Category Archives: optimism

January 30, 2013   Miriam   debate, digital publishing, e-books, future of publishing, Miriam, optimism, self-publishing  
5

The best of all possible worlds

Last night I walked a couple of blocks down Fifth Avenue to the brownstone home of the Salmagundi Art Club for a panel discussion of “Publishing in the Digital Age” hosted by the Deadline Club.  It was a miserable evening, weather-wise (as soon as I walked out the door of 1 Union Square West, the heavens opened, cabs splashed water as I waited for the lights to change, and my hair took on the proportions of Diana Ross’ favorite wig), but the panel discussion was lively and informative.

The question on everyone’s mind seemed to be “Should we panic about the state of the book business in the wake of the digital revolution or do we dare be optimistic.”  Our job on the panel was to illuminate the big issues preoccupying publishers and authors while attempting not to freak anyone out.  Overall, my fellow panelists and I were quite optimistic about the opportunities digital publishing affords while still admitting to twinges of regret over the passing of the traditional, wood paneled, musty smelling industry we all came of age in.

The optimism on our end came down to “choice.”  Authors have more choices now than they ever did.  They can self-publish easily and relatively economically if they choose or they can go through the traditional channels and, if that doesn’t pan out, go back to the idea of self-publishing.  Before e-books, if an author was rejected by enough agents and publishers, the idea of printing and distributing his or her own work was a daunting one.  Now, it’s a relatively painless process.

So, how is this good news to us inside the industry?  Well, what empowers authors usually empowers agents and, perhaps to a lesser degree, publishers.  Publishers and agents still provide an invaluable service in terms of curating literary material.  We still bring experience, love of craft, and critical acumen to bear on the process of book making and we’re pretty good at it.  And, authors and readers know this.  While self-publishing is now a thriving business, traditional publishing continues to publish more (digital and print) books every year.   And readers continue to buy these curated products.   Despite the perception of the business as the Titanic wildly trying to skirt the iceberg, publishers are making real efforts to keep up with the changing times so that they can bring their traditional talents to bear on the work authors are producing today.

Not to get all Panglossian about it, but isn’t this the best of all possible worlds?

January 04, 2013   Rachel   fun, inspiration, optimism, Rachel S.  
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All the resolve in the world.

You know, I never think about making New Year’s resolutions until a few days into the new year. And then, when everyone else is talking about all the positive and life-affirming things they are going to start doing (or all the horrible, bad for you things they are going to stop doing), it clicks in my head that this is a new year and there’s a reason that people get so excited about changing things up. The whole blank calendar in front of you, just waiting for you to fill it up with triumphs and screw-ups (more of the former, hopefully, but if it was the latter last year, then you can totally erase all of that now, too!).

In any case, I’ve decided that my biggest goal for this new year is organization. You know, I’m not too bad at it. I’m timely, I know where things that I need are and I know when I’m going to need them. I love alphabetization and sorting things by color or size. However, there’s got to be room for improvement. There’s got to be a reason that sometimes it’s midnight and oh my goodness where did the time go and I’ve still got all of these pages I want to read before tomorrow!

Luckily, not only is the low number on the calendar page a good impetus, but have you seen the weather out there? It is cold. Who wants to go outside gallivanting, throwing organization out the window when all we really should be doing is keeping that darn window closed, it’s windy, I’m cold, my papers are blowing everywhere.

So, what I want to know is hardly original, nor am I probably the only one asking, but it’s certainly interesting nonetheless (why would everyone ask the question otherwise?): What are your New Year’s resolutions? Whether they relate to writing, reading, or other literary ventures or not, it does not matter. Any sort of determination and willingness to sit down and really think about what you want and what you don’t need is an exercise that can be applied to all aspects, creative or otherwise. Go ahead, I want to know!

February 28, 2012   John   fun, inspiration, John, optimism  
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Huffpost pick-me-up

Usually, when I sit down to write my Tuesday blog, I have at least some topic in mind—some event or link that I carefully filed away that will let the blog write itself. But every now and again, Tuesday afternoon arrives and I got nuthin’. Maybe it’s that this past week’s news was pretty glum—several notable authors and publishing people passed away—but there just wasn’t anything out there that’s got the creative juices going.

So, as I sometimes do when I get really, really stuck, I turned to the Books section of the Huffington Post. And I have to tell you, just a little digging totally turned my frown upside-down!

We’ve got bad book blurbs by good writers—nothing more encouraging than seeing how your literary models can really stink it up! Along those lines, we’ve got the crappy jobs famous authors worked before they made it big, a little bit of field-leveling we all could use. They even managed to find happy thoughts in some of the more depressing books around. Who knew The Old Man and the Sea was such an upper? Taking them all together, I feel positively reinvigorated!

Well, here’s the question: what sites/media/books do you visit to get unblocked or raise your spirits? I could always use some new sources for inspiration (and blogging!).

December 12, 2011   Jane   advice, future of publishing, Jane, opinion, optimism  
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Moving forward positively

I spend almost every weekday lunch with an editor or a publisher talking about, among other things, our business; what has been happening and where it is going.  Sadly, most of the time these days, my lunch companions are bemoaning the state of things.  Fewer books are being published, editors are losing their jobs, and advances are going down.

Perhaps I am being a Pollyanna, but I don’t see the future as anything but positive for writers.  Of course it can be more challenging to sell a book these days – as I have stated in this blog more than once, publishers appear to care more about platform and credentials than they do about the actual contents of the proposals and manuscripts they are considering.  But there are still those out there who do care about the writing and, even if the particular material presented to them isn’t quite right, many do want to help the author develop a book that will work.

What’s most exciting to me though, is the developing world of ebooks and online publishing.  There are now so many more possibilities for unpublished and even traditionally published authors.

We at DGLM had a very interesting meeting last week with some publishing executives from Amazon who are launching a large number of publishing initiatives.  It has been such a long time since there has been really original thinking in our business and I, for one, am hugely encouraged by what I heard.

And then, of course, there is the Wild West world of online publishing.  Last Friday, Alexandra Alter wrote this article in The Wall Street Journal about one woman’s success in this area. Though Darcie Chan’s experience is unusual and very few will be able to duplicate it, the piece does point out that there are so many new possibilities available to writers who have previously been turned down by publishers.  This also opens the door to those who never really aspired to be published by a traditional publisher as well as to those whose books are out of print and who want to breathe new life into them.

The DGLM online publishing initiative is something I am very excited about building – just as I have helped to build our agency over the last twenty-five years.  It would be wonderful if my colleagues on the publishing side, rather than seeing the negatives in today’s publishing landscape, looked forward to the future with excitement and a willingness to change.

As I have said all along, digital publishing has increased reading and book buying.  Looking into the future, we all need to help to build that world so its foundations are strong and it can offer more possibilities to more writers and readers. As always, I am eager to hear your thoughts and comments about this.

October 18, 2011   Stephanie   advice, authors, optimism, Stephanie, writing  
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Blocking the block

I think it’s safe to say that most writers have, at some point along the way, felt stuck in their writing. It’s never a good feeling, without a doubt. So what is a writer to do? I thought I’d pass along  some thoughts to help you get moving again.

  • Take a step back: Time away from your work-in-progress can be a very helpful way to gain some clarity on any issues you may feel are plaguing your writing at any given time.
  • Revisit: Going over the parts of your writing that flow smoothly can often help unblock the problems in other areas.
  • Get a second opinion: Show your writing to a friend, writer-friend, or critique group member—anyone who will be objective and give you their honest opinion.
  • Read: There are always lessons to be learned from reading someone else’s writing.

Do you have any special tricks for beating writers’ block?

September 13, 2011   Stephanie   about us, fun, libraries, optimism, Stephanie  
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Musings on the library

As I floated through the Twitterverse today, I came across this great link I want to share with everyone. Apparently, for the past several months, there have been mysterious discoveries at libraries throughout Edinburgh, Scotland—delicate, intricate creations that are carved from paper, mounted on books, all of which form small yet fascinating works of art. These complex pieces have been left at places such as the Scottish Poetry Library and the Central Lending Library completely anonymously. My favorite is the most recent, which includes a small note: This is for you in support of Libraries, Books, Words, Ideas…LIBRARIES ARE EXPANSIVE.

Looking at these creations and their deeper meaning brought me back to my days within library walls. Throughout my college years at NYU, four to be exact, I worked at the school library. I began at the very bottom of the totem pole—shelving books and assisting harried (and usually rude) graduate students—and worked my way up to a research assistant in the course reserves and archives department. Besides meeting and working with some of the best people whom I now consider my second family, my time there exposed me to so many different elements of academia and taught me skills I couldn’t have learned elsewhere. I’ll never forget shelving first edition copies of books—printed in 1896—and marveling at the fact that they still existed and were accessible to anyone if only they knew where to look. Likewise when I worked in archives, searching through row upon row of microfilm reels, holding documents from all over the world that were several centuries old. The large majority of my fellow students probably never even knew these things existed.

In an age where articles, and sometimes entire books, can be found on the internet, libraries are becoming increasingly necessary. I think of how much material could potentially be lost to digitizing and it makes me concerned for the future of libraries. I certainly hope that discoveries like those made in Edinburgh will remind people of the importance of places like these.

August 30, 2011   Stephanie   inspiration, optimism, questions, Stephanie, writing  
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Summer swan song

It’s one of those harsh realizations to know that, with Labor Day fast approaching, summer is just about over.  I hope that for our writer/readers out there, the summer was a relaxing and productive time. Without a doubt, the summer is often the perfect time to recharge, and refill that mental gas tank.  Because just as writing is an all-encompassing endeavor, writer’s block can be an equally frustrating and uncomfortable feeling, and more importantly a reminder that the proverbial tank is low on creativity.

Since it is, unfortunately, impossible to simply refill in an instant, there are ways to replenish creative resources.  Sometimes getting away from writing for a period of time can allow you to find inspiration in the little things.  Instead of paying attention to what’s in front of you—a computer screen—it can be very beneficial to take a step back and pay attention to what’s around you instead. Reading can also serve the same purpose. Taking even just a few minutes to read something completely different can often spark new ideas or a new approach to your topic. Sometimes we can also find inspiration in the littlest things—how often has a tiny snippet of one passing conversation between strangers spurred an entire storyline in your head?

I hope that the past few months have been a time of refueling our readers and that the turn of the season will bring renewed energy to your writing.  Have you used the summer months as a time for reenergizing and if so, how?

August 10, 2011   Miriam   about us, fun, inspiration, Miriam, optimism  
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The optimist sees the doughnut; the pessimist the hole*

As John and Stephanie have suggested in their blog posts this week, we at DGLM have been slightly beset by mid-year doldrums.  Maybe it’s because it’s a quiet time of year and we’re all either desperate to get away on vacation or sad that vacation is fading in the rearview mirror.  Maybe  it’s because we’ve come all the away around from complaining bitterly about the cold to whining about the relentless heat and humidity.  Or maybe it’s because rejection is a downer and we agent types get rejected more than math geeks at a cheerleader convention.  Whatever the causes I think we’ve all been a little less joie-filled than usual and we’ve noticed that our clients are also exhibiting more signs of existential pain than is normal even for some of the more extreme nutcases among them (and I say that with love).

So, as therapy, I decided to look at the things that make me happy about what I do.  In no particular order here are my top 10 (for the moment):

1.  I work with supremely talented people who make me laugh, cry and grind my teeth (sometimes all within the same conversation).

2.  I am engaged daily in a world of ideas.  Nothing is too un-PC, too scandalous, or too weird for us to consider in the kind of intellectually lively environment that makes my banker friends jealous.

3.  I can justify my addiction to tabloids and thoroughly embarrassing knowledge of what the Kardashians are up to as being “part of my job.”

4.  I get to read for a living.

5.  Books.

6.  I learn fascinating things about science, art, history, politics, etc., almost every day—courtesy of our brilliant clients.

7.  I wear jeans to work on Wednesday or any other day.

8.  I get to see my name printed in the acknowledgments of books.

9.  I like my colleagues.

10. I like that, directly and indirectly, what we do has the power to influence minds, shape opinions, and occasionally change the world.

There, I feel better.  How about you guys?  What’s on your list of what makes you happy about being writers (despite the frustrations, rejections, and setbacks)?

*Oscar Wilde

August 09, 2011   Stephanie   advice, opinion, optimism, rejection, Stephanie  
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Negative Nancy

The blog has been feeling a little angsty lately, no? Is it just me? Either way, today I figured I might as well touch upon that subject near and dear to my heart: negativity. It’s something we face each day, and Lord knows I’ve dealt with it in my time here. Rejections, bad reviews, and everyday blunders and bumps in the road leave us all open to negativity. It feels very familiar at times, and it’s pretty easy to be hard on ourselves and allow the things others say affect you. We’re all guilty of it.

So what’s my point? The point is that while I see the reason for your negativity, and while I get why you feel like being hard on yourself, try not to be. Everyone’s favorite agent/author/blogger Nathan Bransford said it best: Don’t complain about negativity.  Maybe you’ve received your millionth form rejection letter or some cutting criticism about your novel. But you know what? Just keep going. Don’t waste any time getting hung up on the harsh words or shoulda/woulda/coulda. Push through it, be strong, and things will become clear. Otherwise, why bother?

August 09, 2011   John   future of publishing, John, opinion, optimism, publishers  
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A little ray of sunshine

Who would’ve thunk that with the economy going to hell in a handbasket, publishing would actually offer a beacon of hope?

Believe it or not, a survey conducted by the The Association of American Publishers and the Book Industry Study Group concluded that in the past three years the publishing industry has actually expanded. While the reported increases in net revenues and sales are only in the single digits, hey, that’s a lot better than plenty of other industries. Better yet, it appears that the growth is across the board—trade as well as professional/educational publishing. It’s also encouraging that ebooks, while they certainly contributed to the growth, were not the only driving factor. And kudos to adult fiction!

So for those of us who’ve been feeling pretty low watching the stock market collapse, I hope this raises your spirits a bit—we ain’t dead yet!

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