Category Archives: Michael

September 22, 2011   Michael   Michael, reading  
4

A quiet place

It’s not a great news week. I’m particularly disturbed by all of the executions in the news, to the point that I can’t seem to articulate my feelings. As I write this, the Dow is dropping precipitously, and the world’s economy seems in freefall. And I just read that subatomic particles may travel faster than the speed of light, which while not bad news, messes with my head in uncomfortable ways.

So it’s with great anticipation that I await the arrival of my new reading chair next week. I’ve been wanting a really comfortable, high-backed, nice-looking chair for some time, but it wasn’t until a recent trip to a furniture store that I found something that fit the bill. Ever since I moved to L.A., I’ve been more cognizant of the fact that I just didn’t have a good reading spot. My desk chair is fine, but I like getting away from the computer to read. There’s more than one couch here, but I find myself shifting from sitting to lying in one position, then another, then the other direction, then back up to sitting–every few minutes. I like to sit out on the balcony, but as winter approaches, light starts to be an issue. None of these options was great for immersive reading.

I’m looking forward to spending some quality time with my butt in the chair, reading submissions, clients’ manuscripts, and even books that have nothing to do with work! Because reading time is, dare I say, sacred, quiet time, and I’m excited to have the right chair to do it in.

How about you all?  Do you have favorite reading spots?

September 15, 2011   Michael   controversy, LGBTQ, Michael, publishers, submissions, voice, YA  
33

De-gaying YA

**Updated 9/18/11**

There’s been a lot of talk in the YA world this week about an article over at Publisher’s Weekly about the difficulty in selling work with LGBTQ protagonists, and the story is even being picked up by non-publishing outlets. (There’s also now some controversy, seen here on the Swivet, about who the mystery agent is, and if, in fact, they ever said such a thing.)

In the interest of full disclosure, I passed on the manuscript in question. It had absolutely nothing to do with the gay character–in fact, it’s not something that even registered. Perhaps it’s having lived on the coasts for years, or perhaps being gay, but finding a gay character in a book rarely registers. An author of mine recently sent in a new manuscript in which the brother of the female protagonist is gay, and honestly, I wouldn’t have noticed if the author hadn’t mentioned it in relation to a plot point. The guy’s gay.  Ok.  Moving on. And I’ve sold more than one YA book with an LGBTQ protagonist, including a YA memoir.

The same is generally true when I get in submissions. I’m not looking for gay or straight protagonists, and I don’t pay much attention. I care about the concept, the plotting, the voice, the writing–the sexual orientation of the character is the last thing I’m thinking about. Please send me books with LGBTQ characters; I’d love to see anything good! I think just about every agent and editor out there would say the same thing; it’s it’s good, we want to see it.

That said, we also have to be honest about the realities of the marketplace. There are fewer gay readers than straight readers. “Gay books,” on average, sell less than “straight books.” Readers seem to be more interested in reading about straight people–at least that’s what sales indicate. So publishers thinking about what to publish have to take this into consideration. Despite appearances to the contrary, publishing is a business, and sales matter. But YA books with LGBTQ characters continue to get published, are published well, and find audiences well beyond gay teens.  For more on this issue, I really recommend you read Malinda Lo’s brilliant blog post “How hard is it to sell an LGBTQ YA novel?”, which was referenced in the Swivet post above, and gives a great view from an author on this subject.

Publishing has to be one of the least homophobic businesses around. The percentage of gay agents, editors, and other publishing professionals is much, much higher than the population in general (no matter which statistic you’re looking at), and people are fairly liberal. I can almost guarantee that there’s no one censoring gay content. ***

If you want to see more books featuring LGBTQ characters, I have a piece of advice: seek out and buy those books. If publishers are rejecting books with LGBTQ characters because they believe they won’t sell, the way to change their minds is by buying the books when they are published. Publishers are chasing after sales, which is why you see so many copycat books–vampire novels after Twilight, dystopian novels following Hunger Games. Vote with your dollars. The more LGBTQ books you buy, the more you’ll see. And I know that we publishing professionals will be happy to sell them to you.

*** I should have chosen my words more carefully in this sentence. I didn’t mean to say that there was never any suggestion that GLBTQ content be removed from a book; clearly, that isn’t true. I was trying to say that I didn’t think anyone was doing this with a set agenda; I don’t think any particular editor’s or agent’s homophobia (blatant, latent or internalized) is the reason that such suggestions are made.

I also never intended to offend anyone with this post, and while I still don’t think I’m being naive or ignoring a blatant issue, I will certainly be more aware and sensitive going forward. I appreciate your responses and comments on this post, whether you agree with me or not. As so many have pointed out, what matters here is that we’re discussing the subject openly. And that can’t be a bad thing. Thank you.

September 08, 2011   Michael   future of publishing, Michael, why we are agents  
3

Back to school

It’s that time of year again! Not only are the kids back in school, but publishing is jumping into high gear. Editors are already complaining about the submission bombardment (they also complain when you don’t send them something, but I digress), I’m getting even more queries than I did a week ago (which boggles the mind), and my fall travel schedule kicks into high gear with the SCBWI conference in Las Vegas this weekend (there’s still room to sign up!). Considering that publishing has become much less seasonal and things stay busy year round, it’s all a bit artificial, but I love it.

It was 11 years ago tomorrow that I started my full-time career at DGLM as a wide-eyed, idealistic (or was it self-righteous?) 22-year-old hungry to find the next great writer. It felt so appropriate to begin my adult professional life right after Labor Day; it felt like the beginning of a new school year. So the beginning of a new publishing year always gets me a bit nostalgic and thoughtful. So much has changed, yet so much has stayed the same. There was a lot of talk in 2000 about ebooks and how they were going to revolutionize the industry. The pundits were right, even if they were a bit off in their timing. There was a lot of talk about declining advances/ridiculously large advances, and that certainly continues to this day. We were predicting the fall of Borders even back then, though it took a while for the company to finally succumb. There were layoffs, shrinking staffs, and merging publishers and imprints, certainly something we’re still dealing with today. And of course, there was the usual talk about the death of publishing, which, far as I can tell, has been going on since the written word has existed. All just goes to show that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Over the next 11 years, I expect there will be some pretty significant changes. Clearly, digital publishing is reshaping the publishing landscape in ways that we can’t yet entirely understand. And the closing of bookstores (there are more to come) will have great effect on how we market and sell books. We’ll still be complaining about many of the same things, as advances decline/grow, publishers shrink and combine and everyone and their brother declares that books are dead. In the end, though, it’ll still be about what really matters, what I was looking for the day I started and continue to look for to this day: great writers and great books.

August 25, 2011   Michael   inspiration, Jessica, Michael, rejection, self-publishing, selling  
10

It must be important

Jessica and I have been blogging on the same day for well over a year now, and this has never once happened: we both wrote on the same thing. It would be more surprising if it weren’t for the inspiration: Edan Lepucki’s excellent piece for The Millions about what happens when a book doesn’t sell. It’s clear that this piece has struck a chord, and I have a feeling ours won’t be the last blog posts about it.

Normally, I’d have suggested that one of us write something new, especially because there isn’t much that Jessica and I disagree about here. But I think it’s worth hearing the anecdotes we both have to share, and I hope our experiences (along with Edan’s) serve as inspiration.

– M.

From Jessica:

Last week I met with a client whose move from west coast to east finally afforded us an opportunity to sit down face to face. He is a prodigiously talented writer whose historical novel I submitted to more than thirty houses. Although a few of the editors to whom I sent it tried to make a case for acquisition, the novel did not sell. I know literary fiction is always difficult to place, and I am acquainted with the challenges of the present market, but this novel was so gloriously written, so seamlessly researched, so peopled with terrific characters (not least a sympathetic, intelligent and interestingly flawed narrator) that its quiet-ish plot seemed a non-issue. The houses to which I submitted, however, did not agree, and while all editors were profligate in their praise, we came away with no offers. Inasmuch as rejection is something I am trained to take in stride, I still wanted to storm the meeting rooms, kick down the doors, rail against naysayers (see Miriam’s post re: poisonous  invective) and ideally, have the phrase “we just don’t know how to sell this” stricken from the language.  Needless to say, my recent meeting with my client was bittersweet, and we spent much of our time talking about his next book. Which is why I found Edan Lepucki’s piece in the Millions so affecting.

If you have had a book that has not sold, or even found representation, at what point do you, like Lepucki, consign it to a drawer? True, we live in an era in which self-publishing is on the rise, but both Lepucki and this particular client decided that for assorted reasons, this route is not for them. So although I tend to share clients’ Churchillian inclination to never, never, never give in, an approach that has served me well with literary novels and works in translation, sanity, pragmatism and big picture considerations of an author’s career can mean it’s time to move on.

From Michael:

In the past, we’ve blogged a bit about books we weren’t able to sell, and how much that frustrates us.  It does.  When I sign something up, I’m in love with it.  The kind of getting-married-lifetime-commitment-love that one usually saves for spouses or cats.  So if something doesn’t sell, I’m wounded.  Being the agent, I figure I experience about 15% of the wound, with the author holding on to the other 85%.  Though authors can be notorious over-sharers, I sometimes feel like they shut down when their book doesn’t sell, and I often don’t know what’s going on inside their heads.  So I was eager to read this piece over on The Millions by Edan Lepucki.

Her reaction, after dealing with the hurt and disappointment, is exactly the way I’d hope my clients would react: move right on to the next thing.  But move on with the knowledge gained from the process submitting the first book, learning from whatever helpful comments might have been offered.  I have an author who is now working on his second book.  The first didn’t sell.  We were bummed, to say the least, but he jumped into the second one having synthesized what all of the editors had to say (lucky for him, editors liked his book enough to provide lots of thoughts–rare these days).  Not only was he eager to get back to work, but he was eager to implement what he’d learned.  And though we haven’t gotten to the submission part of things yet, I know that we’re much better positioned to succeed this time around, all because he was able to both accept the rejection and embrace the criticism.  That combination is going to serve him very well.

August 18, 2011   Michael   advice, authors, Michael  
3

Your devotion is irrational (and I don’t mean to writing)

As my authors can attest, I love to talk. About everything. But I especially like to talk about building and maintaining a career, and how authors can get from where they are to where they want to go. My approach to that is to talk about building a brand, which to me simply means figuring out who you are, what you write, and how to communicate that to your audience. I’ve spoken about this at conferences, and I know it’s made some people uncomfortable. They want to be artists, not a product. But I argue that in a very crowded marketplace, you need to clearly differentiate who you are to stand out and attract fans.

Which brings me to this fascinating/disturbing article from Ars Technica about a recent study from the Journal of Consumer Psychology. Apparently, consumers have such strong attachments that their own self-image is impacted by the brand’s performance. While I find this frightening–if this isn’t a sign that consumer culture is the only culture, I’m not sure what is–I do think it’s an important lesson for authors. To have readers who are that invested can be very important to a long-running career. Think about the biggest authors; each of them is their own brand, with readers knowing what to expect.

What’s important to remember is that being a brand doesn’t mean you need to write crappy books, condescend to the market, or consider what you do “product.” What it means is thinking strategically, with your agent and publisher, about the best ways to position, market and publish your books. As far as I’m concerned, even artists need to think things through and have a plan, and we agents are here to help you do just that.

August 11, 2011   Michael   fun, Michael  
5

Some levity

I don’t know what it is, but things certainly do seem serious for the middle of summer. Not only is there all the depressing news, what with the stock market and the riots in Britain, but I’ve been reading some fantastic manuscripts that just happen to be rather dark. After finishing something particularly amazing, but also terribly heart-wrenching, I decided that I needed just a little bit of fun this morning, and that meant I wasn’t going to blog about something heavy.

I was thrilled then, when I found this, a collection of funny Amazon reviews from PWxyz. I love to see people exercising their creativity in such a mundane forum, and I challenge you not to laugh at the review of the bucket. Enjoy, and let’s lighten up!

August 04, 2011   Michael   advice, blog chat, Michael  
26

Is blogging worth it?

Oh, don’t worry, readers. I’m not going to abandon you, so no need for tears. Clearly, blogging is worth it for us here at DGLM, and I’ll explain why in a bit.

Earlier this week, I was intrigued by this blog post from author Livia Blackburne (via Galleycat). In it, she wrote about the major issue that blogging authors have: they often wind up writing not for their readers, but for other writers. It’s a great community to become a part of, but I’ll be honest, it’s not exactly what agents and publishers had in mind when we so fervently recommended that every author needed to be blogging. In fact, if you’ve heard me speak at a conference in the past year, you’ve probably heard me talk about authors finding the right ways to promote their books online–and I’ve suggested that most authors not blog. If your posts are only going to reach other authors, I honestly don’t think it’s worth the time to maintain a blog, since that time could be spent doing something more effective to either reach readers or create something new. It’s all about audience, and authors often lose sight of exactly who that is.

But Livia took things one step further in a follow-up post, suggesting ways in which authors might actually reach out to their readers directly. She even references a DGLM client who has done an amazing job of developing an audience all on his own, John Locke. Early on, he figured out who his reader was, going so far as to create a psychological profile, and then crafted blog posts to appeal to that reader. It may seem calculated, but it’s smart. (And, for anyone writing commercial fiction, it’s important that your books appeal to that same reader, though that’s for another blog post!) For those of you writing fiction and blogging, I suggest it’s something that you very seriously ponder.

So, back to us. We actually thought about our audience when we retooled our blog a while back. We discussed who our readers were: aspiring authors, clients, and a smattering of other people. We now focus our blog posts to appeal to those groups, which has raised our blogging profile. We’ve got a more cohesive, more appealing product. We’ve improved our reach by understanding our audience.

For those of you that blog, have you thought about audience? Are you building a blog following by reaching out to your readers?

July 28, 2011   Michael   blog-to-book, deals, digital publishing, e-books, future of publishing, Michael  
5

A note to Publishers

Dear Publishers,

We’re friends, right? And when you’re friends with someone, you can be honest. So I’m going to be honest with you today, Publishers. I think you have a problem. You’re addicted to blogs. You can’t help yourself, I know. They’re funny! Everyone is talking about them, and all of your Facebook friends are totally on board. So you snatch them all up and turn all of them into books. But here’s how I know you have a problem, Publishers: you don’t really seem to notice or care about how good they are or how well they might adapt to a book. Yeah, there are some good blogs out there, and some of them might translate well to the page. But what don’t you  need? A book based on every single one of them, especially when most of these books go nowhere.

Yes, I realize that a majority of books fail, and publishing is always a bit of a crapshoot. But one of the issues you have, Publishers, is the failure to learn from mistakes. For every I Can Has Cheezburger, there are 20 This is Why You’re Fat, which, while it was a cute Tumblr account with a big following, was not a popular book. An internet meme does not a book make. And I also realize that if you check out my sales history, you’ll find a few blog-to-book deals. But I’ve tried to choose ideas that I think have immediate appeal and staying power. Books that will not be on the remainder table a month after their release. And Publishers, I think you’d be wise to think about the same things. Don’t get caught up in the excitement about a site that got popular in five minutes and will fade just as quickly. Books are supposed to last longer than fresh milk.

But if you’re so insistent on trying to turn a profit on something that would be otherwise free, maybe there’s an electronic path to take. Recently, one of my favorite sites, Ars Technica, released an e-book version of their Mac OS X Lion review. While the review is free to anyone who wishes to read it on the web, Ars made a downloadable copy available through e-book retailers for $4.99.  According to reports, they sold 3,000 copies of the review in the first 24 hours. Might there be a way to more quickly capitalize on the fleeting popularity of these internet phenomena? As the media landscape changes around you, Publishers, you need new solutions to old problems. Time to get creative.

Yours,

Michael

July 21, 2011   Michael   drinking, editor/agent lunches, great books, Michael  
10

Writing and drinking…or writing about drinking

Those of you who know me know I love a good cocktail–mixology (though I hate the word) is a bit of a hobby. I make a killer martini, have perfected my favorite version of an Old Fashioned (Makers 46, The Bitter Truth’s Jerry Thomas’ Own Decanter Bitters, orange peel, bar sugar, and a splash of soda), and even have some Creme de Violette, in case a guest requests an Aviation. That said, I’m a total lightweight who can’t ever have more than two drinks, so I’m always in awe when people speak of three martini lunches. I know the drinks and glasses were smaller years ago, but it’s still impressive!

More to the point, I was really taken with this Daily Beast piece with the 10 Best Writings on Booze.  With excerpts from heavyweights (and heavy drinkers) like F. Scott Fitzgerald, Dorothy Parker, and Edna St. Vincent Millay, it’s worth it just as a reminder of how good these ten writers are. Two of the pieces stood out.  Kingsley Amis’s description of a hangover from Lucky Jim is beyond brilliant. Who knew a hangover could be so poetic (and downright funny) in its pain?  And to sum it up with “He felt bad,”  is nothing less than perfection.  The other excerpt that stood out to me was from Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, in part because it’s so good, but also because I still clearly remember reading the book sophomore year of high school, sprawled out on my tomato-soup-red carpet (it was there before we moved in!), totally absorbed. It’s one of those magical reading moments that’s forever etched in my brain. Maybe all that foreign drinking inspired my love of travel and cocktails? Considering the content of the book, I doubt it!

Anyone got any great booze-related books or book-related cocktail recipes to share?

July 14, 2011   Michael   advice, authors, Michael, suggestions, writing  
6

Vacations

I’m just back from my vacation, spent in Italy (I’ll give you a moment to be jealous), but I’ve still got vacation on the brain. I’m very much back at work, busier than ever–Jim wasn’t kidding about that publishing summer–it’s not that my brain is still on vacation. Rather, I was realizing just how much I needed that vacation, and how recharged and refreshed I feel coming back. I’ve been pestering (nicely!) editors left and right, and I’ve been having a bunch of creative calls with authors, and I feel like I’m really firing on all cylinders.

In setting up a time to talk about his manuscript, an author mentioned that the time it took for me to read and formulate my thoughts was time he needed off. And while authors are often eager to hear what their editors think about their latest draft, I know that many of them relish the time off while they wait.In our constantly-connected world, and in a business where work and personal time tend to run together, I think all of us could benefit from some real vacation time. For agents and editors, that means time spent not answering calls and emails or editing manuscripts or copy, and for authors that means not just stepping away from a manuscript (something everyone needs to do sometimes!), but also from Facebook and Twitter and Goodreads and Amazon and blogging and worrying and comparing and kvetching. Taking a break from both the craft and the business helps us gain perspective, which we often sorely lack. That perspective can lead to new insights on a plot, character or scene, and it can also lead to new personal insight. And if nothing else, a break often leaves one excited to return to the work, more energized than before.

Do you employ breaks, big or small? Or do you feel yourself suffering from the 24/7, always on culture? How do you find time to get away?

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