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Keep your students reading all summer! The lists for 2nd, 3rd and 4th, include 10 recommended fiction titles and 10 recommended nonfiction titles. Printed double-sided, these one-page flyers are perfect to hand out to students, teachers, or parents. Great for PTA meetings, have on hand in the library, or to send home with students for the summer. FREE Pdf or infographic jpeg.
See the Summer Lists Now!
My bio officially reads like this: Author, blogger, and writing teacher Darcy Pattison (www.darcypattison.com) has been published in eight languages.
How do those foreign language books come about? It depends.
Your book contract included world rights. It all depends on your book contract. If you signed a contract that allowed world rights in all languages, then the publisher has the right to exercise those rights, or not. The easiest way for publishers to do this is to attend the Bologna (Italy) Children’s Book Fair, where publishers worldwide gather to make deals. You’ll find publishers who specialize in children’s books, or larger publishers with strong children’s imprints. It’s here that deals were made for my books in Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Spanish, Taiwanese Chinese, German and Arabic for an Egyptian company. Here’s one report on the 2013 Children’s Book Fair. It will be held March 24-27 in 2014.
Generally, authors can’t do much to encourage their book’s translation rights sales; it’s up to the Rights people at the publisher, or to your agent.
Your agent kept world rights. Some agents reserve the foreign language rights and only negotiate contracts for “first North American English Language rights” or some variation of that. That means they can sell each language separately. Often agents will attend the Bologna Book Fair. But sometimes, they work with a foreign agent, a well-respected agency for a certain country. In this case, agents generally split royalties with the foreign agent, so your agent may ask for a larger percentage of these type sales.
Your book contract does not include world rights, but you want to publish in another country. These days, you do have options for publishing in other countries yourself. For indie publishers, or if you are traditionally published, but you want to self-publish in another language, you can use a variety of services. For example, Kindle sells to France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Japan and India. Of course, this means you must have the book translated yourself and that may be daunting because it takes someone with specialized skill to translate a literary work. It’s not just a matter of straight translation, but of making the text sound as good in the second language as it does in English.
The biggest problem with a Kindle version is marketing. Once the book comes out (in English or the native language), how will you market it? Do you know enough about other country’s economies to know how to advertise and sell there? If you merely make it available, with no marketing, sales will dribble in and the project may not be worth your time invested.
IBooks, through itunesconnect.apple.com has one of the widest distribution systems. Using Apple’s free iBooksAuthor program, you can create an iBook version of your story, and upload it to 51 countries. Here’s my book, WISDOM, THE MIDWAY ALBATROSS on the IBookStore, which allows a download to your iPad. It is also available worldwide. Sounds cool to say that, doesn’t it? (Well–it’s only available in an English language translation, but hey, still sounds good.)
Just the logistics of translation and marketing in a foreign country scare off most authors. But–it is possible.
STATUS: Meetings every half hour and running on 6 hours of sleep a night on average. Yep, that's Bologna!
What’s playing on the XM or iPod right now? I PUT A SPELL ON YOU by Bryan Ferry
Three days at Bologna and here's what I can tell you.
On the plane over, people were talking about the next hot trend being about geeks in young adult fiction. Geeks transforming. Geeks not transforming but still winning the girl or the day. Geeks in love.
Do I think it's the next hot trend? I haven't got the faintest idea.
It's definitely clear that foreign editors are feeling the drain of paranormal romance in YA being hot for so long but even with that, they say it's still selling well in Germany, UK, and France. Editors don't seem to be buying a lot of it at the moment though.
Since I'm here with Marie Lu to meet with her very excited foreign publishers (the trilogy has been sold in to 22 territories and counting), we are, of course, asking if dystopian is hot abroad.
The verdict is undecided. HUNGER GAMES fever is definitely sweeping the world but whether that will translate into other dystopian novels also becoming hot has yet to be proven. Well, I've got my fingers crossed for June and Day…
Hands down, for middle grade DAIRY OF A WIMPY KID works amazingly in every country but Russia. Guess they like big burly guys instead of wimps?
*grin*
Some pics!
Anita and I at entrance of the Fair.
Me with Sara's amazing client Stefan Bachmann and the brand spanking new cover for his wonderful middle grade gothic steam punk: The Peculiar
Marie Lu and her Taiwan Publisher Sharp Point! Marie was a rock star. She did the whole meeting in Chinese. (Marie is second person from right.)
That's really funny about Russia not liking wimps! Hee.
Jeannie said, on 3/21/2012 11:28:00 AM
Masculine/feminine stereotyping is alive and well in a country where women still aren't allowed to work in over four hundred professions, including that of bus driver and train operator.
Which may not actually be connected with the lack of success for "Wimpy Kid," but in a country that admires masculine strength and virility (Check out the pics of Vladimir Putin on some of his sporting expeditions.) I'd be surprised if it were any other way.
Thanks for sharing about Bologna. I'm a huge fan of Marie's and interviewed her and gave away a copy of Legend on my blog. It was one of my most popular interviews. And she agreed to another interview when Legend 2 comes out.
I've been reading a lot of YA lately and one thing I love to see is when there's a huge emotional obstacle the mc must overcome...a fear, an insecurity. I'm not sure about geeks...but I love when the mc is popular on the outside and no one knows how insecure he/she is on the inside.
SGF said, on 3/21/2012 7:33:00 PM
This is exciting news for me since my YA features a "geek" hero!
Thanks for sharing this post! I don't think I have the right mindset for writing geek. I love writing fantasy, supernatural and paranormal but I haven't really tried it in romance in YA. Hmmmmm.....
It's true about paranormal being popular in the UK - at my local library yesterday, and in the teen section, out of 30 books about 27 were paranormal. I kid you not.
What’s playing on the XM or iPod right now? HARD TIMES by David Newman
Not to put too fine a point on it. The book selling market in the UK is between a rock and a hard place. Booksellers in trouble. Publishers selling half the books sold at high discount levels, etc. Consequently, UK publishers aren't buying that much. As of late, it's one of the hardest territories to sell into unless a title sold for a lot of moolah in the US.
We are struggling to land a licenses there.
In fact, it's probably why a lot of UK booksellers are buying US stock wholesale and offering it for sale there (and this would maybe show on a royalty statement as an export sale). It would be hard to track down.
So when we sell North American rights only and then request that the US publisher pull down their edition from the UK market, we aren't looking to screw UK readers. It's simply that the author might not get legitimately paid for those copies. If it's not in the grant of rights and not showing up on any royalty statement...
But authors who haven't sold into the UK are getting creative. In fact, some authors are taking matters into their own hands and are making their titles available electronically through the different ebook venues in the UK.
So even though the physical version might be a hard to find, titles can still reach UK readers.
13 Comments on UK--How Stubborn You Are, last added: 2/25/2012
The UK market is a year or two behind the US in terms of the transition to digital. UK publishers are understandably uncertain what to do and when. No surprise they are playing it cautious.
The two biggest book retailers by far are Waterstone's and W.H. Smiths.
Waterstone's is the UK equivalent of B&N. It's been through some bad times in recent years but is under new management and may just surprise us all, not least with a pending partnership deal of some sort with B&N.
W.H. Smiths has more stores but is less book-focussed. Both stores are competing with the big name titles with supermarkets who sell at huge discounts.
But both retailers have digital stores (W.H.Smiths via Kobo - Waterstone's a standalone store) and both are expanding rapidly and competing well with Amazon.
US authors who are selling in the UK via the convenience of Amazon would be well advised to look at the many other UK platforms available.
Readers are buying more books than ever in the UK. If the publishers aren't getting you to them then go them yourself.
Interesting. I discovered through a Google alert that my novel, published as an ebook through Amazon and Smashwords, was featured on what seems to be a Swedish-language Apple iBook page. (Could be Danish or Norwegian. I'm no expert.) So strange things are happening out there in the publishing world and it's hard to keep up with them.
Anonymous said, on 2/24/2012 9:12:00 AM
as a writer and a reader based in the UK i mostly buy from amazon as i live in a rural area. given the choice i would go to a book shop and do this when i can.
small indie bookshops are best as the large chains are crammed with 'celeb' books both fiction and bio.
can i assure previous commenter that book buyers in the UK are alive and kicking.
I'm also UK based, and I buy most of my books and all of my ebooks (and I read a lot of books) from Amazon UK. It's convenient and cheap and has better selection (as the previous commenter wrote, chain stores are filled with lots of celebrity memoirs and the like). I very rarely shop at Waterstone's or Smith's or Foyles for books, unless it's something I can't get online for some reason. I do find it annoying that some US titles aren't available here, so it's interesting to learn part of the reason why that's so.
I always try to support my local bookshop. It's tiny. I want to keep it alive. Often they will match Amazon's price just to keep my custom. There are a lot of these little bookshops. And they can order anything you like, often over the phone or by email. Amazon is just too dominant.
As a UK editor, one thing I've found is that UK publishers are finding out about titles too late to publish simultaneously with the US, which means we lose Australia as an exclusive territory because of their copyright laws - and that's a big part of making costs work for a title.
Interesting that you're finding it tough to sell in the UK too! I'm British, currently living in the UK, and my first book is set in England with an all-British cast of characters, and where is it being published? The US. This still boggles me slightly. We're currently shopping it round for a UK publisher as well, but no success so far...
I do think bookselling is in trouble in the U.K., I think. Waterstones might be similar to B&N, but most Waterstones stores are smaller and have less range. WH Smith only stocks bestsellers, like the supermarkets. And there are relatively few independent stores around, and many of them are pretty poor.
There are some good smaller chains, like Foyles, but only in a few places.
And while ebooks are far behind the US, in general, I don't see any of the other stores challenging Amazon. If only on price, they're not close. The WH Smith ebook store, for example, is much more expensive (they seem to add the 20% sales tax on top of the price of the print edition (print books are exempt from the tax) and only then apply discounts). Maybe they'll evolve that, but right now, they are not an appealing ebook retailer.
STATUS: Went to Frankfurt with a cold. Had the cold during all of the Frankfurt Book Fair. Brought the cold home with me. Truly, I like to hang on to things.
What’s playing on the XM or iPod right now? SHE'S NO LADY by Lyle Lovett
I figured blog readers would get a kick out of this. Agents Agents! As far as the eye can see… Kind of like Water Water everywhere and not a drop to drink.
Jamie Ford, who was there at the Fair meeting with his many foreign publishers, said it looked like a sweat shop and wondered where the sewing machines were. Rather apt.
It's definitely not romantic in any way shape or form. Agents sit down with scouts, territory co-agents, and editors to highlight frontlist titles as well as nice selling backlist titles that are available for translation sales. It's not unusual for a rights person to have 12 to 18 appointments in a day, back-to-back, and in thirty minute intervals. Lunch is often optional.
And Frankfurt is not London, Paris, or Rome (not to offend any German blog readers!) but the downtown area is probably the least charming European city I've been to. I imagine outside of the city centre there are lots of nice spots but considering what was available within walking distance of the hotel, it was slim pickings.
To offset the rather bland Frankfurt, a day trip to Heidelberg was in order! From Left: Jamie Ford, Me, Luceinne Diver (also a client of mine) and Elaine Spencer of The Knight Agency.
6 Comments on Frankfurt--Day After And Then Some, last added: 10/21/2011
Frankfurt is a great place to...change planes. But I did like being in the millieu of the Book Fair for the years I was there. If you have the energy for going around town in the evening, Sachsenhausen is fun.
Yes Heidelberg is neat. Two of my daughters were born there. They have a fireworks display monthly in the summer called the burning of they castle or they used to. Basing a visit to Germany on seeing Frankfurt is like standing in the middle of a forest and saying you saw the forest. You did but not really...Hope you made some friends and contacts out of it all.
I'm glad you got out and about. My birth certificate says Heidelberg, though I was actually born on the Autobahn. As both an Army brat and spouse, I have spent more than a few years of my life in Germany, so perhaps I am biased when I say there are plenty of charming and romantic places there. On the other hand, I would not put downtown Frankfurt on that list, either.
I've only been to Frankfurt twice and I didn't find the city particularly ugly. (Perhaps because I had a great time there, meeting some old friends and making new ones?) It's a perfectly ordinary city where people go about their ordinary lives. It certainly isn't picturesque in that tourist-attracting way some other cities have, but "picturesque" can be a real hassle if all you want is go about your daily business. Try going to Uni in Heidelberg and you'll know what I mean. (Must have been great in the 19th century...) Or live and work in Heidelberg near the city centre where from spring till autumn, there's one street festival after the other and more tourists than residents. Some days, it's just insane. If I ever had to choose between living in Heidelberg and living in Frankfurt, I'd choose the latter.
STATUS: All last week I was knocked out of commission by a nasty head cold. Winter hasn't even begun. Like the overachiever I am, just getting it done early.
What’s playing on the XM or iPod right now? MR. JONES by Counting Crows
This week begins the madness that is the Frankfurt Book Fair and guess where yours truly happens to be.
For the last three years, I've made a point of attending each of the main book fairs: London, Bologna, and now Frankfurt. I have a foreign rights person so it's not imperative that I go specifically so you might be wondering why I pursued this goal.
You can't best support someone who is representing your authors until you've seen for yourself what the fairs are all about. It's helps significantly to prepare the rights and press sheets so that foreign editors can best utilize them if applicable to their markets.
Also, if an editor has bought a lot of your clients, nothing beats a face-to-face meeting simply to connect on a personal level.
For this year's fair, I have two authors with me: Gail Carriger and Jamie Ford. Both have sold tremendously abroad and have been bestsellers in several other countries besides the US.
So what does one do at Frankfurt? Lots and lots of meetings in the agents' centre which is about the size of two football fields. And I'm not exaggerating here.
The Fair is so big, it can literally take 30 minutes to walk from an appointment at one hall to another.
To put this in perspective, it only takes me 15 minutes to walk from my hotel to the Fair.
Tonight I attended two parties--one at the German publisher S. Fischer Verlag and the other held by Hachette at the Hessischer Hof.
The Hachette party was so packed, I literally walked in and had to stifle the urge to turn around and walk back out. Elbow to elbow. I thought the chances of my finding anyone for whom I might be looking would be slim but oddly enough, it worked.
The undefinable magic of Frankfurt.
14 Comments on Frankfurt Book Fair - Day 1, last added: 10/14/2011
Wow, that sounds like a very crowded but very nice time. Getting to meet, greet, and connect with new and old friends. I hope you enjoyed it. And glad your headcold is over with.
I'm continually impressed with the NLA. I met Sara earlier this summer at a writing conference in SLC. And I met Anita this last weekend at a conference in Park City.
I think it's pretty dang awesome that you'll go out there for your clients. You rock Kristen!
I met Gail last year when she was on a panel I moderated, and I imagine it'd be tremendous fun to travel with her even if you didn't have the awesome book fair to attend.
I think I understand your reasoning. Sometimes you just need to experience something hands-on for it to help your job best. I work in collection development at a library, and my work really improved once I started doing reference duties as well and got to see how the resources were being used. It made everything more real instead of abstract.
I know it's work...but it sounds like tons of fun too.
I've only been to Frankfurt once (36 hour layover.) Sadly, I was so sick (very first weeks of pregnancy) that I couldn't leave my hotel at all. Such a bummer.
Germans are true party animals. I spent seven years over there in the Army. Two years on an exhibition parachute team doing the opening ceremonies for beerfests, winefests and air shows. As it is fall, beware of the harvest wine it is wicked stuff. Enjoy yourself. Hope to hear of your adventures. My old wives cure for a head cold is 1000cc of Vitamin C and two tablespoons of honey in my coffee. The vitamin C will dry you out for several hours and the honey I think fights the cold. Works for me anyhow...
I hope you feel better soon! I swear by EmergenC and using a neti pot - especially after flying, which is just like closeting yourself in a flying box of germs. lol.
I think you should really count yourself lucky for what you do. You not only get to read the best books just as they're coming out, but you also get to travel around the world. :) That's so awesome. (However, this is not to say that your job isn't demanding, bc I know it is)
Sigh. I envy your globe hopping... but not the cold. Feel better!
A. said, on 10/14/2011 12:09:00 AM
I love the helpful advice and insider tidbits, but I think your blog could do with out the status updates and current iPod selections. It doesn't add anything of value and distracts from your writing, which is what I come here to read.
I disagree A. I've think the status updates and iPod selections are a clever way for Kristen to give her readers a small insight into her life outside of the office - it allows us to connect with her more across the blogosphere in a more personal way, without the 'tidbits' taking over. Keep it up!
STATUS: Yesterday Angie and I were reviewing one client’s statement and to sum it up. What a hot mess.
What’s playing on the iPod or the XM radio right now? SWAY by Dean Martin
Love of royalty statements.
Yep, it’s that time of year again. April and October are NLA’s biggest royalty periods which means that the month of May and November are consumed by hours reviewing those statements.
So, in an effort to empower authors about their statements (because I promise you that a lot of agents don’t spend nearly the time they should on reviewing them), here’s another tidbit to file away in your knowledge bank.
If your publisher holds World rights and is selling your titles abroad, it’s important to track where the projects are sold to and when they will be released.
Why? Because if you don’t know that info, how do you know when the monies are supposed to appear on your royalty statements? Also, do you have a copy of the licensing agreement and the latest foreign royalty statement from the territory in question?
Most agents insert a clause in the contract allowing the author to receive such info—usually upon request. Without it, it’s impossible to review a statement for accuracy. What, you gonna just take the Publisher’s word for it?
Considering the number of errors we see in EVERY royalty period, that’s a lot to take on faith.
And here’s another facet to this. If Publisher has World, did they sell UK rights to separate publisher or was it done by a sister house in England? If a sister house, then UK royalties are specified in the US contract and should show on the US statement.
You don’t want to know how many times this information as just been plain missing from the statement or just wrong.
Knowledge is power and as an author, you have a right to a copy of those licensing agreements so ask for them. I would say that in the last several years, NLA has recovered well over $100,000 in missing royalties—money clients would never have received if we hadn’t pestered Publishers about info missing from the statements. In fact just last week, a client got $8000 because we argued that the wrong royalty rate was being used to calculate certain sales listed on the statement.And per the contract, we were right and they paid up. But if we hadn’t pointed it out…
Well, that’s a lot of money to leave on the table.
I sold a novel direct to a small/medium press for an advance; I had no agent. It releases soon.
I would like to sell some foreign rights translation for this book; those rights are owned by my publisher but I get a percentage.
Do agents ever represent foreign or sub-rights only for a book if the traditional rights have already been sold? I guess the query would say something to the effect of, "I'm seeking an agent to represent foreign rights only for my recent release..."
Or is that kind of thing too small-potatoes? Lemme guess: depends on the sales of the recent release?
I can't help but feel that if they're not coming to you, it's just not that big. If the writer has to seek representation, then they don't really need it. Because if the book sells a million copies, then the foreign rights people will come running no matter what you do. So, is it a waste to seek representation for that?
First let me clarify that those rights are not “owned” by the publisher. You have licensed them to the publisher to sell on your behalf, and if that’s the case there’s nothing for you to do in terms of selling or licensing those rights. If part of your deal was that the publisher handles those rights, that’s their job to do.
Agents will possibly represent foreign or subrights in a case where the author holds on to them, but typically that’s because the agent also wants to represent the author for other works and not simply the foreign rights for this work.
At this point you have nothing to seek representation for since you don’t hold the rights. If you did, I guess I would worry less about finding an agent for those rights and more about finding an agent for your next book. Once you’ve found an agent you can definitely discuss foreign rights possibilities.
Jessica
6 Comments on Selling Foreign Rights, last added: 6/8/2010
Along the same lines, if you submit your work to a small publisher (like Medallion Press) and they're interested in publishing the book, is a small press too small for an agent to be interested in representing a new author? Should the author not accept the publisher's offer if an agent is willing to look at their work and submit it to a large publisher instead?
For my first book I retained foreign rights and my agent (brilliant woman) was able to sell them multiple places, although my first book did not sell millions of copies. In fact, I did better with foreign sales with that book than I did in north America. A good agent can help you sort out the best way to go with things including ensuring if you do give the publisher the right to sell your foreign work that it reverts back to you after a set amount of time if they haven't sold them.
Anonymous said, on 6/7/2010 12:19:00 PM
Anon 10:09, if you are interested in getting an agent and possibly selling to a larger publisher, then why are you submitting to a small publisher first? Decide what your goals are and submit accordingly.
Anonymous said, on 6/7/2010 4:13:00 PM
Good post. Agree with the agent that for the original post writer, the book deal is done and it's time to move on to new books that hopefully will attract an agent, and maybe then the agent will be able to help with foreign rights on the first book.
Very cool and interesting post, Jessica! It is great to know such facts before going into the publishing world. Thank you for your observations. Write on!
Some days, the forces line up. I whip the lightest froth, mix the proper sugar, & the espresso pours rich and dark. Today was that day. Yes, dear readers--the perfect cappuccino. I ask you, does it get any better than this?
Oh, wait--it does! My agent sold foreign rights to The Summer of Moonlight Secrets! My book will be printed in Turkey! I can't wait to see what the text looks like. HOORAY!
6 Comments on Cappuccino and Turkey, last added: 6/5/2010
There has got to be something clever I can say about it being printed in Turkey, but it isn't coming to me. I'm wondering why just Turkey? Why not France, or Germany? They need to read this book too!
One of my students (third grade) is just finishing up Violet Raines. She loved it. She's not the strongest reader, so it's taken her about a month to get through the whole thing, but she keeps at it, updating me on her progress every day. She wanted me to let you know how much she likes the book, and she was very excited when I told her you just had another one come out. Keep up the great work!
STATUS: Today I worked on finishing a contract (pre-new boilerplates) which did conclude. I really tackled emails in my inbox as well. Now I just have to tackle the slew of royalty statements we get in April.
What’s playing on the XM or iPod right now? GREETINGS TO THE NEW BRUNETTE by Billy Brag
Today is a little potpourri of things.
1. Penguin Australia issued a more formal apology for Cookbook misprint. Sounds like a PR person got a hold of the situation. Grin.
2. Foreign rights co-agent did not make it to London (as you probably have already guessed). On the upside, perhaps more folks will come to BEA at the end of May. As you can imagine, reports from the LBF floor have been quiet. Great for the folks who did make it there though. Will the lack of a robust LBF deter foreign sales? Well, nothing beats conveying enthusiasm for a title in person so that’s the downside for sure. On the whole, I don’t think so. It will be hard to have the “big book of the fair” but I imagine most sales will get done via email and phone.
I don’t envy their journey home…
3. Business has resumed in Poland. We’ve been careful about waiting but today we got emails from folks in that territory so we felt comfortable resuming communication, negotiations, etc.
4. In watching Deal Lunch for the last couple of months, I’m starting to see quite a few more sales listed than I have in the past months. This is a good sign as I take it to mean that editors are starting to get back to buying.
Kristin, I'm glad to hear you say that editors are starting to buy again. :) You aren't the first agent I've heard that from this week. (My fingers are crossed. Maybe the economy is turning around...)
Hmm, I know you have some Orbit authors. What do you think of the new digital short fiction program Orbit is launching? Scalzi talked about it quite a bit on his blog and sounded extremely skeptical about it.
What’s playing on the iPod right now? KIM THE WAITRESS by Material Issue
Well, I do foresee a few problems with blogging this week but I will try my best. I will be spending the majority of my time in the Agents Centre and it does not have wifi. Yes, you read that correctly. Nor can I plug my computer in for the internet. It just doesn’t have it.
And the hotel’s definition of “high speed” internet greatly differs from mine. Working on my network is physically painful it’s so slow. I’ve also looked around for an internet café and geographically they are not handy. So we’ll muddle long as best as possible. In good news, the vino rosso is lovely and the formaggio even more so.
So this morning I’ll be heading over to the Fairgrounds around 11 a.m. to visit the Agents Centre and have my table assigned. I spent 2 weeks trying to figure out when they would send me my table number. At London, you get your assignment when you registered. Finally an agent friend took pity on me and mentioned that the table doesn’t get assigned until the fair begins. Aha. Seems a little inconvenient for the people trying to meet with me but when in Bologna….
Today is the SCBWI Bologna Symposium. I’m participating in a first pages agent panel. This is the workshop where the conference volunteer reads the first page of a variety of submissions and the agents then comment on it.
Hey, writers wanting to be gluttons for punishment is international! Grin. Seriously though, just remember that no matter how an agent responds to your pages today, this is not the make or break moment of your career. The greatest thing about writing is that you can grow and mature in your ability.
Since the fair hasn’t actually begun, I have very little to report but I do have two fun pics to share:
From a bookstore on Via dell’Indipendenza, the Italian bestseller, which is currently sitting at #7 on the list, IL GUSTO PROIBITO DELLO ZENZERO:
The Forbidden Taste of Ginger. Look familiar? Yes, it’s the Italian version of Hotel On The Corner Of Bitter And Sweet.
And four ladies take a Venetian Gondola by storm. I must say Antonio looks distinctly unimpressed.
From left, author Sarah Rees Brennan, her friend Natasha, and me. Ally Carter snapped the pic. I have other great shots but guess who forgot to bring the cord for her camera so I could download the pictures off of it….
12 Comments on Bologna Children’s Book Fair—Day One, last added: 3/25/2010
You lucky thing! Enjoy the food, Bologna is the nation's food capital. I've never been to Bologna, but if it's anything like Venice then you'll have a wonderful time (when you can sneak out of the conference).
Oh what fun!!!! I know the lack of wifi stinks but that only succeeds in making our mouths water all the more for details of your trip! And the food...
I'm along for the ride. Haven't been on a gondola in 25 years! Been all over Italy backpacking, but not to Bologna. Enjoy and thanks for sharing. This will be my first vicarious conference!
Hi Kristin, Kay Rush here. An American ex-pat-author-journalist who spent most of her adult life in Italy. I read about you in Agent Query and was about to send you a query letter for my two (published in Italy) novels and then I came upon your blog...and there you are! In Italia! If you eat meat, make sure you try the lasagne al forno and ragu Bolognese. Kay Rush (Internet in Italy: if it were up to Berlusconi,the Internet would be censored as it is in China)
How did we ever survive before high speed internet?!
How quickly we got used to it. I never touched a real computer until I was around 20 and the "web" didn't make an appearance for several years after that - and many years after that before high speed, but still if a page takes more than a second to load I'm grumbling about how slow it is!
Wish I was there too - or anywhere but here where it's 10F today and windy. I'm still deciding on a birthday trip for my birthday in December - maybe go to something like this!
STATUS: Sorry about no blog entry on Friday. The whole day got away from me.
What’s playing on the iPod right now? A KIND OF MAGIC by Queen
No doubt, I’ve been on a ranting streak for awhile. For a nice change, how about a blog entry on a midlist series getting a second life. Let’s talk about something positive today rather than more of my righteous indignation. Grin.
Here is Mari Mancusi. Author of the YA BLOOD COVEN vampire series—originally started years ago, before the craze, but now have new covers and a new floor display in Borders.
Never Give Up…Never Surrender!
I know I can’t be the only author who mutters the Galaxy Quest creed every time the publishing industry throws me a curve ball. This particular time was three years ago, when I got an email from a fellow author, published by the same publishing house that did my Blood Coven Vampires series.
“They’re not picking up anyone’s options!” she lamented.
Shocked, I frantically called Kristin and she started to do some digging. Turns out, the author was right. My publisher was basically fading out their YA line and concentrating more on their core business of adult romance.
My series was basically DOA before the third book had even come out.
I was devastated. Though I’d written other books, none meant as much to me as my little vampire series. And I hated disappointing all my loyal readers who, after Book #3 - Girls that Growl - was released, kept begging for more. But what could I do? Kristin went back to the publishing company to ask again and again, but they kept saying no.
Of course, I could have given up then and there. After all, I’d just gotten a new children’s publisher and was under contract for two hardcover books at a much higher royalty rate. I could have easily moved on and said goodbye to my blood coven vampires. To my twin heroines, Sunshine and Rayne.
But the series meant too much to me for that. And it meant too much to my readers who kept begging to know what happens next. So I kept pushing. I started a “Save the Blood Coven” campaign in which I got readers to help spread the word and get bookstores and libraries to stock it. I did videos, I enlisted a street team, I encouraged my readers not to let the big corporations decide what they got to read.
And so the sales continued, slow but steady, over the next two years. And every day I’d have new teens write to me and say they’d just recently discovered the series. But though the publisher kept reprinting the first three books, they also kept refusing to buy book #4.
Then, out of the blue, something strange happened. My editor from Germany wrote me an email, asking about book #4. She said she didn’t care if the US published it or not. Would I consider writing it just for them?
I decided to do it. Namely because it allowed me to continue writing my beloved series. And Kristin and I schemed for alternative ways to get it to a US audience. Maybe a small publisher would see the Bookscan numbers and see it as an opportunity. Maybe we could sell it POD since I already had a fan base. Or I could give it away as an e-book. Somehow – someway – I was determined to get that story to my readers, no matter what!
But before pursuing those more drastic options, Kristin decided to go back one last time to my US publisher, to see if they’d changed their minds. After all, the Twilight movie had just swept into theaters and vampires were hotter than ever.
And low and behold, they said yes. Not only yes to a fourth book, but also that they would reprint the first three books as well, with shiny new covers for a whole new generation of (vampire hungry) fans!
I think I cried when Kristin told me the good news. She, in return, said that
0 Comments on Never Give Up…Never Surrender! Guest Blogger Mari Mancusi as of 1/1/1900
Before reading the blogs I thought the hardest part was getting published. Boy am I ever getting an education now. Congrats on book #4 being published. As an aspiring author of a children's series of 5 books, your story is very encouraging. It must be very satisfying to see your hard work and tenacity paying off. Best wishes.
What an inspiring story, and so cool that the German editor and publisher wanted to go forward no matter what. Thanks for sharing.
Marie Lu said, on 11/9/2009 8:58:00 PM
Wow--what an amazing story, Mari! In these times, it's so nice to hear that good authors can still have happy endings to such battles. I'm thrilled for you (and will be picking up the Blood Coven series the next time I'm in a bookstore)!
Kayla said, on 11/9/2009 9:23:00 PM
I am so glad you kept pushing Mari, because I love your books! I've read your adult and teen books, but this particular series I always loved and I cannot wait for BAD BLOOD to come out!!
By Grabthar's Hammer, what wonderful news! I found the first one in the library (with the old cover) and really enjoyed it. I hope they'll see electronic editions as well. Wishing you the best and looking forward to seeing more.
Such are the blogs that keep our hopes up and our pens flying. Thank you, and a heartfelt congrats to Mari! Three cheers to anyone who writes vampire fiction!
Definitely inspiring! Thanks for posting this! Writing my novel took over 2 years, and so far the editing process has taken another 2. Boy have I ever had days where I was ready to throw in the towel! Every time I get discouraged, I take a week off, do 'normal' things, and then with a big sigh, turn on the computer and plug away again.
To Natalie Aguirre: you're my hero too for sticking with it! Next time I get 'editor's block', I'll think that if you can do it for 7 years, I can stick it out until I'm done too! :-)
Mari - you and Kristin are such an awesome team. I'm so pleased that all your hard work has paid off (and of course very happy since I get another fab book to read!!!!!!)
This came at a great time! I have been struggling with finishing my own novel and needed this extra boost. I have a friend finishing her book about teenage mummies (Don't laugh! It's brilliant). She would leap at the news. She will leap at the news! Hear that Ms. Roentz? You go, Steph! :)
I must be tired or discouraged or something bc I would have cried if I'd blinked. Good job hanging in there, Mari. Two years is a long time to persist. Makes me want Kristin as my agent:)
Awesome awesome awesome! Good for you! Those covers are friggin cool. And Kristin, you're definitely an agent a writer wants in her corner :D
This reminds me a bit of LJ Smith for some reason...her Night World series was publishes in the 90s but was never finished. I'm not sure what happened exactly, but suddenly publishers decided to resell the entire series and publish the final one (either next year or 2011). But I'm not sure if it's the same case here.
There are probably so many authors whose series have never been finished because publishers wouldn't buy the last book (which is written and ready to go). I'm still hoping that book 5 of Shanna Swendson's Enchanted Inc. series gets published one day too!
Mari's story alone makes me want to read the entire series. It also let's me know, I should never give up on a series I think has more to give. Thanks! Indigo
Wow - thank you ALL for your congratulations and well wishes!! One of things that kept me going over the two years of strugle was the wonderful community of writers - both published and aspiring - who were always willing to lend an ear or offer an encouraging word.
Writing and publishing isn't easy and I know I still have a long uphill battle to go. But we have to celebrate the small (and large) victories when they happen. Thank you all for celebrating this one with me.
Stephen King once said that if his wife Tabitha had ever asked him, while they were living in poverty, if he would give up writing and get a "real job" he would have done it. But she never did. She believed in him - and look what happened.
It was the same for me and Kristin. She never once suggested I give up on the series, even when it seemed hopeless. And that's what makes her an agent beyond compare.
Thanks again everyone! MARI
PS For the person who asked, the books are now available in e-book format! Yay!
Thank you for posting this Kristin and Mari. I'm going through my own "battle" and while not even remotely the same...it's encouraging to see that people can be successful if they keep trying...and trying...
What’s playing on the iPod right now? I WILL FIND YOU by Enya
When writers are starting in this biz, they probably don’t think too much beyond that first US sale, but selling translation rights can be as equally important (which is one of the reasons I think that agents will always prove beneficial even in an all-digital publishing world).
I have an author who is selling tremendously abroad. So much in fact that the author’s foreign publisher was contracting for future books even though the US publisher had not committed to those same books.
We ended up being able to use the foreign deal as leverage to get the US publisher to reconsider this author’s series and buy the next book for US publication. Not only did the US publisher buy in, they decided to repackage the books to give them new life in the home market.
Borders loved the new look and decided to take a floor display. Needless to say, this is all helping to build new momentum for a series of books that could have easily been written off.
And all of this wouldn’t have happened except the author’s books were selling so well abroad. The foreign push reinvigorated the US stuff.
25 Comments on Not Lost In Translation, last added: 9/28/2009
Here’s the dirty little secret about publishing. It’s just like any other career—network, network, network. The days of the isolated writer hammering out great works of art and being discovered are over. In fact, those days never really existed.
This quote is taken from the NLA FAQ on how to get an agent. I think it speaks volumes. I think it's telling the truth: the ability to produce a great work of literary art is not what gets you an agent. What gets you an agent is who you know.
Well, I won't do it.
All I ever wanted to do is to tell the truth through fiction, and that means writing a great story written in a style that's immensly readable and enjoyable. Now I learn that I'm being silly. That I have to become some traveling conference groupee (I was going to use a stronger term) in order to get noticed. Isn't it just like those who can't write to demand such subservience from those who can?
It's like going to a job, and because you do a really good job, you run afoul of the manager who can't do a very good job. In other words, the better your manuscript, the more you remind the agent of what they can't do--but probably always wanted to do. So, to even the playing field, you have to kiss their ass.
I'm tired of the games people play. So, I won't play. And what does that mean? It means I have to self-publish. It means I probably won't get rich, and it means my audience may be limited. Oh well. If my personality can't handle the degredation of begging an agent to validate my existence, then apparently I was doomed anyway.
That being the case, a small following on Kindle, or something like that (and you're beginning to see more and more of those now), a print-on-demand deal just to keep a few books stocked at Amazon, that sort of thing may be all that I could ever get from my life as an author. So be it.
If I wanted to simply be a lickspittle to an agent, hell, I can get that at work any day of the week. I'm an author to be independent of all that.
I would be interested in anything anyone has to say about this.
Now I'm curious about what series you're referring to. Guess I'll have to check out the Borders floor displays.
Gordon Jerome: It's like going to a job, and because you do a really good job, you run afoul of the manager who can't do a very good job
I feel sorry for you. My work experiences differ from yours. Which might influence our divergent views on agents.
Also, I think you're missing the point of that quote from the NLA FAQ, which is that you have to actively seek publication to receive it. You can't write as a hermit and expect bestseller status once it's published, even if it's something that deserves bestseller status.
Kristin, the authors you represent are indeed to be envied!
Which brings me to Mr. Jerome. (Although I hesitate at contributing to the post hijacking.) I was a total innocent when I compiled my first little collection of essays, short stories, and (local) NPR commentary into a book. It never occurred to me to seek representation, or to try to get my book published. I self-published it, not by a self-publishing 'house' but by a printer of medical texts! I could afford to do a printing of 800. They sold out. I made money! (It cost $7/book to print, and I sold them for $24.99/book.)
If you believe in your work, don't waste all this negative energy! Publish that sucker! Get it out. Promote it.
If it is as good as you hope, and if you are tireless, it will do just fine. I believe that.
The book that Kristin is talking about proves this. Cream eventually rises to the top.
Anja said, on 9/25/2009 8:53:00 AM
Which country? Let me venture a guess. Was it Germany?
It's my "Blood Coven Vampires" YA series Kristin is talking about. And yes, it's a pretty remarkable story.
The foreign publisher was in Germany and, as Kristin said, the books have done really well there. They've already bought book #5 and are talking about #6 - before book #4 has even been published in the US.
BUT I want to point out it was not JUST foreign interest that got Bad Blood (book #4) bought in the US. (Though it definitely helped.) It was also Kristin, refusing to give up on it - even though she wasn't even the agent for the first 3 books. (I signed with her after I'd sold those.) She kept going back to the publisher time and time again, presenting the facts on why they should continue publishing the series. My editor fought hard too - she and Kristin made a good team. But the higher ups kept saying no.
But even when things seemed very bleak, Kristin never once told me to give up and move on, even though in the meantime I was selling other books to other publishers. I think she realized that the series meant something to me personally and that meant something to her, as my agent.
You can probably imagine the joyous phone call when the publisher finally decided to not only buy #4 but also re-package/re-release the first three books. Kristin was as enthused about this deal as any where she stood to make six figures.
And that is a sign, in my opinion, of a good agent. One that fights, even when things seem impossible and one that will do it because she believes in the project, even if she stands to gain little in financial terms, because it means something to her author.
Now sure, there are times when an agent has to give an author tough love - if the series is not selling, for example. But in this case, there were other factors involved that had nothing to do with sales, so Kristin was able to go present a good argument with facts and figures to back it up.
And this is why I believe a good agent is an invaluable source for any author.
I can't wait to see my Blood Coven books on display at Borders in November!
I agree Mari and good agent is worth way more than her 15%.
I'm very happy to hear that it was your books!! Congrats!
And Gordon, don't give up on yourself. This industry is tough, sometimes it takes years and years to get in, and even more years to make a career of it. If you want to self-publish, go for it, but please don't do it because one article told you you had to be a conference rat.
My BFF has a good career, and all she does for her books, is do one conference a year. She doesn't blog, or do chats, or twitter, or anything like that. She writes, publisher publishes and her books sale because she writes good books.
That's great to hear! I've heard of the occasional book published overseas being brought over because of its success in Europe or Australia (LET THE RIGHT ONE IN comes to mind), but never really thought of a US writer getting a push in the home country because of sales abroad.
I'd just love to learn more about how the translation process works in general, both because of my background in linguistics and because of the highly stylized prose of some of the authors I love (have to wonder how it translates, especially into languages with very different grammatical structures). Research time!
Marie Lu said, on 9/25/2009 12:17:00 PM
Marianne, I'd read your blog recently and had a feeling it was you that Kristin was referring to! HUGE congratulations to you! I will be looking for the newly packaged books in my local bookstore.
Anja said, on 9/25/2009 12:19:00 PM
It had to be Germany. Only people who publish 7 U.S. novels for each native one. ;-) You people are lucky, you know. 1% of all unsolicited manuscripts get published eventually (OK, maybe not this year, what with the 30% increase in submissions). Still, over here, it's 0.01%.
@ Marianne Mancusi
Herzlichen Glückwunsch auch von mir! Hey, I might give this a try, though I'm way past young adult ;o)
@ Kristin Laughtin
How translation works? You start by studying a foreign language: 9 years (usually) at school, 5 years at Uni or Translator School. Same goes for your native language, of course. It also helps if you spend a year living in a country where your language of choice is being spoken. And you need to read lots of novels in both languages. Lastly, you need to be nuts enough not to go where the money is (business translations) because literary translations rarely pay the rent (so you might want to marry first or drive a taxi at night.) To break into the business, you first need to dazzle a publisher with a brilliant (unsolicited) translation of a yet untranslated novel (3-4 pages). Better yet, you know someone who knows someone. If you don't ... well, let's just say it's easier to write your own book and get it published (see odds above) than to get a foot in the door as a literary translator.
I'm so curious about which series this is! I'm going to go stalk Borders.... now! I'm usually a B&N girl or Indie.
Gordon, if you just want to write, then just write. If you want to publish and make money - it's a business, learn the ropes, just like the day job. Gotta play with the good bosses and the bad. Gotta find a good agent and let them do their job. Whining doesn't help.
I have to agree with Gordon on some of this. I hear his frustration. I think he needs to remember there is a bais/prejudice against male writers these days. Sooooo very evident, creepy and just wrong. But, we answer for sins done by men of the Mad Men Generation, I suppose.
Also it's all about the emasculation of the American landscape. Not about anything you did or did not do at a conference, where you at there and kissed ass. Anyone of these blogs, although this one certainly seems more tolerant than the others. shows it: men don't count.
You rarely hear an agent talk about what she did for a male writer these days. Almost unheard of.
Want to see a REAL cut-nutting website go to The Rejectionist: they hate male writers and will say so, right there.
You notice on Galleycat, BWFW (recall FUBU)
What to do about this? Who knows. Like the monk on Skellig Michael working by candle-light through the dark ages, I wait patiently on the blogs for the end of the vagina age.
Sorry gals,you're beautiful and I love ya but, it is what it is, wrong and BTW no working
For the record I didn't groupie any agents- I did a cold queries. Networking doesn't hurt, but in the end it really does come down to the book. I know for a fact my agent finds well over 75% of her clients from the slush/query pile. To assume you have to be a bootlicker is wrong and spends your energy in the wrong way.
This is a frustrating business. It's the curse of being in a field that is so competitive. If we wanted to be plumbers this might be easier and in most cases would pay better. On the other hand- I can't imagine anything else I would rather do.
Thank you all very much for the comments. I feel free to highjack the post, because from what I've seen, Kristin doesn't respond to comments. I'd be very surprised if she even reads them. Chances are the blog is just a way of boosting participation in her conferences. Chances are the majority of her income comes from selling the pans to the gold prospectors, not from the gold.
Be that as it may, I want to say that I'm not whining. I actually feel liberated. I've come to accept what I can honestly expect to accomplish as a novelist. After Katrina and the current recession/depression/change-of-the world, I have learned that what we get in life is what we get. If all I can get is a small following of readers (who will probably also be horror writers), I'm okay with that. That really is enough.
And I have a little secret for those of you who may not know: The quote from my OP in these comments is from Kristin, herself. In other words, if you want her to be your agent, you better get your lips ready for her buttocks, because she isn't looking for great writers; I think by her own words we can deduce that’s just a ruse.
So, how did this happen? How did the employee become the master? You do realize an agent is supposed to be "working" for you? You know that, right? In the author/agent relationship, you're supposed to be the employer. I suppose it all boils down to one of the most powerful forces in social psychology: the one who needs the relationship the least has the most power in that relationship. Madonna called it in one of her songs, the power of goodbye. I'm actually listening to that song on my itunes now.
It's almost a story fit for a novel: what if fiction writers suddenly turned? What if it was considered bad form to be published outside of small circles? What if in order for a publisher to get the rights to publish a novel, they had to wait until it became public domain? Or at least until the author's heirs sold the rights after the author died.
I mean my wife has these great paintings she'll never part with. What if we felt the same way about our novels? You do realize they need us more than we need them? But that isn't the Stephen King Dream is it? We want six-figure advances. We'll take even a one-dollar advance. We want anything that will tell us that someone else thinks we are worth reading.
Well, I say if they aren't begging you, don't even look at them. Dohh! That's what the agents say! Imagine that.
And one last thing: I don't come here to get an agent. Kristin doesn’t even handle the kind of stories I write. I come here to talk with other writers. This is where you guys are at--here and other blogs like it. It’s the only community I have as a writer. So, again, thank you for reading and responding.
Imagine comparing us to plumbers. Who could do such a thing? Who could actually compare a fiction artist to a plumber. There's nothing wrong with plumbers, but damn, is there no nobility left to the artist at all?
Gordon Jerome: And I have a little secret for those of you who may not know: The quote from my OP in these comments is from Kristin, herself.
Yeah, I got that. I still stand by my belief that you're misreading the FAQ. It says that you should connect to other people in your field (writing), not that you need to suck up to agents and editors. In fact, if you read the entire question answer, the networking is advised so you can meet an agent through someone they know or in person.
I screen job applicants on my day job. Her listed hierarchy for the best way to get an agent also happens to match the best way to get your foot in the door for a job—know somebody in the field or company, meet the person who does hiring, or submit a resume. It's not that I dislike people who just submit a resume—I just get a better feel for people I meet in person.
Novel agents are like real estate agents. Their job is to match the one providing the commodity to the one willing to buy it—but they don't have to accept every property offered to them, and not every property fits every buyer.
You wanna talk to writers? A LOT of folks hang out on nanowrimo.org. There are also some on writer.net.
What's wrong with plumbers? Writing is an intellectual pursuit, yes, but I don't perceive that as any more or less "noble" than a physical pursuit like plumbing.
I'm sure you're right. Actually, what you are saying is the point I was trying to make: The traditional publishing route is just like a job. But my issue is that I already have one of those.
Nevertheless, publishing at the big houses, and even the small ones, is what it is. I have to accept the world as I find it, not as I would have it to be. I understand that.
But I was faced with a Dilemma for my first novel. About 15 agents turned it down. So, for the last two years, it has sat on a shelf in my closet and in digital form on my computer. I recently looked at the prologue and the first two chapters while preparing the sample of it for my website, and I still think it's pretty good. So, what happens to it? Does it just vaporize because the publishing world doesn't want to publish it? It's become an aborted child. I say it's time to raise it from the dead.
Then the socializing I do in groups, blogs, organizations, etc., which is something I'd want to do anyway, becomes publicity--and I'll be able to tell others how to do it as well. Even that can become a kind of publicity. And voila! I'm an independent artist.
I suppose that's the plan anyway. Unless you have a better idea.
Anja said, on 9/26/2009 6:16:00 AM
Gordon, have you tried a (serious) critiquing workshop yet, like critters, critiquecircle, or OWW? To me, OWW was an immense help, especially with the first chapters. I also found a fabulous reviewing partner at OWW (with an incredible eye for detail & logical issues) and we've been critting each other's work via email for years now.
It takes more than a shovel to raise a novel from the dead. You need to breathe new life into it. But don't give up. Two years in a closet isn't such a long time. It took Jim Butcher 8 years to get published and Kate Douglas twenty! (My humble self, I've been trying for 11, but I won't give up for another 9, hehe.)
Anyway, good luck.
Anonymous said, on 9/26/2009 11:56:00 AM
Gordon, you are wrong about agents never promoting their male authors. Go read Janet Reld's website. Look at her sidebar.
Your bitterness is coming through, and I don't think that will serve you well. If you want to self-publish and you refuse to network, that is okay. But don't trash the agents, especially this one here who so clearly is a champion for her clients (and writers in general).
You've been given good advice. Get in an online writing group so you're not working in a vacuum to get your manuscript in the best shape it can be. Then if you choose not to work with an agent (or directly with a small horror publishers), self-publish. Frankly, if I were an agent reading your posts, there's no way I'd take you on because I'd be concerned that you would not be able to handle my revision notes or those of an editor.
Gordon, you are wrong about agents never promoting their male authors. Go read Janet Reld's website. Look at her sidebar.
If you look back at the posts, you will see that I never said that. That was someone else.
Your bitterness is coming through, and I don't think that will serve you well. If you want to self-publish and you refuse to network, that is okay. But don't trash the agents, especially this one here who so clearly is a champion for her clients (and writers in general).
Oh, please. Has she "championed" you lately? She's an agent. Her role is clearly defined. She doesn't "champion" anything. She finds buyers and gets a cut for doing it. That's it. She's not a writer; she's not a publisher; she's an agent. And I'm not attacking her. I'm quoting her words and making a statement about them.
But let me make this clear: the only reason I don't want to offend her is because she's a human being like the rest of us. I'm here to talk with people like you. I'm not here to talk with her--she doesn't represent my kind of stories.
In trade, she gets lots of comments to her blog. It's a fair exchange.
Maybe she's a good agent; I hope she is. But I won't query her, and she won't come looking for me. She's not anyone's "champion." She's an agent. And she's made it clear on her web site that it's not good writing, but good networking that gets you noticed. She's probably right. And though I would like to get lots of money for my novels--I'm not going to "write for the market."
You've been given good advice. Get in an online writing group so you're not working in a vacuum to get your manuscript in the best shape it can be. Then if you choose not to work with an agent (or directly with a small horror publishers), self-publish. Frankly, if I were an agent reading your posts, there's no way I'd take you on because I'd be concerned that you would not be able to handle my revision notes or those of an editor.
And you would be right. I may not write as good as I will in the future, but I am keenly aware of what good writing is. I also frequent B & N and Amazon, and I know what passes for publishable material these days. Therefore, I would never let a non-writer tell me what to do with my novel (outside of routine copyediting).
On the other hand, a writer whom I respect, especially in the genre of ghost stories, now that is someone I would listen to and learn from.
As for online writing critique forums, you must be out of your mind. Imagine letting bad and then jealous wannabes tell me what to do with my story. That's just insane. I think it's best to have enough integrity to let one's work stand or fall on its own.
Writing groups are a joke. When it comes to groups, bad writers get pity, and therefore encouragement. Good writers get jealousy, and therefore hard criticism. It's an inherent filter one can't get around.
Besides, never forget Kristin's words, it's not great writing--it's great networking that makes the cut. And she has to be right, since it is very hard to find a modern novel worth reading.
Nope: I make the rules. I write the novel, and I have full control of content and style. My wife gets first dibs at writing the screenplay. And that's it. If I don't make it big, so what? I haven't been big for 45 years. No matter how big I get, I still die small--just like everyone else. I die with no money I can keep, no love I can save, no one I can take with me. I die and return to God the Father from whence I came--just like everyone else. (Sorry, but it's my Friday night and I've had some Jameson. If Courier font could slur, believe me it would be melting off the page right now.).
Thanks for the advice, but I'm going to go my own way, and that's the song on my Ipod now: Go Your Own Way, by Fleetwood Mac.
And though I would like to get lots of money for my novels--I'm not going to "write for the market."
Hi, Gordon. I'm finding your posts very interesting. The decision not to write for the market is, it seems, a self-fulfilling prophecy.
And it is certainly not without dignity. It is in many respects the high road. Your priority seems to be wiriting as an art. This is admirable.
I also understand that to turn your back on the market is an act that is based on disappointment with the commercial market for writing. It also involves getting angry at the market (and the people who work within it), I know.
Given the Jameson (wow, one of my all-time favorites -- pass the bottle please), you've done a great job of not letting your disappointment in publishing and book-selling (and, yes, your anger)keep you from making sense.
Your decisions seem to be based on careful consideration of both the market and of your own goals as a writer.
As you would disagree with others, though, allow me to disagree with you to the extent that I have a differing perspective on writing.
I cater to the reader. It's the way I look at it. I do not write for myself. But I am pretty much myself when I write.
I love having non-writers read and comment on my work. The further removed from publishing, the better. The more involved in contemprary publishing, the better. I want both. Gimme, gimme.
I also believe that a working editor giving my writing a close read and noting how it can be improved is a blessing. A gift. A good editor (wether or not that is their job title) is an angel (and, yup, some of them have swords).
Working editors and agents know the craft well enough to tell me when my ass is showing. I wish I had a whole room full of editors paying attention to my sentences.
I see writing as a collaborative process. First, I am collaborating with the reader (I have to imagine a reader as I write, but I bend to their wishes gladly). Does that make me a whore? Probably.
I want my writing to be better for them, not better for me. Second, I collaborate with anyone else who wants to help and is capable of helping. At any stage of the process.
Both my first readers have nothing to do with writing or the business of writing and they do a marvelous job of letting me know what works and doesn't work (for the reader) in my writing. Neither of them reads anyone else's work in manuscript.
If either one of my readers says a sentence made her/him stumble, I toss it out. Immediately. I have the skill to write other sentences.
Indeed, these two readers are the totality of my writing network prior to my seeking publication.
I recently had a novel accepted for publication by HarperCollins. I cold-queried agents by email (I didn't know any of them.) My query letter was a mess by all standards. I hadn't read any guides on how to write a query.
An agent asked to see my completed manuscript the next day. I sent it to her via email. She called to offer me representation the next day. No kidding. Queried on the weekend, had an agent Wednesday morning.
She did ask for revisions or reworking of the writing in any way. She placed the manuscript with the first editor she approached. This was all of two months ago.
I had no network, Gordon. [Please note, David Kearns:] I am a male. My agent is a woman. The acquiring editor is a woman. I am 55 years old. As best I can tell, my agent and my acquring editor are in their late 20s.
The characters in my work are in high school and my novel will be marketed as Young Adult fiction (HarperTeen). Nobody in publishing wanted my book so they could get my picture on the back cover, I promise you. They wanted the writing... the story... the book itself.
Networking, perhaps, is not so much getting people to know and like you as a way of getting published, as it is a way of learning from others what works in the business and what doesn't.
Once you know what works in the business, you're welcome to reject it. Yup.
And, yes, it is a business. And you are an artist. Somewhere along the line, there is a compromise you'll have to make as a writer/artist in order to be published commercially. If you don't want to make that compromise (or any compromise), that is admirable. Again, though, it is pretty much a self-fulfilling prophecy.
You seem to be holding to the higher standards of your art for the right reasons. But don't let the smaller, wrong reasons take over. Many people who don't write fiction are smart about fiction. Don't deride them. They just may be better readers than you are.
Here's something to consider. YA and MiddleGrade fiction, I have found, is more open to literary styles and achievement than mainstream adult fiction. (Actually, MG is incredibly open to incredible and wonderful fiction. Glance at Marie Rutkoski's The Cabinet of Wonders). Reading people like David Almond (The Fire-eaters) and Neil Gaiman is what drew me to write a Young Adult novel.
You may hate the idea, but you also might want to consider where in the world of reading your art best fits if, in the end, you do want to see your work published and get paid for it.
Art is one thing. Craft is another. Both are skills. Both may be talents. All I would ask is that you don't deride one, please, in order to champion the other.
I would also like to ask you if there is a commercially published writer your admire or respect. If so, do you wonder what work he/she might have put in to make her/his writing commercially viable -- besides just writing what they wanted to write? Do you think they revised by guide of a non-writing agent or editor?
Lordy, I wish you well. You're a noble soul, Gordon.
Dreams, (Stevie Nicks) Fleetwood Mac: Now here you go again / You say you want your freedom / Well who am I to keep you down / It's only right that you should / play the way you feel it...
First let me just say that I'm not drunk tonight (a pity really). I do have a drinking problem--I don't do it nearly as much as I should.
Second, I’m listening to Dreams now as I respond. Great song. Great group, and Lindsey is a god.
More importantly than all the above is that your comments have hit home with me. You have a good way of putting things and a great way of getting through to people, or at least a great way of getting through to me. So, your advice matters, and I'm listening to it.
But you and I are different in one respect: I don't care to help anyone or change the world. I used to, but I'm more jaded now. I won't write to the market, because I don't want them to be what made me. I want them to need me.
Of course, a lot of this may be semantics. I want to write the kind of stories that work, and I'm a reader as well as a writer. So, though my attitude may be one way, what I consider good writing is the kind of writing people want to read.
Since you seem like a nice guy, I'm glad to hear Harper Teen picked up your novel. I'm also encouraged to read that you are a bit older. I'm 45, and I've worried that it might be too late, but, damn, it's those 45 years I put into my work, you know? If I were twenty, I'd have nothing to say.
Well, I've rambled on long enough. I want to spend some time checking out your web site and your work.
I see you've had several books published, but your latest ones are not really original fiction creations. However, as you indicate, you have a YA novel coming out. If it's a ghost story, I'm going to get it for sure.
Anyway, I made a shortcut to your blog, and I love some of the stuff you've put on it about ghosts. Very cool.
STATUS: I spent four hours on the phone doing a variety of phone conferences. Maybe I should rethink a headset.
What’s playing on the iPod right now? IF YOU’RE GONE by Matchbox Twenty
In this year alone, my agency has done over 20 foreign rights deals. That’s a lot for an agency of our size. After all, we only have about 30 clients.
And here’s an important facet I’m noticing. Foreign publishers are now asking for electronic rights to be included in the translation deal. No surprise given all the recent developments in the electronic field but until this year, almost no foreign publisher asked for eBook rights for a work in translation.
That’s all changing and fairly rapidly. In fact, some foreign publishers are preemptively sending addendums to add the e-rights to their agreements. Which cracks me up enormously. I don’t mind accepting but only after a significant revision of the “addendum” and a negotiation of the rate.
But here’s what you need to make note of. The royalty rates being offered by foreign publishers for eBooks is all over the place. On the higher end, it’s 25% of net receipts. The emerging standard that I don’t agree with and fight it every time seems to be 20% of net receipts. I’ve also seen as low as 10% of net offered (heck no that ain’t happening) and I’ve also seen 15% of net which is way low as well.
So you published authors need to review those foreign rights deal memos you receive (if World wasn’t granted to the Publisher because than the Publisher subrights department negotiates the foreign deals and you probably won’t see the deal memo until after the fact).
Check if eRights are included and if you’re not sure, ask your agent. And if they are included and the rate seems low, you might also want to have that convo with your agent.
9 Comments on Foreign Publishers Getting Into The Electronic Game, last added: 6/25/2009
eBooks interest the hell out of me. With a slice of the financial pie somewhat dimished (though never replaced. I'll always prefer paper to PC) What will happen. Agents take a bigger cut? More budget spent on marketting? Will prices come down?
Then there's the query system itself. With ebooks in prominence, will the problem of high word counts vanish? Will more writers be taken on if they have multiple projects running; or series and such. After all the digital market reduces the time and cost needed for print runs, distribution and shelf space. A 4000 page megalith could take up as much space as a 400 word kids book.
Sad I know but the whole thing excites me.
Pylizins: An affectionate term used between courting pylons
The comicbook/graphic novel industry has a long tradition (1960s) of self-publishing comics. In the past, creators such as Dave Sim and Jeff Smith would publish a comicbook, sell it via the Direct Market, then collect the chapters into graphic novels and sell those via the Direct Market or mail order or at conventions.
Currently, many creators are publishing webcomics. They update their sites periodically, maintain a community of fans, and sell books and merchandise directly to their readers. More successful sites (Wimpy Kid, Mom's Cancer, Penny Arcade) then sign contracts with established publishers for better publicity and distribution.
So... regarding ebooks... what's to keep someone like Stephen King or Ally Carter or Torsten Adair from setting up a self-publishing website? Like Literotica, I could post stories for free, build up a community, then POD collections to meet demand. If successful enough, I could then ship those POD volumes to B&N and Amazon and any other site. When the business gets too big, I can then sign a deal with a publisher,
What happens when publishers become repackagers and distributors?
Sound crazy? Go read "Content" by Cory Doctorow. It's free online at: http://craphound.com/content/download/ or buy a copy (it's a fantastic book): 1892391813 US$14.95
Now... what happens when ebooks become the dominant prose medium? Will royalty percentages increase as cost diminish?
Will it be more difficult for a writer to earn-out the advance, or will the advance be smaller with a greater royalty percentage, since the book will stay in print longer, and this will encourage the author to write more and create a big backlist?
How do the royalties and rights for paper differ from other media like ebooks, audio, and print-on-demand?
I'm with Torsten on this one, and it scares me. I want to see my books in an actual bookstore. I used a POD for family and friends (to get feedback on my first novel) and made about $300 bucks in the process. That's some real tiny, baby red potatoes. Then again, if you get out there and market yourself, it could work to a degree.
There has been a lot of talk about foreign rights vis-a-vis e-rights--particularly how e-books are geographically bound rather than language-bound (ie. Canadian or Australian can't purchase US-restricted book even though English is dominant language in all three countries).
I also think foreign e-rights is a wise move because much of the books that are pirated are English works translated into other languages, since a) a foreign publisher hasn't bought that US/UK title or b) a Japanese or German reader possibly has another year or so to wait until they receive a copy of the book in their own language (and let's hope the books are printed on quality paper [heard scary stories about German translations of romance novels]).
Perhaps with this move, the Kindle or the Sony Reader--or even other, competitive e-reader devices--will be sold in other countries. But in the end, there does need to be a standard, and IMO, the longer everyone hems and haws over e-rights, royalties, etc, the more likely it will be that a few discrepancies will slip through the cracks.
@Torsten: most epublishers don't offer advances. That's part of the reason our royalty percentage is so high. 30-35% is standard. I've even seen 40%.
And I'm wondering why the e-rights to a print book percentage is based on net? Can't "net" be defined in any way that benefits the publisher? I'd rather see a lower royalty percentage on "cover price" than any percentage based on net.
Anonymous said, on 6/24/2009 2:56:00 PM
>>How do the royalties and rights for paper differ from other media like ebooks, audio, and print-on-demand?
NY Pubs seem to be giving a bigger % (sometimes) but not enough IMO esp if it's on net. What happens when ebook prices finally drop and we get that decent e-reader under 200.00 and the tides shift. I doubt print will go away for a VERY long time but I definitely think both those factors will impact print sales. In the mean time, it seems to be in most publisher's best interest to keep e-book prices high and get royalty % for a song.
And I’m here to highlight that Nelson Literary Agency really stepped up to the plate this year and is offering a WHOLE page of items to be auctioned off.
Just to whet your appetite, I’m giving away breakfast with me at RWA and a writing critique with a 24-hour turnaround time. I will spend several hours on this critique—editing it just like I would a client’s manuscript.
Sara is offering a query-free submission.
NYT Bestselling author Jamie Ford is answering 10 Questions.
Sherry Thomas, query writer extraordinaire, is offering to help you whip your query into shape.
Mari Mancusi and Courtney Milan are offering opening chapters critiques.
And that’s just a brief glimpse of what is available. You might want to check it out.
But back to my London list as promised. I’m skimming through my notes and typing up what I see.
Germany Looking for upmarket commercial fiction—not too literary Crime fiction Exotic and/or generational saga Boy meets Girl with a literary voice Commercial historical fiction
Finland Children’s Literary fic as the market is strong Fantasy Science fiction is working
France Fantasy Chick lit Historical romance Historical fiction
UK Romantic comedy with lit voice Jackie Collins type novel Literary vampires—like the Abraham Lincoln Vampire hunter or literary zombies Books good for reading groups Commercial women’s fiction Mystery that is slightly cozy but has a dark edge Urban fantasy Paranormal romance Horror (must be sophisticated) Big historical fiction Literary thriller
That’s all else she wrote.
14 Comments on Brenda Novak Auction to Start and Final London Wrap Up, last added: 5/2/2009
I fear there's something Pavlovian in my conditioning as a writer. The words "query-free submission" appear on the screen, and I begin to drool. :-)
HeatherM said, on 4/30/2009 10:19:00 PM
I've got to check out the auction, sounds great! Kudos to everyone at the agency for supporting such a great cause. And the list is encouraging, thanks for posting it!
In what these countries are looking for...are they really so specific? For example, I don't see an ounce of science fiction or fantasy, yet the number of those readers hasn't diminished. I guess what I'm saying is, are the publishers determining the market or are the readers?
I'd love to know which UK agencies and publishers are looking for Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance - from what I've seen, most don't touch it!
Anonymous said, on 5/1/2009 8:48:00 AM
As a nurse and a diabetic, I thank all involved - those donating items for auction and those who bid. You're wonderful people to support research for this cause.
I'm not sure what to do with the info from UK . . . "book good for reading group." Is this a general statement for all agents/publishers in UK, or is this a specific agent/publisher's request? If the latter, can you give contact info?
M. L. Kiner said, on 5/1/2009 9:50:00 AM
"The Hong Kong Connection" is a legal thriller about a gutsy female attorney who takes on high ranking International officials. It's a taut, rollercoaster of a ride from New York to Palm Beach to Washington D.C. to Hong Kong. The plot is expertly woven, the characters persuasive, and the dialogue snappy and spot on. www.StrategicBookPublishing.com/TheHongKongConnection.html
Anonymous said, on 5/1/2009 12:53:00 PM
Truly? Am I the only one who laughed at literary zombies?
Anon: Then you're not a big fan of "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies", then? (http://www.chroniclebooks.com/index/main,book-info/store,books/products_id,7847/title,Pride-and-Prejudice-and-Zombies/)
PS the CAPTCHA words are getting more fanciful: "scromen" today. That's definitely one for 'The Meaning of Liff" (as I am sure it is a village in the remote Derbyshire hills).
STATUS: Just had some wonderful Indian food before heading to bed. 8 o’clock is a typical dinner hour around here.
What’s playing on the iPod right now? NESSUN DORMA by Paul Potts
I heard there was quite a bit of chaos this morning as the fair opened but since I had a breakfast meeting off site, I missed the hoopla. By the time I hit the Fair floor around 10 a.m., everything had been sorted out.
I have to say that I did expect the mood to be rather somber but in the meetings I had, that was not the case. Editors from Germany, Finland, Japan and Brazil, all expressed optimism, were interested in many titles (although admitted that escapism was good) and had mentioned that book sales in their countries had remained steady. Some titles, such as James Hunter's THE SERVANT, had really broken out. Something like 2 million copies in Brazil. That's an eye popping number.
A Japanese editor mentioned that publishers there were aggressively pursuing the mobile phone reader market, which didn't suprise me at all. Where digital is concerned, that country has a lot of early adapters.
I also had one UK editor that popped by my table simply because she was a blog reader and wanted to say hello. That was quite fun.
Here are some pics to tide you over until I can skim through my handy dandy notebad and pick out some tidbits on what is working abroad.
Here is the entrance to the LBF from the Warwick Road Entrance.
The escalator up to the International Rights Center floor.
On the floor of the International Rights Center. Agents, Rights representatives, and publishers hard at work.
View of the fair from above.
Sarah Rees Brennan in the S&S UK booth pointing to her soon-to-be released title THE DEMON'S LEXICON. She'll be signing in the booth on Tuesday, April 21 at 1:30 p.m. (13:30)
Wow! It looks amazing and fun. I love going to conference because of the high energy that seems to flow through everyone (at least the first day or two). I can't wait to hear more about what you learned through all your contacts!
Ah! This is torture! Le sigh. I lived in London for three years before I had to be tossed out when my visa expired. Earls Court was right near where I lived, and I passed the convention centre every day on the way to work. These pictures, they just bring back zee memories. I miss that city so much!
Sigh.
Still.
Looks like a really awesome time, and it's lovely to hear about the optimism. Reading the blog on PW about Bologna made me a bit sad. This has definitely raised my spirits!
This is very surreal – I've been reading your blog for ages and think of you in Denver. Yesterday I was at the book fair too! I was upstairs in the agent section too. If you glimpsed some of the Hodder people playing with knitted finger puppets, and generally misbehaving that was me (and my editor, and the foreign rights director!)
Have a great fair! x
natasha
HeatherM said, on 4/21/2009 10:04:00 AM
That fair looks amazing! Fingers crossed that Sarah's book climbs effortlessly to the bestseller list!
Manga and "cell phone novels" have done phenomenally well in Japan. On average, their teenager's cell phones have larger screens than ours do, on top of which they ride the train everywhere, so reading while commuting is a natural part of their lifestyle. More suited to U.S. lifestyle is reading online or e-book editions of manga for computers, but most of them have been reluctant to enter that market.
What’s playing on the iPod right now? 1812 OVERTURE by Tchaikovsky [Chicago Symphony Orchestra]
I’d say, on average, our agency does at least one foreign rights deal a week. Hey, we only have about 30 authors total so that’s pretty darn good.
And selling foreign translation rights is just fun. I mean, let’s face it, who wouldn’t want to see their work published in Slovene? (Exactly, I figured it was in the general area of former Yugoslavian Republic but I did have to look it up). Or in Indonesia (which has an interesting alphabet and great covers). Oops, was thinking Thai! Thanks for the catch in the comments section.
But as good and fun as the foreign deals are the one drawback is the rather untimely payments. I think the word I’m looking for here is glacial—as in the pace of the payments.
If I close a foreign deal today, I can expect signed contracts and on signing payment to come at least 6 months from now. Eight is not unusual. Twelve is ridiculous.
And that’s what I’m currently facing. Sure enough, I have a foreign publisher who has not paid up and the contracts were signed in March 2008. This is too much. Time to get tough.
I’m interviewing big burly guys with Slavic accents and unpronounceable names. Must be fluent in Russian…
20 Comments on Вы говорите по-русски? (Vy govorite po-russki), last added: 2/12/2009
Russia is notorious for non-payment of royalties in all creative arenas. The choice is really whether one wants a modicum of input in the product with a negotiated deal which will never pay, or gives up and a pirated edition is printed instead.
As for Slavic names being unpronounceable, I resent that (but then I grew up in a Chicago neighborhood where the folks with names that ended in -son were the oddballs). As a half-Slovene, it is a bit amusing to discover that my heritage is so exotic.
Anonymous said, on 2/10/2009 12:47:00 AM
Bahasa Indonesia has the exact same alphabet as English. Were you thinking of Thai?
I have a Russian text book and a character who is big, burly, and speaks a form of Russian (circa 2373). Would that work for you? He comes with military training.
Marie said, on 2/10/2009 7:51:00 AM
I write content for various publishers, and I've had trouble getting ANYBODY to pay lately. I have to ask 2 or 3 times. I figured it was the economy making people wary to pay.
Peter said, on 2/10/2009 8:12:00 AM
As a Certified International Credit Professional (glorified and pretentious way of saying 'credit and collections') I can tell you that receivables are slow world-wide, and unless you really want to spend a good sum of money to hire locals (both agents (not in the lit sense) and legal talent) to represent you if the amount due is large enough, a good number of businesses in some countries are assuming you're not going to be able to do anything about their untimely (or non-existent) payments. Welcome to 2009.
If you're intent on collecting, there are companies that will purchase your receivable (for a percentage of the total due) at which point you'll have received 'something' for your trouble and collecting the actual 'receipt' will be 100% out of your hands. This usually means you're not ever planning on doing business with the company that owes you money again (disclosure: I do not work for one of those companies).
Just my $0.02...I won't try to collect that. Keep up the great work on the blog and good luck!
My record was 3 years to get a check (from Australia.) Since it was rights granted through the publisher I was pretty powerless to do anything but wait.
Then again, getting a check out of the blue on an advance I'd forgotten all about was fun! :)
Every time you talk about selling rights to Slovenia, I giggle. My husband's family is Slovene. We go back every five years or so, and I always hit the bookstores to see if any of my friends have books out.
Slightly-random-but-kinda-not question... Who translates the books? Do the publishers have their own in-house translators, or do they hire freelancers? Or does the author or agent find a translator, then approaches the foreign publisher with the already-translated work?
(My real question is: How do I get the translating gig? Would I need an agent to sell my translating services? Should I approach agents to see if they want their clients' stuff translated, or do they not mess with that? I tried asking these questions at a literary translators conference, but I couldn't get more than, "Yeah... sometimes... it depends... my friend asked me to do this book for her.")
Remember... the men don't need to be fluent in Russian, only fluent in intimidation. A burly guy with a bat can basically speak any language he wants.. if he's coming at me? He can have the money. No questions asked- in English or Russian.
Waiting for payments has got to be frustrating both for you and for the authors you represent. Were I in your situation...I'd hope my domestic earnings would be enough to keep me afloat and just bask in the prestige of having my book translated while I wait (and possibly grumble).
STATUS: You know you are having a busy day when your stomach starts telling you that you need to eat lunch. You swear you’ll get to it after just one more thing and the next time you look up, it’s 3 in the afternoon.
What’s playing on the iPod right now? BEVERLY HILLS by Weezer
I don’t often cross reference to another blog post of mine but this story I shared on Romancing the Blog last Friday is too good not to repeat here.
The post obviously hits the target reading audience for that Blog but it’s a good lesson to put here as well. If an award is prestigious or important enough, it’s worth the time and money to enter. You might just win or it might open another door you hadn’t even thought of. Just ask my author Kelly Parra.
Have you been thinking about entering your novel into the RITA awards? Have you been waffling because you’re crunched for time? Let me remind you that the deadline is fast approaching (Dec. 1!) and regardless of how little spare time you have, this is a contest you don’t want to miss.
Why? Because I can tell you first-hand the power of a RITA nomination. It can land you in Hollywood.
I just closed a major motion picture option deal for my author Kelly Parra because of the double RITA-nomination for her young adult novel GRAFFITI GIRL. Yep, you heard that right. My author didn’t even win this year’s 2008 RITA but she’s winning in a whole different way (although she was very sad not to take home that beautiful statue).
This past July, several movie producers decided to check out Romance Writers Of America’s National Conference. Obviously, they gave special attention to any work nominated for the prestigious RITA award. Several weeks later, this producer got in touch with us. One call to my film co-agent and a week later, we had spanking new film option. This in turn is generating new excitement by foreign publishers in Frankfurt (as I write this).
All a year-plus after initial publication of the novel. And to top off the good news, Kelly’s new novel INVISIBLE TOUCH is releasing this month and this film interest is igniting excitement for her second novel. In fact, you should check out her cyber launch on The Secret Fates Blog.
So let me ask this question again. Have you been thinking about entering your novel into the RITAs?
Why are you waiting? Hop to it.
10 Comments on From RITA Nomination To Hollywood, last added: 10/28/2008
You might, however, include the fact that most small-press published books, no matter how good, can't enter this Rita contest. It's for the biggies only.
What I wonder is: what are they afraid of? Quality should out, and therefore they should open the contest to all non-vanity pubbed books that meet the other criteria.
Anonymous, I'm published with a micro-press (tinier than a small press) and last year I entered my book in the RITA. If you qualify for RWA's PAN, you can enter the RITA.
I also publish erotic romance under a pen name, and I entered my novella from last year in the RITA and this year I'm entering my new novella. I wouldn't call my publisher one of the biggies. It's been around for a long time, but it's definitely a small publisher.
Since no one else answered you yet, the RITA is the award given by the Romance Writers of America to the best published romance novels and novellas in several different categories. The RITA is presented yearly at the RWA Conference and you can see the current year's finalists on the RWA website.
Cindy - You do not have to belong to RWA's PAN (Published authors network) to enter in the RITA -- it's open to any romance novel that meets the requirements whether authored by an RWA member or a non-member.
STATUS: I need a good neck stretch or back massage. But TGIF!
What’s playing on the iPod right now? WHAT’D I SAY by Ray Charles
I spent the day working on getting my foreign rights co-agent ready for Frankfurt (which is just a few weeks away).
So what have we been doing? Well, first we establish the list of the clients/titles that will be shopped there. Basically we just make sure that any project we hold World rights for is on the list. We also make a list of projects that the publisher holds World for. We’ll certainly field interest for those clients so we make sure we have the Publishing House’s contact person so we can share with interested parties at Frankfurt.
But the rest of getting ready is making sure that our co-agent has all current info in hand.
On the checklist:
1. Final cover and final flap or back cover copy of any featured title.
2. Final manuscript—in page proof PDF if we have it yet but most often it’s the Word document—final sans copy edits.
3. All reviews, praise, and latest news for any client title. This is the most time consuming. Sara has been putting that together all week but there were literally events happening as of this week—like a film deal I just concluded for one of my YA authors.
I needed to make sure that info had been disseminated.
4. Confirmed release dates for all upcoming titles.
5. Made a list of foreign rights already sold for each title.
6. Made sure the marketing plans for all titles had been forwarded on as well.
There’s probably something more that I’m forgetting but that pretty much sums it up.
Frankfurt here we come.
9 Comments on Getting Ready For Frankfurt, last added: 10/6/2008
Is it me or are others experiencing a problem submitting to Kristin Nelson? I have tried several times over several weeks and each time Mailer Demon returns my submission with a message that the email address (as published on the website) is not valid. Help!
Have a great trip, Kristin! I always thought I'd like to attend the Frankfurt show. My agent will have her eyes out for possibilities for my own book this year, but it's not on the front burner because it has not sold in the US yet. Enjoy the action and let us know what goes on over there -- Rosemary Carstens - http://carstensFEAST.blogspot.com
Wow! Despite the stress, getting to go to Frankfurt sounds fascinating. Who knew being an agent involved traveling to such cool places! Hawaii, now Germany! Have a wonderful trip!
kristin, what happens at these giant book fairs? are you able to pitch to foreign publishers? do you go to them or are they actively looking for you? just wondering. it sounds very exciting! safe travels and have fun!!
STATUS: What craziness. Sara just got her wallet stolen and since of course she’s got the company credit card, we had to do some quick phone calling. Lucky for us, the thief was not able to act quickly enough to use the card.
What’s playing on the iPod right now? IF NOT NOW by Tracy Chapman
Okay, this is terribly embarrassing story. Yesterday, we sold one of our client books to be translated into Slovene.
Yeah, I had to look up Slovenia on google maps.
I had guessed former Yugoslavia but the fact that I couldn’t say for sure, well, that shows a bit of shortcoming on my part. Bad agent! If I’m going to sell a translation right, I really ought to know to which country and where it is on the globe…
But hey, maybe we’ll be big in Slovenia! May this be the first of many.
21 Comments on Big In Slovenia!, last added: 7/28/2008
I guess between being half-Slovene, half-Czech and growing up in a neighborhood full of Slavs as a kid, but I know the countries of Eastern Europe quite well. Slovenia, btw, is one of the prettiest spots on the planet.
Big in Slovenia, that's great, sounds like an eighties band.
Anonymous said, on 7/24/2008 9:01:00 PM
Why should you know where a country is located simply because you're selling the rights there? It would not make your sale any better. If you think you're not great at geography and its embarassing to admit it, OK, I can dig that... but does it really matter if you've never been to Denmark or Sweden to let someone handle the rights to those countries? your perfectionism is showing!
Look at it like this: Do you think you really know all of your clients that well? Have you spent time in person with each of them so that you can honestly say you know them beyond their writing strenghts and weaknesses and the their surface personality presentation? Even when you've made the above-and-beyond gesture of inviting some of them to Kristin's Special Spa Day for fun and girl-talk or hooked up at conferences--do you really know them?
I've had a number of very substantial and well-known agents over the years. Only one of them did I ever meet in person. Beyond knowing me through the written word and some phone conversations, none of them really knew much about me. This did not stop them from taking me on or trying to sell my work.
Point being: you can do a lot for people in the business of agenting without really knowing them very well--as long as you're good at making the right match of their work with your editorial contacts. No?
Cool. I've sold maps in translation to Slovenia. Ljubljana looks like a beautiful city from pictures I've seen. If only our deals were big enough to necessitate visits!
I'm Croatian, and I'm frequently amazed that people don't know anything about the former Yugoslav nation or the independant countries that formed (reformed) after it's collapse. Especially considering that it was the scene of the worst, most brutal war crimes that ocurred in Europe since WWII. This is a war that ended barely over a decade ago where numerous people, including children and the elderly, were tortured and slaughtered in concentration camps. Yet many people know nothing of it.
Granted, Slovenia was largely spared the attrocity.
And this comment is off-topic, but your post reiminded me of that fact.
Anonymous said, on 7/25/2008 7:32:00 AM
Kristin:
I understand how you feel. It's embarrassing sometimes even if no one else ever knows.
Just remember that a lot of former Soviet/East Bloc states have reverted to traditional names and territorial boundaries that haven't been in common use since the days of the Austro-Hungarian empire.
Add to that the fact that some of this stuff still hasn't been ironed out completely yet and its not surprising that we all need a map.
That's like when my publisher told me they sold the rights of my News Blues book to Estonia. I had to look it up to figure out where that was. It turns out it's a country of about a thousand people. Wonder what a typical print run there is? :)
One of my tech reference books was translated into "simple Chinese." (I think that's what it's called.) My one copy of that edition remains a favorite one to pull off the shelf and browse through, even though I can't read a lick of Chinese, simple or otherwise. I'm kind of charmed to see all the stuff they couldn't translate -- screen shots, especially.
Know what you mean about thinking you might have overlooked something important -- not knowing where Slovenia is, in this case. Almost anybody who takes a lot of pride in his/her work would feel at least a twinge of that; only a lucky few souls have the psychological armor to say, Hey, it's all good, just keep the good news flowin', pal -- no matter where it's coming from! I envy such people. (But at the same time am glad I worry about such issues.)
Anonymous said, on 7/25/2008 4:22:00 PM
Dear Ms. Nelson, If possible, please write more about beginning writer's mistakes. How about a fun workshop? I enjoyed your Query Workshop. It was not only interesting and fun, but it was also informative and it gave us something to look forward to each day. Ditto for last week's entries. Not that its your job to entertain your readership, but sure is fun when you get us up and participating on something together. Just a thought...
They claim that the only plus side of the US going to war is that it brushes everyone up on a small section of world geography.
I think it would be fascinating to have a book translated, and then have someone who knows the language actually translate it back into English for you. There was a "love offering" donation box through our denomination which had text printed in various languages on it, and one of the translations was French, "giving of love." When one of my roommates (from France) in college saw it, he asked me about it...because apparently that particular usage of "giving of love" meant something COMPLETELY different than what the church had intended.
When I lived in Graz, Austria for a few months, I paid a visit to Maribor. Slovenia was still part of Yugoslavia then, and for a 20-year-old American, the border crossing felt a little scary, so I never ventured any deeper into that very beautiful country.
My hubby is Slovenian! His mom passed away a few weeks ago and the Slovenian Catholic Church here in Toronto had a full Mass with a choir singing in Slovenian.
She had lots of stories about the farm on which she was raised.
STATUS: Contracts and more contracts. I have four total that I’m working on. A fifth one just came in and I just started negotiating a new deal for a current client. Busy.
What’s playing on the iPod right now? DON’T GET AROUND MUCH ANYMORE by Natalie Cole
Last year the agency did 29 foreign rights deals on behalf of our clients and I have to say that the sales remain unabated into 2008. We are doing several a week for various clients. All great news.
But I had an interesting thing happen last week. I turned down a foreign offer for one of my clients (and obviously with the client’s permission) because I didn’t think the offer was on par with where it should be in comparison to other foreign offers and the client’s current sales etc.
This is a first for me. Because so many of my clients are (or were) debut authors (as my agency is only five years old), most often we are thrilled to get foreign interest at all. And yes, we always negotiate up the foreign advances etc. but you only have so much leverage when the client hasn’t got a sales track record.
But obviously the agency has reached a new level—especially for established clients with success. Yet another threshold we are crossing as we finish up year five and head into year six of our existence.
26 Comments on Doing Foreign Rights Deals, last added: 3/15/2008
I would like to know if chick lit sells in Bangkok. Are vampires big in Madrid? A brief overview of what kind of American writing is interesting to the rest of the world would be quite welcome to me. Personally, I would like to know how well American science fiction and fantasy is received in foreign markets. I would also like to know if you shop a project in foreign markets before it has been released here in the states, or do you wait until it has already exhibited sales here?
Anonymous said, on 3/14/2008 6:52:00 AM
wplv:
While I doubt your comments are really anon's point (& I know ur not saying they are), but in some way I think your comments are exactly what anon is saying/thinking, in whatever crude fashion. I read this blog b/c it's a train wreck. Lots of "i'm busy doing x" but no real meat. Instead of blogging that you are working of 4 or 5 contracts (which just makes KN sound like she's trying to look important/busy), why not talk about what subgenres the contracts are for -- how popular they are, or some other common thread. Instead of tooting her own horn about how many foreign rights she's done, why not address all/some/one of WPLVs very valid questions? WPLV's questions are thought provoking. KNs blog is vapid and as opposite of proactive & informative as is humanly possible. Put a little thought into it. Stream of consciousness is great if you are a tween blogger gushing about which Jonas Bro is a hottie. Its less flattering on a literary agent. (But still I read simply b/c it is soooo shallow)
DeAnna Cameron said, on 3/14/2008 10:20:00 AM
I can only speak for myself, but I find *a lot* of helpful information in Kristin's blog and I appreciate the time she devotes to keeping it up.
RyanBruner said, on 3/14/2008 10:34:00 AM
I find Kristin's blog terribly useful and helpful and generous of her. Period.
Anonymous said, on 3/14/2008 10:43:00 AM
so...because this agent's blog doesn't have the exact information you are looking for, it's vapid stream of consciousness? Hmmm. Try doing your own research. There's a lot of market info out there. Subscribe to the publishing market news sources for one. And since this blog doesn't provide you with the industry/market info you want, then move on. Life's too short to waste on trivia, right?
damara
Anonymous said, on 3/14/2008 10:58:00 AM
Kristen, sounds like you passed on someone's work and rather than handle the rejection in a positive light (ie, editing and trying again) they had to post their immature feelings. Good thing you passed - what would they have been like as a client? It's especially funny that anon is so upset over your success.
I read your blog everyday and enjoy it immensely. I do have to say I've yet to ask you for representation and I hope too much success won't keep you from looking at debut authors.:-) I have found the publishing info you provide specific, informative, and extremely appropriate given the genres I write. Thank you for putting yourself out there and sharing part of your world.
Rebecca
Anonymous said, on 3/14/2008 11:08:00 AM
As someone who has met Kristen in person at one of her workshops on writing queries I can't say enough good things about her. Hmm let me start with professional, intelligent, personable, and helpful. . .oh yeah she also has a great sense of humor.
My understanding is that she doesn't reply to the comments on the blog--I don't think it's because she doesn't care--I think it's because she's busy and blogging takes up a lot of time.
Adrienne said, on 3/14/2008 11:13:00 AM
anon 5:52,
Ah yes, the bravery and strength of character it takes to post such bile behind an anonymous name. Well done.
I have to say, it is totally your prerogative if you enjoy Kristin's blog merely as a train wreck, and if you truly do not find her posts useful, that is fine too. But have you ever clicked the links in the sidebar? Yet more agent blogs, some of which answer the exact questions you pose. I would advise that instead of posting such negative words for really no reason aside from getting some frustration out of your system (you obviously do not intend on giving Kristin genuine advice or anything, or you would have done it in a much more positive and constructive manner), you may wish to investigate which agent blogs DO answer your questions.
You may wish to do some research. And then you can continue to read Pub Rants with a smug smile, while still getting the information you were craving.
wplasvegas said, on 3/14/2008 11:53:00 AM
anon (2)
I have followed Ms. Nelson's blog and several other agent's blogs for over a year now. These busy people have expended a gret deal of time and effort on our behalf. If you want meat and potatoes, check out her agenting 101 archive or the querys section of her labels archive for information that was completely unavailable to the average writer before agents started blogging.
No, I did not do back flips and yell wahoo upon reading this particular post, but it did pique my interest. Whether or not she chooses to answer my questions is completely up to her. She does not owe me anything, indeed I owe her. My comments are not anon's point, they are just questions.
As for tooting, my mother used to say, "If you don't toot your own horn, it will go forever untootled, won't it?"
Welshcake said, on 3/14/2008 12:00:00 PM
"Instead of blogging that you are working of 4 or 5 contracts (which just makes KN sound like she's trying to look important/busy), why not talk about what subgenres the contracts are for -- how popular they are, or some other common thread."
If you read this blog properly, you'll find that Kristen has very recently blogged about what editors might be looking for right now.
Kristen's posts on how what she's up to and how her agency's doing are also pretty useful for anyone who's considering submitting as they show the agency is thriving.
Devon Ellington said, on 3/14/2008 12:07:00 PM
Kudos to you, Kristin, for looking out for your clients' best interests so well. Their work grows and evolves -- so should the deals. It's always great to hear from a writer's champion!
Amy Nathan said, on 3/14/2008 2:40:00 PM
I read this blog for the inside scoop - for Kristin's knowledge to enhance my own and make me a better part of this writing and publishing community.
I rarely even read the comments - and now I remember why.
Anonymous said, on 3/14/2008 3:26:00 PM
i think adrienne makes the best point of all -- this blog may not have much to offer, but there are other blogs out there that may meet your needs. There is no need to criticize -- just move on. Read only the good books (or good blogs,in this case)
Joanne
Carolyn Burns Bass said, on 3/14/2008 3:46:00 PM
Congratulations on heading into your sixth year, Kristin! Putting five behind you in such a competitive market is a huge accomplishment. Here's to you and the gallery of authors who call you their agent.
Anonymous said, on 3/14/2008 3:50:00 PM
omg
Anonymous said, on 3/14/2008 4:22:00 PM
Congrats on the success Kristin. As an aspiring writer, I truly appreciate your willingness to let us in on your day-to-day dealings.
I come back to your blog often, and read again the fabulous section on queries. I can't tell you have invaluable it is to have that information at my fingertips.
Thanks again, and congratulations to you and your authors.
-Ashley
Richard Lewis said, on 3/14/2008 6:06:00 PM
When I built a backyard pool for me, my kids and their friends, we had a blast playing in it, jumping and waterbombing and splashing and cavorting.
My neighbor didn't like the racket. He scolded me for allowing the pool to be used for that. He said I be training my kids in the freestyle and the breaststroke.
To which I said, it's my pool, pal. You and yours can play in it if you want, but don't tell me how I should be swimming in it.
Deb said, on 3/14/2008 7:14:00 PM
I for one feel Kristin should not be blogging, agenting, contracting or any other -ing, but should be spending her time going around telling publishers to stop printing covers with headless people on them.
I like my peeps with heads. Most of the folks I know still have theirs. My Day Job Boss bit mine off a long time ago, but I remember how it felt to have one.
Anonymous said, on 3/14/2008 10:02:00 PM
Kristin is incredibly professional and gracious. She recently gave me a real fair shake when considering representing me. Even though she didn't choose to do so in the end, I absolutely give her high marks and would recommend her in an instant if someone asked for an opinion of her work as an agent. Keep on doing what you're doing, Kristin!
Brian
Martha O'Connor said, on 3/14/2008 10:49:00 PM
There's a saying about gift horses...
If you don't like the way Kristin blogs, don't read this blog. Sheesh.
Mags said, on 3/15/2008 10:57:00 AM
The Anon looked lustily at missive left by the agent of his/her angst (for Anons are hermaphroditic creatures, trapped within the confines of their anatomies and doomed forever to troll the dark spaces beyond self-acceptance and -comprehension).
There she was, exposed to the world—laid bare for others to read like the pages turning on a Kindle.
Again.
The Anon felt his/her ire rise up in a flash, replacing the empty space his/her heart had once occupied.
“You will not betray me this way again, Agent Kristin!” the Anon cried out to no one, for no one was in the room. No one was ever in the room. The Anon stabbed at the button s/he knew would change Agent Kristin’s life forever.
“I guess no one gives a shit,” the Anon scratched into his/her reply, confident s/he was scratching the words just as surely into Agent Kristin’s heart.
Gentler Anons and non-Anons looked at the Surrender Dorothy hanging like angry vapor below the agent’s missive and they scratched their heads for a moment. “WTF?” some wondered. “ROTFL,” a few exclaimed.
And then, one by one, they stepped over the angry Anon and thought of other things, for s/he had grown tiresome and they had pages of substance to revise. They returned again the following day, and again they stepped over the Anon. This occurred once again the next day following, and the Anon grew weaker as the attention that was the very sustenance of his/her rage became sparse and the taste of what was left of it grew bitter.
“But I too am a valid voice,” the Anon cried weakly, his/her fingers shaking as s/he entered this last plea.
The gentler Anons and non-Anons moved on.
“Then sign your fucking name,” suggested a name-tag wearing Anon over his/her shoulder. “And perhaps a URL.” Unlike the rest, s/he was not without pity for the plight of the poor angst ridden Anon—just bored.
Anonymous said, on 3/15/2008 12:21:00 PM
It is still astounding to see all the asskissing you people do to try and get an agent to look at your work. Someone voices a negative view and the lot of you spill out of the trees like a pack of ravenous baboons. Nelson's ego is inflated enough without all you stroking her. Grow up.
I'm happy to see there are others who read this crap for the sake of seeing both unbridled asskissery and dull, masturbatory blogging.
Anonymous said, on 3/15/2008 12:23:00 PM
Uh oh, here comes the flood of buttholes explaining that they already have agents and would never-ever query Nelson. What horseshit. Don't bother, baboons, it's all been said before.
Adrienne said, on 3/15/2008 2:10:00 PM
I'm sorry. I have a really bad habit of never reading the "don't feed the trolls" signs.
I apologise to those who want me to just let this alone.
Anon 1121 and 1123 - who may or may not be the same Anon who sparked this non-debate - we will never know because s/he is too cowardly to sign a name:
Seriously?
You are telling us to grow up? You are the one who visits this blog, feels compelled to write such nasty things, all under the safety of being Anonymous - and we are childish?
I will try one last time to offer you some very respectable advice, which not only may help preserve your sanity, but lower your blood pressure: Don't read the blog if it upsets you like this!
I know, so simple!
Also, why should I not bother saying I have an agent, and am published, and have no desire to suck up to Kristin? I don't get that. Is it because if I say that that disproves your point? Is that what makes me a baboon? If so, I'll be a baboon, I like baboons. They're very intelligent as a matter of fact. And cool.
(it can't be because you think I'm lying, as you can easily verify the veracity of my statements)
Apologies again folks for my responding at all. I couldn't help myself, moment of weakness. I promise I won't do it again.
Anonymous said, on 3/15/2008 3:58:00 PM
Again, to one more dipshit, it must be explained that everyone on the web is anonymous. Proclaiming to the virtual heavens that "anonymous posters are cowards!" is about as useful as taking a fork and repeatedly jamming it into the back of your hand. My name could Danielle or Ralph or BloggingMommy101, and it makes not one whit of difference. Here you go, genius, my name is Adrienne too.
How do I know that's your name, huh sister? Maybe you are a fat guy from southern Jersey named Mort.
There, I typed slow so maybe you'd get it. All of you who think standing up and identifying yourselves as another loser blogger makes you a stand-up type, get over yourselves. All of you who think that anyone who doesn't like Kristin (met her in person and thought she was an asshole, by the way) is obviously someone rejected by her, get real-- all she reps is romance and chick-lit.
Good grief, you people are dense.
Signed, Adrienne, Deanna, Ryan, Mags, Martha, Brian, Deb, Richard, Ashley, Carolyn, Amy, Devon... maybe you get the point now, retard. On the web you're whoever you want to be.
Anonymous said, on 3/15/2008 4:04:00 PM
Stand up for truth! Bababooey, bababooey! Fight the power! Bababooey, bababooey! Stop lying to yourselves and worshiping know it all phonies! Bababooey, bababooey! Make a stand against tyranny, write something good and original and stop listening to the asshole agents of the world intent on making fiction into bland garbage with the consistency of a late-night acne medicine commercial! Peace out, bitches!
Erasmus Lane.
Writer Babs said, on 3/16/2008 12:12:00 AM
Ignoring some of the comments above, I wish to say congrats for reaching another milestone with your agency, Kristen!
Anonymous said, on 3/16/2008 1:14:00 AM
WTH is Bababooey?
Martha O'Connor said, on 3/16/2008 10:45:00 AM
The sound Linus makes when he loses his security blanket?
Arturo Pérez-Reverte. New York : G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2007. ISBN 9780399153839
Michael Sedano
Abundance is a terrible thing to waste, it seemed to me, as my eyes caught the name Arturo Pérez-Reverte on a book's spine. Remembering the many times people--such as La Bloga's Friday columnist, Manuel Ramos--recommended reading this author's other books, "waste not, want not," I told myself, and took home The Sun Over Breda. In a lucky irony, checking this author off my "to be read" list increases the list by two more titles, now that I discover The Sun Over Breda is the third in a series of historical novels featuring the same character, Captain Diego Alatriste y Tenorio.
Alatriste's third story runs only 273 pages that read very quickly in a lively prose that must be a tribute to putative translator Jean Schalekamp's skill. I say "putative" in that the book is dedicated "For Jean Schalekamp, damned hertic, translator, and friend." The translator of this novel gets no other acknowledgment that I could find. It's an odd omission. Unless Pérez-Reverte wrote this one in English, it's disappointing not seeing the translator’s art acknowledged. When one reads a work in translation, after all, the translator is as much the "real" author as the person named in big letters on the cover. I wonder if the translators of the Spaniard's work into 28 other languages labor in similar anonymity?
Give Pérez-Reverte credit for a great summer read with The Sun Over Breda. The narrator, a man named Íñigo Balboa, is recounting hair-raising war stories dating back to when Balboa was still a child yet experiencing all manner of seventeenth century infantry warfare during the Spanish campaign in Flanders: clashing armies shooting one another with harquebus balls, inevitable defeat by repeated cavalry charges, trench warfare, dagger fighting by feel alone in the depths of a Dutch tunnel. This is exciting action that Pérez-Reverte brings into focus in quick succession, hardly giving the reader pause to catch a breath.
Through calmly bloodthirsty heroics, the narrator’s voice remains a bit of a mystery. Is he nostalgically ticking off a few scars to an old friend? Or has Balboa’s tumultuous career brought him to face a board of inquisitors, telling a story that will save his life? There is a suggestion of the latter.
Íñigo Balboa is fourteen as the novel opens. The boy is not a soldier, he's a spear-carrier. In 1624, an infantryman like Alatriste carries into battle his harquebus and a small supply of munitions, maybe six rounds. His mochilero follows literally in the fighters' footprints, weighted down by all the gunpowder, lead shot, fuse cord, water, and food needed in battle. And he’d best be handy with a blade in heat of battle.
For all his derring-do, Alatriste is less interesting than Balboa. During a foraging run—their war was find your own food or starve—mochilero Balboa comes across a Spaniard and a Dutch clergyman frantically saving books from a flaming library. Íñigo helps, expressing understanding of the treasure he’d preserved, choosing books over food. The boy can read and write, reads Cervantes when he can, and is the informant who helps Diego Velásquez get the details just right in Velásquez’ painting of the victory at Breda.
These facts, however, remain lost in what appear deliberate efforts to cleanse the historical record of Balboa and Alatriste. Pérez-Reverte offers a small selection of literary evidence to establish with some certitude the facts of the conspiracy. Most telling evidence, the book’s Editor says in an afterword, is the painted over face of Captain Alatriste in the famous painting. The spot remains for the world to see behind the horse, though art critics disagree, and Alatriste may have been painted over elsewhere in the background.
A reader is left to wonder what Íñigo Balboa and Captain Alatriste must have done. They seem like good guys, too. To have given so much for Spain, yet to have their existence so permanently emended? This is why we have novels.
February ends, gente, August comes. And here we are, Tuesday, 31 July, 2007, a day like any other day, except, you are here. Thanks for reading. Until next week, early August, te wacho.mvs
Blogmeister’s note: Please leave a comment or observation on today’s, or any day’s, La Bloga. La Bloga welcomes guest columnists. If you have a review or event you’d like to share with La Bloga’s readers, email a Bloguera or Bloguero, or click here.
1 Comments on Review: The Sun Over Breda., last added: 8/5/2007
Keep your students reading all summer! The lists for 2nd, 3rd and 4th, include 10 recommended fiction titles and 10 recommended nonfiction titles. Printed double-sided, these one-page flyers are perfect to hand out to students, teachers, or parents. Great for PTA meetings, have on hand in the library, or to send home with students for the summer. FREE Pdf or infographic jpeg.
See the Summer Lists Now!
IBooks, through itunesconnect.apple.com has one of the widest distribution systems. Using Apple’s free iBooksAuthor program, you can create an iBook version of your story, and upload it to 51 countries. Here’s my book, WISDOM, THE MIDWAY ALBATROSS on the IBookStore, which allows a download to your iPad. It is also available worldwide. Sounds cool to say that, doesn’t it? (Well–it’s only available in an English language translation, but hey, still sounds good.)
13 Comments on 2012 Bologna Children's Book Fair - Next Hot Thing?, last added: 3/23/2012
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On the floor of the International Rights Center. Agents, Rights representatives, and publishers hard at work.
That looks like so much fun! I'm sure it's exhausting, but still!
Who gets more than six hours of sleep?
Loved this! Thanks for sharing.
That's really funny about Russia not liking wimps! Hee.
Masculine/feminine stereotyping is alive and well in a country where women still aren't allowed to work in over four hundred professions, including that of bus driver and train operator.
Why Can't Russian Women Drive Buses?
Which may not actually be connected with the lack of success for "Wimpy Kid," but in a country that admires masculine strength and virility (Check out the pics of Vladimir Putin on some of his sporting expeditions.) I'd be surprised if it were any other way.
Thanks for sharing about Bologna. I'm a huge fan of Marie's and interviewed her and gave away a copy of Legend on my blog. It was one of my most popular interviews. And she agreed to another interview when Legend 2 comes out.
Yay for geeks!
I've been reading a lot of YA lately and one thing I love to see is when there's a huge emotional obstacle the mc must overcome...a fear, an insecurity. I'm not sure about geeks...but I love when the mc is popular on the outside and no one knows how insecure he/she is on the inside.
This is exciting news for me since my YA features a "geek" hero!
How fun!! That's SO interesting. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks for sharing this post! I don't think I have the right mindset for writing geek. I love writing fantasy, supernatural and paranormal but I haven't really tried it in romance in YA. Hmmmmm.....
Great Post!
It's true about paranormal being popular in the UK - at my local library yesterday, and in the teen section, out of 30 books about 27 were paranormal. I kid you not.
So depressing - what's hot - it's all about fashion, isn't it, not good writing.