Why agents matter--yet another reason

Michael Stearns at Upstart Crow has posted on everyone's favorite topic: subsidiary rights! You might have worn your jaw out talking about these over breakfast with your family (kidding!), but here's another reminder why having an agent is a good idea in the increasingly complicated, fast-changing publishing business:

It is springtime here in New York, and as happens every spring, young hearts turn to thoughts of the Bologna Book Fair.

Or my old heart does, anyway. Every year, children’s books publishers and agents from all over the world gather in Bologna to buy and sell the rights to published and forthcoming books, to catch up with each other about trends, and to eat some truly excellent food. It is four days of constant meetings from nine to nine (some over drinks and dinner plates, true, but meetings nonetheless). From these meetings, many sales of properties are made to far-flung territories.

This can be a great benefit for a writer, the sale of individual rights to different countries. It means that the writer receives separate advances for each territory, and that each of those advances earns out on its own schedule. So even if the publisher in the US stumbles and the book does poorly here, it may still sell well elsewhere and the writer will still earn royalties. These separate income streams make it easier for a writer to actually make a living from writing.

Which is why we hold on to foreign and other subsidiary rights when we sell a project to a publisher.

Read the rest.

Boost your productivity

Michael Stearns at Upstart Crow blogged about software called Freedom. It shuts off your crack supply Internet connection for however many minutes you specify, leaving you free to develop new distractions, like grooming your arm hair write.

Read more here.

And get the software (Mac-only) here.

What Chris Richman wants

One of my favorite agents in the world, Chris Richman of Upstart Crow Literary, has posted an extensive wish list for queries in the New Year. Here's the top:

Genuinely hilarious: Humor is tough. I get it. It’s also incredibly subjective. I’ve found, though, that because I say I’m looking for funny books for boys, I tend to see lots of submissions featuring farting, barfing, barfing that smells like a fart, or kids farting on barf. Sure, those things can be funny (even writing that last ridiculous sentence made me chuckle), but it takes more than gross humor to sustain an entire book. I want the sort of humor that makes me read sections out loud to annoyed friends and family. I want humor that arises out of witty dialogue, well-realized situations, and general madcapery (I just made that word up). Some books I read recently that really made me laugh include M.T. Anderson’s Whales on Stilts, Josh Lieb’s I am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to be Your Class President, and the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books.

Sports-themed, but about more than just sports: I started writing specific information and examples before realizing the topic of sports books will require a separate post. Simply put, I want books that are about more than just the featured sport and stay away from common clichés like the triumph of the underdog or the awesome-athlete-who-falls-from-grace-and-then-redeems-him/herself. More in a later blog update!

Classic: While this can apply to teen, I’m speaking more about middle grade here. I have a soft spot for books that feel like they could have been written thirty years ago without too many major adjustments. These types of stories often withstand the test of time and don’t become dated as easily as stories fully dependent on technology, trends, and dialect from 2010. Think about Harry Potter: aside from some technologies from the Muggle world, Harry and company could have lived in the 1970s just as easily as the late 1990s/early 2000s.

And here's the rest.

Portrait of a successful query

Some of you who've traveled to international SCBWI conferences may have met the lovely Sydney Salter. Here's how she caught the attention of agent Ted Malawer:

When I first started agenting, I was working as an assistant at Firebrand Literary, going through the slush—which, in our case, was electronic. With hundreds and hundreds of queries, it’s tough to stand out. Sydney, however, did just that. First, she had a great title that totally made me laugh. Second, she sets up her main character’s dilemma in a succinct and interesting way. In one simple paragraph, I had a great idea of who Jory was and what her life was about—the interesting tidbit about her mother help show the novel’s sense of humor, too.

Read the rest.

What makes a good kids' book

Michael Stearns at Upstart Crow has shared Little, Brown's list of what makes an excellent children's book:

If you work in publishing in any capacity whatsoever, then you likely have a deep affection for Little, Brown. And not just because they are riding so high these days. Sure, they the publishers of a kind-of-sort-of-somewhat-successful series you may have heard of, but they also have one of the sharpest, most insistently singular lists around. Not just the thrill-a-minute money machines of James Patterson, but also cheerily commercial fare such as Vampirates, literary bestsellers that smart kids love such as The Mysterious Benedict Society, compelling and complex teen fiction about dark stuff in life such as The Hate List and North of Beautiful [CHINOOK UPDATE: WOOT WOOT, JUSTINA!], and more more more. It’s just a great house with great books, and the people who edit there are pretty fabulous, too.

But this isn’t a love letter to Little, Brown—honest, it’s not. (My love is much too fickle and unpleasant to be captured in a mere blog post.) Instead, it’s a reproduction of a useful handout their editors distribute at conferences and which every writer should tack to his or her wall.The list of eminent attributes below may not all be required of a good book, but I’d wager most are true of the best books. How do these strike all of you? As things that need not be said? As constraints? Or as the distilled wisdom of the soldiers in the trenches of children’s books publishing?

Read the whole list.

How to write a nonfiction book proposal

This is primarily intended for the adult market, methinks. But Danielle Chiotti's primer on the construction of a nonfiction book proposal is right on the money (I've sold two books in the adult market with just this approach).

So, if you're wondering how to put your NF proposal together, pop on over to the Upstart Crow blog.

A big myth

The agent Colleen Lindsay has an excellent post on The Swivet about a misperception that bigger is better when it comes to books. Usually, this isn't the case--and it can sometimes be a marker that you're not yet a good enough writer to pare your story down to its essence.

This is a must-read post, especially for people revising manuscripts. And yes, it does contain some length guidelines--not rules, she says, because there are always exceptions.

Check it out.

In a slightly related topic, Michael Stearns at the Upstart Crow Literary blog wrote yesterday about Raymond Carver and his editor, Gordon Lish. Some serious paring down went on in Lish's office. It's interesting! (And Jane Yolen and Michael debate a bit in the comments section, which is worth the price of admission. Ahem.)

Good beginnings: two agents discuss

Chris Richman and Michael Stearns of Upstart Crow Literary have started a series of podcasts on the craft of writing. This is what they have to say about books with strong beginnings.

How to write a query letter

The folks at Upstart Crow have a swell little writer's toolbox. If you're struggling to write a query letter, do check out this annotated version. It tells you how you should format, what you should put where, and what you should look out for. (It's a PDF, so you'll need a reader.)

For the rest of the toolbox, click here.

How to query Upstart Crow

The new agency, founded by Michael Stearns, is now taking submissions. You'll find their guidelines--along with each agent's tastes--on the new Upstart Crow site.

Michael Stearns starts new literary agency

Alice Pope reports this morning that Michael Stearns, who spoke at our spring conference, has left Firebrand to start a new agency, Upstart Crow Literary. The agency opens its doors the first week of August.

Read her post here. (Chris Richman and Danielle Chiotti are going with Michael.)