Lets's see how long it takes for mass market paperbacks on Anna Nicole Smith and Lisa Novak (probably titled THE WRONG STUFF) to be signed up. Watch Publisher's Marketplace.
Let's also see how long it takes for the first appearance of the stalker in a novel to wear Depends while driving to meet the victim. It's a great detail. Too bad it's not fiction.
Friday, February 9, 2007
Thursday, February 8, 2007
Why are you Writing This?
One of my clients, who came to me after reading my agenting book, sent an email saying she had read my blog, that it reads like my book, but if I'm so busy, why am I doing this? She said she had a blog and it ate up a lot of time.
As I explained in my first post, I've written a journal since I was 17. Daily writing is in my nature. My journal entrees include some personal reflections about being the single mother of a teen boy, living in New York, pop culture, ect. But a lot of what I write about is about the business of agenting. I thought I'd share that with readers who might be interested, since the business of getting published has changed so much in the past decade.
My agenting book is just about out of print (you get get it on half.com or Amazon), but it's out of date in some places too. I'll update it some day, but in the meantime, this blog is my way of getting some real tried and true information about the business out there for writers.
Everytime I go to a writer's confernce, I hear so many writers say that no ever told them WHY it's so hard to get published, or how much the business had changed since Stephen King sold his first novel. I'm hoping that if they google "literary agents," eventually they'll come to this blog where someone will tell them getting published today is exponentially harder than it was 20 years ago, but that if you do the work and research, you'll learn what you need to know and most likely succeed.
As I explained in my first post, I've written a journal since I was 17. Daily writing is in my nature. My journal entrees include some personal reflections about being the single mother of a teen boy, living in New York, pop culture, ect. But a lot of what I write about is about the business of agenting. I thought I'd share that with readers who might be interested, since the business of getting published has changed so much in the past decade.
My agenting book is just about out of print (you get get it on half.com or Amazon), but it's out of date in some places too. I'll update it some day, but in the meantime, this blog is my way of getting some real tried and true information about the business out there for writers.
Everytime I go to a writer's confernce, I hear so many writers say that no ever told them WHY it's so hard to get published, or how much the business had changed since Stephen King sold his first novel. I'm hoping that if they google "literary agents," eventually they'll come to this blog where someone will tell them getting published today is exponentially harder than it was 20 years ago, but that if you do the work and research, you'll learn what you need to know and most likely succeed.
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
How Many Submissions?
QUESTION: Are you saying about twelve submissions is enough to give up on a project? If you've sent to the major players, do you then consider small houses, or is this the point that you lose the enthusiasm for the book? I'd love to hear about the book with 50 submissions.
I know you mean well, but I find it hard to believe that you have found my blog and don't know that there are only seven major publishers in America (actually, most of them are international conglomorates). This happened over a decade ago. All the entertainment businesses have merged to become giant media companies. It's old news. That's why it's so hard to get published now.
So, if you have a novel, there are seven major New York publishers, and two or three major/minor publishers.
If you've written nonfition, there are as many as 15. That's it.
Agents make their living on commssion, which means we get %15 of your advance. The vast majority of us cannot afford to do business with companies that pay less than $5000 advances, which is what happens when you venture into the small and niche publishers.
When I started as an agent in 1987, there were 23 publishers.
The book that was rejected by 50 publishers was rejected over a 16 year period. And, it turns out, the house that bought it was a minor New York publisher that got much bigger in that decade and a half. (I will write up that whole story soon, but it is not something I want to do again, and it is not something you should expect of your agent.)
I know you mean well, but I find it hard to believe that you have found my blog and don't know that there are only seven major publishers in America (actually, most of them are international conglomorates). This happened over a decade ago. All the entertainment businesses have merged to become giant media companies. It's old news. That's why it's so hard to get published now.
So, if you have a novel, there are seven major New York publishers, and two or three major/minor publishers.
If you've written nonfition, there are as many as 15. That's it.
Agents make their living on commssion, which means we get %15 of your advance. The vast majority of us cannot afford to do business with companies that pay less than $5000 advances, which is what happens when you venture into the small and niche publishers.
When I started as an agent in 1987, there were 23 publishers.
The book that was rejected by 50 publishers was rejected over a 16 year period. And, it turns out, the house that bought it was a minor New York publisher that got much bigger in that decade and a half. (I will write up that whole story soon, but it is not something I want to do again, and it is not something you should expect of your agent.)
Monday, February 5, 2007
But, Really How Long is Too Long?
I can't tell you how many times you've asked this question, as though there's some universal timer, and when it dings you have the right to storm in and demand an answer.
See below for a sample: (I think one of you sent this three times with different wording, or you are all obsessed with editors on maternity leave).
My question is, if you're agented, how long should you wait on editors before you decide your agent isn't effective (barring editor maternity leaves, shake-ups, etc.). Two months? Six? Nine?A year?
It's about time and numbers - pure and simple.
For editors, if you are a genre author, there are a finite number of editors who can buy your kind of work (say 8 for the 8 paperback houses). They have at least 12, if not 24 or 36 books they are responsible for a year. Many of those slots are taken up by authors under contract, so when those books come in, they have to drop what they are doing and edit them, because those authors under contract are waiting by the mailbox for their delivery and acceptance checks. Sometimes they make editorial changes, and then they have to read the manuscript again. They have to squeeze reading a new manuscript into their workload. (If you are unagented, you are at the very bottom of the pile).
If you are agented, the editor will want to get back to your agent within a reasonable amount of time, so that s/he will continue to submit to that editor. You should start to get some feedback from your agent three months after submission, if she's done a simultaneous submission, which she would have. However, if your submission was sent out between Thanksgiving and New Year's, or during the summer months, four or five months is a reasonable amount of time. For a full manuscript, you might not get a full set of responses for up to a year, and then, sometimes, it can take even longer than that.
As long as your agent is in contact with you, and your work is on submission, you shouldn't worry. You should know of other authors s/he is repping and whether or not s/he is making sales for them and if s/he is, you know she's working in the field.
It is very hard to get an agent (because there are so many people writing today), so if you have one, you shouldn't just throw her/him away. I have had a few authors approach me saying, "my agent sent my book to 12 editors and was unable to sell it, but maybe you can sell it?" No, it's been seen by the major players and there's nowhere else to go. It's not your agent, it's that book. If I was interested in you, I'd want to see the next book.
Sometimes it really takes a long time. I have one book that took me 16 years to sell (rejected by over 50 editors) but that's a whole post in itelf.
I hate it when my clients ask me who I sent the manuscript to because they don't know the business or the houses or who recently bought a big ghost brothel book at one house, which is why I can't send their ghost brothel book there now. If I'm spending a lot of time updating them, then I'm not selling or reading or editing or brainstorming.
I know you're insecure and anxious, but that's not your agent's job. That's what writer's groups are for.
See below for a sample: (I think one of you sent this three times with different wording, or you are all obsessed with editors on maternity leave).
My question is, if you're agented, how long should you wait on editors before you decide your agent isn't effective (barring editor maternity leaves, shake-ups, etc.). Two months? Six? Nine?A year?
It's about time and numbers - pure and simple.
For editors, if you are a genre author, there are a finite number of editors who can buy your kind of work (say 8 for the 8 paperback houses). They have at least 12, if not 24 or 36 books they are responsible for a year. Many of those slots are taken up by authors under contract, so when those books come in, they have to drop what they are doing and edit them, because those authors under contract are waiting by the mailbox for their delivery and acceptance checks. Sometimes they make editorial changes, and then they have to read the manuscript again. They have to squeeze reading a new manuscript into their workload. (If you are unagented, you are at the very bottom of the pile).
If you are agented, the editor will want to get back to your agent within a reasonable amount of time, so that s/he will continue to submit to that editor. You should start to get some feedback from your agent three months after submission, if she's done a simultaneous submission, which she would have. However, if your submission was sent out between Thanksgiving and New Year's, or during the summer months, four or five months is a reasonable amount of time. For a full manuscript, you might not get a full set of responses for up to a year, and then, sometimes, it can take even longer than that.
As long as your agent is in contact with you, and your work is on submission, you shouldn't worry. You should know of other authors s/he is repping and whether or not s/he is making sales for them and if s/he is, you know she's working in the field.
It is very hard to get an agent (because there are so many people writing today), so if you have one, you shouldn't just throw her/him away. I have had a few authors approach me saying, "my agent sent my book to 12 editors and was unable to sell it, but maybe you can sell it?" No, it's been seen by the major players and there's nowhere else to go. It's not your agent, it's that book. If I was interested in you, I'd want to see the next book.
Sometimes it really takes a long time. I have one book that took me 16 years to sell (rejected by over 50 editors) but that's a whole post in itelf.
I hate it when my clients ask me who I sent the manuscript to because they don't know the business or the houses or who recently bought a big ghost brothel book at one house, which is why I can't send their ghost brothel book there now. If I'm spending a lot of time updating them, then I'm not selling or reading or editing or brainstorming.
I know you're insecure and anxious, but that's not your agent's job. That's what writer's groups are for.
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