any answers folks but I do have a lot of questions.