So I finally mailed out all the 1099's last week, thinking they should be mistake-free.
And the 1099's from the publishers started rolling in to me. One of them caught my attention because it was in a brown envelope - I was secretly hoping it was a surprise check for my author - but when I opened it, not only did they have the wrong mailing address, but the amount they had paid me was also twice what I had sent to my author. I knew this because I had been working on the 1099's so long and hard that I could recite the amounts by heart.
I checked my deposits and checks written to make sure I didn't make a mistake, but, no, there was only one check to this author in the amount I had written down.
I called the company first thing in the morning and told them that I thought there was a mistake. They called me back and told me they had sent two checks, gave me the check numbers and dates, and I frantically went through four months of bank statements, but there was no second deposit and no second check to the author. I asked them to make sure both checks were deposited in my bank account.
I had an early lunch and an afternoon appointment, so I was out of the office all day. When I got back, there was no message.
I got a phone call in the morning saying they would overnight me the second check and change the 1099. It turned out that Fed Ex never delivered one and never reported it undelivered or returned it to sender.
I am so thankful that I was on top of this, or my author would have been out some money, although I do wish he had been more like all my other authors and emailed asking, "where's my check." I would have caught it sooner. So, the moral of this story is DO email your agent when you believe a check is due.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
1099's, Superbowl and Super Tuesday
It's been a busy two weeks, which is why I haven't posted.
I'm sure very few of you were aware that last week was the time when agents mail out their authors' 1099's (the W-2's of non-employee compensation). This is always more work than I anticipate.
Years ago we used to have to buy forms with built-in carbons and type them all, but now everything is computerized and saved from the year before, which does make it much easier. Except that the agent still has to remember who moved, changed their name or had a mistake in last year's form that needs to be changed this year.
And, of course, there are always one or two writers who haven't given me their Social Security Number or Federal I.D. number (for a business), and wait until the last minute to return my frantic emails and phone calls about this discrepancy.
But they are all done and in the mail now and I have a month to hear if there are any mistakes (from typos to under and/or over-reporting) and then they go off to the government.
Needless to say this is not one of my favorite tasks, and even though I have an accountant who does most of the work, I am so used to doing it myself (and know how to) that I always find mistakes before they go out.
I was also just overwhlemed by the Superbowl, although I am not a big football fan. The Yankees take so much out of me during the season, that I feel I need a break after October (and I put all that extra time into reading your books). However, I am a New Yorker, and it was such a hard-earned win that I almost went to the ticker tape parade (and then thought better of it - I have lived in New York City my whole life and never been to Times Square on New Year's Eve, so I obviously don't like the winter crowd thing). I just put the TV on while I worked yesterday.
And it was Super Tuesday, a very weird phenomenon - to have so many states voting in a half-national primary. And to have so many Democratic voters so split. But it's also great to see so many young voters particpating in the process. It's going to be a very interesting Democratic convention.
Plus, in case any of you don't read the non-Britney gossip, Judith Regan settled her lawsuit with HarperCollins. She was given an undisclosed amount (probably the remainder of her contract) and a statement that said, in effect, she did not make the anti-semitic remarks that were the so-called reason for her firing.
People ask me what I think she'll do (because I had two books with her I am now considered an expert). But here's my two cents on that. I think she's perfect for Hollywood and will take her settlement and start a production company.
I'm sure very few of you were aware that last week was the time when agents mail out their authors' 1099's (the W-2's of non-employee compensation). This is always more work than I anticipate.
Years ago we used to have to buy forms with built-in carbons and type them all, but now everything is computerized and saved from the year before, which does make it much easier. Except that the agent still has to remember who moved, changed their name or had a mistake in last year's form that needs to be changed this year.
And, of course, there are always one or two writers who haven't given me their Social Security Number or Federal I.D. number (for a business), and wait until the last minute to return my frantic emails and phone calls about this discrepancy.
But they are all done and in the mail now and I have a month to hear if there are any mistakes (from typos to under and/or over-reporting) and then they go off to the government.
Needless to say this is not one of my favorite tasks, and even though I have an accountant who does most of the work, I am so used to doing it myself (and know how to) that I always find mistakes before they go out.
I was also just overwhlemed by the Superbowl, although I am not a big football fan. The Yankees take so much out of me during the season, that I feel I need a break after October (and I put all that extra time into reading your books). However, I am a New Yorker, and it was such a hard-earned win that I almost went to the ticker tape parade (and then thought better of it - I have lived in New York City my whole life and never been to Times Square on New Year's Eve, so I obviously don't like the winter crowd thing). I just put the TV on while I worked yesterday.
And it was Super Tuesday, a very weird phenomenon - to have so many states voting in a half-national primary. And to have so many Democratic voters so split. But it's also great to see so many young voters particpating in the process. It's going to be a very interesting Democratic convention.
Plus, in case any of you don't read the non-Britney gossip, Judith Regan settled her lawsuit with HarperCollins. She was given an undisclosed amount (probably the remainder of her contract) and a statement that said, in effect, she did not make the anti-semitic remarks that were the so-called reason for her firing.
People ask me what I think she'll do (because I had two books with her I am now considered an expert). But here's my two cents on that. I think she's perfect for Hollywood and will take her settlement and start a production company.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Plagiarism and Me
By now, I'm sure you all have read about multi-selling romance-writer Cassie Edwards being accused of plagiarism by Smart Bitches who Love Trashy Books and other sources. It appears she crimped major research sections on Native American life from published, copy written nonfiction and even fiction.
If this is true (and it does look as though it is), it is bad. It is especially bad because it is lazy writing, and there is no excuse for laziness when you are being paid to write.
As I seem to say too often, publishing is not heart surgery. It usually takes nine months for a completed manuscript to go from type-written form to published book, so there is always ample time to make changes. And even if you are under deadline, if you need an extra 24 or 48 hours to put something in your own words, I can't imagine the circumstances under which your editor would put you so under the gun that she (it usually she, especially in romance writing) won't give you those extra days. You could always say something like "the section on ferrets will need some work, but you can read through the manuscript for plot and character as is."
So there is just no excuse.
One of my authors recently received an email from an editor we have a series of books with saying that some of the research information in a forth-coming nonficiton book is too close to the Wikipedia entry. They checked. They aways check. Or should. And you, as a writer, should always feel that you will be found out.
In my author's defense, Wikipedia had been cited in the footnotes, and had been cut out in editing.
I am not sure that all of you know that I was trained as a journalist, which means I have a degree in journalism from NYU, where I actually taught in the undergraduate program. I was the publisher of a Manhattan newspaper for 4 years. I have NO patience for plagiarism.
When I was teaching feature article writing to 20 odd-year olds in the late 80's, I had a fairly talented student from California who would cut class two out of three times but always hand in pretty good stuff. Before the end-term project of working with two or three other classmates and doing an investigative feature article, he would have received an A- if he had attended all classes. I thought he would get a B+ because I do not think it is fair to give a better grade if you don't put in the time like the rest of the students. So I already knew he was lazy.
When the papers were handed in, he did not work with the team he was assigned to. Instead, he wrote a near-brilliant article about the border patrol in San Diego. It was so good it could have run in The New York Times. So I checked. It did run in the New York Times (and those were the days when I had to go to the big public library and research back articles on film). I failed him.
That was not the end of it.
He called me at home and told me his mother was a 4th grade teacher and would never have failed her students for "copying." I explained that a Junior in NYU's journalism program was doing a lot more than copying, and that he should have learned about plagiarism by now, but that if he hadn't, I was hoping that this would be a memorable lesson.
He came to my job and tried to talk to me.
I called the head of the journalism department and had him removed from the journalism program. He had to choose another major to get his BA.
I have no idea what happened to him, but I also have no regrets on how this played out.
Plagiarism is stealing.
If this is true (and it does look as though it is), it is bad. It is especially bad because it is lazy writing, and there is no excuse for laziness when you are being paid to write.
As I seem to say too often, publishing is not heart surgery. It usually takes nine months for a completed manuscript to go from type-written form to published book, so there is always ample time to make changes. And even if you are under deadline, if you need an extra 24 or 48 hours to put something in your own words, I can't imagine the circumstances under which your editor would put you so under the gun that she (it usually she, especially in romance writing) won't give you those extra days. You could always say something like "the section on ferrets will need some work, but you can read through the manuscript for plot and character as is."
So there is just no excuse.
One of my authors recently received an email from an editor we have a series of books with saying that some of the research information in a forth-coming nonficiton book is too close to the Wikipedia entry. They checked. They aways check. Or should. And you, as a writer, should always feel that you will be found out.
In my author's defense, Wikipedia had been cited in the footnotes, and had been cut out in editing.
I am not sure that all of you know that I was trained as a journalist, which means I have a degree in journalism from NYU, where I actually taught in the undergraduate program. I was the publisher of a Manhattan newspaper for 4 years. I have NO patience for plagiarism.
When I was teaching feature article writing to 20 odd-year olds in the late 80's, I had a fairly talented student from California who would cut class two out of three times but always hand in pretty good stuff. Before the end-term project of working with two or three other classmates and doing an investigative feature article, he would have received an A- if he had attended all classes. I thought he would get a B+ because I do not think it is fair to give a better grade if you don't put in the time like the rest of the students. So I already knew he was lazy.
When the papers were handed in, he did not work with the team he was assigned to. Instead, he wrote a near-brilliant article about the border patrol in San Diego. It was so good it could have run in The New York Times. So I checked. It did run in the New York Times (and those were the days when I had to go to the big public library and research back articles on film). I failed him.
That was not the end of it.
He called me at home and told me his mother was a 4th grade teacher and would never have failed her students for "copying." I explained that a Junior in NYU's journalism program was doing a lot more than copying, and that he should have learned about plagiarism by now, but that if he hadn't, I was hoping that this would be a memorable lesson.
He came to my job and tried to talk to me.
I called the head of the journalism department and had him removed from the journalism program. He had to choose another major to get his BA.
I have no idea what happened to him, but I also have no regrets on how this played out.
Plagiarism is stealing.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Back on the Chain Gang
Today is my first day back, but it proved a little mellower than I expected, although I did have 2 authors email me to ask if I had closed any foreign deals over the Christmas break (like they think they don't celebrate Christmas and New Year's in England/Germany/Japan?).
It was a good break for me, and one I desperately needed, as the year-end work-wise proved to be very different than what I expected. Having ten days off has enabled me to approach reselling or resubmitting a bunch of books with renewed vigor that I would not have if I had had to do it all again the very next day.
I surprised myself by doing the stuff on my to-do list that I never get to, namely the sorting and organizing. I went through the contents of all seven of my desk drawers and somehow threw out four bags of garbage from that. I found even more old and/or already published manuscripts to discard, as well as bank statements from before the turn of the millennium and old checks from closed accounts.
And I made a dent (a minor, but real one) in cleaning up my son's room. I donated all his middle school clothing to the Salvation Army before the year turned, and threw out toy parts that I could not recognize.
I read a few proposals, but I didn't even manage to finish the book I was reading for pleasure (although I think I have two chapters to go, and if I told you what trash I am reading, your faith in me would be dashed).
I slept late, but I did exercise. I cooked up a storm (roast pork loin to die for and shrimp scampi on Christmas Eve), took care of a sick boyfriend and visited friends in Massachusetts for New Year's Eve.
And I even wrote a bit.
And now I am ready to face the new year, and its challenges.
It was a good break for me, and one I desperately needed, as the year-end work-wise proved to be very different than what I expected. Having ten days off has enabled me to approach reselling or resubmitting a bunch of books with renewed vigor that I would not have if I had had to do it all again the very next day.
I surprised myself by doing the stuff on my to-do list that I never get to, namely the sorting and organizing. I went through the contents of all seven of my desk drawers and somehow threw out four bags of garbage from that. I found even more old and/or already published manuscripts to discard, as well as bank statements from before the turn of the millennium and old checks from closed accounts.
And I made a dent (a minor, but real one) in cleaning up my son's room. I donated all his middle school clothing to the Salvation Army before the year turned, and threw out toy parts that I could not recognize.
I read a few proposals, but I didn't even manage to finish the book I was reading for pleasure (although I think I have two chapters to go, and if I told you what trash I am reading, your faith in me would be dashed).
I slept late, but I did exercise. I cooked up a storm (roast pork loin to die for and shrimp scampi on Christmas Eve), took care of a sick boyfriend and visited friends in Massachusetts for New Year's Eve.
And I even wrote a bit.
And now I am ready to face the new year, and its challenges.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Happy Holidays
This is my business Xmas card.
The art is from REALM OF THE RODENT, a forthcoming middle grade series that Sourcebooks will be publishing in 2008. I describe the series as LORD OF THE RINGS meets THE SECRET OF NIMH, a wonderful collaborative effort by three comic book writers and artists.
The artist is Alex Horley, whom I met through his significant other, who was attending a Romance Writers of America conference in New York. I had been invited because I was receiving an award, even though at that time I handled very little romance. It was one of those serendipitous meetings (which is why I do these conferences).
About five years ago, I realized I spent a small fortune sending out Xmas cards, that no one really remembered, and I wondered if there was some better way to do this. I knew some of my acquaintances sent donations in lieu of cards, but that didn't really work for me. Then, suddenly I got it. I wondered if I could use that money to support a writer/artist. I sent an email out to all the artists I knew asking if they, or someone they knew, would be interested in doing an Xmas card for me. Alex, who is a very well-known comic book artist, said yes, with the understanding that the card would be sent to hundreds of people in the publishing industry. It was a smart move, because I believe it was part of what helped to sell this book.
See, what goes around, comes around.
Merry Christmas and may 2008 be the best year yet for all of us!
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