Category Archives: advice

March 21, 2011   Jim   advice, controversy, Jim, opinion, trends  
14

Commenters Cry “Bull!”

A comment came in yesterday on last week’s post about not writing to trends. It wasn’t the first comment to doubt my veracity, but it had the most zing, so I wanted to jump back in and talk a bit more about it. Let’s dive in and see me get thrashed, shall we?

“So stop worrying about trends. Write the books you need to write. Authenticity and enthusiasm are priceless.”

This is absurd.

First, one agent’s trendy knockoff is another’s authentic innovation.  There is no consistency or objectivity in this area.

Meyer’s vampire books were (in my opinion) directly inspired by season two of Buffy… but that fact is quite lost on her audience, most of which never watched Buffy.

Second, literary agents aren’t literary and they aren’t agents. They are salesmen, and they want what all salesmen want: something that’s easy to sell.

This being the case, forget incest-filled Gothic novels.  Instead, give any “literary agent” a whiff of a memoir to be ghostwritten for Sarah Palin six months from now.

I predict it will get snapped up in a blue blur, never mind the fact that not a word of it exists yet and therefore its merit can’t possibly be judged.  What matters is the certain, easy, and lucrative sale.

Agents who encourage new writers to “be authentic” or “write the books you need to write” are just wasting everybody’s time.

Jason makes some completely fair points. Yes, literary agents are salespeople. And we work on commission so do we want things that are easy to sell? Absolutely. But what I find a bit dispiriting about this comment is the notion that we’re only in it to make a buck. Trust me, if I wanted to be rolling in piles of cash, I probably could have found a more direct route than going into book publishing. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: we do this because we love it. While there are people out there who do sell things just as cash grabs, I sincerely believe that more often than not, agents mostly work on material they legitimately feel passionate about, and not just for its financial potential. Naïve? Stupidly optimistic? Perhaps. But it’s something I see borne out in the agents I know, and not just the ones here.

What has come up a few times is the feeling that I’m completely wrong about not writing to a market. And hey, I’m totally fine with people disagreeing with me. But since I very much agree with myself, I thought I’d talk a little more about this. Yes, we can look at people who saw things selling and jumped into the fray and made a buck. A thriller writer who tried their hand at young adult, a romance writer who made a quick buck back in the day with chick-lit—these examples are out there. “I tried so hard to sell what I wanted to write and couldn’t do it. Then I sold something else.” Well…okay. But how sustainable is that long-term? And how satisfying is a career writing books you don’t love? At some point, won’t the reader catch on? Won’t the books become rather lifeless if you’re writing them only to grab a buck?

Here’s the thing—maybe Stephenie Meyer’s book was derivative of the second season of Buffy. I don’t know—I never watched it. Even if that’s the case, there’s a giant difference between derivative and calculated. If there’s one thing I never doubt about Meyer, it’s her own enthusiasm for her books and her characters. I don’t want to suggest that one should never experiment in their writing. Maybe someone has been doing adult novels for a long time, sees the success of the current young adult market, and wants to give it a go. Wonderful! They have to do it because they’re excited about it, though. I maintain that readers are savvy enough to see through blatant attempts to cash in.

An awareness of the market is necessary, but the most successful books aren’t ones that follow trends. They’re the ones that create them. Go ahead, write to a trend. Get a nice deal. Or go out on a limb, write a great book, and aim for personal and creative satisfaction and the better chance that you’ll break out in a real way. Your call.

March 17, 2011   Jessica   advice, Jessica, writing  
8

Stuck

Because this is a blog devoted to publishing, we try not to stray too far from our book-related mandate. Today, however, as I follow the heart-rending coverage of the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and the “concerns” about an unfolding nuclear disaster, not to mention events in Libya and Bahrain, I’m struggling to find a way to draw a line between the events I’m paying attention to and the topic I’m supposed to write about.  The best I can do is point to indie publisher Melville House, which is donating proceeds from sales this week to Japan disaster relief. Somehow, discussing anything besides the assorted catastrophes taking place around the world feels like fiddling while Rome burns.  I realize that this is a poor excuse for a once-a-week blogger. But the fact remains that today I’m stuck. For all you out there—you who (unlike me) are actual writers—to what degree does the news cycle crush your capacity to get words on the page? The fact that the computer is both tablet and a portal to the broader world complicates the task mightily. An author with an internet connection is no longer alone at her desk, so how do you keep the real world from intruding on the one you create? Disconnect? Dust off the Smith Corona? Or simply display better discipline than yours truly?

March 16, 2011   Miriam   advice, controversy, marketing/publicity, Miriam, opinion, social networking  
8

It’s not always good to share

We DGLMers have spent the better part of the last two years hammering the idea of how important it is to build an internet platform into our clients’ heads.  We even went so far as to create a social media guide that we share with new clients when their agreements are signed.  Obviously, having a successful blog, lots of Facebook friends, Twitter followers and downloads of your videos on YouTube are the name of the game in today’s competitive publishing market. It’s not enough to write a great book, you have to be able to subtly, humorously, and persistently get all your friends, followers, and online stalkers to buy it and, better yet, talk about it.

But, as with all things, there’s a dark side to this platform building; when in our zeal to “share” our innermost thoughts, beliefs, and philosophy with our vast audience we get ourselves in trouble by writing or saying things that are better kept between the pages of our paper journals, you know, the ones with locks on them.  The recent firestorm caused by a prominent mommy blogger who confessed in a post that she preferred her son to her daughter is a case in point.   As the back and forth between the blogger and her readers became more irate and meanspirited, I wondered whether the blogging format with its insatiable need for content is in part to blame for this kind of injudicious oversharing.

Then, I think of certain writers who have no problem writing in a public space about their contempt for the publishing business in general and agents and editors in particular while assiduously courting us to represent or publish their work.  Are these people forgetting that everyone can see their posts…including the people they’re dissing?  Or are they just giddy with the thought of the thousands who will read their rants, if not their books?  I can’t speak for all my colleagues but I don’t think I’m alone in feeling that however brilliant an author’s work is if s/he is given to vilifying our industry while trying to get their foot in the publishing door and keep it there I don’t want to work with him or her.

So, yes, you need to blog and friend and be followed but be smart about what you say and how you say it.  And, really, before hitting “post” on that nasty or ill-advised commentary, put it aside and wait a while.  If you still want it out there after thinking it through, well, that’s what makes for internet s***storms.

Have you guys come across any particularly egregious examples of what I’m talking about?

March 08, 2011   Lauren   advice, digital publishing, future of publishing, Lauren, opinion, self-publishing  
6

She speaks the truth

If you’re the type to read publishing news, and you no doubt are if you’re here, then I’m sure you’ve heard all about Amanda Hocking’s phenomenal success as a self-published author.  She’s a 26-year-old millionaire, in fact, which I can’t say I don’t envy.

Much has been said about this by anyone remotely interested in publishing, and now Amanda herself has weighed in with an honest and surprisingly objective look at the realities of publishing and self-publishing that give a hint as to the sort of business savvy that has made this work for her.  I think Amanda’s words speak for themselves on so many of the topics at hand here, so I’ll just pick out the thing I think is most important for people to keep in mind, but I’d encourage you to hop over to her blog to read it in full:

Everybody seems really excited about what I’m doing and how I’ve been so successful, and from what I’ve been able to understand, it’s because a lot of people think that they can replicate my success and what I’ve done. And while I do think I will not be the only one to do this – others will be as successful as I’ve been, some even more so – I don’t think it will happen that often.

Traditional publishing and indie publishing aren’t all that different, and I don’t think people realize that. Some books and authors are best sellers, but most aren’t. It may be easier to self-publish than it is to traditionally publish, but in all honesty, it’s harder to be a best seller self-publishing than it is with a house.

As an agency, we’re pretty bullish about the digital future of publishing (even if many of us are also really, really, really attached to books as objects and unwilling to believe we could ever abandon them entirely in favor of our Kindles).  We work with some wonderful authors who keep pushing out the edge of the digital frontier.  We also talk about where things are headed and how to help our clients in this transition on a near daily basis, and we’ve been putting in the work to make sure that whatever happens, our authors won’t get left behind in the dust.

But that said, it’s a mistake, as it always has been, to think that self-publishing is as simple as bypassing the gatekeepers who wouldn’t know a good book from a hole in the ground to go straight to the masses of consumers.  Certainly amazing books are missed by the traditional publishing industry for myriad reasons—some of them simply human, others institutional flaws—and don’t think that agents and editors, who go to bat daily for books that won’t always make it on the shelves, aren’t keenly aware of that.  But publishing a book isn’t a one man job, however simple the upload tools might make it seem.  Editing, copyediting, cover design, marketing, distribution, and many more issues exist beyond the writing of the book (no easy task!) that need time and care and energy and experience.  Self-publishing is easier than ever before from a technical sense, but succeeding at it, like succeeding at just about anything in life, takes a tremendous amount of hard work, a willingness to get (and pay for) the work you can’t do yourself, and at least a little bit of luck.

Congratulations to Amanda and others like her who were told no and found a different path to success.  And congratulations are due also to those authors who the HuffPo won’t be calling millionaires any time soon, but who, through hard work and ingenuity, have found an audience for their books.

Of course, all this makes me curious about Amanda’s books, which I haven’t read yet but plan to check out.  With the number of copies she’s sold and the amount of press she’s had in the last week, some of you must have read her, right?  Any recommendations?  Any thoughts as to why she’s gotten where she has?

March 07, 2011   Jane   advice, covers, Jane, selling  
7

The myth of the right book cover

Several times over the past months we have written blog entries about book jacket art and design—what we like, what we don’t, and why.  But because this is such an important part of the publishing process I thought I would take this opportunity to discuss the thinking behind the cover of your book.

Contrary to what most authors think, the main purpose of a book’s cover is to sell the book.  It should undoubtedly reflect the book’s contents as much as possible but, more than anything else, it has to attract a buyer very quickly.  In fact, it is common knowledge that when a consumer walks into a bookstore he or she views each title for no more than five seconds, so it’s the cover’s job to make the consumer want to pick up the book.

If the book is on a serious topic, the cover might be all type with an attractive background color.  Or, for general non-reference non-fiction and fiction, pieces of well known (public domain) art might be used, or a photograph or illustration that is not only reflective of the book’s content but also seductive to the book buyer.

The author almost always should have “consultation” on the book cover.  This means varying things to various publishing houses.  Sometimes, the publisher makes significant changes when an author objects to what they have originally suggested.  This happens a lot when the agent gets involved, as it did recently with my client Mary Ann Esposito’s new book Ciao Italia Family Classics—we are very excited to see the new cover for this book.  Sometimes, unfortunately, publishers do not take the term “consultation” very seriously and simply show the author the cover after it is virtually a done deal and nothing can be done to change it.  This is really unfortunate because by giving the author serious consultation (authors almost never gets “approval”), the author and the publisher become partners—and publication process is much more congenial.

Once the publisher has a cover that everyone likes, they show it to the account buyers—especially at the bigger accounts—if these folks don’t like the cover and the publisher is unwilling to change it, the account will order fewer books, so publishers generally listen to book buyers very carefully.

Over the years, even though I have had some “unusual” experiences with the process of cover creation, generally my clients have achieved what they wanted and this has made the publishing experience much more enjoyable all around.

I would love to hear what your experiences have been with the development of your book covers so please tell us your feelings about covers you’ve especially loved (or hated).

March 03, 2011   Michael   about us, advice, Michael, what we're looking for  
8

Make me laugh

I went to a comedy show last night.  I’ve seen a lot more comedy since I moved to LA, in part because I know a couple of people here who do it.  One friend actually hosts a monthly show that I always attend, even when I don’t feel like it.  When you work from home and start work at 6:30 AM, getting your butt out of the house for a comedy show that starts at 8 PM is a challenge.  (Ok, I know plenty of people for whom this would not be hard, but I’m a bit of a homebody.)  I always make myself go, though, because no matter how crappy I may feel when I leave the house, I always feel great by time the show starts.

It comes down to this: I love to laugh.  And I will laugh at just about anything, though especially at my own jokes–which anyone at DGLM will confirm.  And I think humor is important.  One of the comics last night dealt with some really dark, heavy topics, but in doing so with humor, she really drew the audience in.  People were listening to her in a way they wouldn’t have if she’d dealt with the issues in a more serious way.

All of this is to say, I’d really like to see more funny submissions.  Funny memoir, YA, middle-grade, adult fiction–you name it.  I’m just in the mood to laugh.  And if you’re laughing about life’s more serious subjects, even better.  I’ll always take darkly comic over slapstick.  So I dare you: make me laugh!

March 02, 2011   Stacey   advice, hand-selling, marketing/publicity, Stacey  
2

Handselling tips

While I was researching last week’s blog post, I came across this not-so-recent piece from Writer’s Digest that I thought was worth sharing for those of you published authors out there, and those of you who aspire to be published and want to read some basic, but valuable, advice from an author not entirely comfortable in the sales side of writing books. I just started selling Girl Scout cookies with my kindergartener, so I love her anecdote about those memories. I’m glad we have a big family and were able to sell 28 boxes without any handselling at all!

I heard from some people when I posted about tips on blogging who didn’t feel great about putting themselves out there in that way. It sort of goes against the grain of what many writers enjoy about writing—it’s a solitary pursuit. I totally get that, and it’s part of the reason I left acting so many years ago and became a book agent, so I could be behind the scenes! But in this market, it’s still about having the right combination of elements, not only to get published, but to be published successfully. Things like being personable, outgoing, creative, and willing to engage with your audience can and will make a difference, no matter what stage of the publishing game you are at. So I hope there’s some advice here that you’ll find worthwhile, and if you have any other tricks of the trade to share on this topic, please pass them on.

February 28, 2011   Jim   advice, Jim, opinion, trends, writing  
29

I hate trends.

I was exchanging emails with my delightful client Saundra Mitchell the other day, and she brought up Flowers in the Attic, everyone’s favorite attic incest novel. Now, you can debate whether that book had any literary merit, but it was undeniably provocative and controversial and engaging. When I started to ponder it a bit, I thought, Why isn’t anyone out there trying to write the next Flowers in the Attic? Something dark and inappropriate. A gothic page-turner. How much fun would that be?

Because while I’m sure that there are some people writing that kind of thing, I feel like I’ve spent the past few months with a slush pile full of dystopian were-vampire steampunk young adult novels with adult crossover potential. Which I mentioned to Saundra (okay, I ranted), leading her to ask whether trend-chasing in the market is a new phenomenon or whether it’s been around for a long time.

It’s always like this. I think right now we’re stuck between a few. Certainly lots more people are writing young adult because they’ve heard that’s where the money is. That also explains the sudden presence of lots and lots more YA agents. Vampires/demons/werewolves and other creatures of the night still regularly show up quite a lot in my inbox; there’s also a lot of dystopian stuff trying to cash in on what’s happening RIGHT NOW; and there is a small but dedicated group who are still trying to make steampunk happen (ah, the trend that never was). But by and large, a solid half of everything is always by people writing to the market in the most concerted and obvious way possible. Whether it’s Jane Austen knock-offs, the era of chick-lit, The Michelangelo Doctrine, or as far back as the Y2K books when I started here in ’99, far too many people are too shortsighted to even aim for the next big thing because they’re aiming for the now big thing. No matter how often I tell people the biggest books don’t follow the trends but instead create them, there will always be someone who’s all “ZOMG, I wrote the next Twilight!”

None of this is to say that these are categories I don’t want to see. I still love vampire books and would happily take more on, but only if it’s something really fresh and different, and REALLY only if I believe the author is writing the book that they want and need to write, not trying to cash in on a moment. I just think there’s an authenticity about passion projects that can’t be faked. And while I certainly want to find things that hit trends at the exact right moment, I don’t trust projects written in an effort to be timely. So stop worrying about trends. Write the books you need to write. Authenticity and enthusiasm are priceless.

February 25, 2011   Rachel   advice, fun, Rachel S., words, writing  
6

Writer’s block of ice cream sandwich board room

They say that the cure for writer’s block is to simply sit down, put pen to paper and go—no overthinking, no thinking at all, really. Stream of consciousness writing, however, I still find difficult. It takes a lot for me to just shut off my brain like that. I continue to judge, feel the need to edit and plan. The same way that there are few things I like better in the world than taking a really long walk, but find it tedious and nearly impossible without a destination in mind, no matter how arbitrary it may be, writing for no reason whatsoever eludes me.

Flipping through an old journal of mine, I came across a page that was fully filled, margin to margin, in words that didn’t seem to make sense, at first. Nevermind that my handwriting was more terrible than it usually is (though, I had an excuse for myself as emblazoned across the top of the page was, “this train is really bumpy.”), there didn’t seem to be any discernible narrative of any sort. It took me a second, but I realized I’d come across an old word game I used to play with myself when I wanted to write, but couldn’t actually think of anything to say. It’s never actual words themselves, but the putting them together in cohesive and sensible structure that’s the trick, so that’s all I’d focus on—words that go together. It got fun creating longer and longer strings of words that could connect to the one before, growing more challenging as I tried to make myself not repeat word pairings and phrases as I went along.

I remember this pack in particular being one of my favorites, if only for the sheer length I managed to make it (though I notice that I did repeat cookie -> monster…):

Coffee pot sticker book store room to breathe easy does it girl talk radio wave runner’s high dive bomb shell shock treatment center stage coach class act two step father time check please and thank you for not smoking jacket potato soup kitchen staff only entrance hall pass play nice guys finish last chance card game ball bearing to the right hand man to man combat zone ordinance paper plane captain hook and eye doctor patient confidential(ity) file away we go big or go home base line dance class A plus sign language barrier reef dive bar tender is the night light as a feather pillow mint chocolate chip cookie monster truck stop sign in sheet rock star power button mushroom cloud cover story book mark my word of the day break out post office building block party clown car park bench warm(er) and fuzzy navel orange juice box turtle neck of the woods men folk music collection plate glass house guest room to breathe easy street smart cookie monster mash(ed) potato chip off the old block letter box top hat stand up straight shooting star of stage and screen test run like the wind tunnel vision impaired judgment day trip wire tap dance off the record player of the year book worm hole in the wall flower girl scout around the bend in the road block schedule(ing) conflict of interest rate we’re going strong hold the phone numbers game day shift work of art studio apartment hunting season of giving tree of life or death card stock room mate for life lesson plan

I’m ever fascinated with words and the different ways a single one can be perceived. It’s no secret that word games—crossword puzzles, word searches, jumbles—are so popular. It’s just fun to play with words and this sort of interconnected flow that I found myself resorting to when the ideas weren’t coming served the perfect antidote to my stream of consciousness + thinking/purpose problem. Afterwards, the result is not only kind of funny to read aloud, but it also opens up the possibilities for inspiration and use. I mean, come on—a clown car park? A street smart cookie monster? A paper plane captain? If afterwards, I couldn’t find some sort of jumping point, then maybe I never really had the drive to do it in the first place.

How do you keep yourself writing when there doesn’t seem to be anything to say? Any fun word games I could try?

February 25, 2011   Lauren   advice, fun, Lauren, marketing/publicity, technology  
20

Fun with QR

When I stumbled on the delightful Books2Barcodes site at Wonder Tonic, it renewed my interest in QR code.  I’ve been seeing it around, but didn’t totally understand the purpose and, having only a sad old flip phone, I’d never tried it out.  My awareness grew when a Lupe Fiasco QR code projected on a building I can see from my desk caused a bit of a stir here in Union Square, and now that there are books involved (for the first time I’ve noticed, anyway), it’s time to learn.

So I reached out to digital strategist (and friend of DGLM) Dan Scholz for some help understanding, since I’ve been hearing him talk about it for a while now.  Here’s what he told me:  QR (quick response) code is a two-dimensional barcode that’s primarily useful for dynamic and interactive event and promotions marketing.  Essentially, QR code, invented in Japan several years ago, is a specialized barcode that camera-equipped smartphones can read using barcode reader apps.  You see the code—on the side of a building, in a magazine, on the Books2Barcodes website, on a waffle—and then scan the code using your phone.  That code links to something, often a website with some kind of pre-order or sales information.  According to Dan, the audience for this has been very tech heavy for a while now, but started to reach a tipping point last fall.  The market penetration has gotten much bigger, and 2011 should be a very big year for QR code marketing.

Not having a smartphone myself, I borrowed Stacey’s yesterday to try out Books2Barcodes.  I didn’t have the greatest luck scanning off my computer, I think due to the glare on the screen, but I finally managed to scan the barcode in the page header—and lo and behold, text popped up:  “Call me Ishmael.”  I can’t imagine reading a book in 800-character fragments (which is apparently what the barcodes I couldn’t manage to scan would’ve provided), but I love the ingenuity, and the gimmick draws attention to a fun new opportunity for publishing.

So how can authors and publishers use it?  The internet is full of free QR code generators, so I googled, picked one at random, and used QuikQR to create this one:

You know you wanna scan it.

Smartphone users, why don’t you give it a shot?  (And hey, while you’re there, why not click that little like button?)  If you don’t already have a barcode scanner on your phone, there are a number of free ones to download, including RedLaser, the one I used to scan Moby Dick on Stacey’s.

So what do we think?  Passing fad or technology of the future?  Fun gimmick or serious marketing opportunity?  Have you seen publishers and authors using QR codes?  Any code generators or barcode scanners to recommend?  And what do you see as the possibilities for book promotion here?  Certainly there are some straightforward options, like directing people to Facebook, websites, pre-order links, and giveaways.  But what about something more exciting?  Dan mentioned that one of the greatest things about QR code marketing is that you can generate it for YouTube videos—when scanned, the smartphone’s YouTube app opens right up to the video in full screen with no extra clicks.  I’m not totally sold on book trailers, but I can imagine it working in this context—it’d be a really fun way to expose people to them!

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