Category Archives: Jane

August 15, 2011   Jane   adaptation, book to film, Jane, opinion  
7

Books into films—getting it right!

This past weekend, I was really looking forward to the release of the films based on two books I loved.  I avidly read the press just to get a sense of how true the movie makers were to the author’s intended story.  One review was glowing, while the piece on the second was so off putting, that after reading it, I have no intention of seeing the film.

The first is The Help based on the novel by Kathryn Stockett (“ ‘The Help': ’60s Racism in Black and White,” behind the WSJ paywall). I loved the book and felt the author captured an important time and place in our country. From what I read about the movie, it does the same.  I am really looking forward to seeing it.

The second movie is based on another wonderful novel I read recently—One Day by David Nicholls (“Fitting ‘One Day’ Into Two Hours, also in the WSJ).This is the story of two people who meet initially on the night of their college graduation and then again on the same day for the next twenty-five years.  But the movie covers only eight of those meetings and I cannot imagine how it could capture the real essence of the book by cutting out virtually two-thirds of it. Ironically, this screenplay was adapted by the author and the movie was made by a new film division of the publishing company that published the book in the U.S. Sadly, I have no desire to see the movie after reading the article.

So my question is why can’t movie makers be more faithful to the books they are basing their films on?

I, for one, am so looking forward to seeing the movie(s) based on The Hunger Games, and I really hope the film makers don’t “get all creative” and screw up those stories.  That would be an incredible shame considering the huge potential audience now that the Harry Potter and Twilight franchises are ending.

I wonder what books-turned-movies you are looking forward to.  Which recent movies based on books have you liked and which disappointed you?

August 08, 2011   Jane   advice, editing, Jane, opinion  
17

When three people tell you you’re drunk, sit down

So, I have been thinking about the art of listening, but not only listening – actually hearing what is “said” and acting on what you are hearing.

When I take on a project initially, I am 100 percent sure I can sell it.  I help my client make their proposal or manuscript (if it is a novel) the best it can be, and then I submit it.  I often think that editors turn down material just to do so—they dismiss it without reading it carefully or giving it their full consideration for a variety of reasons.  Needless to say, this pisses me off.  Then there are those projects which elicit rejections from a number of editors for the same reason. When this happens, I begin to listen to what is being said by my colleagues on the publishing side.  Most always,  I share these helpful and constructive comments with my clients who often choose to address them before we go back out to a second round of publishers.

Currently, I have a client who on my advice was more than happy to address those editors’ suggestions she agreed with and I am still hopeful that we will sell her project once the changes are made and the material is back out in the marketplace.

Then there are the clients who don’t listen to my advice or editors’ feedback at all.  They go to their friends and colleagues for opinions, argue with whatever suggestions I make and (sometimes) request that I respond to editors in ways that I think (and let them know) are not appropriate.  I wonder why people like this hire agents at all.  Really.  These authors are paying a commission for me to provide them with advice I have garnered after years of experience.  True, they don’t have to take my advice, but if they are just going to listen to everyone around them and disagree with their agent’s opinion, then why have an agent at all.  In fact, the inability to listen to one’s agent does not bode well for a good working relationship with an editor and publisher.

I have found, over the last many years, that listening and acting on what you hear is an art and something that is very important in moving forward in life and in one’s career.

I wonder if you agree.

August 01, 2011   Jane   Jane, opinion, publishers  
9

Why does everyone seem so confused?

These days I am having a difficult time recognizing my colleagues on the publishing side and what they are trying to do to be successful.

They tell us (authors and agents) that an author needs credentials and a platform but when I present to them an author who is a leading character from a very highly rated reality show, they say they don’t like “the voice.”

When I present to them a biography of a fascinating woman who has just come to the world’s attention written by a very well respected journalist, they say “the story is moving too fast”—very confusing as what I am sending them is a biography not a news story.

When I recently sent out a proposal on using leftovers in other dishes and not disposing of food as we are used to doing, people told me there was no market and yet there was a huge front page piece in the food section of The New York Times last Wednesday about just this subject. Evidently, there are many, many readers who would be interested in such a book.

When I offer them a wonderfully executed proposal about a subject that is being talked about more and more these days and where the author has a video that has gone viral on YouTube, they tell me they don’t know who the market for the book would be and yet this past Saturday, there was a feature about this very subject that began on the front page of The New York Times and continued for a full page inside.

Finally, there was the New York Times piece, also in Saturday’s paper, about self-publishing and the fact that more and more people are doing it.

All of this makes me think that my colleagues on the publishing side have lost sight of the fact that in these new wild, wild west days in publishing, this is the time for them to take more, not fewer, risks. Taking risks has always been what the business of publishing is all about.   There are no sure winners, guys, and the more fearful and cautious you get, the more authors will want to publish on their own—and won’t need you anymore.

July 25, 2011   Jane   fun, inspiration, Jane, why we are agents, writing  
2

Conceiving

I was recently reading an extensive piece about people having trouble conceiving babies, and it made me think that one of the things I like best is helping a client conceive and shape a book concept. Over the years I have helped a number develop their preliminary ideas into books that have done very well.

Last week, one of our clients was in for an “ideas” lunch and though we had kind of a vague idea of what he should do and when at the beginning of the meeting, by the time it was over we had helped him come up with a really strong concept which he is now pursuing.  In doing this, we all took into account his credentials, his platform, and the audience he wanted to reach.

And that same day, I reached out to another new author and suggested a book concept and how he might approach it.  When I returned from my weekend away last night, I had the proposal ready for my edits.  Exciting to actually see it right there!

I wonder how you like to develop your book ideas.  What are the steps you take? Do you talk your ideas over with anyone to help develop them? What do you think about as you are going through the process?  What is your success rate?

July 18, 2011   Jane   fiction, Jane, opinion  
4

The mystery of what comprises commercial women’s fiction

So last week I was looking for a novel that is representative of the category of commercial women’s fiction. During one of our morning meetings we actually had a lively discussion about what constitutes this kind of book. Is it romance?  Does it include women’s psychological suspense?  What about certain kinds of mysteries and thrillers?

Are literary women’s novels included in this category? Can women’s fiction be written by men or must these novels only be written by women? Are these books published in mass market or are they hardcover and trade paperbacks?

I just found this website which does help to define the category.  Here, the definition is quite clear, really: women’s fiction includes various types of novels that generally appeal more to women than to men.

Using this definition, I did select a book to read for our company book club.  I wonder though what you think.  How would you define “commercial women’s fiction”?

July 11, 2011   Jane   e-books, future of publishing, Jane  
1

JK Rowling does it again

So, the bad news is there isn’t going to be another Harry Potter book or a sequel of any kind.  The good news is, however, that all of the Harry Potter books will soon be available online for the very first time.

When she originally sold the publishing rights to these books, Rowling retained the e-book rights and now she is going to make these e-books available to consumers and sell them herself.  What a smart cookie!

Publishers, I hope, will take note here; this is just another author who is demonstrating that she can “publish” better than a traditional publisher.  And even though Scholastic, the US publisher of Harry Potter professes its support of this effort, I know they wish they had been able to purchase and control these rights themselves.

This is another indicator that publishers need to re-evaluate the royalties they are paying authors for the e-book rights they insist upon retaining when they buy publishing rights.  As time goes on, if these royalties aren’t more equitable and if publishers continue to insist upon retaining e-book rights as part of their publishing deals, more and more authors are going to put their toes in the self-publishing waters.  That, in my opinion, will hurt publishers more than they have been already by the huge growth of the digital book business and the demise of brick and mortar bookstores.

I do hope publishers will move faster toward this goal; the percentage of books being sold online continues to grow and authors are becoming very very restless.

June 29, 2011   Jane   changes at DGLM, digital publishing, e-books, future of publishing, Jane, self-publishing, selling  
32

How many publishers is enough?

So one of the questions that we have been getting a lot with regard to Monday’s announcement is this:  “How do you define the point at which you stop shopping a MS to publishers and go for this option?”

For us this is an easy question to answer.

First of all we take on projects that we truly believe we can sell traditionally and sell well.  As many of you know, we work hard with our clients to get their material to where it should be for submission and then we send it out to publishers.  There are times when we sell books quickly and then there are those times when we go many, many rounds.  This year alone, I went to well over forty publishers with each of two different novels before I found them a home.

There are those times, though, when we cannot find a buyer no matter how many houses we go to.  Sometimes, after a number of rejections, I might see what the publishers are saying—if there is a common theme in their comments—at other times we simply run out of viable publishers.

When we get to that point, I would now be able to give the author a choice.  Up until now, actually, there has been no choice. We would simply tell the author we can’t go any farther, give him/her the complete list of where we have been with his/her work and send him/her all the comments we have received and hope we’ll be able to work together on the next project.  Now, though, we would tell them we’ve struck out with traditional publishers and then ask if they would like us to help them publish their manuscripts online or simply put the project aside and move on to something else.

This decision is obviously one we will discuss in-depth when/if the time comes. Our clients will have the option not to do this at all or even not to do it with us.  And, in some cases we might even advise against digital publishing.

The point here, though, is that our intention is to exhaust all traditional publishing possibilities before we suggest the self-publishing route.  I hope this clarifies the issue.

June 20, 2011   Jane   feedback, inspiration, Jane, opinion, writing  
21

Why do writers write?

The other day, I was challenged by a friend to answer the question of why authors write.  He maintains that “pain is the reason that authors write. All stories must have a conflict (pain) or a series of conflicts to resolve or else there is no story.”  He added that authors write because of “the pain of not being published, the pain of not making a living or the pain of not feeling worthy.  Insecurity is pain.  Good storytellers have to tap into the pain of the characters in order to ‘color’ their personality and make them real.”

He and I have been around this in subsequent conversations and frankly I don’t agree and I don’t “get it.”  I think people write for many reasons (one of which might be to get rid of their pain): they have a story to tell, they have information to impart, they have an experience they want to share, etc.

I found this link on the subject, which adds to the discussion.

I would be very interested to know what you think.  Why do you write?

June 13, 2011   Jane   advice, e-books, feedback, Jane, technology  
10

E-readers keep having babies

Just when I think I have it down as far as whether the Kindle, the NOOK, or the iPad is what I want to use to read my books on, things change.  In fact, these changes can be really dizzying and confusing.

This week, though, there was a development that could simplify things for those of us who use e-readers.  Barnes & Noble and Kobo introduced nearly identical readers that appear to be superior to the bestselling Kindle.

Both the “All-New NOOK” and the Kobo Touch have a number of similarities and some differences.  But both of them have features that make them more attractive to the reader than the Kindle. This of course will force Amazon and the other manufacturers of e-readers to improve their products, and on and on and on. And even though many of these are becoming less expensive, they are still an investment of sorts, and how many do each of us really need?

I guess my question is, which e-reader do I buy next?  I have used my Kindle successfully for two or three years and am feeling it is time for an upgrade.  But I am totally confused by all of the choices available.

I am searching for opinions and advice.  What would you choose?

June 06, 2011   Jane   celebrity, ghostwriting, Jane, opinion, writing  
9

To ghost or not to ghost?

Last Thursday, I read a piece in the New York Times about celebrities like Kourtney, Kim and Khloé Kardashian, Nicole Richie and Hilary Duff  who had  “written” or “were writing” novels.  Of course, everyone knows these women are using others to help them (or maybe do all of the work) but these writers are anonymous—they are “ghosts.”  This made me think of others who use ghosts.  Robert Ludlum, for example, who long ago passed away, has “written” many novels since his death.  Eric von Lustbader is universally acknowledged as the writer of his books, giving a new, ironic spin on the term “ghost writer.”

And this is true of many other authors—those who are published writers and those who aren’t writers but who want to “write” books.  I often wonder why these authors don’t just acknowledge those who are helping them rather than keeping them under wraps.  The writer does an enormous amount of heavy lifting and deserves credit for their work.

Of course I work with many collaborators and sometimes they ghost and sometimes they openly collaborate.  I feel it is extremely helpful to the collaborator/ghost writer’s career to be acknowledged publicly for the hard work that they do.  Ultimately, book publishing is a collaborative business.  It takes a village, to paraphrase Hillary, to bring a book to life and I think acknowledging all the people involved can only make for a better experience all around.

I would love to know what your thoughts are about this.  Does it bother you to know that a book has been ghostwritten? Do you think ghostwriters should be openly acknowledged?

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