Category Archives: technology

September 20, 2011   John   controversy, culture, John, media, opinion, technology  
4

Retromania

Has anyone read Simon Reynolds’ Retromania? I vaguely remember reading a review when it came out this summer and thinking it looked interesting, but of course promptly forgot about it until yesterday, when a Facebook friend posted an interview Reynolds did with Salon in early August. Put it back at the top of my to-read list!

Despite mostly softball questions from the interviewer, it’s fascinating to watch Reynolds attempt to maintain a consistent message. On the one hand, despite his protests to the contrary, Reynolds still  sounds like an old-fogey complaining about “them kids today” and splitting hairs about how today’s pop music recycles older sounds and styles, as opposed to music in the past. But then again, he’s right that old-fogeys don’t usually want the kids to try something new and different. And the idea that the universal access and constant feedback loop of the Internet denies creative innovation is definitely worth some consideration–and probably some concern as well.

While Reynolds focuses mostly here on music, he does touch on TV, movies, and politics as well. But what about books? Is writing equally stuck in retromania?

I have to tell you, from an agenting perspective it does feel that way sometimes, especially when you’ve seen the umpteenth submission for a zombie novel (yes, Jim isn’t the only one who gets the zombies). And perhaps it’s worth worrying that the biggest sellers of the aughts—Harry Potter, Twilight, Hunger Games—are to varying degrees synthetic takes on old tropes and genres. But then again, I doubt all those millions of readers found much “boredom” in these books, as Reynolds worries. And personally, if I were totally bored by the cultural landscape—well, I probably wouldn’t have so many amazing clients, would I?

What do you guys think? Is writing stuck in retromania the way other cultural forms may (or may not) be? Or are writers still coming up with original stories and topics that feel fresh and new? If so, what are your picks for books that break out the loop?

September 06, 2011   John   advice, e-books, John, reading, technical help, technology  
5

Non-linear reading (or why the Kindle drives me nuts)

Howdy, folks! Hope everyone had a good restful Labor Day, and that you’re feeling recharged for autumn. Writing from cold, rainy NYC, it sure feels like summer headed out the door in a hurry. Of course, it will probably turn scorching and steamy again by Friday, but right now it’s one of those gray early-fall days where all you want to do is curl up in a corner with a good book—or codex,  as this insightful piece in the Sunday Times Book Review puts it.

It’s certainly thought-provoking to consider how e-readers restrict non-linear reading, and I was most excited to see Lev Grossman identify my biggest beef with the Kindle. Whenever I have an e-readers conversation with editors, we almost always agree on how great they are for reviewing submissions—I certainly don’t miss the days of dragging 300-page manuscripts home in my bag every night. But it drives me crazy that if I start reading a manuscript at my work computer, I cannot for the life of me find my place on the Kindle when I get home, no matter how many searches I try. Invariably, it’s just a long skim from “Locations 1-32” until I find the chapter where I left off—and Lord help me if I left off mid-paragraph or the document doesn’t have chapter headings!

So kudos to Grossman for pointing out this issue, and hopefully the good folks at Amazon will read the article and figure out a solution. But in the meantime, does anyone have any suggestions for how to find your place more easily? Any tricks? I’d love to know—especially on a cold, wet day that’s tailor-made for dipping into a book without having to hit the Next Page button ad nauseum.

June 29, 2011   Miriam   changes at DGLM, digital publishing, e-books, future of publishing, Miriam, self-publishing, technology  
0

Thank you

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, the response to our announcement has been both gratifying and challenging.  We appreciate your questions and your interest and we are taking your suggestions and comments very seriously.  In fact, many of you have raised issues that we think need further review.   This program is in its infancy and so we have the opportunity to take your feedback and consider incorporating some of it into our business plan.  Although we’re not prepared to discuss specifics at this time, we will be keeping you updated on our progress as we go.

June 28, 2011   Miriam   changes at DGLM, digital publishing, e-books, future of publishing, Miriam, self-publishing, technology  
18

Answering questions

And we thought that in the sultry days of summer no one was reading our blog.  Well you are and we’ve gotten a tremendous reception to our “Announcement,” not just on this site but in several industry publications.  So, instead of blogging on Wednesday (my usual day) I thought I’d address some of your comments here.

Most of the feedback thus far has been very positive.  But there has been some confusion as well and, of course, some folks have accused us of being money grubbing ambulance chasers.  We love the supportive, kindhearted folks who are rooting for us to make this work, and you all know we also relish the snarky naysayers who call us names because they challenge us to keep it real.

Again, we don’t see a conflict of interest in this opening up of our business.  We provide services for our clients that have always gone far beyond selling their books to a traditional publisher.  As we have said time and again, selling is the easiest part of our job.  Making sure your book is published well, that you get paid (accurately), that you’re not signing away your hearth and home in your agreements, that there is someone who is willing to listen and advise you on your creative (and sometimes personal) dilemmas; selling rights and following up on those sales—ask Lauren Abramo if trying to get a $500 advance from a foreign publisher who refuses to answer phone calls, e-mails, or carrier pigeon messages isn’t a soul-crushing job; cajoling and browbeating when necessary to get you to join the 21st century and start blogging, Facebooking, Tweeting, etc.; being the voice of reason when you think that the genius idea for a novel about a poultry farmer with a phobia of chickens is going to make you the next John Grisham (even if we know you’ll scream, cry, and curse us when we tell you it won’t work).  These are just some of the other things agents do every day.  So, helping our clients get their books published electronically, if that’s the direction they choose to go in, with all of the above still part and parcel of what we will continue to do for those clients, seems to us a natural extension of our roster of services.  If we don’t offer this service, our clients will either miss out on the opportunity, go it alone (which some may do, but many will not want to), or be forced to seek out another company that might not have their best interests at heart, as we know we do.

So no, we’re not running out on to Fifth Avenue to yank unsuspecting writers posing as bicycle messengers off their rides and force them to e-publish and pay us 15% for the privilege.

We will also not be forcing any of our clients who want to self-publish to work with us on it, and if they do choose to, we will not be forcing them to choose our cover designers, copyeditors, etc.  Because, as some of you have pointed out, this is self-publishing (and, again, we are not publishers) the client has full control over these issues if s/he wants it.  We have a project manager whose job it is to coordinate, advise, and make sure that the process goes smoothly with minimal work on the part of the author.  This, because we want our authors to write, not have to engage in a 47-e-mail exchange with someone about font size.   Everything is subject to the author’s approval.

Which brings up the question posed by several of you, both here and on Joe Konrath’s blog: what are you people doing to earn that 15% commission?  Pretty much what we do now to earn that 15% commission.  Our commitment to this is more than just uploading and watching the dollars trickle in.  In addition to all we do as agents, managing self-published properties will be part of our job: updating metadata, copy, next-book excerpts, etc.  It’s not just vague managerial duties, but concrete tasks that we will be adding to our other duties.

For some authors it will be the beginning of building a publishing career which may eventually include a traditional publisher because of the success generated by the e-book.  For others, it will mean making worthy books available that are out of print and which still have potential readerships.  And, we will want to try to exploit subsidiary rights whenever possible, with the understanding that even with traditionally published books some of these rights do not get picked up.

If you don’t think an agent’s services are worth that fee, this post will not change your mind.  And we sincerely wish those of you the best of luck doing it yourself or with another kind of company.  Really.  We never begrudge an author success and we can’t represent everyone.

The last question everyone seems to be asking is whether they can terminate their agreement with us if they’re not happy with the job we’re doing.  Yes.  Of course.  With proper notice, we can each go our separate ways with, hopefully, no hard feelings.  (In that event, we will continue to collect our commission on properties we still manage.)  We’re counting on people wanting to keep using our services not just because we make their lives easier but because we have a lot of experience and know-how and we’re hoping that the books that we represent in this way will reflect that level of professionalism.  Some of you have accused us (and our publishing colleagues) of being “gatekeepers.”  Yes.  We will not be representing anything and everything.  We will continue to do a certain amount of gatekeeping.

As this new electronic publishing world evolves (at the speed of light, it seems) we will continue to find ways to earn our 15% commission.  As many of you have rightly pointed out, some self-published authors don’t make a ton of money and so neither will we.  But, you know what? Some of our traditionally published clients don’t either.  That doesn’t keep us from going to 40 publishers with their proposals/manuscripts.  Or from working on their projects on our evenings and weekends.  Or from writing encouraging notes to their sixth grader who wants to be a novelist when he grows up.  You get the idea.  Most of us didn’t get into this business to get rich.  We did it because we love and believe in the written word.  Whether it’s on vellum or an iPad, the written word is still our stock in trade.  All we can vouch for is our effort and our hard work.

June 27, 2011   DGLM   changes at DGLM, digital publishing, e-books, future of publishing, self-publishing, technology, What's New at DGLM  
69

Announcement!

Word gets around the publishing industry pretty quickly (which is not surprising since we’re in the communications business).   So, we wanted you to hear our news from us first rather than pick it up through inaccurate scuttlebutt in seedy back rooms on the web.

As those of you who’ve been reading this blog for the last few years know, we have been following developments in e-publishing with great interest.  As an agency that has  prided itself on being a bit of a maverick among the stodgy old guard, we have always been more intrigued than scared about this new world of e-books.  The consensus among us, even after listening to the doomsayers, has been that e-publishing will re-energize our business and create more readers.  That’s right, instead of bemoaning the death of publishing as we know it, DGLMers have always felt that e-books and electronic media offer a tremendous opportunity to expand our reach and that of our authors.

That said, we have been very clear all along that we are literary agents.  We are proud of the job we do, the services we provide, and the help we’ve given to countless authors over the years in fulfilling their dreams of publishing their work.  We are also more cognizant than most of the superb work traditional publishers have done and continue to do in producing beautiful, lasting, quality books.

Over the past months and years we’ve come to the realization that e-publishing is yet another area in which we can be of service to our clients as literary agents. From authors who want to have their work available once the physical edition has gone out of print and the rights have reverted, to those whose books we believe in and feel passionately about but couldn’t sell—oftentimes, after approaching 20 or more houses—we realized that part of our job as agents in this new publishing milieu is to facilitate these works being made available as e-books and through POD and other editions.

Right now, you’re thinking, oh, DGLM is going to be another of those agencies that has decided to become an e-publisher and charge clients whose books they can’t sell 50% of their income for the privilege of uploading their work.  Some of you may be mumbling, “Uh…that’s a conflict of interest.”    We get it and we understand how that can be the perception.  However, we have no intention of becoming e-publishers.  As we said above, we have too much respect for the work that publishers do and too much respect for the work we ourselves do to muddy the waters in such a way.

Again, what we are going to do is to facilitate e-publishing for those of our clients who decide that they want to go this route, after consultation and strategizing about whether they should try traditional publishing first or perhaps simply set aside the current book and move on to the next. We will charge a 15% commission for our services in helping them project manage everything from choosing a cover artist to working with a copyeditor to uploading their work.  We will continue to negotiate all agreements that may ensue as a result of e-publishing, try to place subsidiary rights where applicable, collect monies and review statements to make sure the author is being paid.  In short, we will continue to be agents and do the myriad things that agents do.

Our intention is to keep on trying to find books we think we can sell to traditional publishing houses, to negotiate the best deal (always), and to give our authors as many options as we can.  Because we will continue to be commission-based, we will not be automatically pushing authors into e-publishing.   Again, we want to give our authors options and empower them to do what they set out to do all along: have their work read by the largest possible audience.

We are excited about this new part of our business and hope you will be as well.  We welcome your thoughts, comments, and concerns.

June 13, 2011   Jane   advice, e-books, feedback, Jane, technology  
10

E-readers keep having babies

Just when I think I have it down as far as whether the Kindle, the NOOK, or the iPad is what I want to use to read my books on, things change.  In fact, these changes can be really dizzying and confusing.

This week, though, there was a development that could simplify things for those of us who use e-readers.  Barnes & Noble and Kobo introduced nearly identical readers that appear to be superior to the bestselling Kindle.

Both the “All-New NOOK” and the Kobo Touch have a number of similarities and some differences.  But both of them have features that make them more attractive to the reader than the Kindle. This of course will force Amazon and the other manufacturers of e-readers to improve their products, and on and on and on. And even though many of these are becoming less expensive, they are still an investment of sorts, and how many do each of us really need?

I guess my question is, which e-reader do I buy next?  I have used my Kindle successfully for two or three years and am feeling it is time for an upgrade.  But I am totally confused by all of the choices available.

I am searching for opinions and advice.  What would you choose?

May 25, 2011   Miriam   authors, bestsellers, buzz, digital publishing, e-books, fun, Miriam, self-publishing, technology  
6

If you get it for free…

Conventional wisdom (and mothers concerned about their daughters’ virtue) holds that if you give something away for free, you’ll never find someone to actually pay you for it. That is so clearly not the case in the e-publishing world that it seems almost suicidally pigheaded to hew to that line of reasoning.

This morning, Jane and I sat with longtime client, author Joe Konrath, at Coffee Shop on Union Square for a very early breakfast. As usual, the waitresses were rude and inattentive and the coffee only okay. But, I digress. Some of you might know Joe as one of the founding fathers of the electronic self-publishing movement. He is also a very smart man who made it a point to educate himself about traditional publishing prior to heading out into the then uncharted e-book waters. He is an evangelist who knows whereof he speaks, whatever your opinion on what he has to say.

Anyhow, we were talking about file sharing and free content and the subject of Go the F**k to Sleep came up. The book is, of course, a publishing phenomenon. Currently #4 on Amazon on the basis of pre-orders alone, film rights are already sold and an article about it in New York magazine this week attempts to analyze what particular nerve it’s struck for harried parents. The book is putting Akashic Books, a small Brooklyn independent publisher on the map.

The interesting thing about this story is that this 34-page book has already been read by, well, everyone. The .pdf was leaked weeks ago and went viral so fast it was back in your in-box before you’d sent it out to all your friends. It’s funny that the e-version is just now being announced. Did I mention that everyone has already read this on their computers?

To me, this only supports the theory that offering free content and file sharing is a good idea in order to get people to buy books. Yes? No? Maybe in certain cases but not others? What do you all say?

May 16, 2011   Jim   Jim, libraries, technology  
5

Librarians of the Future

People love Seth Godin. He’s ever so mildly inflammatory (without ever saying anything particularly daring) and always willing to predict what’s going to happen 30 seconds into the future. His new blog post fits in pretty cleanly with everything he usually writes. The internet is the future! Everything will eventually cost less than the button on your shirt! Things are happening faster than you can imagine! Okay, to be fair, he doesn’t use that many exclamation points. He just uses tons and tons of italics.

I don’t mean this as a takedown of Godin—promise. I think he’s well-intentioned and often on the right track. But I always react badly to something in each of his posts. Let us take this example:

“Want to watch a movie? Netflix is a better librarian, with a better library, than any library in the country. The Netflix librarian knows about every movie, knows what you’ve seen and what you’re likely to want to see. If the goal is to connect viewers with movies, Netflix wins.”

That makes my brain itch a little. Let’s unpack this: does Netflix have access to more DVD’s than any library out there? Possibly in terms of sheer variety, yes it does. And they’re very easily searchable. But in terms of the service knowing what you’ve seen “and what you’re likely to want to see,” Netflix depends on a sort of group-think and law of averages that, while often right, cannot factor in the individual. To wit, for every ten movies that Netflix think I’ll love (and I do), there’s at least one baffling choice that people with similar taste to mine appreciated because they were wrong.

It’s like saying that Wikipedia is a better encyclopedia than any other because of the sheer breadth of topics and variety of information. Which…holy crap! Back to Godin: “Wikipedia and the huge databanks of information have basically eliminated the library as the best resource for anyone doing amateur research (grade school, middle school, even undergrad).”

To be fair, like most of Godin’s posts, he comes around to a solid point: yes, the freer flow of information and data is making the role of the librarian different than it was in the past. Which I’m pretty sure anyone who has spoken to a librarian in the past five years was already aware of. (Why can’t I avoid being snarky any time I talk about him?) But here’s my thing: while there is cause to celebrate the ongoing spread of accessible and affordable literature and information, is the role of the librarian really being able to shepherd people through various ways of acquiring information? Or is it helping people identify what information is actually valuable?



May 13, 2011   Rachel   libraries, Rachel S., reading, technology  
5

Surely my overdue fines are astronomical.

When I take the time to properly organize my wallet, there is a pocket reserved solely for library cards. I have six. Granted, two thirds of them are for libraries that I would have to travel hours to reach—two of them across an ocean—but the fact remains: I love libraries. Or, I say that. I say I love libraries, and it’s a truth that I realize every time I visit one, but I can’t tell you the last time I was actually in a library.

It used to be that the local library was, for me, a necessary, once a week minimum requirement. It was always better to go on Monday or Wednesday, because then they were open until 8:00, but if you went any other weekday, they kicked you out at 6:00. I would spend my library hours scrutinizing the shelves for new arrivals, old favorites or elusive titles I hadn’t yet picked off the shelves.  Sometimes, secretly, I read picture books, because sometimes there were funny ones, but I wouldn’t dare be caught dead checking them out to take home. Back before computers were common, let alone necessary home appliances, and after our library finally got one, I spent a good half hour or so looking up things on the internet, too. I tore through the stack of books I had brought home, because I hated renewing anything—I had (okay, still kind of have) a stigma against taking too long to read anything, not that anyone but myself would ever really care.

Libraries were a huge part of my life. Though we were only ever there for two weeks at a stretch once a year, I just had to apply for a library card here (Though, II think the 2 euro renewal is long overdue…). Despite all of this, I currently live a mere three blocks (on the short ends!) from the local branch of the Brooklyn Public Library and yet I have only been inside three times in the two years that I’ve lived there. All three times were great and I checked out my usual stack of books to read, yet it would still never be a place I would think to go on a quiet afternoon. Why is that? It’s not that I have anything against libraries, and I would fight to keep them around. I briefly considered going back to school for library science and lament the lack of updates on one of my favorite columns on the McSweeney’s website.

While I’m aware that city budget cuts are affecting libraries all over, I can’t imagine that they would ever be done away with entirely. Children, surely, still visit—if only for the free computer time, but there are so many things for which libraries once were the sole providers that it worries me. No longer is it necessary to visit a library for research (and insert my pause as I remember poring over encyclopedia after encyclopedia in the tiny research room, trying to write a report on hermit crabs), back issues of periodicals can be found on the internet and used books go for a penny on Amazon. I hate to think that I am a perpetuator in the slow demise of library popularity, but it really makes me wonder. If someone like me, a girl who begged to be dropped off at the library in lieu of attending yet another baseball game can let my memberships lapse, then what does that say about their fate?

What about you? Am I just a bad example? Am I worried for nothing or have you, too, slowly turned away from a treasured public institution?

April 14, 2011   Jessica   editing, Jessica, technology, writing  
8

Just as Video Killed the Radio Star…

Yesterday I caught author and historian Simon Schama discussing his new essay collection Scribble Scribble, on WYC’s Leonard Lopate Show. During the interview, he bristled good naturedly at Lopate’s suggestion that the book, which is subtitled “Writing on Politics, Ice Cream and My Mother,” might be stream of consciousness in style, and lamented the fact that there was altogether too much of that sort of writing on line. Indeed, Schama said that blogs had “deformed” the essay into an “indiscriminate effusion of free association” predicated on the idea that if it’s interesting to me, it must be interesting to everybody. This, he said, is the absolute the opposite of the essay, which has a clear structure, “a dramaturgy” as clearly defined and carefully constructed as a great short story. Ah yes. I flashed back to my tenth grade English teacher who, on a weekly basis, would eviscerate what I thought was pretty terrific prose (Long sentences! Many adjectives! Big words galore!) until I learned to write an organized, effective essay. I can only imagine what she thinks of the blogosphere.

In any case, I’m not sure that I’d issue quite the blanket condemnation of bloggers everywhere. Given the numbers, I feel sure some are writing essays of the sort Schama might approve, but as cranky and school-marmish as Schama sounds, I could not help but agree. My inbox overflows with proposals for personal narratives that are heartfelt, horrifying and even heroic (struggles with cancer, devastating loss, political repression, etc.) but not especially well-constructed or well-suited to a broad readership. Whether this is a result of the deforming influence of the blog, I’m not sure, though blogs certainly aid and abet the notion that because every person has a story, he or she really ought to share it with the world. I do, however, realize that I am not exactly part of the solution. Much as I’d like to tut tut along with Schama, few of my own on-line ramblings on publishing would stand up to Mrs. Groveman’s red pen.

What say you? Just as video killed the radio star, has the blog killed the essay?

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