Pub Rants

Category: blogging

Where In the World Was Agent Kristin While on Vacation?

by Kristin Nelson

Well I’m happy to tell you! I’ve gathered all the pictures I posted on Twitter and FB and organized them in one handy post with all the locations specified.

Thank you for playing along!

Pic 1 – Agent Kristin is in Singapore!

Singapore Slyline

Pic 2 – Agent Kristin is on the island of Koh Samui in Thailand

Koh Samui, Thailand

Pic 3 – Agent Kristin is at the Wat Pho Temple in Bangkok, Thailand

Wat Pho Temple, Bangkok Thailand

Pics 4 & 5 – Agent Kristin is at the Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand

Grand Palace, Bangkok Thailand 2Grand Palace, Bangkok Thailand

Pic 6 – Agent Kristin is at Wat Prasrisunphet Temple in Ayutthaya, Thailand

Ayutthaya, Thailand

Pic 7 – Agent Kristin is at the World Heritage site Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, Cambodia

Angkor Wat, Siem Reap, Cambodia

Pic 8 – Agent Kristin is boating along Ha Long Bay in Vietnam

Ha Long Bay, Vietnam

Blogging Authors Beware! You Can Get Sued. Roni Loren Guest Blogs

by Kristin Nelson

Re-posted with permission from original blog post here.

Sara, our lawyer,and I all helped Roni through the situation but here is the whole story below.  You can no longer say that you haven’t been warned!

Guest Blogger: RONI LOREN

So today I’m forgoing the usual Fill-Me-In Friday post to talk about something that I’ve been wanting to blog about for a while but couldn’t until the situation was wrapped up.

For those of you who are super observant, you may have noticed some changes on my blog over the last few months. Tumblr posts went away. Fiction Groupie disappeared. I deleted most of my Pinterest boards. The Boyfriend of the Week has changed format. And all my previous posts from the past three years–all 700 of them–now have new photos on them.

Why is that? What happened?

Well, you’ve probably figured it out from the title, but it’s because I’ve been involved in a case regarding a photo I used on my blog. Like most of you, I’m a casual blogger and learned my way into blogging by watching others. And one of the things I learned early on was that a post with a photo always looked nicer than one with just text. So I looked at what other people were doing for pictures. And mostly it seemed that everyone was grabbing pics from Google Images and pasting them on their sites. Sometimes with attribution, most of the time without. And when I asked others (or looked at disclaimers on websites and Tumblrs), it seemed that everyone agreed using pics that way was okay under Fair Use standards.

Here is an example of a disclaimer I found on a bigger site (name of blog removed):

THIS BLOG claims no credit for any images posted on this site unless otherwise noted. Images on this blog are copyright to its respectful owners. If there is an image appearing on this blog that belongs to you and do not wish for it appear on this site, please E-mail with a link to said image and it will be promptly removed.

And site after site had the same kind of thing. Just look on Tumblr, that same type of disclaimer is on a ton of them. And I’m thinking–well, that must mean it’s okay because if that weren’t true, sites like Tumblr and Pinterest couldn’t even exist because reposting pics is the whole POINT of those sites. So off I went doing what everyone else does–using pics from Google Images, putting a disclaimer on my site, etc.

Well on one random post, I grabbed one random picture off of google and then a few weeks later I got contacted by the photographer who owned that photo. He sent me a takedown notice, which I responded to immediately because I felt awful that I had unknowingly used a copyrighted pic. The pic was down within minutes. But that wasn’t going to cut it. He wanted compensation for the pic. A significant chunk of money that I couldn’t afford. I’m not going to go into the details but know that it was a lot of stress, lawyers had to get involved, and I had to pay money that I didn’t have for a use of a photo I didn’t need.

It wasn’t fun. But the fact of the matter is, I was in the wrong. Unknowingly. But that doesn’t matter. And my guess is that many, many of you are doing the same thing I was doing without realizing it’s a copyright violation. So I wanted to share my experience so that you can learn from my mistake.

Here’s what I learned about Fair Use:

It DOESN’T MATTER…

if you link back to the source and list the photographer’s name
if the picture is not full-sized (only thumbnail size is okay)
if you did it innocently
if your site is non-commercial and you made no money from the use of the photo
if you didn’t claim the photo was yours
if you’ve added commentary in addition to having the pic in the post
if the picture is embedded and not saved on your server
if you have a disclaimer on your site.
if you immediately take down a pic if someone sends you a DMCA notice (you do have to take it down, but it doesn’t absolve you.)

NONE OF THAT releases you from liability. You are violating copyright if you have not gotten express PERMISSION from the copyright holder OR are using pics that are public domain, creative commons, etc. (more on that below.)

I didn’t know better and I had to learn the hard way. So I want to let you all know now so that you don’t have to be a cautionary tale as well.

Plus, beyond not wanting to be sued, most of you who are reading this are writers. Our livelihood depends on the rights to our work. I’ve already had to send my own DMCAs to sites that have pirated my books. So I definitely don’t want to be someone who infringes on someone else’s copyright. A photo is someone else’s art and unless they tell me it’s okay, I don’t have the right to use it.

So what can you do?

1. If you’ve been using images without approval from the internet on your blogs, know that you are probably violating copyright and could be sued for it.

Is the chance high? Probably not. Is it possible? I’m proof that it is. So you may want to consider going through your posts and delete pics that aren’t yours.

2. Search for photos that are approved for use.

  • Creative Commons licensed pics — You can search for photos that are free to use (with some restrictions) through Creative Commons. Usually this means you have to attribute the photo to the owner and link back to their site. (All of my posts now have pics that are under Creative Commons license. And there are actually really great photos available.) Meghan Ward did a fantastic post on the breakdown of creative commons licenses plus listed some other photo sources.)
  • Wikimedia Commons offers free media files anyone can use.
  • Buy a subscription to a stock photo site — This can be pricey up front but then you have access all year. There are also sites that you can pay per pic. (Here is one example of a subscription service. Thanks to Janice Hardy for that suggestion.)
  • Use photos that are in the public domain.

3. Take your own photos and share the love.

Almost all of us have camera phones these days. Instead of just taking photos of our family, think of images you could use on posts. See a stop sign. Snap a picture and save it. Whatever. And if you want to give back and not just take–open up a Flickr account (here’s mine) and list your own images as creative commons so that you can share the love. (You can set it up to where whatever pic you load from you camera is under that license.)

4. Use sites like Pinterest and Tumblr with caution.

I have read way too many terms of service over the last two months. And I’m not a lawyer, so the legalspeak can be confusing and I am NOT giving legal advice. BUT both Pinterest and Tumblr (and most other social sites) say that if you load something into their site (i.e. Pin It or Tumble it) YOU are claiming that YOU have a legal right to that picture. And if the owner of that photo comes after the company, you will be the responsible party. And Pinterest goes so far as to say if you REpin something, you’re saying you have the right to that photo. Yes, if that’s enforced, it would mean that 99% of people on Pinterest are doing something illegal. Will that ever come up? Maybe. Maybe not. But I’m leaning on the paranoid side now. I don’t want to be the test case. And I don’t want to pin something the owner of the photo wouldn’t want pinned.

So pin your own photos, pin things from sites that have a Pin It button (see discussion in comments about the Pin It button, it’s not always a safe bet either.) I pin book covers and movie posters because I figure that it’s advertisement for said movies or books. But other stuff? All those pretty mancandy photos? I’m going to look but not touch.

5. Assume that something is copyrighted until proven otherwise.

That’s your safest bet. If you’re not 100% sure it’s okay to use, don’t. This includes things like celebrity photos. Someone owns those. There are enough free pics out there that you don’t need to risk violating someone’s copyright.

6. Spread the word to your fellow bloggers.

It was KILLING me not to be able to go tell everyone about all of this because I didn’t want anyone else to get into this kind of mess. So if you know someone who is using photos in the wrong way, let them know. I wish someone had told me.

So I know many of you are probably thinking–she’s being paranoid or that the likelihood of this ever happening to you is slim. Well, maybe. But it happened to me. And now that I know better, I’m going to do better (yes, I’m busting out an Oprah quote, forgive me.) And yes, it does kill me a little bit that I can’t go on posting boyfriends of the week and mancandy, but instead I’ll just post links to it so you can see it elsewhere. 🙂

So lesson learned: protect yourself and respect the rights of other artists.

An Actual No Means No–For Us Anyway

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Chutney is asleep. I need to follow that example.

What’s playing on the XM or iPod right now? COULD YOU BE LOVED? by Bob Marley and the Wailers

Today I took fellow literary agent, Kate Testerman, out to lunch. We even had a pint of beer (Kate) and a glass of wine (Kristin) to celebrate.

Why? Because her author Ransom Riggs has a novel that’s been slowly climbing up to the #2 spot on the NYT list for the past 12 weeks. #1 spot is within spitting distance.

I would be talking about Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children.


Darn right we need to celebrate that. After all, we agents are notoriously bad at actually doing celebratory moments to acknowledge our achievements but can cite every book we passed on that then became successful. LOL.

So it was an enforced celebration because hitting the NYT list is an achievement. Staying on for 12 straight weeks is an achievement. Have sales increase rather than decrease over that 12 weeks is huge and last but not least, hello! The #1 spot is not out of reach.

If you haven’t, you might want to buy this book this week is all I’m saying.

So Sara and I are out with Kate celebrating this amazing debut when Kate mentions there is a brouhaha going on about an agent’s policy to respond to every query or simply say “no response is a No” and authors should move on.

I gotta get myself on twitter. I’m always missing the hoopla.

Actually it was more of a discussion than a brouhaha but it was causing comments aplenty.

Our stance? We respond but that’s mainly because I have the amazing Anita who screens all queries and pulls out the ones I actually need to look at. Without that, trust me, I’d probably seriously consider the “no response means a No.”

We can get upwards to 200 queries a day.

That’s crazy people!

This day alone we received 4 calls from nonfiction writers with deals on the table looking for an agent.

We don’t even rep nonfiction and none of them were memoir. How on earth do people find us is what I want to know.

Now if Sara and I read a partial or a full manuscript, we do offer a line or two on why we are passing but trust me, when I’ve read 12 submissions and I know it’s going to take me at least 40 minutes to type in my one or two lines of feedback, I seriously consider whether it’s worth the time.

I could just hit the NO button and be done. Trust me, it’s tempting. Very very tempting.

But for now, we still add the line. If I were a writer, which I’m not, I’d so appreciate that personal note. So we keep that in mind but we aren’t inured to the day when that might not be a possibility.

Q&A 2010—Round Two

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: The pre-Bologna must-finish-all-stuff-before-I-leave-town rush has begun.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? MERCY by Duffy

I thought I would have a bit more time to blog tonight so my apologies for not tackling a ton of questions this round.

kimysworld asked:
Compared to the first three months of last year, have you received more or less query letters in the first three months of 2010? What are the most common genres? What do you rarely see?
Yes, our query inbox has definitely grown from last year. This time in 2009, we were probably seeing 80 to 100 queries a day. Now it’s more like 100-150. I have no explanation for it. Perhaps we are on more people’s radar?

Most common genres? Young adult, romance, women’s fiction.

What I would like to see more of? Well written query letters. Grin. You knew I was going to say that. I’d say that easily 50% of stuff we get is for nonfiction or something else we don’t represent.

I’d love to see more queries for literary fiction with a commercial bent, middle grade, and more sf&f. I’d like to build in these areas (and yes we are still beefing our list in the above stuff as well.)

Anonymous asked:
If a writer has gained success in one genre (over twenty novels that have made money, helped build a large fan base, and five contracts for five more books) and he/she wants to switch genres after the contractual obligations have been met because he/she always wanted to write mainstream, is this writer starting from scratch again? But more than that, would this writer be taking a huge chance by walking away from a good thing and trying to pursue another?
I’m a little leery about answering this question. There are so many factors that need to be taken into consideration. Also, this is a conversation you really should be having with your current agent. Now having said that, I will try and answer—although my gut tells me that you already know the answers to your questions and perhaps you are simply looking for encouragement or validation as you walk this new path.

Of course the author would be taking a chance by walking away and starting something else. You already know that is the answer. My question is this: does it have to be one or the other? As in do you have to walk away or can you scale back the number of books in that genre in order to give yourself time to work on something mainstream?

Are you no longer passionate about the genre you are established in? If that is the case, then it may not be worth pursuing more books because your heart isn’t in it. What is your financial picture and can you afford to take a risk? Will fans of your current established genre be open to a move in a new direction? Can you live with that fact if the fans aren’t willing to follow you?

If you want to be safe, I’d keep a foot in your current genre and then test the waters with a new work that is more mainstream. If your heart isn’t in staying in the old genre than you just have to jump in and try it.

There are many stories where this has been successful for the author and I can probably highlight as many stories of where it hasn’t.

Anonymous asked:
How much of your time do you spend reading query letters versus time spent blogging? I’m just wondering because there are several agents who blog every day and I often wonder where they find the time.
I actually don’t spend a lot of time reading queries. First off, we’ve hired a wonderful assistant named Anita. Her job is to read all queries that come in as we can get up to 150 a day. She sets aside the ones that Sara and I need to review. Given that, I try and check my query email inbox once a week. It usually takes me 15 minutes to read the queries there and decide if I want to ask for sample pages or not.

As for blogging, I give myself 20 to 30 minutes a day to write my one entry. That’s it.

Constance asked:
How do you know if or when to resend something to an agent? Are you only supposed to resend a query when they ask you, or can you even when they don’t, if you’ve made extensive revisions?
Constance, I think if you extensively rework a query letter so it’s basically new, I’d resend it. My suggestion? Change the title to something new. Sometimes titles stand out and it will sound familiar. In terms of time span, if you submitted queries and have received mainly rejection responses, I’d revise significantly, wait about 3 weeks, then resend. What can an agent do? Track you down and chastise you for resubmitting? Grin. Be bold. Now if you are rejected numerous times by same agent. Move on. Lots of other agent fishes in the sea.

Alli asked:
Oh, boy, I should triple check before I press send. Here’s the real question:
Would you consider SOMEONE published if they have worked as a writer for a book packager?
Yes. Especially if the book packager is a well-known company with a strong record.

Because Inquiring Minds Want To Know

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: I worked on outstanding issues on two contracts, did a phone conference with an author and my film co-agent, touched base with my marketing director on two outstanding issues from last Friday and answered 118 emails. Maybe tomorrow I can actual tackle my To Do list for the day.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? THE MUMMER’S DANCE by Loreena McKennitt

At the end of each day, I do try and catch up with what is going on in the blog world. I like knowing about what other agents and editors are writing about.

So that was what I was doing when I stumbled upon this entry by Editorial Anonymous. I avidly read the entry and looked at the comments. Only 20 people responded? Unbelievable. I get comments like this every day on my blog and here we have an editor answering some key questions such as:

Q1. Given these recessionary times, are nervous publishers holding back on making decisions to take on a book?

You bet I’m reading that with interest.

Q3. As agents go, do publishers give them a pecking order, and so my agent may be lower in the pecking order?

Inquiring minds what to know!

Q7. Do you think it’s a good thing or a bad thing that I’ve yet to receive a response?

So I obviously need to point out this revealing entry. On submission right now, get ye over there and read Give Me Your Tired, Your Confused, Your Huddled Masses Yearning to Know What the **** Is Going On

And if you’re not at that stage and wondered about these Qs, you’ll also want to check it out.

Q8. From roughly what proportion of partial submissions do you then request the full?

Q9. Of those fulls you request, what proportion of manuscripts would actually be acquired?

Q10. Are you more likely to request a full if you met the author and got on reasonably well with them at a conference or workshop, or would that have no bearing whatsoever on your decision?

Q11. Or if the author had already been published, would that be more persuasive?

Because It Really Could Happen To You—Guest Blogger Sarah Rees Brennan

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Running out the door in about 30 minutes for all-day meetings. If I had been smart, I would have taken a day or two off right after BEA. Make note for next time….

What’s playing on the iPod right now? BEAUTIFUL DAY by U2

As authors (and even as agents), we aren’t always up on the latest technology so let this be a reminder to always have a backup system in place—even for things you didn’t think needed backing up.

The sad part of this story is that the attack on Sarah Rees Brennan’s live journal and her email account was obviously a deliberate one. We can only assume it was meant to sabotage her release day as Sarah Rees has a large online following and there are a lot of great things tied into her internet presence for her release day.

The good news is that she foiled her saboteur. With the help of a lot of good friends, supporters, and fellow generous writers, Sarah is good to go today–her official release day for her debut YA—THE DEMON’S LEXICON.

Congrats Sarah!

It happened six days before my book came out.

I was in the shower, singing a country music song and blinking coconut-scented bubbles out of my eyes, when I heard my phone ring and scrambled out to answer the phone. It was my friend Bob. ‘Hello, Bob,’ I said in a perplexed way. ‘Aren’t you at work?”

Go to your computer,’ he said. ‘Don’t freak out. I’m going to help you fix this.’

I went to my computer and saw that my blog had been deleted. I’d been writing my blog for seven years, since I was eighteen, and it had a lot of my life recorded in it: the parts dearest to me were the posts announcing my book deal, and all the posts I’d made about the terrifying, wonderful process of publication in the almost two years since then. They were all gone.

Then I tried to get into my email, and discovered that was where the hackers had got in: the thought of malicious strangers being able to go through all of my personal and some fairly crucial business emails had me shaking in my fluffy pink bath towel, but there was just no time to panic: I had to call about a hundred people, starting with my bank, proceeding onward to my website hosts and my friends, all the while being on the phone to report the computer abuse to both livejournal and google.

Thanks to the efforts of my more computer savvy friends, who were basically acting as my ninja team of technology, I got control of my blog and my email back in less than three hours. Unfortunately, that was plenty of time to delete every post I’d ever made on my blog, and every email I’d ever sent or received: emails from a long-distance boyfriend, my first email from my publisher, a million emails from my best friend in the diplomatic service. Not to mention all of my email contacts, which was scary given the whole six days to publication, and all the people I needed to be in contact with whose email addresses I had not memorized.

It still makes me feel a little ill to think of all that, lost. Then my tech ninjas said ‘Sarah… this looks like deliberate malice rather than a regular hack’ and I said sadly that given the timing, I had figured as much.

It was probably just someone who didn’t like my style on my blog, and thought they’d take me down a peg. Holy violation of privacy, Batman! The internet is sometimes a scary place.

Since I was given that object lesson in It Can Happen To You, I collected up some very, very simple tips (I am not a tech ninja, so I can only understand the basics!) on how to safeguard yourself against hackers, and wish to share them with you guys. Especially since I know a lot of you are writers, and I don’t want anyone trying to ruin your big day! So three tips, then.

1. Using your password on public or unsecured wifi is not safe, as it means you’re broadcasting your login data: so if you’re going on holiday or away on business and you’re going to be using public or unsecured internet for some time, change your password before you go and when you come back.

2. Whenever you’re given a link, hover your mouse over it and see where it leads before you go there: just going to a dodgy site can infect your computer, so always regard new sites with a little wariness.

3. And then there are passwords, and how we really do need them to be random, even though it’s so much easier to remember your dog’s or your boyfriend’s name… Not that I’m suggesting those two things are on the same level. I really love my dog! Here’s a great site with tips for creating better passwords.

And if despite your precautions – and I thought I’d taken precautions myself – it happens, well, it happens, and it’s awful, but right after it happened to me my blog readers were collecting up all their saved entries from my blog, and helping me reconstruct it. Lots of people re-sent emails to me that they’d sent me years ago. And one blog reader provided me with some handy tips, much like the ones I’m giving out to you! The internet can be scary sometimes, but it can be great as well.

Even though that day last week was horrible, today is wonderful. My book is out – my very first book, on shelves, where people can read it!

And nobody can delete that.

A stack on the table at the Borders–Penn Station

Feels Like The End Of An Era

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: It’s early yet and no fires are raging that I’m seeing so I’m going to say it’s a good day.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? PERSONAL JESUS by Richard Cheese

How very dull and boring. Our little troll is back and hence all the deleted comments on the last entry.

In one sense, this is a compliment as having a troll certainly establishes that your blog has “arrived.” Trolls don’t bother with the blogs that aren’t getting traffic.

Anyway, I want to apologize for having to turn on the ‘moderate comments’ feature yet again and unfortunately, it looks like it’s going to have to stay on this time.

This makes me very sad as I’ve been blogging since January 2006 and for 2 ½ years this blog has been an open forum where writers could gather, express opinions about the industry and heck, even posts some criticisms about agents, about my agency in particular, etc. and I’ve never felt the need to moderate.

But I’m not going to allow a troll to hijack the blog so he can use it for his own personal forum with comments that don’t offer help to other writers or add to the discussion.

So on it goes. Do know that it’s just fine to disagree with me. I will post any comments that pertain to the entry topic even if they exhibit a dissenting opinion or a valid criticism—as long as it’s handled in a professional manner.

Sigh. Feels like the end of an era…

Talking Websites

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: I’m working on contracts. Need I say more?

What’s playing on the iPod right now? STICKSHIFTS AND SAFETYBELTS by Cake

I had many interesting chats with editors while I was in New York City this past month but I just remembered one that I had meant to blog about. And then I received an email survey about this very question and that reminded me that I hadn’t yet blogged about it.

The editor and I were talking about not-yet-published writer websites and whether we look at them when we’ve requested sample pages and might be contemplating asking for a full. (The URL is often included in the cover letter.)

For both of us, the answer was “yes.” When reviewing sample pages where we like the writing, we’ll often give the writer website a glance and see what’s there. I don’t bother if the sample pages haven’t caught my interest.

I cannot stress enough how important it is to have a good website, with solid content, if you are going to have one at all. More on this in a minute.

If you don’t have a website, that’s fine too. I’ll still ask for a full manuscript if I like the sample pages enough. There are pros and cons to footing the bill of a website before you are even published so don’t stress about it or run out and get one right now because I don’t think it’s absolutely necessary.

But if you do have a website or blog and you are currently looking for an agent, or to make your first sale, or what have you, I can offer a couple of words of advice.

Don’t have a website/blog unless it can be a professional one. The homemade sites look it and just make me cringe. It won’t keep me from asking for your full (or if I like the novel, offering representation) but it’s not putting your best foot forward and that’s never a benefit.

What content should it have? Well the standard. About you, what you are working on, any cool interests you have that might inspire your writing, workshops you are doing, critique partners or anything about the writing process.

What you might not want to include is a whole play-by-play of your current editor, agent, or publisher search. This could backfire. I have seen sites where an author has clearly outlined all the rejections (sometimes the letters are posted there verbatim!). It would make me think twice about asking for the full (although the one time I encountered it, I did end up requesting the full as opinions can vary widely) but think of the psychology impact of that. If lots of people are saying NO, maybe I’ll think twice about saying YES.

Now once you have that book deal or agent or editor, I think it’s okay to write about it after the fact.

For blogs, remember that the writing you have there needs to be representative of you and your good work. It doesn’t have to be perfect but you shouldn’t blog if the writing doesn’t represent your “usual” quality—if you know what I mean.

In short, if it shows you off to an advantage, then have a website. If it can’t at this point in time, I wouldn’t worry about it.

The Last Word

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Busy Monday and I think it’s going to snow this evening.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? I WILL SURVIVE by Cake
(I apologize for the unintended irony but this was the song playing as I typed this.)

I read a story today in the New York Times that made a shiver slide down my spine. The story was of an American soldier blogging about his experience in Iraq for the last five years. Here’s the link to the NYT article and his site. His blog was featured on the website of the Rocky Mountain News.

Nothing new about that; there are a lot of blogging soldiers—except Andrew Olmsted decided to write a final blog, the last word, to be posted in the event of his death.

And he died in Iraq on Jan. 3, 2008; his final entry is posted.

A tribute to the power of blogging, free speech, and to the courage of choosing to have the final word when so often we don’t get the chance.

A moment of silence.

Editors Do Read Blogs

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: TGIF! I’m off to my assistant Sara’s 10th wedding anniversary party.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? SOMEBODY HAVE MERCY by Sam Cooke

But here’s the sticking point, they only read a writer’s blog or review a website when they are interested in potentially buying a project an agent has sent their way.

They want to see how savvy the writer is. How well he/she writes outside of the novel or the proposal. They might even take a look and see how the author photographs.

They definitely take a look.

Now, they don’t spend time perusing websites or blogs of random unpublished authors. That would eat up too much time…

Out.