Category Archives: Michael

June 23, 2011   Michael   digital publishing, future of publishing, Michael, multimedia, self-publishing, selling  
5

Would you buy a book before it’s written?

Joëlle Anthony, one of my lovely clients, pointed me to this article about a new crowd-funded book project, Unbound. Much like Kickstarter, but only for books and only in the UK, the site allows you to make contributions to a project that’s been conceived but yet begun. There are several levels of support, starting at merely £10, which gets your name in the back of the book plus a free e-book, up to £250, which gets you two tickets to lunch with the author, tickets to the launch party, goodie bags, signed books, e-books, etc. Not a bad deal, if you ask me. In addition to all of this, readers also get access to what they’re calling the author’s “shed,” where the author will post updates on the book, interviews, and even material from the work in progress.

What makes this even better is that the authors that they’re working with have, for the most part, already been published. There’s already an audience for their work. This could be an ideal set up for an author who is trying to branch out, say a novelist who decides to write nonfiction, or vice versa. It could work when a publisher says to an author, “You know we love your writing, but there’s no audience for this idea.” It’s a safer way to test the waters, even for the author, who won’t be committing to writing the book until the funding is secured.

I don’t think this is a system that would be appropriate for every author or every book, but I know I’ve been in situations with clients in the past where I wish this had been a possibility. Anyone out there going to crowd fund (oh, how I hate buzz words!) their next book? Or has anyone supported an author in this way?

June 02, 2011   Michael   Michael, what we're looking for  
11

What I’m looking for

One of the greatest things about being an agent is that we constantly get new submissions. Seriously. I love getting queries and manuscripts and proposals, not knowing when I might find the next big thing, the next great thing, or the brand new thing. And right now, I’d really like the last thing on that list.

I see a lot of material. A lot of it looks pretty much the same: the humorous but touching memoir, the dystopian or paranormal YA, the adventurous middle grade. And all that is just fine, and you should keep sending it!  But I’d love to see something truly weird or off-beat. We’re updating our staff picks on the website, and you’ll see that my latest pick is Andrew Smith’s The Marbury Lens. If you haven’t read this book, do!  And if you have, you know just how off-beat and original it is, both in content and form. I would love to see some YA that really breaks the rules, whether that book is fantasy, paranormal or even contemporary. A.S. King, an author of mine, is another example of someone with a unique approach to form that I love–each of her books is a surprise.

I recently read Aimee Bender’s amazing The Particular Sadness of Lemoncake, another example of a book that doesn’t quite fit into any category. Depending on how you read it, it could be women’s fiction, magical realism, or a coming-of-age story, and it’s somehow all of these and none of these at once. And I loved it so much I couldn’t drag myself away from it, even when I needed to.

On the nonfiction front, I’d love something akin to the recent Area 51 by Annie Jacobsen, which isn’t so innovative in its structure, but certainly covers some odd territory. Not only is the book about one of the most written about places that supposedly doesn’t exist, it also makes some pretty jaw-dropping claims. I love off-beat topics for nonfiction, and it’d be great to see some more of those.

So give me your strange, your bizarre, your weirdo manuscripts striving to find publication. I’m in the mood to be surprised.

June 01, 2011   Miriam   fun, Jane, Michael, Miriam, Rachel S.  
1

Scenes from BEA

Some scenes from BEA.  Jane, Rachel (their picture below cracks me up–Rachel’s statuesque, while Jane is, er, twee) and I trekked over to the Javits center last week on Thursday, which was the last day of the Expo.   It was comforting to see that L. Ron Hubbard still has the biggest booth.  Lovely to see our authors’ books on display.  Heard a rumor that the “Dork” stairs cost the publisher $25,000.  Then, we ran into Michael  (is he squinting?) with his clients Lisa McMann and James Dashner and we chatted with Liesa Abrams of Aladdin (who edits some of Lisa and James’ books) about her Batman-themed wedding.  As we were heading out, we saw the sea of suitcases and hoped that they all found their way to their rightful destinations.

May 19, 2011   Michael   blog chat, fun, Michael  
4

Two great tastes that go great together

I think it goes without saying that I love books. People who work in publishing certainly don’t do it for the money or for their health! But I also love television. A lot. I’m a fan of new TV, syndicated reruns, classic television, campy television, shows from my childhood, shows from long before my childhood, and new shows that only children should be watching (where are my Spongebob fans?). Work keeps me on a pretty strict TV diet, so I’ve got time for about an hour of TV, not including my going to sleep with Friends on in the background. Seriously, I have a hard time sleeping if Joey, Chandler, Ross, Rachel, Phoebe and Monica aren’t there. Sad, but true. And, a couple of times a year, I get together with some publishing friends for a little outing we call “TV Night.” We don’t watch TV–that would be too easy.  Instead, we endlessly analyze the minutiae of Battlestar Galactica, try to untangle the meaning of LOST, recount just how many times we cried during Friday Night Lights, and debate the merits of Cougar Town (which may be the most divisive show on TV). We also have some drinks, chicken wings, french fries, and if we’re lucky, pigs in a blanket. What can I say? It’s an exclusive club.

So when our TV Night founder sent us all a link to this clever blog which combines images from iconic TV shows with oddly appropriate quotes from books, I felt vindicated. All that time we spent talking about TV was not wasted, and in fact, we were clearly intellectuals for taking the time to dissect it. Our TV watching was not rotting our brain, but was rather teaching us new things about storytelling. We finally had some blog confirmation that we were as smart as we thought we were.

Now if only we’d come up with the idea for the blog!

May 12, 2011   Michael   BEA, Michael, retailers  
5

BEA isn’t just BEA!

The book industry’s yearly trade show, BookExpo America, is just a few weeks away. I’ll be coming into New York for all the activity and festivity, and I know publishers and featured authors are gearing up for all of the events, like author breakfasts, bookseller speed dating, ARC signing and free booze (you should see the lines for tiny cups of champagne!). But the great news, with the specific events announced today, is that New York Book Week is back in a big way. With all of these amazing authors in town to promote their books to booksellers, it always seemed a waste not to give them a chance to interact with readers. There are events all week, Monday, May 23 through Friday, May 27, kicking off with the Teen Author Carnival on Monday at 4 PM, which I plan to attend. I’m hoping to make some of the other great events that week, too.

I’m genuinely excited that for at least part of BEA, I’ll be able to take off my agent hat and put on my reader hat. Will I see any of you there?

May 05, 2011   Michael   about us, agents, authors, Michael, why we are agents  
3

Why We Do What We Do

Being an agent can be frustrating.  Amongst all the wheeling and dealing, martinis, and fancy lunches, we also have contracts, editorial disputes, staff changes at publishers, authors on the ledge, overworked editors, and a constantly changing marketplace.  Especially as careers mature, much of the day-to-day focus becomes about management and business, and less about discovery and art.  And for me, at least, there has been so much business this week.  And while I do love that part of my job, it’s not exactly what drew me to being an agent.

But in the midst of all the craziness, two things happened.  An author of mine delivered a new work that blew me away.  It felt like I was reading her for the first time, and I found myself devouring the pages.  When the sample came to an end, there may have been some out-loud cursing her for leaving me hanging.  It doesn’t matter who the author is.  It actually reminded me that this is how I feel whenever my authors send me something new and exciting–I feel invigorated!

The second thing that happened is I read an article that blew me away.  It was investigative reporting with a very personal edge, and it was more thrilling than any novel I’ve read.  I rarely read anything over a page long in the middle of my day, but I dropped everything to finish the long piece.  While I discovered that this author already had representation (drat!), it again reminded me that the good stuff is always out there waiting for when I’m ready–or even when I’m not.  Good writing, even from people who aren’t my authors, is always inspiring.

And that’s why we do what we do.  To help give voice to the people whose words invigorate and inspire us.  To connect writers with readers, whether on the page or screen, whether through a publisher or directly.  So even on the most frustrating day, I can easily say that I love my job.  I can’t imagine anything better.

April 28, 2011   Michael   fun, hand-selling, marketing/publicity, Michael  
3

He’s no jack of all trades

Sometimes, you just want one thing done right.  You go to Crumbs or Sprinkles for cupcakes, DiFara for pizza, Umami for a burger.  You know they only do one thing and do it well.  What about books?  Sure, you could go to Mysterious Galaxy for mystery (ok, and other types) books, or head over to O’Reilly for your technology tomes.  That’s what vertical is all about!  But what about a store that sells just one book?  Now you have it! Andrew Kessler is selling his book, Martian Summer, out of a storefront in New York’s West Village.  It certainly is great advertising, even if I can’t quite figure out the economics of it all.  The again, the article ends with the charming Mr. Kessler explaining, “I’m not a very good businessperson.”  Indeed.  But the free advertising he just got in the New York Times might well be worth it!

April 22, 2011   Michael   children's books, digital publishing, e-books, future of publishing, graphic novels, Michael  
4

Publishing in nine months

As always, when Mike Shatzkin blogs, I read.  And today he put out some thoughts on the future of publishing–the near future, just looking nine months down the line for the next Digital Book World conference.  As usual, I think he’s got a really good grasp on the changes and challenges ahead, including territory restrictions for e-books, selling and marketing directly to consumers, and the decline of the brick and mortar stores.

He’s also bullish about something that’s yet to appeal to me, a staunch e-book reader: illustrated e-books.  I love e-books–I buy at least one a week–and I love illustrated books of all sorts, from graphic novels to coffee table books.  But I’m having a hard time imagining my favorite illustrated books living on my iPad.  That’s not to say that I can’t imagine visually-oriented material doing well, things like the Elements app, for instance.  And, I do think there’s going to be a lot of creative and interesting interactive e-books for kids.  I just think I might have finally hit my own “but-what-about-the-smell-of-books” moment.  I love my illustrated books!  I love showing them off on my coffee table and bookshelves (and so many other surfaces around the apartment).  I like paging through them when I have a free moment, just ’cause they’re there.  Is it possible that I’m becoming a luddite?

No.  I like my tech, and I like the attendant usefulness and ease of digital products.  I’m sure I’ll find the illustrated e-book or book-like-product that will wow me to the point of purchase, and then I’ll start snapping up more of them.  But there’s no way I’m trading in my The Making of the Empire Strikes Back.

April 15, 2011   Michael   advice, book fairs, Michael, recommendations  
2

A random collection of thoughts

I couldn’t come up with any great way to tie some of my random thoughts from this week together, so bear with my bullet point list here. And maybe one of you writer-types will know how to organize this into something more cohesive!

  • First, some advice: Unless you’re being referred to me by someone I know, whether it’s an author, editor, colleague or friend, you are not a referral. And saying you’ve been referred when in fact you haven’t is worse than not having a referral. We read everything that comes in, and it’s obvious quickly when someone is playing games. So don’t!
  • Am I the only one who gets super tense when my schedule is thrown off? It’s strange, because while I thrive on change (one of the reasons I love my job is that each day is different), I do not like to deviate once something is planned. I had to change some travel dates today, and boy was that stressful. But now that I’m all set again, I’m totally relieved. I guess what I really don’t like is the unknown–the part where I know that one plan is off but I’m not sure what the replacement plan is. As writers, do you like to have plans? Do you plan your writing, both content and schedule, in advance? Does it stress you out when those plans are thrown off?
  • The London Book Fair was this week, and the Bologna Book Fair was just a couple of weeks ago, and I keep calling and emailing people who are off gallivanting across Europe. I have to say, I’m eager for everyone to be back next week! But from various reports, it sounds like both fairs went very well (you can read about them here and here), and I’m glad to hear that people are generally more upbeat than in the past couple of years.
  • Is anyone else reading Bossypants by Tina Fey? I’ve been sneaking chapters right before bed most nights, because a good laugh is the perfect way to end the day. As with all things Fey, I recommend it highly!

That’s what’s running through my head at the moment. Anyone else have some random thoughts?

April 07, 2011   Michael   Michael, timing, writing  
15

Distraction

I’ve been terribly distracted this week. It’s not life or news or social networking or anything, just one part of my work distracting me from another part of my work. I’m having a week where I’m being pulled in several different directions, and keeping things on track hasn’t been easy. I’m catching up on my inbox today, because it got neglected while I was putting out fires. And then there are the phone calls to return.. We agents spend a lot of time putting out fires, and that can distract us from the reading, editing, and pitching that is the more structured part of our job.

I know writers deal with distractions all the time. Most of your write on top of having full-time jobs, families, friends, the DGLM blog and Angry Birds. I wonder: what helps keep you on track? How do you stay focused and get those words written when the whole world is conspiring to stop you?

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