Tuesday, October 23, 2007

News and Notes

It's continues to be a busy, but positive, time of year.

I finally closed on a multi-book deal for a non-traditional series of books that I have been working on for over a year. This is the deal that I had to fly to Chicago for. I wanted my client to meet the people he would be partnering up with for the next few years. And that was certainly good advice, because now everyone really knows everyone. He not only got to meet his editor and the book's designer, but the special sales and marketing people, as well as the actual owner of the company. Win, win all around.

I've also had three meetings with another publisher in the past three weeks where I have been developing a series of books. Again, this is exciting, but very time consuming. But it is also opening doors for all my other clients as well.

I took these last two weeks to have lunches with some of my agent/editor colleagues, because it is important both professionally and personally to know what's going on in the agent part of the book world. It was great to see people I hadn't seen since the summer, and to hear that we are all extremely busy this year, so it's not just me.

And my clients continue to deliver proposal after proposal and book after book. I made a list of things to do over the weekend, thought I was finished by Sunday night, sat down to watch Desperate Housewives and checked email before I went to bed only to find a new partial, a proposal and a whole new, unexpected novel. So I was already late before I started the week.

And on top of that, my cousin got a new job in San Francisco that starts on Monday and decided to come to New York to shop for new work clothes, so I had a dinner for her Wednesday night with more relatives and went out to dinner tonight.

Tomorrow is a paper work and reading day and it couldn't have come at a better time.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Have a well-deserved break! Hope this deal goes well for you.

none said...

That must be one very happy author :).

Anonymous said...

But wait! You didn't mention the World Series. Have you been watching? You did say you'd root for the Sox if the Yanks didn't get in . . .

Anonymous said...

I write fiction; mostly erotica/romance that's not always genre specific, under three different names, for publishers on the east coast and the west coast. Though I live near NY, I've never met one single editor face to face and I've been working with some of them for years. All this travel sounds exciting.

I'm curious about "non-traditional" books. Are they classified within specific genres, or are non-traditional books part of a genre all its own?

James Dashner said...

Congratulations on the deals. Not sure how you keep all of this straight in your head! 80 clients with who-knows-how-many projects.

Despite the craziness, you sure make it sound like you enjoy it.

JDuncan said...

I too am curious what a non-traditional series means exactly or is that blogspeak for the fact you can't be specific about it at this point in time? Grats on the deal too. It must be nice to have one come together after that long. Good luck on that perpetual state of catching up that seems to be the defining characteristic of an agent's worklife.

Anonymous said...

When a big deal like this happens, who pays your expenses to travel? Is it your responsiblity, or the author's?
I know, I'm nosy, but this is the first time I've heard of an agent travelling for a specific deal.
Chris

Ravenous Romance said...

Non-traditonal deal means it encompasses more than just a book. It's nonfiction, and hard to describe without going into the details, snd I promised my clients I would never give away too much information about their books unless they specially gave me the OK.

I paid my way to Chicago, just like I pick up the restuarant tab when you come to New York to see me. I believe in this series and expect that the author and I will be working with this company for many years.