Pub Rants

Category: Publishing/Publishers

Tales From The Contract Wars

by Kristin Nelson

Status: It’s pouring rain and the temps feel anything like spring but I’m eating ice cream right now anyway.


What’s Playing on the XM or iPod right now? DON’T GIVE UP ON ME NOW by Ben Harper


Today we officially wrapped up our negotiations on the new Macmillan boilerplate contract. It only took 6 months, 2 weeks, and 3 days from start to finish. It was worth it to get a decent contract.


Oddly enough I was excited to sell yet another book to a Macmillan imprint. THAT contract will only take several weeks. All the heavy lifting is done.


Then I get a new Random House contract in. Basically the same except for 2 rather key clauses that come at the very end of the contract but are referenced throughout.


Great. Publishers will certainly let you reserve rights but are now inserting clauses that hamstring the author from exploiting those reserved rights.


This seems to be the latest fashion.


21st Century Evolution Of The Agent’s Role

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: As it’s almost 8 pm here and I’m still at the office, you can guess my status. I’m getting ready for Book Expo so there hasn’t been a lot of extra time for blogging.

What’s playing on the XM or iPod right now? I’M IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE by Barbara Streisand

I can’t say I have all the answers to this one but I can very clearly tell you what it WON’T be. I’m not on twitter but I’m still in the loop on a lot of things and there has been a lot of discussion around this blog posting.

So I’m just going to state my stance in very clear terms.

1. Agents roles will indeed transform but I’m willing to go on the record and say that we will never need to charge a reading fee or for editorial services in order to be an agent in this new publishing world.

2. I believe, and I’ll be talking about this in more detail in later blogs, that agents and agencies opening publishing divisions as part of their agency is a conflict of interest. Plain and simple. One can’t be an agent and a publisher at the same time.

3. I do believe that agents have a role in the ePublishing realm and I have definite opinions on what that role should be and I promise I will share it but not right at this moment.

Soon though.

In The Spring An Agent’s Fancy Turns To…

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Yesterday Angie and I were reviewing one client’s statement and to sum it up. What a hot mess.

What’s playing on the iPod or the XM radio right now? SWAY by Dean Martin

Love of royalty statements.

Yep, it’s that time of year again. April and October are NLA’s biggest royalty periods which means that the month of May and November are consumed by hours reviewing those statements.

So, in an effort to empower authors about their statements (because I promise you that a lot of agents don’t spend nearly the time they should on reviewing them), here’s another tidbit to file away in your knowledge bank.

If your publisher holds World rights and is selling your titles abroad, it’s important to track where the projects are sold to and when they will be released.

Why? Because if you don’t know that info, how do you know when the monies are supposed to appear on your royalty statements? Also, do you have a copy of the licensing agreement and the latest foreign royalty statement from the territory in question?

Most agents insert a clause in the contract allowing the author to receive such info—usually upon request. Without it, it’s impossible to review a statement for accuracy. What? You gonna just take the Publisher’s word for it?

Considering the number of errors we see in EVERY royalty period, that’s a lot to take on faith.

And there’s another facet to this. If Publisher has World, did they sell UK rights to separate publisher or was it done by a sister house in England? If a sister house, then UK royalties are specified in the US contract and should show on the US statement.

You don’t want to know how many times this information has just been plain missing from the statement or just wrong.

Knowledge is power and as an author, you have a right to a copy of those licensing agreements so ask for them. I would say that in the last several years, NLA has recovered well over $100,000 in missing royalties—money clients would never have received if we hadn’t pestered Publishers about info missing from the statements. In fact just last week, a client got $8000 because we argued that the wrong royalty rate was being used to calculate certain sales listed on the statement. And per the contract, we were right and they paid up. But if we hadn’t pointed it out…

Well, that’s a lot of money to leave on the table.

What’s In Our Full Manuscript Queue

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: This is a first for me. CBS films has a dedicated FB page for LEGEND the Movie. And you get first peek at the just released cover. Sweet.

What’s playing on the XM or iPod right now? MISSIONARY MAN by Eurythmics

This is actually a good question. A quick look shows that we have 8 full manuscripts in the queue to be read. And here’s where they fall:

6 titles are Young Adult (breakdown by genre, 3 fantasies, 2 paranormals, 1 contemporary)

1 title is adult literary fiction

1 title is adult women’s fiction

We just sent responses to an adult fantasy that we passed on as well as a middle grade title that had several agents interested but ended up not being quite right for us.

Of the 3 clients Sara just signed: adult SF novel, adult Historical Romance, and Paranormal YA.

And as a bonus, here is Kristin as a talking head yet again. This time I’m reading a short excerpt from the Philip K Dick nominee SF novel SONG OF SCARABAEUS for the awards ceremony last Friday. The sound is not the best so you’ll probably have to turn up your volume all the way up to remotely hear me. Warning, this scene will probably hook you in!

The author Sara Creasy thought I looked quite spiffy!

Where “In Perpetuity” Might Come Back…

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: It’s Friday! This would be more exciting if I didn’t have plans to work all weekend. Need to catch up from being away the week prior.

What’s playing on the XM or iPod right now? JEALOUS OF THE MOON by Nickel Creek

And bite you in the a**.

Not to be a downer on the Friday but a lot of authors are super excited about getting their rights reverted and then being able to digitally publish those titles themselves.

By all means, I’m certainly not opposed but you might want to check that agency agreement you signed before you run out and do that.

For the record, Nelson Literary Agency does not hold author rights into perpetuity but I know of a lot of agencies that do.

At NLA, our client agreement clearly states that if we sell the author’s book, it’s for the full term of the publishing agreement. When the book is out of print, publishing contract ends, all rights revert to the author with no further obligation to us.

But we are the minority. I know a lot of agencies that have “in perpetuity” language that they will be the agency of record for life of the property—regardless of whether that title is currently under a publication contract or not.

In short, what this means is that even if all rights to a title has reverted to you from the publisher, and even if you are no longer with that agent or agency, if you signed an agency agreement separate from the publication contract that has an “in perpetuity” clause and that agreement is still in force, you owe the agency of record monies for your self-pubbed digital sales.

Yep, that would suck. So, review any and all agency agreements you signed and if necessary, consult an attorney if it is in question before posting to digital distribution sites.

Another Children’s Editor Weighs In

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Is if Friday yet? Dang. Not yet…

What’s playing on the XM or iPod right now? TAKE MY BREATH AWAY by Berlin

On what she’s looking for. And I’m loving this list. I’d be happy to see queries from writers for anything she mentions. Bring it on.

1. Contemporary YA where the heroine is not a victim.

2. Witches, MG or YA, dark or light

3. SF YA

4. Multicultural SF or fantasy

5. Humor

6. Strong novels with gay protagonists

7. Steampunk

8. Novels with the perfect blend of literary and commercial that will get starred reviews, win awards, and land on the Times list.

Oh that’s not asking for much! I’m getting right on that last one. *grin *

Who’s Got Problems? Dorchester Has Problems

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: I’m listening to Chill on XM. This station is new to me. Do I feel calmer? Hum…

What’s playing on the XM or iPod right now? TAMELESS by Yonderboi

Sadly, Dorchester Publishing has been in the news again recently. I’m sure most of you have already seen the headlines as it certainly is not a secret that Brian Keene called for a boycott of the publisher because unauthorized editions of Keene’s digital editions were being sold after the rights had reverted to him.

I can confirm that the same has happened to several NLA authors whose rights had also reverted.

In response, Dorchester vows to make it right.

Last Thursday, I was on a conference call that detailed Dorchester’s current financial situation where I also brought up this issue.

Currently they are paying royalties owed to what they call “currently active Dorchester authors” (ie. authors whose rights Dorchester currently has under contract and can exploit). I also received confirmation that those payments are happening on a weekly basis.

However, Dorchester owes a tidy sum of back royalties to what are called “non-current inactive authors” (ie. authors whose rights have reverted) and as of Thursday’s call, there is no plan in place to pay these past royalties owed.

I imagine that this is partly what CEO Bob Anthony is referring to when he mentions that they’ve needed to prioritize cash flow and in the end, one can hope that Anthony’s vow that “all authors will be paid in full” will come to pass.

Given past actions by the company, Mr. Keene and other authors remain skeptical.

Joe and Barry Talk Role of Agents

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: I think my phone receiver might be permanently glued to my left ear. For the last two days, I’ve literally averaged about 6 hours on the phone.

What’s playing on the XM or iPod right now? ANTARCTICA ECHOS by Vangelis

If you haven’t read the conversation between Mr. Eisler and Mr. Konrath that might be posted everywhere by now, I highly recommend it. It’s long but it’s also a very interesting read regardless of your own personal sentiments on the subject of self-publishing and Eisler’s decision. There is also another interview up on The Daily Beast that sheds a bit more light on his decision.

As I know both Barry and Joe, they probably won’t mind my pulling out an excerpt from their conversation and resposting it here. This section touches on what they see as the potential evolving role of the literary agent:

Barry: To turn a manuscript into an actual book and get it into the hands of a reader, we still need an editor, line editor, copyeditor, proofreader, jacket copy writer, bio writer, cover art designer, and digital formatter. Plus there are various marketing and sales elements, too. You manage all these functions yourself, and this is one way in which I’d argue that you really are, if not exceptional, then at least unusual.


Joe: I wouldn’t disagree with that.


Barry: So as legacy publishing dies out, where will other writers turn to for assistance with the critical functions I mention above?


Joe: We’ve talked about this before.


Barry: I know. I was trying to prompt you in an unobtrusive way.


Joe: Right. Okay, unobtrusively, I think agencies will morph into what I call E-stributors.


Barry: I agree with the concept, even if I don’t like the nomenclature.


Joe: You don’t like “print,” either.


Barry: Not when you’re talking about paper. There’s paper print and digital print. I think the better distinction is between paper and digital.


Joe: I know, I know. Anyway, E-stributors will be a combination of publisher and manager, handling all the elements you mention above for authors who don’t want to manage those elements themselves. The ones that do it well will probably be able to make a good case for keeping their 15% cut.


Barry: As opposed to legacy publishers, which are keeping 52.5%.


Joe: Yes. Hard to see how legacy publishers will be able to compete with the digital model being adopted by agencies. They’d have to morph into E-stributors themselves, which would be a huge challenge given their attachment to a paper infrastructure. More likely, you’ll see the most entrepreneurial editors jumping ship and joining agencies.

Given my current job *grin *, I wanted to spotlight it and ask, what else do you think would make an agent worth their 15% in a model like this? I have a feeling I’m going to find the answers very fascinating.

News Flash: Google Settlement Rejected

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Talk about chat in the blogosphere. Rumors has it that internet ePublishing phenom Amanda Hocking might be on the verge of accepting a 7-figure deal with a major traditional publisher and traditionally published Barry Eisler is foregoing SMP deal and moving to digital only.

What’s playing on the XM or iPod right now? SYMPHONY No. 3 –LARGO by Gorecki with Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

In the other big news flash of the day (she says facetiously) is that the Judge Denny Chin rejected the Google Book Settlement. In the end, he said is main issue could be ameliorated by changing the settlement from an opt-out process to an opt-in.

As this issue hasn’t been actively discussed in 13 months, I suggest reading the article and re-familiarizing yourself with all the arguments, issues, and objections. This case is definitely not dead. I imagine we’ll see a something new put forward in the not so distant future. As Judge Chin points out, such a settlement would give Google an unfair competitive advantage (definitely not a news flash for anyone following this case), and Google won’t want to let go of that easily.

In an interesting side note, Scribd has the rejection filing posted in its entirety for reading on their site. This alone might underscore Judge Chin’s position on unfair advantage.

Absolutely No Need to Apologize!

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: TGIF! I will not have to work on cleaning up files because of the computer conversion. We are done!

What’s playing on the XM or iPod right now? TAKE IT EASY by Eagles

Today Gail Carriger and I received an email from her Japanese translator apologizing for the delay in getting a copy of the Japanese cover art of SOULLESS to us.

She was emailing because the illustrator was currently in an evacuation camp but trying to finish it and because the Japanese editor on the project had also been impacted and hadn’t been able to be in the office.

Good Heavens. There is no need to apologize.

But this to me is an example of the incredible Japanese fortitude. In the face of dire circumstances caused by one of the biggest earthquakes on record, they felt the need to send us an email—and with an apology to boot!

On our end, we were just relieved to hear some news that they were safe. We have not gotten a lot of information on our Japanese counterparts as of yet.