Time doesn't matter

by Jane

So, this week I talked with a number of editors in our business who are complaining about recent poor bookstore sales and it caused me to consider again how our industry is changing and how I wish publishers would begin to “rethink.”

Traditionally, books are launched and shipped in a certain season and then, in subsequent seasons, these books are considered “backlist” and hopefully continue to sell (with virtually no support from the publishers). So, if the book doesn’t “take off” in its first few weeks, the publisher literally abandons it and moves on to the next one.

The beauty of this new “electronic publishing age” is that books are always there and available. And they can easily continue to be publicized and promoted during the course of the year with very little additional cost and effort. Publishers, in the acquisitions process especially, are totally losing sight of this phenomenon and they certainly aren’t taking advantage of it.

If a novel, say, which contains a story line about breast cancer and also takes place in a highly trafficked summer vacation area is published in March, there is the initial publicity for the book. But then there can be a solid push in May or June because of the location of the story and then again in October for Breast Cancer Awareness month. And this can go on year after year. The novel doesn’t just have one season.

I am currently trying to sell a book with a graduation market; but it is also a great gift title. Publishers are passing because they say that there are too many books aimed at the high school or college graduate, but to my mind that is limited thinking. Why not take advantage of the enormous marketing ability of the internet and not only publish this for that graduation market but also for September when kids leave for school and for Christmas? And what about birthdays? Why just limit the publication to a single event?

Time simply doesn’t matter any more in our business. Backlist can become front list again at a moment’s notice. If only publishers would realize this. I think they simply don’t take the time to consider the inherent possibilities that electronic publishing affords and that, I’m afraid, does matter.

What do you think?

I mean, if Taylor Swift likes it....

by Rachel S.

A couple of weeks ago, one of my friends passed on this website hosted by Scholastic, called You Are What You Read. Intrigued (obviously), I promptly investigated. Scholastic invented a brand new word on which to base their project:

bookprint [book-print] noun: The list of books that leave an indelible mark on our lives, shaping who we are and who we become.

Okay, so as cheesy as it might sound, it’s actually a pretty cool idea. To readers, books really are an incredibly important part of who we are. The purpose of reading is to further your understanding of both the world and yourself and to see meaning in what before may have been unremarkable or elusive. That books can shape perception as well as action is a truth that needs no expansion. There are some books that I’ve read time and time again, each time as enjoyable as the last. Others I’ll get through only once, but these too can stick with me, usefully popping up for new situations or discussions forever after.

Personal and internal importance aside, books are often also a way of connecting to others- whether it’s in a mutual love or excitement over a particular tome or a fierce disagreement. While choosing only 5 is a really difficult task (so many choices- immediately overwhelmed!), once the books have been narrowed down, you can see who else has been similarly affected by the same words.

Also interesting are the lists of popular titles. The “Most Listed" list differs from the “Most Liked” in parts- obviously you don’t have to necessarily like a book to be marked by it.

I’m really interested to know what your “bookprint” would be if you could only have 5. Also, would it matter that Bill Clinton values The Invisible Man or that Taylor Swift was affected by Charlotte’s Web (or that Daniel Radcliffe’s life was changed by Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone…)? Because they all have profiles and Scholastic is conveniently making it easy for your favorite famous people to show you that they like reading, too.

In any case, I really enjoyed exploring the site (though I’m still working on my own list!) and if nothing else, there’s little I like more to look at then lots and lots of book covers all lined up.

The fear of diminishing opportunities as one ages

by Lauren

Courtesy of our beloved former intern Bridget, I bring you this list of "awesomely untranslatable words from around the world."  Some I've heard of (litost, from the Czech, meaning roughly "a state of agony and torment created by the sudden sight of one’s own misery"), one I've used (schadenfreude, naturally), and others I never knew I needed but definitely do (tartle, "the act of hestitating while introducing someone because you’ve forgotten their name," which comes courtesy of the Scots, a linguistically ingenious people who also bring us "to haver," from that one line in The Proclaimers' "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" that no one understands).

It's hard to pick a favorite, but I think ultimately I have to go with torschlusspanik, the word that roughly means the title of this blog post.  The words people use say a great deal about them in a broad sense--about what a culture values enough to discuss or does not--but surely it isn't merely the Germans who experience torschlusspanik.  I find myself lamenting of late that even if I woke up tomorrow as an extraordinary visionary genius, I'm no longer young enough to be a wunderkind (there's those Germans again).  As a teenager, I was sad to discover that I could never be a prodigy at anything, because my parents hadn't set me on a path to remarkability while I was still in diapers. Torschlusspanik is a sentiment close to my heart.

Which sentiments do you find you could really use a word for that doesn't seem to exist?  Is there a word for being thoroughly disappointed in a thing despite conscious awareness that it's not in the least worth being upset about?  I feel like that would come in handy. 

The Times it is a-changin'

by Michael

While it was certainly inevitable, since the Times seems to love to add to its bestseller lists (14 and counting!), last night's news about the addition of an e-book bestseller list came as a bit of a surprise. It's interesting to note that in the announcement, Janet Elder, editor of news surveys and election analysis, says that the Times has been creating the e-book tracking system for two years. That's serious investment in time and money on their part. They also mention that they'll be partnering with RoyaltyShare, a company that tracks all sorts of digital downloads and actually got its start in the music business.

It'll be interesting to see what this list looks like when it debuts. How similar will it be to what's selling well on the Kindle platform? Will we see more clearly the effects of the agency model on e-book sales? Will the exclusion of certain publishers from Apple's iBookstore hamper their sales? And how many books will appear both on the e-list and the hardcover or non-fiction lists? How many children's titles will show up on the e-list? Will a Harry Potter-sized smash force the creation of a children's e-list? Could I possibly ask another question?

Seriously, this is a major development in e-book publishing, and I eagerly await the publication of that first list. Do you, as readers and writers, care?

And the winners are....

by Miriam

After much in-fighting and name calling, we’re ready to give you our top three picks for memoir pitches, following last week’s contest. This was a tough process because many of the pitches sounded like books we’d like to read (and/or represent). I hope you will actually send us your queries when you’re ready to tell these stories.

Now, without further ado, the winners:

First place: Ariana Richards
Second place: Ken Olsen
Third place: Tamara

Honorable mentions: February Grace and EHF for Suzan W

If the winners would e-mail me their addresses at Miriam@dystel.com, we’ll send you your prizes (Michael Tucker’s delightful Living in a Foreign Language, a DGLM water bottle, and a DGLM soup mug).


Thank you so much for playing along!

People's picks

by Stacey

My magazine pile has diminished the last few years as I've had less time to spend flipping through glossy pages. But I still like to keep up with the ultimate guilty pleasure, People, not only to follow the latest celeb gossip, but also to keep my finger on the pulse of what's truly commercial as far as music, tv, and yes, even books. Their regular book coverage is such an unusual blend of titles, almost always paying attention to the books that everyone is talking about, the commercial ones at least. A few recent books reviewed or covered include the new John Grisham, Nora Ephron's latest nonfiction, former White House communications director Nicolle Wallace's first Washington novel, and Jessica Seinfeld's second cookbook. Earlyword.com has a list of all the books they review each week. You can see the broad range of well-known and noteworthy authors, but I wonder if they don't compromise on quality when considering what to highlight and if they don't underestimate that their readers just might be interested in a more literary novel, or a more serious piece of nonfiction.

The coverage is limited to just a few pages per issue so there's not a lot of room for lots of titles. Given that fact, I'm fascinated that they almost always give 3-4 stars (out of 4) to everything they review. So does that mean they only review books they think are really good? Or are they choosing titles they think their readers will enjoy? Or do they have really easy critics? Or is it just books that they know are the ones that will be getting the most publicity in other media? If the latter is the case, I'd be surprised that they are all so well reviewed. I don't know the answers, and I think it's probably some combination of all of these things, but I know I'm always curious to see what's highlighted each week. And while I don't always like their reviews or the books they choose to focus on, I am grateful that they still have a Books section at all in this difficult market!

I wonder what our readers think of People's choices, both in terms of what they are highlighting and reviewing, and if the reviews have any weight with consumers buying books. I'm not sure there's much direct impact on sales, especially since so many of the titles are also covered in other media, but I do think the number of eyes the magazine gets is great publicity for any book that's covered, especially since it's bound to get a good review! Is People worth reading for book reviews and coverage, and have you ever purchased a book because you saw it in the magazine? Let us know, we'd love to hear from you.

‘Tis the Season (Already?)

by John

Today I want to give a shout-out to one of my favorite blogs, Gregg Easterbrook’s Tuesday Morning Quarterback. Ostensibly a recap of the previous week’s football games, Easterbrook typically goes off on tangents that even a non-football fan can appreciate, covering everything from astrophysics to economics to Battlestar Galactica.  One recurring item is Christmas Creep: how every year retailers and advertisers seem to be promoting Christmas earlier and earlier in the calendar. For instance, in Yokohama, Japan, the municipal Christmas lights went up on October 31^st (so much for Halloween)!

I’ve had Christmas Creep on the brain, because November 1^st seems to be an unofficial date for the media to start publishing their year-end best-book lists. So far we’ve got the New York Times best illustrated, Publisher’s Weekly and Amazon, with many more to come. I suppose I see the logic in getting these lists out early so that retailers can plan their “best of 2010” holiday displays. But still, by printing “best-ofs” in early November, these media outlets essentially declare that books are done for the year and make November and December a virtual dead zone for new titles.

With so many books fighting all year long for attention, publishers could really use two more months to space out their promotional efforts, rather than having to spend the end of the year focused on “the best.” But what if Christmas keeps on creeping earlier and earlier? Will the window for new book promotion shrink even further, to the point where publishers can only effectively market a few books a year? Or will people start getting skeptical of “best-of-the-year” lists that cover only 10 months or less, especially if there are fewer books to consider? Better yet, could books actually lead the way in reversing the Creep? To me, that would be the best Christmas present of all!

One Moment Please While I Geek Out

by Stephanie

Judge me as you will, but I will make no attempts to hide the fact that I am a Harry Potter fan, and have been since the beginning. The series seems to have been a benchmark for my (relatively speaking) younger years, and I have always been one of those fans who stuck with the books and subsequent franchise throughout its life. In fact, next week I will be going to the theatre (which at $13 a ticket, who does that?) to see the first installment of the final movie. I’m hoping I don’t resort to pushing a small child to get to the good seats, but I won't make any guarantees.

Anyway, with that in mind, I wanted to pass along this clever piece that examines the elements of the series that make for sound tips writers can take away and use to hone their own work. From character development to plotting to points of view, it’s interesting how one pivotal series holds within it so many building blocks to strong writing. I’m sure some won’t feel the same with regard to my admiration for the series, but I think this piece makes a strong argument in favor of Rowling’s talents, as well as driving home the importance of truly enjoying the world you create.

Blog chat live!

by Jim

Next week, you’ll all have the opportunity to join the agency’s first live chat. Yours truly will be available for an hour from 3:00-4:00 Eastern on Thursday the 18th to answer any questions you might have about pretty much anything—how to write a query letter, the state of the marketplace, what we’re looking for, what makes us run away screaming, and pretty much anything you can come up with. The one thing it won’t be is a place to pitch your book—that’s what email’s for.

This is going to be a test run for the chat system. We’re not really sure how many of you will be able to make it, so we’re going to keep it general and see how it goes. If it’s a hit, we’ll be looking to do it regularly and maybe add more specifically themed chats in the future. (If you have requests for particular themed chats, please let us know below!) So be sure to stop by and make me feel popular!

The chat will be live right here, and if you want to sign up now for a reminder, you can do so in the box below!

Go Blue!

by Jane

This weekend I went to my very first tailgate party and college football game. Both took place at the University of Michigan where my son is a freshman.

The party started at 9:30 on Saturday morning and continued until the game began at noon. There was absolutely no food served during the gaiety (much to my surprise) but we did have lots of fun and so I decided that I would share some pictures with our readers.

 

The game experience was truly amazing. The stadium holds about 120,000 people and it was almost filled on Saturday. Fortunately, after three overtimes, the Michigan Wolverines won 67 to 65, the highest score in Michigan’s history, I believe.





Still, being me I had to check out the bookstores. Since Ann Arbor is the home of Borders, I visited that and a couple more. (Can’t stay away from the biz!) Next time I go back, I will make sure to turn our clients’ books so that they face forward on the shelves.

For now, though, Go Blue!

My life would make a boring memoir

by Rachel

This morning, as I was locking up my bike by the subway out of Brooklyn and into the city, a man and his son approached me asking about a phone number for a local cab company. Thinking nothing of it and glad that I was actually able to help, I happily gave it and turned to take the steps down into the train. It was only at that moment that I noticed the dozens of people milling about, frantically calling co-workers, friends and car services. Another large group anxiously waited for an oncoming bus. Of course this would happen at 8:30 on a weekday morning- there was an emergency in the subway and all trains into Manhattan were stopped.

After a moment of panic, genius that I am, I remembered that I did in fact have a bicycle and could pedal over the bridge just as fast, if not faster than any subway making stops or car in traffic. Though it wasn’t my ideal mode of transport on a workday, and I was totally out of bridge-biking shape as it's been at least a month since I've done so, it would have to do. As I bent down to unlock my bike, a girl pulled up next to me and I ruefully informed her of the situation. She wasn’t too put out and we both went off together over the bridge and into the city, chatting all the way as if we’d known each other for years instead of minutes.

Oddly, this sort of thing happens to me all of the time. With relative frequency, I am approached by an incredible variety of people who say they see me all over the place and feel obliged to make an introduction. In my head, I affectionately refer to these people as my “neighborhood friends.” I don’t know why I come across as particularly approachable, but it’s certainly led me to all sorts of people I would never have known otherwise. Some are interested in the book I’m reading, many inquire on the progress I’ve made on that day’s crossword (invariably, I can be found every morning in the same coffee shop, using their New York Times solely for that one page in the Arts section) and others still find another instrument of acquaintance.

However it happens, I’ve grown to know some of these people beyond a casual chat on the street. There’s the amazing painter who also writes science questions for standardized tests, the girl who works in a wine shop while designing album covers and logos and the unicyclist who works in trend forecasting- among many, many others. I find these people fascinating and enjoy the friendly waves and hellos that come my way when we pass. But more than that, each is so fantastically unique and none are personae that I could myself have crafted.

There has been a lot of talk about memoirs on this blog recently, and while using personal experiences in writing is a wonderful thing, not everyone has lead a life interesting enough to make other people want to read about it. Inspiration has to come from outside as well as from within. Personally, if I were to ever sit down and attempt to pen something that might be somewhere inside me (who knows), it would be from all of these unique people- those that were never friends that I initially sought out, that I would draw my character details, motivations and intricacies from.

Who inspires you?

(And I did make it to work on time…just a little windblown and breathless.)

The sharpest tool in the shed

by Lauren

I've had technology on the brain this week.  Recently, our server failed us in catastrophic fashion (apparently Outlook doesn't like it when you save all your emails forever and ever just in case you need information later--who knew?), and as the company's liaison to our IT company, it's been my good fortune to orchestrate its replacement and the lengthy process of moving from one to the other.  On top of the system upgrade, I've been working on a couple new things for the blog (stay tuned for fun changes coming up!), so I've been thinking a lot about how dependent we are on technology and how tough it can be to figure out what's new and worth investigating.

Finding a new tool can change everything.  My mind was blown a couple years back when I found out that you could change existing text from ALL CAPS to various other options in MS Word with the press of two buttons: Shift+F3.  And I can't imagine how I managed to regularly read any newspapers or magazines or blogs before I found Instapaper and Feedly.

So I'm wondering, as writers or editors or readers, what technological tools do you find that you couldn't live without?  Have you found, say, a trick in a common program that changed your life?  Or an app that makes you more productive?  What websites make your social networking efforts easier to manage?  Any techniques to make editing easier?  Let us all know below--who knows how many hours you might save of us!

NaNoWriMo

by Michael 

There's been a lot of controversy surrounding this Salon piece by Laura Miller that criticizes the idea of National Novel Writing Month. People are pissed. How dare she tell people not to write, especially when she herself is a writer? One of my favorite publishing bloggers, Carolyn Kellogg of the LA Times's Jacket Copy, really took her to task, attacking her post sentence by sentence. And, as usual, Carolyn is smart and incisive. Writers do need encouragement, especially since much of their time is spent on a rather solitary activity. I think the communal aspect of NaNoWriMo is fantastic--being held accountable is important. If participating means more butt-in-chair time, then I approve. For authors, I think it can be a great exercise, one through which you can learn new techniques and strategies that can be employed long after the month has passed.

Sadly, though, I think Laura made a good point that she unfortunately tied to NaNoWriMo: if you want to write, read. Reading is absolutely the first, most important step to becoming a writer. And while I have a feeling that many people participating in NaNoWriMo are readers--and probably big readers at that--there are plenty of people who aspire to write books, and even attempt to write them, that don't read. When I tell people what I do for a living, many of them tell me that they've thought of writing a book. Many of those same people also couldn't recall the last book they read or bought. Talk about awkward party conversations...

I know if you're following this blog that you're already readers, so I'm preaching to the choir. But have you met non-reader-writers in your publishing adventures? And do they make you as angry as they do Ms. Miller and me?

Social networking means business

by Stacey

Everyone talks about how important social networking is for marketing and promoting your book, both before you're published (especially for nonfiction, where without a sizable platform you're dead in the water before you even begin) and after. That it's important is not new news, but I found this piece in Publisher's Weekly about a recent webcast about digital marketing interesting because it goes into detail on just how social networking influences consumer buying habits. This offers a small way to quantify its impact on selling books. And the numbers are pretty powerful -- "consumers are 67% more likely to buy from the brands they follow on Twitter, 51% more likely to buy from a brand they fan on Facebook, and 79% more likely to recommend brands and products they follow on social media." I also like the suggestion "Don't spray and pray. Listen, reply and engage."

To me this piece serves as yet another reminder that whatever your goals as a writer might be, it's important to find those important connections to others both inside and outside the community. It all starts with talent, and sending out a message or a piece of writing that your audience can connect with in a meaningful way. The broader your reach, the easier time you will have finding agents and publishers to pay attention to you and the work you're doing. The numbers prove it!

Misty, water colored memories…(and a contest)

by Miriam

For someone who’s fanatical about fiction, I’ve always had a soft spot for biographies and memoir (of course, a good account of an interesting life has much in common with the best fiction). Losing oneself in the pages of a novel full of invented characters is a delicious way to spend an afternoon, but there is a particular kind of pleasure in reading about real people’s exploits and experiences and especially how they describe themselves and what they’ve gone through. I find that willingness to share one’s humanity and the courage it takes to air one’s laundry and leave it flapping in the breeze pretty irresistible.

I’ve been charmed by Laurence Olivier’s diffident, self-deprecating take on his prodigious talent and by John Bayley’s loving account of his relationship with the great Iris Murdoch. I’ve been blown away by Paul Monette’s gorgeous Becoming a Man and Elie Wiesel’s devastating Night. I’m desperate to read Keith Richards’ surprisingly well-reviewed Life and Antonia Fraser’s ode to her love affair with Harold Pinter. But, I’ve also got a night table buckling under the weight of memoirs by the likes of Mary Karr, Jeannette Walls and Anne Lamott.

Samuel Johnson, himself the subject of a great biography and the author of the wonderful Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets, put it thusly, “I have often thought that there has rarely passed a life of which a judicious and faithful narrative would not be useful; for...every man has, in the mighty mass of the world, great numbers in the same condition with himself, to whom his mistakes and miscarriages, escapes and expedients, would be of immediate and apparent use.” He went on for a while after that, but you get the idea. Everyone has a story to tell. Their own.

So, I’d like to propose a memoir contest. Give us a couple of sentences that tell us the gist of your memoir and we’ll put it to a vote and decide whose story has the most potential. (Please keep in mind that this is not a referendum on your life…just on your ability to craft a good pitch for it.) We’ll come up with prizes for first, second and third place entries and let you know what those are as soon as we’ve figured them out.

I look forward to reading.

Update: Thanks for all the good stuff, guys. Keep the entries coming until Monday, Nov. 8, at midnight. We'll announce the winners (and prizes) on my Wednesday blog post.