Inside...
This blog is about the publishing industry, from the inside. I started to title this particular post Insider's View of the Industry from the Inside, this month in Inside of a Dog, but whew! That was way too confusing. So I am simply calling it Inside.
INSIDE with an AGENT: To start off, as promised, here are the answers to my TEN questions with literary agent Jeff Kleinman. Jeff is a great guy, very nice, very down to earth, and best of all, he doesn't waste your time. If your project doesn't work, he will immediately tell you, and also take the time to tell you WHY, without destroying all hope of you EVER getting a New York publishing contract. He also accepts, and actually encourages e-queries. In my experience with agents, finding one who embraces technology is a VERY GOOD THING. Jeff tells you exactly what he is looking for. At least as far as he knows. For those who have followed my agenting advice, I highly endorse Jeff Kleinman as an agent. Plus he put up with my silly questions. That takes a high level of patience.
1. What is your "dream project," pitched by your "dream client?"
Jeff Kleinman: My dream project would really depend on whether we’re talking fiction or nonfiction. Nonfiction’s easier – an author with a really great national platform, great charisma, and a great book idea. Fiction’s a little different: absolutely stunning writing, a wonderful premise for the novel, and a well-connected author.
2. Should the FCC ban Paris Hilton from speaking on television?
JMK: Does that mean the stuff that comes out of her mouth, on television, can be considered speech? (I’m afraid that I can’t help much on this question, since every time her image flashes across the screen, I change the channel.)
3. What one piece of advice would you give to a new author seeking an agent?
JMK: Be professional. That means: 1) don’t seem desperate; 2) write clearly and concisely; 3) know your grammar and punctuation.
4. Do you think the current trend for swear words in book titles is going to continue? (Example: The Bitch Posse, gods in Alabama) And if so, should I title my next book Wives and Bitches?
JMK: You could sure try. Everybody’s looking for the catchiest titles; swear words now are popular; a few years ago, I remember that “God” appeared everywhere.
5. Authors always talk about quitting, and knowing when to throw in the towel. Then they hear about authors who FINALLY succeed after years and years, and hundreds of rejections (like me). So, how does one KNOW when to quit, from an agent's perspective? Is it possible to know you are never going to make it?
JMK: I have no clue; that’s not my job. It’s really not your job, either. Your job, as a writer, is to write. NOT to get published. I’m thoroughly convinced that if you just write because you absolutely have to write, you learn from what you’re writing, and you grow and develop as a writer, you will be published – if, of course, you’re writing something that people want to read.
6. Are authors ever going to quit sniping about the incredible success of Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code and move on?
JMK: I hope not.
7. What book from the past five years do you wish you had sold, and why?
JMK: The Time Traveller’s Wife. I think it’s one of the most amazing books I’ve read in years – what a tour de force of writing, character, and pacing!
8. What is the most overdone concept you hear about, and why does it keep rearing its ugly head?
JMK: Golly, there are so many topics I see so often: 1) diseases (the writing becomes a cathartic process to deal with the disease; 2) loved ones’ diseases (ditto); 3) travel narratives about How Interesting It Is To Live In A Foreign Country (I think it is interesting, but too often the interest doesn’t translate to the page); 4) coming-of-age-novels-about-sensitive-young-person’s-struggle-to-overcome-stuff (ho hum, unless it’s unbelievably well written, like Moriarty’s Center of Everything) … the list goes on and on. Why do these concepts keep appearing? I suppose because it’s cathartic for people to write them. I think it’s great that people write them – the question is, of course, who wants to read them. There is certainly an audience for these kinds of books, but the audience may be more limited than commercial publishers can effectively target.
9. Are you as disturbed as I am by Donald Trump's mutant hair? (I keep asking this question of people because it's driving me crazy!)
JMK: I’m afraid that I really don’t follow The Donald, and really try not to look at his hair.
10. Have you heard of author "brand planning" and if so, what is your opinion on it. If not, would you like to know more? (LOL)
JMK: I have; it’s not a bad idea, depending on the author and what the author’s platform, or potential platform, is.
INSIDE with an AUTHOR: Kathleen O'Reilly, author of The Diva's Guide to Selling Your Soul, available now from Downtown Press, made some comments about being an author that really resonated with me. Here are her comments about the realities of this very brutal business.
INSIDE with an EDITOR: Mad Max, an editor whose blog I regularly read, has a cautionary tale for us, on the danger of large advances, told by an author who encountered this trouble. Having never HAD a large advance, I was really interested in reading this account. CAUTION: Approach this story with caution, particularly if you are unpublished. It's quite "eye-opening" as to how this business really works.
INSIDE with an AGENT: To start off, as promised, here are the answers to my TEN questions with literary agent Jeff Kleinman. Jeff is a great guy, very nice, very down to earth, and best of all, he doesn't waste your time. If your project doesn't work, he will immediately tell you, and also take the time to tell you WHY, without destroying all hope of you EVER getting a New York publishing contract. He also accepts, and actually encourages e-queries. In my experience with agents, finding one who embraces technology is a VERY GOOD THING. Jeff tells you exactly what he is looking for. At least as far as he knows. For those who have followed my agenting advice, I highly endorse Jeff Kleinman as an agent. Plus he put up with my silly questions. That takes a high level of patience.
1. What is your "dream project," pitched by your "dream client?"
Jeff Kleinman: My dream project would really depend on whether we’re talking fiction or nonfiction. Nonfiction’s easier – an author with a really great national platform, great charisma, and a great book idea. Fiction’s a little different: absolutely stunning writing, a wonderful premise for the novel, and a well-connected author.
2. Should the FCC ban Paris Hilton from speaking on television?
JMK: Does that mean the stuff that comes out of her mouth, on television, can be considered speech? (I’m afraid that I can’t help much on this question, since every time her image flashes across the screen, I change the channel.)
3. What one piece of advice would you give to a new author seeking an agent?
JMK: Be professional. That means: 1) don’t seem desperate; 2) write clearly and concisely; 3) know your grammar and punctuation.
4. Do you think the current trend for swear words in book titles is going to continue? (Example: The Bitch Posse, gods in Alabama) And if so, should I title my next book Wives and Bitches?
JMK: You could sure try. Everybody’s looking for the catchiest titles; swear words now are popular; a few years ago, I remember that “God” appeared everywhere.
5. Authors always talk about quitting, and knowing when to throw in the towel. Then they hear about authors who FINALLY succeed after years and years, and hundreds of rejections (like me). So, how does one KNOW when to quit, from an agent's perspective? Is it possible to know you are never going to make it?
JMK: I have no clue; that’s not my job. It’s really not your job, either. Your job, as a writer, is to write. NOT to get published. I’m thoroughly convinced that if you just write because you absolutely have to write, you learn from what you’re writing, and you grow and develop as a writer, you will be published – if, of course, you’re writing something that people want to read.
6. Are authors ever going to quit sniping about the incredible success of Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code and move on?
JMK: I hope not.
7. What book from the past five years do you wish you had sold, and why?
JMK: The Time Traveller’s Wife. I think it’s one of the most amazing books I’ve read in years – what a tour de force of writing, character, and pacing!
8. What is the most overdone concept you hear about, and why does it keep rearing its ugly head?
JMK: Golly, there are so many topics I see so often: 1) diseases (the writing becomes a cathartic process to deal with the disease; 2) loved ones’ diseases (ditto); 3) travel narratives about How Interesting It Is To Live In A Foreign Country (I think it is interesting, but too often the interest doesn’t translate to the page); 4) coming-of-age-novels-about-sensitive-young-person’s-struggle-to-overcome-stuff (ho hum, unless it’s unbelievably well written, like Moriarty’s Center of Everything) … the list goes on and on. Why do these concepts keep appearing? I suppose because it’s cathartic for people to write them. I think it’s great that people write them – the question is, of course, who wants to read them. There is certainly an audience for these kinds of books, but the audience may be more limited than commercial publishers can effectively target.
9. Are you as disturbed as I am by Donald Trump's mutant hair? (I keep asking this question of people because it's driving me crazy!)
JMK: I’m afraid that I really don’t follow The Donald, and really try not to look at his hair.
10. Have you heard of author "brand planning" and if so, what is your opinion on it. If not, would you like to know more? (LOL)
JMK: I have; it’s not a bad idea, depending on the author and what the author’s platform, or potential platform, is.
INSIDE with an AUTHOR: Kathleen O'Reilly, author of The Diva's Guide to Selling Your Soul, available now from Downtown Press, made some comments about being an author that really resonated with me. Here are her comments about the realities of this very brutal business.
Anybody that thinks this business is easy, needs to shake off the rose-colored glasses or you're going to get chewed up and spit out very early on. Everyone gets career bumps, some get them early on, some get them later on. The problems that can face a published author that are completely out of their control are: getting orphaned (i.e. their editor leaves the company for another house, or the biz altogether), restrictive option clauses that prevent you from pursuing other
more lucrative possibilities, world events (i.e. 9/11), publisher events (i.e. various distribution issues that have hit at both Harlequin and Berkley), publishers that are less than forthcoming about actual dollars earned, new directions in the market that you're not a part of, dying directions in the market that you ARE a part of, bad cover art, a rogue copyeditor, blah, blah, blah. The list is endless and is simply a part of the publishing life.
This isn't meant to be a gloom or doom post, but I think we authors like to pretend that everything is rosy in the biz, (or at least our careers), and the truth is that it gives people a very Pollyanna view of the industry for people trying to break in. You write four ms (or 15), and think "What's WRONG WITH ME? THIS SHOULD BE EASY!" Ha. It's not easy for anyone. It's rare, that mention of the tears, or the sweat that have happened to every author. Great authors, very talented authors, people who have had a gazillion contracts, etc. Sit in a room with four New York Times Bestsellers and a bottle of w(h)ine, and the scales fall from your eyes. It's hard.
Writing and being published is not merely sitting at the typewriter and calling out the muse to take you away. I don't know why we perpetuate that myth, especially to other writers; sometimes it really pisses me off, because it's so easy to get caught up in the myth and forget reality and thousands of writers end up with some inferiority complex, or a drinking problem, perhaps both. Problems don't go away once you're published, you just get new ones.
To be a writer, striving for publication, or achieving publication, or maintaining publication, takes grit, brains, charm, marketing savvy, and talent. Some of the world's greatest literary talents couldn't get published in today's market because it's not right for them. That doesn't mean they're any less talented, it just means the stars weren't aligned correctly, the fates were not smiling, the moon was in the 7th house and Jupiter wasn't aligned with Mars.
INSIDE with an EDITOR: Mad Max, an editor whose blog I regularly read, has a cautionary tale for us, on the danger of large advances, told by an author who encountered this trouble. Having never HAD a large advance, I was really interested in reading this account. CAUTION: Approach this story with caution, particularly if you are unpublished. It's quite "eye-opening" as to how this business really works.
Keith’s career opened like a television ad for a European sports car: Zero to Sixty in Under Five Seconds. He was “an absolutely unknown 28 year-old” when his novel caught the attention of a powerful literary agent. The novel—an upmarket thriller featuring a female protagonist—went out to key New York editors. Keith was a publisher’s dream come true: a young, attractive thriller writer with commercial storytelling instincts, literary chops and—Halleluiah first novelists!—absolutely no prior sales track to have to contend with.
The submission generated instant buzz; an auction date was quickly set; and in the end, seven U.S. publishers came to the table. Novel #1 sold to a top editor at a venerated house for a hefty six-figure advance, along with “heady marketing promises”: an extensive tour, end caps at major chain bookstores, and national media appearances. The book quickly sold in numerous foreign countries. It seemed almost too easy—a dream score
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