So, you all know I've been working two jobs for 3 1/2 years (July marks my 4 year anniversary), and since I really do work 16 hour days a few days a week. I barely have time to remember my middle name, let alone write in my blogs and journals. But Sunday morning is always a bit of "me" time and I thought I'd share some trends a few of us agents and editors see ahead.
As some of you may know from my twitter feed (and you should follow me, LoriPerkinsRR because I am constantly tweeting about publishing), I went to the midnight showing of Hunger Games on 3/19 with 9 other agents and editors. We got there two hours early and talked about books. This is what we see trending in the next year or on in terms of purchasing (which is different from what will be in print, because print takes so long). Remember, that my colleagues are skewed towards romance.
Geek love is coming. Hot nerds. Alphas in glasses. Shy billionaire entrepreneurs.
Even more dystopian fiction. One of these editors told me that she has bought through 2016. But they are being picky. I think YA is a little crowded, but not so much adult fiction. So, end of the world love stories. BTW, I am putting the finishing edits on APOCALYPSE TOMORROW: Love Among the Ruins, our end of the world and in love anthology at RR, so if you have something that might fit, send it in asap!
BDSM romance. Not a surprise after Fifty Shades of Grey. But it's BDSM light. So, if you have a naughty little trunk novel, or fan fiction that might be rewritten, dust it off and send it out.
And, here's my two cents on the fan fiction issue. It's fan fiction. It's entertainment. Surely we all have run an erotic scenario based on some TV show through our heads at some point in our lives. These authors have just decided to share. It's no big deal. When something is sent for publication, it has to be wiped clean of its obvious influence, but you can't copyright an idea (or a title). Inspiration is not plagiarism.
Now, off to the gym.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Cccchanges
Well, we have exciting news at the L. Perkins Agency.
Marisa Corvisiero has decided to start her own agency, in conjunction with her literary consulting business, PowerHouse (see her blog announcement at http://thoughtsfromaliteraryagent.blogspot.com/), and Emily Keyes, who had worked with this agency as an intern while getting her Masters in publishing from studying NYU's Center for Publishing, and then going on to work in contracts at Simon & Schuster, has come back to us.
So welcome home, Emily! Emily is now the Contracts & Foreign Rights Manager at the L. Perkins Agency. She’s very passionate about YA and teen novels and is looking to acquire in that area.
Previously, she was a Contracts Administrator at Simon & Schuster, Inc. and a writer for “The World Almanac for Kids.” She is a graduate of the NYU Publishing program and knowledgeable about many areas of publishing, and an expert on all things “Sweet Valley.”
Email her at emily@lperkinsagency.com. Follow her on twitter @esc_key
And good luck Marisa.
Marisa Corvisiero has decided to start her own agency, in conjunction with her literary consulting business, PowerHouse (see her blog announcement at http://thoughtsfromaliteraryagent.blogspot.com/), and Emily Keyes, who had worked with this agency as an intern while getting her Masters in publishing from studying NYU's Center for Publishing, and then going on to work in contracts at Simon & Schuster, has come back to us.
So welcome home, Emily! Emily is now the Contracts & Foreign Rights Manager at the L. Perkins Agency. She’s very passionate about YA and teen novels and is looking to acquire in that area.
Previously, she was a Contracts Administrator at Simon & Schuster, Inc. and a writer for “The World Almanac for Kids.” She is a graduate of the NYU Publishing program and knowledgeable about many areas of publishing, and an expert on all things “Sweet Valley.”
Email her at emily@lperkinsagency.com. Follow her on twitter @esc_key
And good luck Marisa.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
An Agent's New Year's Resolutions
You probably think that a literary agent's New Year resolutions should include things like keep up to date with query letters or take on new clients or sell more books. But when you've been doing this as long as I have (almost a quarter century), the last thing you want is more. What you want is better, and/or more efficient.
So, this year I want every single one of my clients, whether fiction or nonfiction, to be under both traditional and epub contract. This way, they should never have a week or a month when they have nothing to write.
And every author I represent should be in twitter and facebook and Goodreads, and comment and review books they love on Amazon. If you want someone to give you a good review, pay it forward. It's not rocket science.
I do not want to add another print book to my already buckling bookcases, unless I throw (or give away) another book. I recently redid some of the rooms of my home office and went through books from my adolescence, which I remembered loving, but when I pulled out the paperbacks, the pages flew out. Let's be real, I will never read those copies of those books again. So I am going to throw those books out and download what I want.
So, it's pretty simple. Better, more efficient, and leaner.
So, this year I want every single one of my clients, whether fiction or nonfiction, to be under both traditional and epub contract. This way, they should never have a week or a month when they have nothing to write.
And every author I represent should be in twitter and facebook and Goodreads, and comment and review books they love on Amazon. If you want someone to give you a good review, pay it forward. It's not rocket science.
I do not want to add another print book to my already buckling bookcases, unless I throw (or give away) another book. I recently redid some of the rooms of my home office and went through books from my adolescence, which I remembered loving, but when I pulled out the paperbacks, the pages flew out. Let's be real, I will never read those copies of those books again. So I am going to throw those books out and download what I want.
So, it's pretty simple. Better, more efficient, and leaner.
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Brave New World of EPublishing
You're probably a little shocked that I'm posting, but I closed the Agency between Christmas and New Year's (as all good publishing businesses do - it's one of the very few remaining perks of the business), and I have some time to myself, which I give to you.
It's been a crazy year. Ebooks now outsell mass market titles, practically putting paperbacks out of commission. Borders went out of business completely. But more and more people are reading, and that includes a whole new generation of readers who now consider reading entertainment again.
When the dust settles, we will find that the author has come out ahead, although many who have toiled patiently in the low advance/reserve-against-returns fields for years, just don't see the corn for the seeds.
I've been an agent for almost a quarter of a century. I've had a lot of authors say they would do anything to make a good living as a writer, and then ask me what they should do. In the past, that answer had way too much to do with luck and timing, but today, a genre writer who puts in 40 hours a week can make a good living as a writer within two years of starting out through epub. The times they are a changing.
I believe we are entering a whole new world of publishing that resembles the pulp fiction heyday of the past. Readers want dependable books that they can devour, and authors who can deliver them consistently. This will be a renaissance of story telling. It's quite exciting.
Its also exciting that books have once again entered the water cooler conversation, as witnessed by the Steve Jobs bio. We all downloaded and read it almost immediately. How many of us are reading 11/22/63 right now?
I am really looking forward to 2012, and being part of this brave new world for writers and readers.
It's been a crazy year. Ebooks now outsell mass market titles, practically putting paperbacks out of commission. Borders went out of business completely. But more and more people are reading, and that includes a whole new generation of readers who now consider reading entertainment again.
When the dust settles, we will find that the author has come out ahead, although many who have toiled patiently in the low advance/reserve-against-returns fields for years, just don't see the corn for the seeds.
I've been an agent for almost a quarter of a century. I've had a lot of authors say they would do anything to make a good living as a writer, and then ask me what they should do. In the past, that answer had way too much to do with luck and timing, but today, a genre writer who puts in 40 hours a week can make a good living as a writer within two years of starting out through epub. The times they are a changing.
I believe we are entering a whole new world of publishing that resembles the pulp fiction heyday of the past. Readers want dependable books that they can devour, and authors who can deliver them consistently. This will be a renaissance of story telling. It's quite exciting.
Its also exciting that books have once again entered the water cooler conversation, as witnessed by the Steve Jobs bio. We all downloaded and read it almost immediately. How many of us are reading 11/22/63 right now?
I am really looking forward to 2012, and being part of this brave new world for writers and readers.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Agent Life Update
OK, so I've been working two jobs for two and a half years. And I've been doing a pretty good job of balancing the responsibilities of both.
I have four agents working for me, and a website (lperkinsagency.com) that gives writers a very detailed description of what we're all looking for. And I have personally stopped taking on new clients (unless, of course, Stephen King begs me), so I can focus on guiding my junior agents. We have broadened the scope of the agency as well. We have an ebook only agent who is kicking ass (and can really guide writers on that part of their careers) and we've starting selling children's books (Louise Fury just sold a children's picture book to Random House), not just young adult and middle grade fiction.
I go over every book that is submitted under my agency name with my junior agents. We do contracts together, so every contract gets my years of agenting expertise (and boilerplate). So I find it a little surprising that writers seem disappointed that I am no longer taking on new clients. Even if I wasn't running a publishing company (Ravenousromance.com now publishes about 200 books a year, and I personally edit 50 of them, and oversee a staff of five), I would probably only take on a handful of new clients a year. By running the agency and supervising, I (we) can launch many more new careers and resurrect old ones. The odds are actually much better for the unpublished writer here now.
But we are swamped. It staggers the imagination to see how many queries we get. An agent's life is not all about queries, especially now that it takes longer for editors to get approval on purchases (I have a book by a NY Times best selling author who has sold over 400,000 copies in hardcover that I have been waiting on an offer for for over 9 months), we can submit a finite amount. It makes no sense to have five horror first novels piled up with the same editor.
I have four agents working for me, and a website (lperkinsagency.com) that gives writers a very detailed description of what we're all looking for. And I have personally stopped taking on new clients (unless, of course, Stephen King begs me), so I can focus on guiding my junior agents. We have broadened the scope of the agency as well. We have an ebook only agent who is kicking ass (and can really guide writers on that part of their careers) and we've starting selling children's books (Louise Fury just sold a children's picture book to Random House), not just young adult and middle grade fiction.
I go over every book that is submitted under my agency name with my junior agents. We do contracts together, so every contract gets my years of agenting expertise (and boilerplate). So I find it a little surprising that writers seem disappointed that I am no longer taking on new clients. Even if I wasn't running a publishing company (Ravenousromance.com now publishes about 200 books a year, and I personally edit 50 of them, and oversee a staff of five), I would probably only take on a handful of new clients a year. By running the agency and supervising, I (we) can launch many more new careers and resurrect old ones. The odds are actually much better for the unpublished writer here now.
But we are swamped. It staggers the imagination to see how many queries we get. An agent's life is not all about queries, especially now that it takes longer for editors to get approval on purchases (I have a book by a NY Times best selling author who has sold over 400,000 copies in hardcover that I have been waiting on an offer for for over 9 months), we can submit a finite amount. It makes no sense to have five horror first novels piled up with the same editor.
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