Quiet on the blog front for oh-so-many reasons. Jon and I took a week plus to travel to Florida and check on his mom's property there. Between watching the sunrise over the river, feeding the turtles in the marina, and taking walks on balmy mornings, we oversaw the installation of new carpeting and a kitchen floor and spent hours in Bed, Bath & Beyond buying kitchen necessities like shelf paper, cutting boards and zesters. The home has no Internet access and we found ourselves reading more, going to bed earlier and calming down quite a bit. I can't remember when I've been so relaxed!
We got home in time to vote and now we're both ratcheted up to cope with the real world.
Last weekend we enjoyed attending the Montgomery County Community College Annual Writers Conference in Blue Bell, PA. The keynote speaker Friday night was Michael Chabon, Pulitzer Prize winning author of novels including The Yiddish Policemen's Union and The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. I have never heard a more inspirational, powerful, or entertaining speech in my entire life. Chabon, who claims to truly enjoy the Q&A format, asked himself questions, a most clever way to tell us what he wanted to tell us. His comments ranged from the value of an MFA program (for him, it meant everything) to where he gets ideas (the easiest thing about writing--they are everywhere!). I felt myself tearing up during his speech as he talked about the magic and agony of writing. If you ever get the opportunity to hear him, don't pass it up.
I sat on the agent's panel where the audience of writers lined up to ask questions of me and six other agents. The questions don't change too much in my experience, although sometimes they are quite bizarre. There seemed to be much interest in self-publishing and many of the questions related to that: I've self-published a novel--will publishers still be interested? (Yes and no. It depends on you, the topic of the book and how many copies have sold.) I want to write a very nichey book on real estate fraud. Should I self publish? (Yes.) Other questions included one about a cookbook memoir, a very hot topic now, even without star-quality.
The first question to the panel was rather blunt: You all say you get 100s of queries a week--why are you here? It seemed obvious to me that the author was sick and tired of being whined at by busy agents and wanted to know how we had the gall to take time off from reading queries to immerse ourselves in the rich literary stew of the writers conference. One of the agents answered in kind: "You need to know most queries are crap!" The rest of us added that you can only read queries for so many hours a day--you need to take frequent breaks to recharge and get your head on straight. A writers conference gives agents the perfect opportunity to talk shop, hear new ideas and maybe find new clients.
After the agent panal Jon and I and the other agents interviewed authors in the typical writers conference "speed dating" format.
The MCCC Writers Conference is a classy affair, always held in November. I encourage you to think about attending next year.
Showing posts with label self-publishing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label self-publishing. Show all posts
Friday, November 12, 2010
Thursday, October 14, 2010
CAN SELF-PUBLISHED NOVELS BE SUCCESSFUL?
Last month Angela responded to our post about self-publishing and asked this perfectly reasonable question about the publicity side of our business.
Angela said...
I agree with Alissa that there is more than one way to get published. I also agree with Julie that the business is really subjective.People often recommend self-published books to me and don't even know the books are self-published. They could care less who the publisher is, they just want to read a good book. That being said, I think it's hard to put a good self-published book out there and be successful without the benefit of editors, readers, proofreaders, a marketing and PR team, and sales team. Kae, do you and Jon do PR for self-published novels? And if so, I'm curious if you have a different strategy for promoting self-published books.
Jon brought this question to my attention this morning and we spent some time discussing it. While we have worked with self-published authors in the past and continue to do so today, these are authors of nonfiction. Publicizing fiction is very difficult, even if the fiction is published by a standard publishing company. Fiction benefits from the distribution, advertising, marketing and sales efforts provided by large companies. But, other than sending out review copies, most publicity efforts for first novels are minimal. When a novelist gains a name and reputation, there is the opportunity for a much wider publicity campaign. That's why you see famous novelists on "Today" and "Oprah."
I would never advise an author to self-publish his or her fiction. (Unless, of course, the author is famous, lectures widely, has a built-in audience of potential buyers, and is already a veteran of countless media interviews.) Without the support a publishing company provides, it's next to impossible to get a fiction book out there in the numbers required to make an impact. Now, I am sure there are exceptions. Perhaps you are a successful self-published novelist or know someone who is. If so, please let us know. I'd love to hear how you did it and so would our readers, I'm sure.
Publicizing self-published non-fiction is a different matter. We've been very successful with our nonfiction self-published authors. Because these authors are experts in their fields, they have the option of selling their books when they do lectures and programs, on their websites, and online. These people have a "platform" (a built-in audience) and can use that audience to promote and sell their books. Typically we will send out review copies, schedule radio and television interviews, set up book signings and pursue online opportunities for our nonfiction authors. Our campaigns for self-published nonfiction authors are the same as for published authors and are limited only by budget constraints.
Bottom line is, publicity for ANY book, published or self-published is tougher than ever as media channels morph and shrink.
Angela said...
I agree with Alissa that there is more than one way to get published. I also agree with Julie that the business is really subjective.People often recommend self-published books to me and don't even know the books are self-published. They could care less who the publisher is, they just want to read a good book. That being said, I think it's hard to put a good self-published book out there and be successful without the benefit of editors, readers, proofreaders, a marketing and PR team, and sales team. Kae, do you and Jon do PR for self-published novels? And if so, I'm curious if you have a different strategy for promoting self-published books.
Jon brought this question to my attention this morning and we spent some time discussing it. While we have worked with self-published authors in the past and continue to do so today, these are authors of nonfiction. Publicizing fiction is very difficult, even if the fiction is published by a standard publishing company. Fiction benefits from the distribution, advertising, marketing and sales efforts provided by large companies. But, other than sending out review copies, most publicity efforts for first novels are minimal. When a novelist gains a name and reputation, there is the opportunity for a much wider publicity campaign. That's why you see famous novelists on "Today" and "Oprah."
I would never advise an author to self-publish his or her fiction. (Unless, of course, the author is famous, lectures widely, has a built-in audience of potential buyers, and is already a veteran of countless media interviews.) Without the support a publishing company provides, it's next to impossible to get a fiction book out there in the numbers required to make an impact. Now, I am sure there are exceptions. Perhaps you are a successful self-published novelist or know someone who is. If so, please let us know. I'd love to hear how you did it and so would our readers, I'm sure.
Publicizing self-published non-fiction is a different matter. We've been very successful with our nonfiction self-published authors. Because these authors are experts in their fields, they have the option of selling their books when they do lectures and programs, on their websites, and online. These people have a "platform" (a built-in audience) and can use that audience to promote and sell their books. Typically we will send out review copies, schedule radio and television interviews, set up book signings and pursue online opportunities for our nonfiction authors. Our campaigns for self-published nonfiction authors are the same as for published authors and are limited only by budget constraints.
Bottom line is, publicity for ANY book, published or self-published is tougher than ever as media channels morph and shrink.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
ARE TODAY'S BOOK PUBLISHERS LIKE GM?
Our reader "Julie" posted this message here today in reference to our recent post on Bowker's new service for authors. I appreciate the time and effort Julie dedicated to this post and I think she brings up valid points that resonate with many authors and others in the book world. I'm going to attempt to answer and/or comment on some of the points she makes.
Julie: I agree that this sounds like a way for this company to make money. However, as an unpublished author, I find it frustrating that a very small group of literary agents gets to decide which books are shown to publishers.
KT: Yes, Julie, there is a small pool of agents. But not all publishers require that you submit your work through an agent. I'm always lecturing authors to learn about the book publishing industry. One of the things you should investigate is the publishers who accept unagented submissions. You'll find them listed in references such as Jeff Herman's Guide to Book Publishers, Editors, & Literary Agents. You can also find this information on publishers' websites.
Julie: I’ve been sending queries out for at least 12 years. Over that time, I’ve been struck by what a small pool of agents we have and how many of them are based out one city.
KT: Ahem!! Not ALL literary agents are based in Fogelsville!
Julie: I can’t count the number of times that an agent has told me that he or she likes my work but doesn’t know how to market me. I understand why they don’t want to waste time on a writer who may not sell, but I wonder why we all assume that this small group of agents has their finger on the pulse of American readers more than anyone else.
KT: It's not the agents' fingers you should worry about--it's the publishers' fingers or other items they use to judge what Americans and others want to read. Agents are at the mercy of publishers. I just had my heart broken again last week when an editor at a major house emailed me that she'd fallen in love with one of our books and was taking it to the editorial board. She called a week later to report that the board said the author was "too close to the topic." They turned it down. I still don't understand why, but it illustrates that even when an agent is high on a book, and even when an editor shares our enthusiasm, we have to deal with editorial boards at publishers who must SELL, SELL, SELL. (Book publishing, like any other business, MUST make money to survive.) The editors who make these decisions are just human beings like you and me and, as far as I can tell, they make their decisions based mostly on what they've sold in the past. They are not perfect and they make mistakes and they take very few risks these days. An agent must temper his or her own feelings about a book with the reality of the marketplace.
Julie: It reminds me of how GMC and Chrysler keep building gas guzzlers because they think Americans want big cars. (I don’t want a big car. I want a fuel efficient car and I don’t think I’m alone, but I don’t own a car company).
KT: I don't want a big car either, Julie, but those guys are all morons, IMHO. We've all seen what happened to these companies.
Julie: I think that self-publishing to Kindle and other sites will democratize the publishing world and I’ll be interested to see if it alters the kind of books that become popular in the future.
KT: I would agree with you EXCEPT that most self-published books are simply not that good. There, I've said it. Although the book publishing system in place is inefficient, often unfair, unimaginative, and cumbersome, it still provides a structure for separating the wheat from the chaff. (Love that figure of speech--my mom used it all the time, but then she was born in 1911.)
Back to the point--self-published books do not have the benefit of: tough readers and editors who make them sing; proof readers to catch grammatical errors and misspellings; marketing and publicity teams who will get the word out about them; sales forces who will push them out to major retailers, Amazon and others. Is that to say a self-published book will never rise to the standards of The Great Gatsby or The Prince of Tides? No. It could happen. Maybe someday it will. But...don't hold your breath.
Agents and editors, today's "gatekeepers" for mainstream book publishing, are there for a reason. They love books. They've educated themselves about literature and most of them have developed a good instinct for identifying good writing. I believe they still have an important role to play in the publishing world. But time will tell. Self-publishing is here to stay and is a powerful force. Self-publishing and traditional publishing will operate on parallel tracks in the foreseeable future. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.
What do the rest of you think? Will self-publishing eclipse the traditional model or is it more likely that the two will meet the needs of different kinds of authors and books?
Julie: I agree that this sounds like a way for this company to make money. However, as an unpublished author, I find it frustrating that a very small group of literary agents gets to decide which books are shown to publishers.
KT: Yes, Julie, there is a small pool of agents. But not all publishers require that you submit your work through an agent. I'm always lecturing authors to learn about the book publishing industry. One of the things you should investigate is the publishers who accept unagented submissions. You'll find them listed in references such as Jeff Herman's Guide to Book Publishers, Editors, & Literary Agents. You can also find this information on publishers' websites.
Julie: I’ve been sending queries out for at least 12 years. Over that time, I’ve been struck by what a small pool of agents we have and how many of them are based out one city.
KT: Ahem!! Not ALL literary agents are based in Fogelsville!
Julie: I can’t count the number of times that an agent has told me that he or she likes my work but doesn’t know how to market me. I understand why they don’t want to waste time on a writer who may not sell, but I wonder why we all assume that this small group of agents has their finger on the pulse of American readers more than anyone else.
KT: It's not the agents' fingers you should worry about--it's the publishers' fingers or other items they use to judge what Americans and others want to read. Agents are at the mercy of publishers. I just had my heart broken again last week when an editor at a major house emailed me that she'd fallen in love with one of our books and was taking it to the editorial board. She called a week later to report that the board said the author was "too close to the topic." They turned it down. I still don't understand why, but it illustrates that even when an agent is high on a book, and even when an editor shares our enthusiasm, we have to deal with editorial boards at publishers who must SELL, SELL, SELL. (Book publishing, like any other business, MUST make money to survive.) The editors who make these decisions are just human beings like you and me and, as far as I can tell, they make their decisions based mostly on what they've sold in the past. They are not perfect and they make mistakes and they take very few risks these days. An agent must temper his or her own feelings about a book with the reality of the marketplace.
Julie: It reminds me of how GMC and Chrysler keep building gas guzzlers because they think Americans want big cars. (I don’t want a big car. I want a fuel efficient car and I don’t think I’m alone, but I don’t own a car company).
KT: I don't want a big car either, Julie, but those guys are all morons, IMHO. We've all seen what happened to these companies.
Julie: I think that self-publishing to Kindle and other sites will democratize the publishing world and I’ll be interested to see if it alters the kind of books that become popular in the future.
KT: I would agree with you EXCEPT that most self-published books are simply not that good. There, I've said it. Although the book publishing system in place is inefficient, often unfair, unimaginative, and cumbersome, it still provides a structure for separating the wheat from the chaff. (Love that figure of speech--my mom used it all the time, but then she was born in 1911.)
Back to the point--self-published books do not have the benefit of: tough readers and editors who make them sing; proof readers to catch grammatical errors and misspellings; marketing and publicity teams who will get the word out about them; sales forces who will push them out to major retailers, Amazon and others. Is that to say a self-published book will never rise to the standards of The Great Gatsby or The Prince of Tides? No. It could happen. Maybe someday it will. But...don't hold your breath.
Agents and editors, today's "gatekeepers" for mainstream book publishing, are there for a reason. They love books. They've educated themselves about literature and most of them have developed a good instinct for identifying good writing. I believe they still have an important role to play in the publishing world. But time will tell. Self-publishing is here to stay and is a powerful force. Self-publishing and traditional publishing will operate on parallel tracks in the foreseeable future. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.
What do the rest of you think? Will self-publishing eclipse the traditional model or is it more likely that the two will meet the needs of different kinds of authors and books?
Sunday, September 5, 2010
MORE ON SELF-PUBLISHING VS TRADITIONAL
I've been following a fascinating discussion on the "New Authors Need Marketing Ideas" group at LinkedIn over the past few days. A new author posed a question about which self-publishers were most attractive to traditional publishers. It may not have been right way to pose this question, but it certainly brought opinions out of the woodwork!
The best thing I've gotten out of the discussion thus far is a link to a HuffPost article, "To Self-Publish or Not" by Boyd Morrison. Mr. Morrison gives one of the most complete and well-stated overviews of this topic I've ever read. I strongly recommend it!
Enjoying a quiet Sunday, listening to old jazz music. Happy Labor Day!
Monday, May 24, 2010
(PUBLISHING) TIMES--THEY ARE A'CHANGING
I've whined a lot on these pages about how sad it makes Jon and me to turn down well-written, deftly plotted books, not because they are lacking something, but because we just can't sell them. It's one of the most difficult aspects of this business.
But the book world is being turned on its head, and many authors are using this to their advantage. Instead of going through the "traditional" publishing channels of agents and mainstream publishers, some authors are choosing one of the many self-publishing routes. One of these books has come to our attention this week, and I want to mention it here.
I reluctantly turned down a manuscript entitled A Place to Die by Dorothy James. I just loved how Dorothy set the scene for this murder mystery that takes place in an upscale Vienna nursing home. In my opinion, this book had the makings of a best-seller--quirky characters, romantic setting in the Vienna Woods, marital discord and sexual misbehavior. But the editors I contacted were not moved to buy. Some didn't like the European setting, others found it too long and involved. After working for several months, I decided that I'd have to let it go.
Dorothy just emailed me to tell me that she's self-published A Place to Die. In her words, "The fact that you genuinely liked it -- I was always convinced of that -- helped me not to give up altogether on the idea, and I finally decided to self-publish -- something that more and more people are doing. I do not know how this will turn out, but I am giving it a go, and I now have a very nice looking book -- whether I can sell it remains to be seen! If you have a moment, I would be very pleased if you could look at the web site."
I did look at the site and it's quite striking. I hope this works for Dorothy. She's a talented writer with entertaining stories to tell.
The point here is that as literary agents, Jon and I work very hard to find books we think we can sell to traditional publishers. Sometimes we can; sometimes we can't. But today there are other options for authors who cannot find representation or whose books are not being picked up by publishers--self publishing is one.
Is self-publishing a threat to traditional publishing? I don't think that's the right question to ask. I believe that the traditional model of book publishing will be with us for a long time. But it's changing too, and the self-publishing / e-publishing /traditional publishing worlds will meld, morph and separate many times within the next few years. No matter what form it takes, the important thing is the story and the story will always be with us in one form or another.
It's Book Expo week in NYC. I'll be there on Wednesday and then off for a week in the Northwest with a client. Jon will go to Book Expo on Thursday. Have a great work week everyone!
But the book world is being turned on its head, and many authors are using this to their advantage. Instead of going through the "traditional" publishing channels of agents and mainstream publishers, some authors are choosing one of the many self-publishing routes. One of these books has come to our attention this week, and I want to mention it here.
I reluctantly turned down a manuscript entitled A Place to Die by Dorothy James. I just loved how Dorothy set the scene for this murder mystery that takes place in an upscale Vienna nursing home. In my opinion, this book had the makings of a best-seller--quirky characters, romantic setting in the Vienna Woods, marital discord and sexual misbehavior. But the editors I contacted were not moved to buy. Some didn't like the European setting, others found it too long and involved. After working for several months, I decided that I'd have to let it go.
Dorothy just emailed me to tell me that she's self-published A Place to Die. In her words, "The fact that you genuinely liked it -- I was always convinced of that -- helped me not to give up altogether on the idea, and I finally decided to self-publish -- something that more and more people are doing. I do not know how this will turn out, but I am giving it a go, and I now have a very nice looking book -- whether I can sell it remains to be seen! If you have a moment, I would be very pleased if you could look at the web site."
I did look at the site and it's quite striking. I hope this works for Dorothy. She's a talented writer with entertaining stories to tell.
The point here is that as literary agents, Jon and I work very hard to find books we think we can sell to traditional publishers. Sometimes we can; sometimes we can't. But today there are other options for authors who cannot find representation or whose books are not being picked up by publishers--self publishing is one.
Is self-publishing a threat to traditional publishing? I don't think that's the right question to ask. I believe that the traditional model of book publishing will be with us for a long time. But it's changing too, and the self-publishing / e-publishing /traditional publishing worlds will meld, morph and separate many times within the next few years. No matter what form it takes, the important thing is the story and the story will always be with us in one form or another.
It's Book Expo week in NYC. I'll be there on Wednesday and then off for a week in the Northwest with a client. Jon will go to Book Expo on Thursday. Have a great work week everyone!
Friday, April 24, 2009
ACE AUTHOR TALKS ABOUT SELF-PUBLISHING
My last post dealt with the new self-publishing expo. I asked readers to share their experiences in self-publishing. Here's what our client Patrice Sarath, author of the Gordath Wood series (Berkley Publishing / Ace) has to say:
"A couple of years ago, before Kae and John sold my Gordath Wood series, I edited a self-published anthology called Tales From the Secret City. This was a collection of stories by my writer's group.We did this for a couple of reasons; it was a good way to get our name out there at conventions. It was fun. We were able to showcase our work in a professional, polished manner. We could have a launch party and invite all of our friends and family and sell a few copies. We gave away copies to reviewers and famous authors, and even got a few good reviews.We did not expect this to: launch our careers as writers. Make money. Bring us fame. Substitute in any way for legitimate publishing. We also were very careful in another respect. Only our top work was published even though it meant that first rights were used up. In my case and the case of two other authors, that meant we published stories that had first been printed elsewhere. Overall, the experience was good, only because we went in with our eyes open and treated it as something separate from traditional publishing.The anthology is called Tales From the Secret City, and it's available on Amazon or through Lulu."
Anyone else have a story to share?
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