Author: ireneg

You have to keep up with the market. You have to know what’s out there, what is selling, what is peaking, and what is upcoming.

The best way to learn that, short of working in the publishing industry, is to take a walk around a bookstore. Look at everything. Check out what is being featured. Publishers often pay for things like endcaps or summer reading tables, but the bookstores themselves can make their own choices based on what they are selling.

This should be a pleasant homework assignment, because you don’t need to anything you don’t want to do. Look at whatever interests you. You never know what that might be inside the treasure trove of a bookstore. You might think you’re not interested in sample college prep tests, but then something catches your eye, and you pick one up. You check it out and then you put it back. And you learned one small thing. Maybe you will never use it. But it’s filed away in your brain.

Or you might notice that a particular kind of fun mystery seems prevalent. If you don’t like mysteries, you don’t have to read one, but you now know something you didn’t know before. Knowledge is power. The genres are always changing. A romance novel today bears little resemblance to one that was published ten years ago. You can keep up by cruising around and keeping your eyes open. Sit down with a few books and read the cover copy and the first few pages. Then get another batch and do it again. Of course you can buy books and you should, but you can’t buy out the entire store.

You could also do a variation of this online, but there is nothing like actually being there, with the entire market at your fingertips.

If you don’t think this is important, you may find yourself out of luck when you spend two years working on a novel only to find out that it’s hopelessly out of style and it has a slim to none chance of selling.

This should be your first step if you want to write a book. See what’s out there and how you can fit into it. This should precede even your first germ of an idea. You are asking to enter a world that has its own rules, its own customs, and its own lingo. Learn the ropes before you jump in. And all you have to is take a walk.

There is a great deal an agent can do for you. But there are also things we either can’t do or don’t want to. Here’s a list.

 

WE CAN:

get you the best possible deal–enough to make the commission more than worth it

listen when you need an ear

stand up for you and fight your battles, with passion, experience and skill

read and make suggestions as to salability

be on your side no matter what

update you as to the state of the market

inform you of changes and trends in the business

talk you off a ledge

 

WHAT WE CAN’T OR WON’T DO

Sell a book that isn’t good

Tolerate unprofessionalism or lying

Lend you money

Ask for unreasonable things on your behalf

Be available to you any minute of the day or night

Work when we’re sick

Work for free

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let’s not overdo it.

When a book is done, it’s done. Sure, you can always tinker with it, but if you do that forever, you will never have a book. There comes a time when you have to stop.

That’s true of agents, too. When I’m doing a negotiation, I fight hard for everything I can. I have been known to keep going even when it’s time to stop. An editor once told me I had done a great job, but it was time to stop. I took a deep breath and realized she was right. This thing could have gone on forever, and who wants forever. The goal was to sell the book and to see it published successfully.

A good negotiation is a win-win. That means you get most of what you want, but rarely all. There has to be a give and take. I refer you to my blog post on the psychology of a negotiation. It’s a carefully designed dance.

We’ve all heard stories about a book that sold only after 32 submissions. That can happen, but if you put all your energy into that, you will be drained. What should you be doing once a book is sent out to publishers? Hoping, praying, wishing? No, that will only deepen your anxiety.

The best thing to do while you’re waiting is to start another book. First take some time off, because you deserve it. Then get your head together and get started. It doesn’t matter how. Whether it’s research, or creating an outline or diving into the first page, the point is that you are now focused elsewhere. And if the book out there doesn’t sell, you will already have something new. And maybe–just maybe–32 times is enough. Maybe it’s time to stop. I would never say never, but you can at least read the handwriting on the wall.

 

One of the best qualities an author can have is a good sense of humor.

It’s hard to be an author. It’s a lot of work, it’s isolating, it’s frustrating, and it can be disappointing. The best way to counter all of that is to be hilarious. If you are feeling down, call your agent. Call, as opposed to texting or emailing. Get into a real conversation. That’s one of the reasons authors have agents. They need someone to listen. But it doesn’t have to be all about what’s bothering you, and it shouldn’t. The best author relationships I have had included a lot of laughter. I don’t mean that you need to be a standup comic. But you can be ready to laugh at anything and to develop an upbeat attitude. Even when it seems like all is lost–and that is never really true–there is always a way to laugh about it. It really helps.

It’s good to learn terminology and what it means. Let’s talk about pre-empts and best bids. Here’s a story.

I was involved in a very competitive auction. Toward the end, I had three bids that were very close to each other. So I decided to go to best bids. That means that each publisher should make the very best offer they can. It should be the absolute most they want to spend.

One of the three bids was higher than the other two. I favored that one (although not because of the amount. It was because I felt they were the most dedicated.) The author agreed. So we accepted the offer. Then one of other publishers wanted to know for how much it sold. I told her. She said, “Oh, we could have paid that.” I wanted to say well, then why didn’t you offer it, but refrained.

To me, a best bid is exactly that. The whole purposes of best bids is to flush out the highest offer. There is no obligation for us to accept the highest offer, but it helps to see where they’re at. If you keep accepting more bids after declaring best bids, it defeats the purpose. I’ve heard that some agents keep right on going after bests bids, and I don’t agree with that. It renders the term meaningless, which means there is no point in doing it.

Then there are pre-empts. That happens when one publisher is so enthusiastic they they are willing to offer a daunting amount that will shut the whole thing down. Here’s what I do if I am offered a pre-empt. First, I examine all sides of it. If we want to take it, that doesn’t mean I’m accepting it exactly as it’s presented. I may want to retain certain subsidiary rights, I may want to tinker with royalties or cover consultation or a host of other things. So  I work with the publisher to make it the best it can be.

If I don’t feel it’s enough, I can turn it down and keep going. I will tell the other publishers that I turned down a pre-empt, and for how much. That shows them that the ball park wasn’t enough. But I don’t use the offer as a launching point.  I don’t shop it to see if anyone else will top it. The whole point of the pre-empt is to end it. There is no point in a publisher making a pre-empt if they know it won’t then be over. The idea is for the offer to be so dazzling that we are content enough to accept it. Any publisher can make such an offer at any time–including and especially before an auction officially begins–so they all have equal opportunity. Sometimes they are disappointed that they lost out on a book because it was pre-empted and they never had a chance to bid. Except that they did have a chance. They could have pre-empted too.

All this has to do with aggression and ethics. How far are you willing to go? That varies from agent to agent and from situation to situation. Things can always go wrong during an auction, and often do. So we have to be ready for anything.

People often think that authors choose or create or manage their own covers. That is not the case. The cover is generated by the Art Dept. at the publisher, and while the author usually has input, it’s really the publisher’s call.

It starts when a cover design–or a few designs–are sent to the agent and the author, who can then add their two cents. This can have both good and risky effects. If the author loves the cover, fine and well. If not, it could turn into a battle. That is why I always insist that every contract include cover consultation for the author. But consultation is not final approval. That goes to the publisher. Why?

Well, because the author might have crazy ideas about what the cover should look like. And typically, the author has little to no experience in knowing what kind of cover will sell the book. This is not about what the author likes. It’s not about what the editor likes. It’s about what will sell the book. Publishers and sales departments have a lot of experience with that. But if they try to impose a cover on the author that the author really hates, they will work and try to accommodate the author’s wishes.

No one wants the author to be unhappy, but if the author is gamely shooting herself in the foot, they will try to shut it down. Ideas from the author are always welcome. And they are a good starting point. No one knows the book as well as the author, and sometimes covers can be little works of art.

To complicate matters, cover types go in and out of style. A mystery cover today will not look much like a mystery published 15 years ago. When you have a chance to look at vintage covers from the 30’s or 40’s, it’s a real trip into the past. Sometimes they are so ridiculously dated that they are hilarious. So in planning a new cover, the Art Dept. will look and see what’s out there. What is selling the best? What new trends are coming in? What is fading?

Booksellers are not shy about adding their opinions as well. There have been many cases when the head buyer of a major chain will state that they will order more books–if the cover is changed to their liking.

So if you see a book and you don’t like the cover, don’t blame the author. The author did not art direct that cover. Someone else did. And as always, the real test is the bottom line.

 

There is no license. There is no exam you have to take. There is no certificate of validation or achievement. So what qualifies me to do this work?

It began in childhood, when I could be quite content to play by myself. Not all the time, but people would remark on how self-sufficient I could be. That’s Clue #1. You have to like working on your own.

I read all the time because I loved reading. That’s Clue #2.

At home, I was taught to stand up for what I thought was right, even if no one else agreed. Clue #3.

I always loved negotiating, to see if I could get, either by the powers of persuasion or logic or a tradeoff or pure passion, one more little thing. Or even a big thing. Clue #4.

Attention to detail became important to me as I got older. One comma out of place can drive me crazy. When you’re doing a contract, you don’t want to miss anything because those things can turn around and bite you a year later–or 20 years later. Clue #5.

So it wasn’t any one thing. It was a lot of things. I just had the personality for it. And a deep, fierce desire to succeed. When I first started, failure simply wasn’t an option. I never even considered it. There was no Plan B.

Of course I learned a lot along the way. And there were mistakes, but mistakes can usually be fixed. But I haven’t changed much. I still like to play alone. I love to negotiate things. I can still be the one oddball in the room who refuses to back down. And a misplaced comma still drives me crazy.

 

 

First They Came by Pastor Martin Niemöller

First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me

When you do this work for as long as I’ve been doing it, you learn a lot about what makes a book salable. It’s all about telling a good story.

Because of everything I learned, I started auctioning critiques of partial manuscripts for charity once a month. I found this surprisingly rewarding to do.

The craft of writing is not easy, but every single story needs the same elements:

1. What is the plot? This is the number one mistake that people make. They don’t understand what a plot is. It’s harder than you think, but once you get the hang of it, it gets easier.

2. Are the characters both vulnerable and resourceful? If they are not, they will be dull.

3. Where are we? A story with a strong setting is so much better than a story that takes place in a vacuum.

4. Pacing is everything. You can write about watching paint dry if you have good pacing. This comes naturally to some people, but it can also be learned. The trick is to never be boring.

 

That’s about it. I review manuscripts with these things in mind. Some people have great writing, but no real story. Others have a great story, but the writing is faulty. Sometimes there are wonderful characters who jump off the page. Other times the characters are forgettable.

You can’t get away with having some but not all of these elements. We need the whole package.

The auctions are fun to watch, especially on the last day or even the last few minutes. If you’ve ever participated in an auction on eBay, you know what it’s like. People often wait until the last few seconds so as not to be outbid. It can get quite exciting to see something jump from $1500 to $4000 in the space of 15 seconds.  Sometimes they go for a relatively small amount. Other times they run into five figures. But the important thing is to show up. You can’t know until you put your toe in the water.

What happens when an author has to choose between two equal offers and can’t decide?

Usually there is a call or Zoom between her and her two suitors, but one time something else happened.

One publisher offered to fly her to New York, put her up in a hotel, and fly her back the next day. While she was in town, we were invited to the publisher’s office for afternoon tea. The editor was there. So were the editorial director and someone from sales.

You can believe what a difference that made. She was charmed by the attention and ended up going with them.

But when the other publisher found out about it–I don’t know who told them, but it’s a very small business–they were livid. The editor called me and remarked in biting tones that I had been “busy”. Yes, that was true. I had indeed been busy. They thought that as long as the author was going to be in town, it was only fair that she see them as well.

I did not agree. They weren’t the ones who flew her in and they came up with no strategy–not even money–to change her mind.

I’m not sure what the moral is here, but it does conform to one of THE GODFATHER’s business rules: Always use a personal touch.