Category Archives: Stacey

June 22, 2011   Stacey   cookbooks and food writing, drinking, genre, Stacey  
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Thinking about Drinking

I’m working on a nonfiction project about vodka, and it’s a pretty fascinating subject. It got me thinking about drinking, and books on drinking, or more specifically, the drinks themselves that we drink. I actually blogged about this once before and thought I’d take it a step further.

An article an author of mine is working on cites a couple of books on his subject, including Linda Himelstein’s THE KING OF VODKA, which is about Pyotr Smirnov and his vodka empire. There have been so many ways alcohol and its long drunken history have been explored in books–from recipe cocktail books, which have been popular the last few years as the DIY movement has shifted to drinking and people are experimenting in their own kitchens, to practical books on wine, beer, and pairing foods with drinks.

What is interests me most, however, are the many excellent narrative nonfiction books about not only the drinks themselves, but the players behind them, like my own client Tilar Mazzeo’s bestselling THE WIDOW CLICQUOT, which describes the fascinating life of Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin, the woman who Veuve Clicquot brand. THE BILLIONAIRE’S VINEGAR was a bestseller that delved deeper into the story behind the world’s most expensive bottle of wine. Absinthe is another spirit that we talked about a great deal when thinking about ideas for Tilar. There’s a lot of interesting history there. I personally love these historical narrative nonfiction accounts that paint a broader cultural picture of a seemingly narrow subject. In the hands of a skilled writer, there is much to explore.

In doing some research, I came upon this Wall Street Journal article that lists a few titles that are worth looking at if you’re interested in this vast subject.

What are your favorite books about drinking? Are there any books on the subject you’d like to see that don’t already exist? It’s a little too early for me to start drinking, but the mood is definitely set for an evening cocktail!

June 15, 2011   Stacey   fun, reading, Stacey  
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Summer mode

Several things have me thinking about summer today. It’s the most gorgeous day ever, summer Fridays have begun, my babysitter is on vacation, and I’m fantasizing about my own summer trips—to San Francicso, to visit my new nephew and celebrate my 10th wedding anniversary, and to Maine at the end of August, to spend a week with family eating lobster, among other things. It got me thinking of a topic a couple of us have explored recently: summer reading.

I came upon some reviews and press about a new novel getting attention entitled simply Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan, a well-reviewed young writer. This sounds to me like the perfect vacation read, not to mention the kind of commercial women’s fiction I like best, about four women from the same extended family coming together at a beach house in Maine and all the emotional baggage that comes with it.

The other book that has grabbed my attention after seeing it at Book Expo, and reading some wonderful reviews is Ann Patchett’s new novel, State of Wonder. I’m a big fan of hers, and this new book looks very promising.

Those are the top two on my list right now. I’m wondering if anyone out there has read either book yet, and if you have any positive or negative feedback to share. I already ordered a copy of Maine, thinking it would be nice to share it with my mom and sister-in-law while we’re trying to relax in Maine (with 6 kids 6 and under, I think that concept might be akin to fiction, but I’m hoping for the best!).

June 08, 2011   Stacey   fun, inspiration, opinion, publishers, Stacey  
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On editors

Some of you who follow publishing news might have heard recently that legendary book editor Bob Loomis is retiring from Random House after 54 years. He has worked with a laundry list of amazing authors, including Maya Angelou, William Styron, Calvin Trillin, to name a few. Peter Osnos, another longtime publishing executive and founder of PublicAffairs Books, weighs in on book editors and their changing roles in a recent issue of The Atlantic.

An amazing fact he highlights is that Loomis had National Book Award winners for both fiction (Pete Dexter’s Paris Trout) and nonfiction (Neil Sheehan’s A Bright Shining Lie) in the same year, 1988. That is a remarkable achievement.

The story he shares about Loomis bringing Sheehan’s book to publication is one of those great old school publishing stories. I love the visual of two large paper bags full of manuscript drafts of the award-winning book that took 16 years to finish. I have an author who has had 4 editors in less than 5 years, just to give you an example of a pretty common story in today’s market and how different it is from Loomis and Sheehan’s experience with that book.

Overall, the piece sends a positive message about editors in publishing, and suggests even thought the business has changed dramatically, there are still a lot of dedicated, talented editors out there doing what they do best, editing books and helping authors navigate the winding road of publishing a book.

The message is that all of you writers out there should keep on writing, because there are editors on this end who want to edit your books (and agents who want to represent them)!

June 01, 2011   Stacey   cookbooks and food writing, health, Stacey  
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Gluten-Free Rules

I had the pleasure of bumping into food writer Melissa Clark not once, but twice, in the last month. I was happy to learn she was working on a piece for her New York Times column about gluten-free cooking and baking, and that she’d be talking with my author and early advocate of the gluten-free movement, Shauna James Ahern of glutenfreegirl.com. The terrific article ran today and it highlights a number of gluten-free cookbooks that have hit the market in the last couple of years. As Melissa indicates, gluten-free has become mainstream, and it seems to me this is a direction that more of us will be going in over time. Our diet is literally making many of us sick, and eliminating triggers like gluten is one way to get back to the basics of natural whole foods, and a healthier, more balanced way of eating. I’m not gluten-free, and my kids and I eat more of the stuff than I care to admit, but I’m paying close attention to what’s happening in the world of gluten-free living, and I suspect I’ll be dipping my toes in those waters at some point. The gluten-free recipes I’ve made and desserts I’ve sampled are quite good, and with so many innovators like Shauna out there paving the way for the rest of us, it’s become easier, if not easy, to adapt to this lifestyle change. There are a lot of books and sites mentioned in this piece, but are there any other gluten-free cookbooks or websites you love that aren’t covered in this article?

May 25, 2011   Stacey   BEA, book club, reading, Stacey  
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A Worldwide Book Club

It’s BEA this week, so we are all running circles around the Javits Center and waiting for news of book deals, gossip, and trying to catch up with friends and editors we only have a chance to see during this annual book pilgrimage.

I thought it would be a good time to talk about something that aims to get people reading. Jeff Howe, a professor at Northeastern and contributor to The Atlantic, has resurrected the very cool book club he started last spring that attracted 12,000 reader to Neil Gaiman’s American Gods. He’s renamed it 1book140, and its goal is to get as many people as possible around the world together reading a single title chosen by his readers. Check out the list of books for a fun exercise in commercial and literary fiction. You’ll have ample time to get involved, even if you miss the first month since it will continue indefinitely with a new book being chosen each month. It’s a little hard to navigate the articles about the club, but here’s a bit about the criteria for chosen books.

I think it’s a great opportunity to get reading, and get involved in the larger reading community. The nominations are based on popular demand, so vote for your favorite before polls for this month close May 26. My pick is The Keep by Jennifer Egan, who just won the Pulitzer. Let us know what your picks are, and if you’ll be reading along with this new literary endeavor. Do  you have any suggestions for titles that aren’t on this first lengthy list?
May 18, 2011   Stacey   distribution, news, numbers, Stacey  
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Who’s Buying Your Book and What are You Going to Do About It?

While stuck on the bus (again) this morning on my way in to work, I was thinking about publishing, and royalties, and authors, and all the things I think about each day as a literary agent. When I finally got to my office, half an hour late for my 9:30 meeting and after over 2 hours of commuting fun, I found this article by Laura Munson who I’ve blogged about before Rejection inspiration when I shared her amazing journey to published, and now bestselling, author. She brings up in a sometimes crass but humorous way questions that many authors have about obtaining sales figures after their book is published. As she puts it: “Any businessperson should be able to see sales reports to judge how to proceed in peddling what she’s peddling, shouldn’t she?” Since publishers still (for now) only report earnings on average twice a year, and usually several months after the statement period closes, and they don’t include any sort of breakdown on where books are selling, how are authors supposed to help tap into new markets or take advantage of popular markets? It seems a basic almost obvious question, and one that doesn’t have a great answer in the publishing model.

In the past, if you had several thousand dollars a year to spend on Bookscan, a database that tracks actual book sales that has been around almost 10 years, or had an agent or editor with access and willing to share numbers, you could access real sales information by location, but it still didn’t track all accounts, only the major retailers (B&N, Amazon, Target etc.). Independent bookstores, for examples, and libraries, don’t report sales to Bookscan. Presumably publishers do have access to more accurate and specific sales data, but they don’t generally share it with authors or agents. I recall hearing that Random House has a “policy” not to share numbers with authors in between royalty statements. It’s really tough to get answers about where a particular title is selling, and that can be confusing and frustrating for an author, especially a first time author, who is trying to figure out where to focus their marketing and publicity efforts.

The Amazon service which Munson describes, which is pretty cool for authors, especially since it’s free (I wonder what kind of deal Amazon and Bookscan worked out to be able to do this!), offers authors data derived from Bookscan (you can have increased access for a fee). It includes sales figures, updated each week, as well as geographic data, which, as Amazon describes on their website, “can help you plan and measure the effects of your next book tour”. It still doesn’t give you information on which retailers are selling in which quantities, but it’s more than authors ever knew before.

In this highly competitive and difficult market, any advantage you have in learning more about how and where your books are selling is a good thing. It makes me wonder what authors are doing with this information since this program began, and how many are taking advantage of it. If you are a published author, or if you aren’t but can imagine being one someday, what are you doing or what would you do with this sales feedback? Munson talks about considering events in places where her book isn’t selling. Can you think of cool ways to take advantage of this previously proprietary sales data?

Mary W. Quigley is a journalist who writes about women and work issues. Her most recent book is Going Back to Work: A Survival Guide (St. Martin’s Press, 2004). She is also the co-author of And What Do You Do? When Women Chose to Stay Home. Wildcat Canyon press, 2000). She started teaching as an adjunct in 1979 after she received her master’s in journalism from NYU. She teaches research, reporting and writing courses on both the graduate and undergraduate levels.
May 11, 2011   Stacey   advice, blog-to-book, contest, cookbooks and food writing, marketing/publicity, Stacey  
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Blogging advice continued (and a prize!)

Last week I wrote about food blogs. I’m following it up this week with a fun timeline of food blogs published by Saveur. If you are interested in this category, this piece offers a great sort of who’s who, and a bit of information about the blogs and bloggers, along with some of their first posts. It’s amazing to see how fast this world has grown, and how some of the bigger names got their start. And I’m happy to see we have a couple of authors on this list.

For those of you looking for specific advice in the area of blogging, whatever your topic of choice, I found this blog post, shared with me by an editor friend, incredibly helpful. It’s really detailed, and my favorite part is that it offers the approximate time it will take you to successfully complete each of the suggested tasks. The advice is broken down in such a way that it avoids feeling overwhelming or too nebulous, and I think if you read it carefully and implement some or all of the suggestions (if you are already blogging, there will be things you can pass over, but I think there are good reminders here too), you will see results. Who’s ready to give it a try? If any of our readers take the time to follow the 21 steps listed here, let us know one month after completion if there is a noticeable increase in your blog traffic. When you send me the stats, I will send you a copy of one of my books. It’s a win-win — increased blog traffic and productivity for you, and a shiny new book to go with it!

May 04, 2011   Stacey   blog-to-book, cookbooks and food writing, food, Stacey  
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Favorite Food Blogs

As those of you who frequent our blog know by now, I represent a good number of cookbooks and narrative books about food and wine. It’s a category that has changed a lot since I started agenting almost 13 years ago, and we’ve seen a lot of trends come and go during that time. Chef books, single ingredient books, lifestyle cookbooks (vegetarian, now vegan), reality TV and Food Network personalities have all had their place in the market, and many continue to thrive with the right combination of elements.

One relatively new phenomenon we’ve been seeing over the last couple of years (and will be seeing a lot more of in years to come) is the rise of the food blog-to-book. There is such a strong network of writers in this community that it’s become a fast growing and successful subculture with a world and language all its own, not to mention a whole bunch of writers’ conferences. I represent a number of the members of this community, including the amazing Shauna James Ahern of glutenfreegirl.com, who was really at the forefront of this emerging market.

I work closely with many authors and editors to tap into new talent, and it’s become an interesting conversation to see which bloggers are getting book deals, which ones have growing stats, and which ones are rising above the pack in terms of subject, content, photos, or voice. There are so many that it’s sometimes hard to keep up with what’s out there! I’ve been very fortunate to have authors and editors who have referred me to some great food bloggers, and I’m really eager to see what happens as many more of these books are published in the coming months and years. There are definitely critics out there who think it’s a trend and that publishers are overpaying for some of these books (there are at least a couple of recent sales that topped $500k), but we’re seeing sales that suggest otherwise. Heidi Swanson of 101cookbooks.com is a successful blogger whose most recent book has been selling very well and has hit top 10 on the New York Times bestseller list.

So, it does seem to be a lot more than a trend, and I’d love to hear from our blog readers what your favorite food blogs are, and what makes them your favorites. Is it the recipes, the photos, the writing, or something else that keeps you coming back for more?

April 27, 2011   Stacey   agents, opinion, Stacey  
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A Bit About Exclusives

Many of you wonder how we agents decide what we want to represent. As you know by now, there’s no single or right answer. Much of it is subjective, especially when it comes to fiction. The business of exclusives is one that many writers don’t understand, and different agents probably do it differently, so I thought this article by Erin Brown from Authormag.com was worth checking out if your’e interested in the subject.

I agree with most of what she says about why an agent would ask for an exclusive, and I understand from the author’s perspective why there are reasons to think twice about granting one. My advice is to always be honest and keep the lines of communication open. If an agent wants an exclusive read on a novel of yours, this is a good thing, especially if it’s an agent you are really excited about working with. If the material is being read by others at the time an exclusive is requested, you need to let them know that and it’s the agent’s choice if they want to jump into the mix on a nonexclusive basis. Most of us thrive on the competitive nature of the business, so others reading a manuscript that I’ve asked for exclusively on will usually get me reading more quickly.

I agree with Erin completely that it’s fair and appropriate to put a timeline on the exclusive. No agent should have an exclusive submission for six months, and even the six to eight weeks she mentions for a novel feels long to me. Two to three weeks should be long enough for an exclusive read, and if the agent hasn’t read in that time, he/she has to be prepared to lose out to another faster reader. We all have a million things to keep us busy, so it’s up to each of us to prioritize those exclusives, and to respond within the promised time or risk losing the submission. Have you ever granted an exclusive read to an agent, and how has it worked out?

April 20, 2011   Stacey   feedback, fun, reading, Stacey  
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How do you decide what you want to read?

I saw this week that Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad won the Pulitzer for fiction. Miriam read it here for a recent book club and liked it a lot. It’s on my reading list, and has been for some time. I’m a fan of Egan’s, and she and I passed through the halls at The Tribeca Film Center many years ago when I was an intern there, even before she became a published writer. Then this morning I saw this article about what sounds like a fascinating new popular science book that explores an eight decade study of longevity. I’ve added it to my list as well.

It got me to thinking about what influences a person’s buying decisions when it comes to books and where they are learning about the books they want to read. Personally, I pull my reading list together based on many sources, including reviews, articles, bestseller lists, and word of mouth. But since I work in the publishing industry, it’s a different sort of research. I just ordered, for example, copies of Patti Smith’s memoir, Just Kids, which won the National Book Award last year, as well as Rebecca Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, which was universally praised as one of the best books of 2010. For me, it’s not just about reading a good book, although that’s certainly a fringe benefit. It’s about researching the market and learning precisely what makes a book great. There are lessons to be learned from these examples that I can apply to projects I’m developing, and those I’m considering as well.

So, I’m curious to know more from our readers about their buying habits. A few questions:

Does anyone out there wait all year to see what the Pulitzer for fiction is and then buy it if you haven’t already read it? Or do you not care at all about the prestigious prize? Are there any other literary prizes that matter to you?

Do reviews sway you in a direction, and if so, from which publications? Do you swear by one reviewer over another whose taste you feel is in sync with your own? Do you wait each year for the annual best-of lists from the New York Times and others, and pick a handful from there?

Does the occasional ad on tv remind you to go out and buy the latest commercial blockbuster (I always find books ads so painfully awkward and not at all convincing)?

Or do you simply walk into a local bookstore and peruse the shelves? If that’s your preference, do you look at the new and noteworthy tables, the bestsellers, or the general fiction or nonfiction shelves by genre or category? Do you spend 10 minutes looking or 2 hours (and do you sometimes start a book in the store and put it back if it’s not working for you?)?

So many questions to think about what brings us to the books we read. Thanks in advance for the feedback. And whatever way you come to your choices, keep on buying books!

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