Pub Rants

Category: end of the year

2014 End-of-Year Stats!

by Kristin Nelson

It’s that magic time of year when I tally up the numbers and share with everyone Kristin’s Yearly Stats! Last year we reported numbers on the whole agency, but I figured it would be fun to just take a look at my own year in review. Please note that sales figures are approximations rather than exact calculations.

Enjoy!

9

books sold

99

foreign-rights deals done (down from 128 last year). Twenty-nine were deals made in Asian territories, and the other 70 were for the rest of the world. All 99 foreign-rights deals were done on behalf of 12 of my clients.

1

new client (I actually wasn’t reading much during 2014 but I’m actively reading in 2015!)

35,000+

estimated number of queries read and responded to

45

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

856

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

4

number of projects currently on submission

6

TV and major motion picture deals (I actually did all 6 in November and December!)

3 million+

copies in print/sold for my bestselling long-running series this year

2 million+

copies in print/sold for my bestselling individual title

2.5 million+

copies sold for my bestselling hybrid author

3 million+

ebooks sold for two of my bestselling indie-publishing-only authors.

31

number of print runs for the longest-selling title

9

conferences attended (which includes Bologna Book Fair, BEA, and Frankfurt Book Fair)

33 

New York Times bestsellers (up from 31 just last year)

175

physical holiday cards sent

450

electronic holiday cards sent

Not telling it’s so embarrassing

number of eggnog chai lattes consumed during November and December

Lots

of late nights reading on my living-room chaise with Chutney

All

great days loving my job!

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

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

On The Last Day Of December

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: The usual. I slammed every day as we wind down to the agency closing on December 14, 2012.

What’s playing on the XM or iPod right now? AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR by Mikey Wax

On the last day of December, my true inbox sent to me:

12    Eggnog Chai’s a-drinking
11    queries reading
10    royalty statement reviewing
9     checks depositing
8    Foreign deals a-doing
7    Payments a-processing
6     full manuscripts left a-reading
5     contracts done
4     calling clients
3     client fulls
2     pecan sandies

And a Party in the New Year!

A heads up if you aren’t on our newsletter circulation or on FB, Nelson Literary Agency is now closed to queries for the holidays. We wanted to make sure we finished reading every query, every submitted sample page, and all the remaining full manuscripts in our queue.

To do that, we closed queries on Monday, December 3. Anything incoming will now get our auto-respond email.

But never fear, we’ll be back in full form starting on January 2 2013. We’d be happy to read your query then.

2011 Year End Stats!

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: I’m baaaaacccckkk!

What’s playing on the XM or iPod right now? YOU DON’T BRING ME FLOWERS by Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond
(oh the nostalgia….)

Happy New Year! I hope your 2012 is off to a rip-roaring start. Mine is. I’ve got exciting news on the film front for two of my authors and an auction unfolding next week.

I even signed a new author when we were closing for the holidays. Talk about cramming stuff in as the year closed.

My New Year’s resolution is to be a better blogger in 2012 so I better get started.

41
books sold (up from 28 last year). Why the big jump? Two agents on fire during the year.

65
foreign rights deals done (pretty much on par with last year).

7
number of new clients (Kristin and Sara combined)

36,000+ or some big number…
estimated number of queries read and responded to. We get so much spam these days, despite good filters, it’s hard to tell. We estimate anywhere from 80 to 100 a day. Times that by 365 and you get approximately 36,000.

69
full manuscripts requested and read (down from 98 from 2010)

618
number of sample pages requested and read (this is down from last year–mostly because I took a several month hiatus from reading submissions actually. I’m back to reading lots in 2012 though so bring it on).

5
number of projects currently on submission

2
tv and major motion picture deals

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

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

8 for Kristin (including BEA, RWA and Frankfurt), 4 for Anita, and 9 for Sara
number of conferences attended

13
number of career NLA New York Times Bestsellers (who says that’s an unlucky number!)

1
number of books named to Publisher’s Weekly list of top books of the year (that would be LEGEND by Marie Lu this year)

105
number of physical holiday cards sent

451
number of electronic holiday cards sent

20
number of eggnog chai consumed in the month of December. It was probably 31 but that makes me look like a glutton!

Lots
number of late nights reading on my new chaise with Chutney

All
number of great days loving my job

2012 is going to be a GREAT year!

A Year In Statistics–2010

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Uh, ask me tomorrow morning. Still working to try and wrap stuff up.

What’s playing on the XM or iPod right now? SLEIGH RIDE by Babyface

This week has just been crazy with no time to blog. Nobody wants to go into the holiday season with a bunch of stuff still outstanding and cluttering the desks. I know authors who have submissions with us wouldn’t mind an answer either. So, our goal is to finish everything up by today.

With that in mind, I’ve been hitting the office at 8 in the morning and pretty much every night this week, I didn’t leave until after 8 p.m. (and some evenings not until after 9).

Well, I’m going to have to come in tomorrow as not everything is done but hey, I came close. Blogging just wasn’t an option with everything that needed to wrap up—including 3 deals that I literally was negotiating this week.

Still, I can’t end the season without one more post. The year 2010 would not be complete without my annual Year In Statistics entry so voila! Here it is. Enjoy!

28
books sold (up from 15 last year and mostly thanks to Sara! Also interesting to note, of the sales I did, all but 3 were deals well into the six-figure range and two were 7+. Sweet!)

64
foreign rights deals done (up from 53 last year. That’s a big increase. Foreign rights went gangbuster.)

9
number of new clients (Kristin & Sara combined)

36,000
estimated number of queries read and responded to (this is actually down a bit from last year. Last year we averaged around 150/day. This year it was more around 120/day)

98
full manuscripts requested and read (way up from 55 last year.)

839
number of sample pages requested and read (down from 1053 of last year)

6
number of projects currently on submission

5
tv and major motion picture deals

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

668,000
number of copies in print for my bestselling title this year

144,000
number of copies in print for my bestselling debut this year

9
conferences attended (also includes BEA and Bologna Children’s Book Fair)

5
number of New York Times Bestsellers this year

10
number of career New York Times Bestselling titles

1
Number of books named to Publisher’s Weekly list of top books of the year

82
number of physical holiday cards sent

398
Number of electronic holiday cards sent

10+
number of Starbucks eggnog chai consumed in the last week (sort of embarrassed to admit it!)

Lots
number of late nights reading on the couch with Chutney

All
number of great days loving my job

Have a safe and happy New Year. I’m out! See you back here on Jan. 3, 2011.

A Year In Statistics

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: At 5 pm today, we are officially closed until Monday, January 4, 2010.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? CAROL OF THE BELLS by Mannheim Steamroller

What a crazy wrap up to the year! I won’t be blogging again until the New Year, but then I’ll be back and in rare ranting form! Here are the stats for 2009:

15
books sold

53
foreign rights deals done (and that includes several overseas auctions)
I had to update as we did 3 more foreign deals late on Friday!

6
number of new clients (Kristin & Sara combined)

38,000
estimated number of queries read and responded to (and yes, that is up from last year)

55
full manuscripts requested (down from last year)

7
number of projects currently on submission

3
major motion picture deals

15
new deals for previously published clients

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

340,000
number of copies in print for my bestselling debut this year

102,000
number of copies in print for my bestselling sleeper hit

6
conferences attended (also includes BEA and London Book Fair)

3
number of New York Times Bestsellers

1
Number of books named to Publisher’s Weekly list of top books of the year

75
number of physical holiday cards sent

375
Number of electronic holiday cards sent

6+
number of Starbucks eggnog chai consumed in the last week

Lots
number of late nights reading on the couch with Chutney

All
number of great days loving my job

Have a safe and happy New Year. I’m out!

A Year In Statistics

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: On vacation! We are officially closed now until Monday, January 5, 2009

What’s playing on the iPod right now? JINGLE BELL ROCK by Bobby Helms

I’m so sorry I didn’t get to this on Friday. What a crazy wrap up to the year! I had not forgotten my blog readers and the final entry for the year. I just didn’t quite have time to go through the records and compile the statistics. But now it’s a relaxed Sunday morning so here you go.

I won’t be blogging again until the New Year, but then I’ll be back and in rare ranting form!Here are the stats for 2008:

21
books sold

22
foreign rights deals done (and that includes several overseas auctions)

2
number of new clients

35,000
estimated number of queries read and responded to (and yes, that is up from last year)

88
full manuscripts requested (up from last year)

3
number of projects currently on submission

1
major motion picture deal

3
auctions

1
Pre-empt

8
new deals for previously published clients

6
deals for debut clients

700,000+
number of copies in print for my bestselling titles this year

100,000+
number of copies in print for my bestselling debut this year

8
conferences attended

2
number of New York Times Bestsellers

1
Number of books named to Publisher’s Weekly list of top books of the year

350
number of holiday cards sent

6
number of Starbucks eggnog chai consumed in the last week

Lots
number of late nights reading on the couch with Chutney

All
number of great days loving my job

Have a safe and happy New Year. I’m out!

Pell Mell Dash To The Close

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Actually, I was reading partial submissions that we had requested before I realized that I hadn’t blogged yet today.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? COLORADO CHRISTMAS by Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

Right now I’m working crazy hours to madly finish everything that needs to be handled before we close for the holidays. We are done Friday by 5 pm and the agency does not reopen until Monday, Jan. 5th.

If I were an aspiring writer looking to send out a query, I’d wait until after the holidays.

So what have I been doing with my time? Here’s a list.

1. Yesterday I closed a major deal that has been in process for several weeks.

2. I had a phone conference to finish up contract issues so we could get final contracts for signing before the holidays

3. I had to re-review a film contract because although we had already concluded it and were simply awaiting final copies to sign, the producers had hired a new law firm that had retooled the contract. We had to re-review and renegotiate the thing ALL over again. Thrilled I’m sure. Not.

4. Year-end review of the accounting with my bookkeeper and tax accountant. After all, 1099s are just around the corner.

5. Followed up with all editors who have submissions.

6. Had several phone conferences because Macmillan had a big lay-off earlier this week and the restructuring left one of my authors editor-less. That had to be dealt with.

7. Cover copy issue.

8. I was out of town last week so I had to wade through the 183 emails that needed attention. By the way, this wasn’t the urgent stuff as I handled those things while being out of the office.

9. Review UK contract for one of my authors. I’ve just started so this will need to finish up tomorrow in terms of writing up my requested changes letter.

10. Consulted with our tech person on why the new fancy dancy printer/scanner we bought (that cost way more than I’m willing to admit) isn’t working and the tech person can’t get it to work with our system despite spending four days on the phone with HP tech support.

It’s going to be another 12-hour day tomorrow. Let’s hope I stay sane….

A Year In Statistics

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Vacation time!

What’s playing on the iPod right now? CHRISTMAS WRAPPING by The Waitresses

Happy Holidays to all you blog readers. The agency officially closes today and won’t reopen until Wednesday, January 2, 2008.

I won’t be blogging again until the new year, but then I’ll be back and in rare ranting form!

Here are the stats for 2007:

22
books sold

29
foreign rights deals done (and that includes one pre-empt and one auction)

8
number of new clients

30,000
estimated number of queries read and responded to (and yes, that is up from last year)

74
full manuscripts requested (I miscounted the other day)

4
number of projects currently on submission

1
major motion picture deal

3
auctions

6
new deals for previously published clients

5
deals for new clients (4 of which were debut authors—as in not previously published)

200,000 +
number of copies in print for my bestselling title this year

7
conferences attended

1
number of New York Times Bestsellers

265
number of holiday cards sent

5
number of Starbucks eggnog chai consumed in the last week

Lots
number of late nights reading on the couch with Chutney

All
number of great days loving my job

Have a safe and happy New Year. I’m out!