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October 31, 2005
Happy Halloween
For me, Halloween (and the time change) really marks the change of seasons.
It's time to go to bed early, boys! Time for the Kings to start an epic season. Time to pre-order that next generation game console, and time to order our time sink for those long cold winter nights.
NBA Live 2006 360 is next.
Posted by matt at 8:48 AM | Comments (0)
October 21, 2005
Timely checks make for happy authors
Here's an obvious post but it sure bears posting.
Just as timely deliveries make for a happy publisher, timely checks make for happy authors.
I was pleased yesterday to receive a counter-signed contract and signing advance check in the same envelope.
What a wonderful surprise. I wish every signing advance came as quickly.
Posted by matt at 9:34 AM | Comments (2)
October 19, 2005
How many copies do you have to sell to make a book worthwhile?
I just finished my teleconference with the folks at the Guerilla Marketing Association.
It was a great way to speak to a group of aspiring authors and reminds me I need to do so more often because it always brings up a number of good questions.
Besides the very common go-round on what goes into a proposal, how much your platform matters, and how can you protect your ideas, someone asked about the absolute metrics a publisher uses to decide on whether to do a book or not.
My answer was that "it depends."
For a big publisher of trade hardcover fiction (depending on the advance and marketing put into it) you're probably shooting for books that have the potential to sell 100,000 copies. But again, that depends on the initial investment and a title from more literary house may be considered successful at 20,000 copies.
For a computer book with a company like Wiley or O'Reilly, once you sell 20,000 copies I'd say the publisher is pleased and the author has made some money, no windfall, but enough to keep writing, and it's a book probably worth revising, especially as revisions typically take less effort that the first edition. For these publishers it's the books that eke out 10,000 copies per edition or less that are hard to justify, though they certainly break even from the publisher's perspective.
For a small house like Countryman, a Norton subsidiary which publishes travel guide books and outdoors titles, they may pay a commensurately small advance, but can do okay if a book sells 2000 copies in the first year and keeps ticking at that same rate for ten years. I don't mean to imply that an entire program can work if every book sells at this rate, but a publisher can support a backlist of many titles that sell modestly. Every successful publisher -- and agent for that matter -- needs hits and franchise titles or series to really grow.
For the author, the question is -- what do these figures mean to your life? If you write to make a living you need to shoot for books that sell well and create repeat publisher and reader business. But some of my clients are passionate about a topic and want to write a book that fulfills their hobby and passion in life, and are perfectly happy to do a book that will sell only 2000 copies per year but will backlist well.
That's the answer I gave on the call at any rate. Some books that may not be profitable for a professional writer may certainly add plenty to the life of a passionate writer who may find many intangible benefits in being published.
Posted by matt at 3:31 PM | Comments (1)
October 18, 2005
I'm on a teleconference tomorrow
I'm the featured guest on a Guerilla Marketing Association teleconference this Wednesday afternoon at 4 PM PST. Clients and potential clients are welcome to call in, just send me a note and I'll send you the number and access code. The show is run by Roger C. Parker and Jay Conrad Levinson, both bestselling authors with many years of publishing experience. The questions we're covering include --
* What do publishers want these days?
* What is a "platform," and why is it so important?
* Publishing alternatives: what are the advantages and disadvantages of trade
book publishing, as compared to self-publishing or print-on-demand?
* What are some of the common characteristics shared by the best-selling books
you've represented?
* What can a literary agent do for you that you can't do for yourself?
* How do you locate a literary agent?
* What do you say, or write, when contacting a potential agent for the first
time?
* What are most important parts of a book proposal?
* What types of books are in great demand these days?
Posted by matt at 9:36 AM | Comments (0)
October 11, 2005
Client Promo, My First "Fresh Book"
I don't know whether to brag today that I rep this fantastic photographer or brag that the the first Fresh Books title has been published. Thankfully, the photographer and author are one and the same.
I've repped over a thousand books in the last 15 years, but this was my first solo project and I'm extremely pleased to congratulate Harold Davis on his Digital Photography: Digital Field Guide, published by John Wiley & Sons.
Posted by matt at 10:51 AM | Comments (1)
October 3, 2005
More Google Library
Jim Minatel at Wiley weighs in with a dissenting opinion on Google Library with Even Tim O'Reilly isn't always right, and later adds a wry response to Rogers Cadenhead's Throw the Book at Google.
Whether Tim is right or not, he's certainly notable in putting his money where his mouth is.
Google indexes everything it can on the web, and most of that information is under copyright already, including this web page just by virtue of my posting it. Google indexes my copyrighted information every five days or so, and if I posted every day maybe the Google bots would come around more often.
Now, Google is taking that conceit to the next level by asserting they can index information whether it's online already or not -- don't forget that with Google Maps they're also indexing the Earth.
I don't blame publishers or authors for taking umbrage at Google Library. In fact, I'm sure that it's almost essential to challenge Google's stance to the point that the companies who aspire to index "the universe and everything" have some sort of rational limits placed upon how they might profit unfairly from, or decrease sales of, copyrighted works. As Rogers Cadenhead says, "Thank God we have wealthy corporations with high-powered intellectual property lawyers who can answer this question for us."
But I think that in the longer run, we're talking about a revolutionary idea that will benefit authors and publishers alike. It's really an amazing idea, that we can create a repository for all books, isn't it? No shades of Fahrenheit 451 here. Who knows what long out of print but still under copyright (post 1923) books might be brought to our attention?
Of course, Yahoo has taken advantage of the Google tumult to officially announce their own library index that will, pointedly, focus only on works in the public domain or those with express publisher consent (Tim O'Reilly is here too). The Yahoo effort is also ambitious but much more polite, and is getting much more positive spin from the publishing industry and APA President Patricia Schroeder.
Posted by matt at 1:11 PM | Comments (0)