Comments on: A “Sure Thing”?

By: Monday Mentions: Cats, Dogs, Writing & Cute Kitten Videos | AMY SHOJAI'S Bling, Bitches & Blood

Mon, 27 Apr 2015 13:11:11 +0000

[…] A Sure Thing–Not! from Dystel & Goderich Literary Agency (prepare to gnash dentures) […]

By: Open Letter to the Publishing Industry « David's Thoughts & Ideas

Open Letter to the Publishing Industry « David's Thoughts & Ideas — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 10:43:15 +0000

[…] occasional contract to the proven star is not a sustainable strategy. Making educated guesses at the next sure thing is not a plan for success when your competitors make decisions based on market […]

By: An Open Letter to the Publishing Industry | Gary Gauthier

An Open Letter to the Publishing Industry | Gary Gauthier — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 21:48:26 +0000

[…] third article is a short blog post by Jane Dystel entitled A Sure Thing? It expresses her disappointment at publishers for their “narrow-minded” approach in […]

By: Monday Mentions: Cats, Dogs, Writing & Cute Kitten Videos « Amy Shojai's Blog

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 14:45:24 +0000

[…] A Sure Thing–Not! from Dystel & Goderich Literary Agency (prepare to gnash dentures) […]

By: Steven M. Moore

Steven M. Moore — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 17:56:44 +0000

Congrats! At last an agent who is looking “outside the box.” What everyone is missing here is that if an author participates in the legacy publishing paradigm (agent+editor+publisher+publicist+big box bookstore), his or her books will get a very short exposure. POD and eBooks are forever (well, as long as the internet exists).
Also, that $20k figure seems too high. My perception is that kind of money is rarely spent nowadays, but maybe I’m wrong. Certainly, new authors and those who are not a “sure thing” will not receive the big marketing bucks (full page ads in NY Times or TV trailers, for example).
I reviewed a POD that was excellent. There was an ad almost every week in the NY Times book review section (quoting my review, by the way), but one of the authors was a doctor…most self-pubbers can’t come up with this kind of ad money and, if the Big Six only bet on “sure things,” you won’t see them pushing new authors, no matter how good their product.
Today the best bet for new or relatively unknown authors is POD or eBooks. Where that leaves the agents is something I don’t know. It would seem there is a lot of expertise out there in agent-land that can be used more productively than trying to feed the maws of the Big Six (“maws” because they’re like dinosaurs, soon to be extinct).
r/Steve

By: J.C. Martin, Fighter Writer » Weekly Writer’s Round-Up

J.C. Martin, Fighter Writer » Weekly Writer’s Round-Up — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 08:02:14 +0000

[…] front, Jane Dystel of Dystel Goderich Literary Management laments the narrowmindedness of those publishers only looking out for a “sure thing”. Two problems: 1.) no one can ever be “sure” of a “sure thing”, and 2.) […]

By: anon

anon — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 04:01:07 +0000

Could be he was just being polite. I do it all the time when I want to get out of something
Who knows?

By: anon

anon — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 04:00:03 +0000

Could be he was just being polite. I do it all the time when I want to get out of something

By: Abdullah Khan

Abdullah Khan — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 05:50:02 +0000

Recently, during his book launch in Delhi, David Davider commented ‘ nobody knows what is going to be a successful book.’ If it has been so, why wouldso many publishers and agents have rejected a book like The kiterunner.
If somebody claims that a book was going to be a sureshot winner that means he/she is God Himself. A mere mortal can’t risk that guess.

By: JudyinBoston

JudyinBoston — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 22:36:18 +0000

Pretty soon there will be no beans left to count.