Category Archives: Jane

March 21, 2011   Jane   etiquette, Jane, opinion, relationships  
16

Pet peeves, etc.

Every few months, I try to digest the things various clients have done that I wish they hadn’t.  I know many of our readers who, of course, are writers themselves and are seeking agents and editors, are interested in learning the etiquette of our business, so I thought I would throw out several things that tend to make us agents weepy or ragey:

When you make an appointment with your agent or your editor you should show up; more than once in recent weeks people who have confirmed appointments with us have not shown up and not called to say they weren’t coming (sometimes it was because the writer overslept or simply forgot).

Asking your agent to do all kinds of extra work for you and then saying you are going to use your lawyer to negotiate that particular movie or magazine contract.

Delivering a manuscript you haven’t previously checked carefully and thoroughly.

Being late with the delivery of your manuscript (sometimes way late) and assuming that your Publisher will grant you endless extensions.

Sending rude notes to your editor rather than first speaking to me so that I can run interference.

Finding everything that your editor throws out in terms of title, cover and copy wrong and not saying one positive thing.  (It isn’t smart to alienate your editor and your publisher especially before your book is published.)

Insisting that I submit your proposal to teeny tiny publishers and then being disappointed when the advance is almost non-existent.

Having unrealistic expectations in terms of the deal you are looking for and not sharing those expectations with me at the outset (so that I can clarify what is and isn’t possible).

Listening to the opinions of all of your friends and colleagues (many of whom are at odds about strategy and everything else).

Lying to me. If there is one thing I have zero tolerance for it is not telling the truth (unless you really, really don’t like my new shoes; I don’t need to know that).  This only happens once in any business relationship I have.

Needless to say, I don’t believe everything I have to say as an agent is correct but the bottom line is that I am here to provide advice and support and become frustrated when I am not used productively.

I wonder what your pet peeves are?  I am sure you have them and would be interested to hear.

March 14, 2011   Jane   about us, bestsellers, fun, Jane  
10

It’s raining dogs and dogs

After much soul searching and researching we decided to welcome a new dog into our home this weekend.  We lost Jefferson (he was over sixteen years old) last December, and his sidekick Lincoln was very unhappy and confused as to where his pal had gone.  But with all of our incredibly bad weather, we were loath to get a new dog immediately.  And then the thought of training a puppy stopped us—we had done this four times over the last twenty-plus years and weren’t sure we were still up to the task.

And so we opted for a two-year-old blond, long haired mini-dachshund whom we named Gilli.  And here he is.

Gilli was raised by a breeder but his back was too short to show him and so the breeder elected to find him another home.  He has never walked on city streets or heard city noises or smelled the city smells so educating him is going to take some time but he has an incredibly sweet temperament and Lincoln already adores him.

Indeed, most everybody loves dogs I have found.  Just look at the bestseller lists; there is almost always a dog book on it.  The big seller now is Inside of a Dog by Alexandra Horowitz.  And just think of these others: How to Speak Dog and How Dogs Think by Stanley Coren, For the Love of a Dog by Patricia McConnell, Paws & Effect by Sharon Sakson, Amazing Gracie by Dan Dye and on and on.  Dog tales always seem to attract a large readership which speaks to the millions of dog lovers out there.

I have two authors currently putting together dog books—one non-fiction and one fiction—and I can’t wait to get each of them out into the market place.

And who knows—maybe some day down the line, I will write about my life with all of my dogs.  Not now though, I just want to enjoy Gilli and Lincoln for the time being.

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).

February 28, 2011   Jane   future of publishing, Jane, optimism  
1

The future of our industry and those who will make it work

This last Wednesday, I spent a couple of hours selecting the winners of the 2011 Dystel Publishing Fellowship.  The Fellowship—named for my father Oscar Dystel, a well known leader in the publishing industry and former CEO and President of Bantam Books—consists of tuition scholarships awarded each year to outstanding graduate students in publishing. It is part of the Master of Science in Publishing program at New York University’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies.

The Fellowship recipients are selected by a group of distinguished professionals in the publishing community:  Irwyn Applebaum, former president and publisher, Bantam Dell Publishing Group; Jane Friedman, CEO and co-founder, Open Road Integrated Media; Martha Levin, executive vice president and publisher, Free Press, Simon & Schuster, Inc.; Robert Miller, group publisher, Workman Publishing; Sara Nelson, book director, O, The Oprah Magazine; Stephen Rubin, president and publisher, Henry Holt & Co., Macmillan Publishing; Lorraine Shanley, president, Market Partners International, Inc.; William Shinker, president and publisher, Gotham Books, Penguin Group USA; Daniel Slater, senior manager, author and vendor relations, Kindle Content/Amazon; and Peter Workman, president and publisher, Workman Publishing Company, Inc.

In the past, we have presented the fellowship to one student but this year the committee was so impressed with the candidacy of two young women that we elected to present a fellowship to each of them:

Joana Costa Knufinke is a Fulbright scholar and a native of Spain where she is a PhD candidate at the University of Barcelona; she is currently working as a marketing and sales intern at Vintage/Anchor Books, a division of Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group at Random House.  She envisions a career as a publisher of fiction either in Spain or the United States and also wants to pursue teaching opportunities in publishing.

Kristin Vorce, is a project editor in the professional/trade division of John Wiley & Sons.  A Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Delaware, Kristin aspires to achieving a publishing position in either professional or trade books and employing creative digital initiatives to deliver customized content on multiple platforms.

I found both of these young women to be incredibly smart, creative and thoughtful and I am hoping they will one day help to lead our industry in new and exciting directions.  Being a part of this fellowship process is one of the most exciting things I do each year; it enables me to know that I am contributing to the future of an industry I truly love.

I know you will join me in sending congratulations to both Joana and Kristin!

February 14, 2011   Jane   inspiration, Jane, reading, writing  
6

Where do those incredible ideas come from?

We all know that memoirs are based on the writer’s life experiences, and other narrative non-fiction is written because the author has an interest in the subject and usually has to do a great deal of research into what he or she is writing about.

But what about fiction?

Many people say they write about what they know, at least in their first novel.

I suspect a book like Room has a basis in real life events, although the point of view is totally fresh and the author’s talent is superb.  But what about others like The Hunger Games or our own Jacqueline Carey’s world creation in the Kushiel series? What about Mary Doria Russell’s The Sparrow? Where do those ideas come from?

There was a superb piece in this last weekend’s Wall Street Journal entitled “The Life Well-Read” by Eric Ormsby which discusses where writers’ inspirations come from.  Many rely on books they have read—especially as children.

The other very important point this piece makes, though, is that we all remember books by how they feel and look; will we remember them as well if all we have done is read them on an electronic monitor?  What a good question.

I wonder what books you remember, what you think inspired their authors, and whether you think you would remember these reading experiences in the same way if you had read them on an electronic device rather than in hard copy?

February 07, 2011   Jane   advice, Jane, opinion, timing  
4

Better late than lousy

Lately, I have been thinking about how hurriedly we all feel we have to do things, especially in our work lives.  I have long subscribed to the motto “better late than lousy” and yet even I find myself doing things too quickly these days.

The ramifications  in our business of writing proposals too quickly (I am constantly telling clients to take their time), reviewing them too quickly and missing important problems as a result, sending material out too quickly without strategizing carefully enough, even reviewing contracts too quickly and overlooking points that we might want to negotiate further could be, indeed, very serious.

This is why I tell my clients, our staff, and most especially myself that we need to slow down and think before we proceed in all of these areas and in our relationships and communications, both professional and personal. I honestly feel we will all be happier and more successful in our lives if we learn, really learn that it is better to be late than lousy.

In what areas do you find yourselves doing things too quickly?

January 31, 2011   Jane   etiquette, Jane, opinion  
9

Etiquette or the lack thereof in today’s publishing world

Since the beginning of the new year, I have observed some pretty unprofessional behavior in our business and it troubles me.  With all of the back and forth about publishing being in real economic trouble, I would think that, more than ever, we would want to work together, publishers, authors and agents  to help it survive and thrive.

I have noted this lack of good publishing etiquette in both my clients (one behaved in an especially unprofessional way when his project didn’t achieve the attention and advance offer he believed it deserved) but most especially I have witnessed it on the publishing side.

Just the other week, I had sent out a proposal I have very solid hopes for to an editor who had not only requested it but who had insisted, when her assistant editor had requested it before her, that I send it to her instead. A few days later when I called to follow up she proceeded to turn the project down saying that the people who had read it (she quite obviously hadn’t) didn’t think it was the kind of book she envisioned.  I was stunned.  Here she demands that I send the material to her rather than someone else on her staff who had asked for it and then she doesn’t even read it?  What is going on?

Authors work very, very hard on their proposals. It is true that some proposals are better than others, but I personally know that each and every one of our clients puts a great deal of time and thought into what s/he sends out into the market place; the least an editor can do is read and thoughtfully consider it.

Then there are those editors who request proposals and then never, ever respond.  We call, we send e-mails and yet it is just like throwing the material in the trash bin.  This kind of thoughtless behavior seems to be increasing as well.

A couple of weeks ago, I had lunch with one of the old timers in our business:  a retired editor, who had discovered some of the best books and writers of the last 45 to 50 years.   She wondered where all of the camaraderie between publishers and authors of her day had gone.  I had to agree with her that much of it seems to have gone the way of manual typewriters.

I fear that if this kind of behavior isn’t reversed, out business really will be in trouble.  This is something that can be fixed, with attention and better communication.  It is my sincere hope that both authors and most especially editors and publishers will sit up and pay attention to a problem that is relatively easy to solve…before it is too late.

Your thoughts, of course, are always welcome.

January 24, 2011   Jane   in memoriam, Jane  
0

Abner Stein

In our lives, there are only a few times, I think, that we meet someone who really makes a difference.  For me, Abner Stein was one of those people.

Abner was our British agent.  He represented those of our books for which we had retained the British rights from the U.S. publisher.  And he was a superb agent.

But more than that, Abner was a superb human being.  When I was just starting out on my own – leaving my former employer in 1994 to begin what is now Dystel & Goderich Literary Management, Abner was incredibly supportive, encouraging me to spread my wings and build my business.  Over these many years, his support continued as our friendship grew.

As one of his colleagues wrote recently in a remembrance in Book Brunch, “For Abner, publishing was a personal business.  The consummate professional, he believed in the importance of personal connections.”  And that, I have found over these many years as an agent to be so true.

It is because of Abner and a couple of others like him that I have grown and succeeded as far as I have in my business.  And I hope they knew (and know) how grateful I am to them.

Abner Stein died on January 12th.  I will miss him very much but I will never forget his kind generosity and wonderful support.

January 10, 2011   Jane   future of publishing, Jane, opinion, retailers  
5

Big problems with Borders

Happy New Year!

Last week’s news about Borders was anything but happy and it could mean very bad news for all of us in the publishing business.

Evidently, this past week executives from the bookstore chain have been meeting with publishers to ask them for leniency in paying their bills.  At the same time, the company has been in talks with Wall Street firms about restructuring and bankruptcy though they are quick to say that bankruptcy isn’t being contemplated now.

But the fact is that Borders has said that they will delay paying vendors (book publishers) who undoubtedly shipped them lots of product for the holiday season.  If these publishers aren’t paid, that will sift throughout the business all the way down to the authors, of course.

What a shame that a company that expanded way too quickly and helped to put so many wonderful independent bookstores out of business is now in this state of disarray.  They have been so incredibly badly run for so many years, it is difficult to fathom.

I certainly don’t have a solution to this problem.  I am simply pointing it out and hoping that this will serve as a lesson to other companies, most particularly Barnes & Noble, who could find itself in the same spot.  And I hope that publishers and Borders will come to some kind of mutual understanding so that as few of us as possible will be affected by this state of affairs.

Here’s hoping anyway.

Your thoughts about this situation are welcome, of course.

January 10, 2011   DG&B   about us, advice, calendar, changes at DGLM, conferences, DGLM Recommends, Facebook, feedback, fun, Jane, Jessica, Jim, John, Lauren, Michael, Miriam, opinion, our blog, our clients, our website, Rachel S., Stacey, Stephanie, technical help, Twitter, what we're looking for, What's New at DGLM  
9

Welcome to the new DGLM blog and website!

Welcome to our shiny new home, blog readers!  For the new year, we bring you a new DGLM site, a merger of our website and blog.  Thanks to everyone who made suggestions a couple months ago on features and tech questions—where possible we’ve incorporated your feedback, and other things we’re keeping in mind in case we can implement them in future.

We’ll be blogging as usual over here at www.dystel.com now instead of at Blogger, and there are also some other things for you to explore over to the right (unless you’re not currently reading this on the site itself, in which case you might want to just poke your head in and take a look!).  You might be interested in learning more about us and our clients.  If you’re an author looking for representation, perhaps you’ll want to peruse our FAQ, Submission Requirements, Who We Are and What We’re Looking For, and Nonfiction Proposal Guidelines.  Need something new to read?  Check out our Staff Recommendations, Recent and Forthcoming Titles, and What We’re Reading in the column on the right. Maybe you want to know where we’ll be?  We’ve got a calendar with our upcoming conferences and events in that sidebar as well!  Of course, if you’d like, please feel free to use the links over there to Subscribe, Follow, or Like us and share our site with others!  The new blog should start feeding into our Twitter and Facebook accounts today, so if you’re already following us there, you don’t need to do anything.  If you’re reading us in a blog reader, please subscribe to the new RSS feed.

Make yourselves at home!

As always, we want to hear from you!  What do you think of the new digs?  Any suggestions for improvement?  Glitches we may not have caught?  (We hope not, but let us know if so!)  New features that you’d like us to consider?  We can’t always implement everything recommended to us, but we’re always open to hearing your ideas.

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