« February 2006 | Main | April 2006 »
March 30, 2006
Great article about Copper Canyon Press
I don't represent poetry or even fiction at this point but I remember Copper Canyon's name very well from my days buying poetry for the Boulder Bookstore in 1986: I always thought that poetry was an important category in the town that hosted a great seasonal surge in poets for the readings at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics!
There's a great profile of Copper Canyon in the Seattle Post Intelligencer today, linked here. (I've stolen this directly from Publisher's Lunch, which always has the best daily round-up of publishing stories across the web.)
We should all have a soft spot in our hearts for small publishers who prize quality, craftsmanship, and patience, and I think it's a great testament to the press that W.S. Merwin chose Copper Canyon over Knopf for his most recent book of collected poems. It makes for an inspirational read. In fact I liked the story so much I went ahead and ordered Merwin's Migration, which is probably not a bad idea for anyone interested in poetry, as it won the 2005 National Book Award.
Posted by matt at 2:27 PM | Comments (0)
March 29, 2006
Design To Sell, by Roger Parker
Juliana Aldous Atkinson beat me to the punch this morning, but I'd like to congratulate Roger C. Parker on the publication of Design to Sell: Use Microsoft Publisher to Plan, Write, and Design Great Marketing Pieces.
I just received my copies in the mail. The book looks great and I'm proud to have it on my shelf.
Plus, as everyone knows, there's nothing like that new book smell!
Design to Sell is one of a number of books that Microsoft Press has published recently that integrate teaching a useful business skill-set with software how-to. It's a great model and led to their bestselling Beyond Bullet Points, by Cliff Atkinson.
Posted by matt at 10:52 AM | Comments (0)
March 14, 2006
Interview with Chris Van Buren, Moon Handbooks Brazil
My good friend, former client and Waterside colleague Chris Van Buren is living a dream that many folks have: moving overseas to an exotic locale while still managing to make a living.
Chris first visited, then moved to Brazil, and continues to make his living there as a writer and artist. His new book, Moon Handbooks Brazil, was just published in January, and I thought he'd be up for a short interview to discuss his move and also what it's like to write a travel guide, especially in relation to tech titles, of which he's written quite a few.
How did you find yourself moving to Brazil?
A friend of mine, after traveling to Brazil, told me this was a place that I would really like -- not just Brazil, but a specific historical town called Ouro Preto, in the middle of the country. She was right. I fell in love with Ouro Preto right away and within three years, I had moved to Brazil completely, tapered down and finally quit my activities as an agent, and went back to writing -- together with a new and fledgling (but promising) profession as a fine artist (something I studied in college but never did professionally).
It wasn´t as easy a transition as I would have liked. Book projects have been getting harder and harder to land and my profession as an artist suffered major setbacks during the economic crisis that began in 2003 (nobody wants art when they´re worried about war). So I supplemented my two professions with a third -- and began teaching English to Brazilian students.
Had you planned to write a travel guide? Did you solicit many publishers? How did you come to choose Moon (or vice versa, how did they come to choose you?)
I routinely check for writing projects on various online boards, in addition to keeping my ears to the publishing world as best I can from abroad. When a Brazil travel guide popped up on one of the boards, I quickly checked out the publisher and related publishers. I decided then that I was going to do whatever it took to get this contract. I spent the next four days preparing a proposal. It came to 50 pages including outline and samples.
But I don´t recommend to authors that they sit around watching for projects to appear on the Internet. In most cases, you have to find holes in publishers' lists and create projects to fill them. You can work the other way around (create the project and then find the publisher for it) if you´re highly specialized and well-known in your field.
I imagine that the travel book process would be very similar to how the tech book market functions. Did the process differ much?
Avalon Publishing is more traditional than most computer publishers. They schedule books way in advance and the process is a bit slower and more painstaking. But there are many similarities--such as the experience of working within a publisher's existing series, something common in computer publishing. Also, the writing process is similar (the process, not the writing itself). You have to present information in parcels and organize yourself in a similar way. Computer writing prepared me quite well for the sheer quantity of output that is expected in a short amount of time in guidebook writing. I can´t imagine most writers being able to keep up. Only computer book writers and maybe hardcore journalists have the pace and stamina to produce, say, ten finished pages a day for four straight months. Even still, I reached a point where I had to break through my previous levels. Of course, this was also my first travel book, so there was the learning curve too.
Do you have any advice for writers who plan to move overseas? For instance, how to keep paying work going when you're at greater distance?
It can work really well if the exchange rate is in your favor. But you have to keep a steady stream of work -- or set up a couple of regular gigs that you can count on, even if small. And you have to keep a couple of very trustworthy contacts in the states to handle your money issues. The rest is about coping with the new environment and getting yourself installed in the new system. Each system has its little tricks and challenges. I learned a lot of things the hard way.
I know of a lot of free-lance editors working from overseas for the publishing company that used to employ them. I don´t know as many writers doing this (other than journalists) because most writers need part-time jobs to supplement the writing work and that can be difficult to get in a foreign country. More and more, writing is becoming less and less of a paid endeavor. Today, many writers create their books and articles with the sole intention of promoting themselves and their other activities. With all the free information exchange on the Internet, article-sized pieces are not pulling the kinds of per-word payments that they used to. Most go unpaid. This will likely continue as publishers re-position themselves in this new environment. Thankfully, more than 80% of the Internet is still English based--so one can always teach English overseas.
Posted by matt at 11:23 AM | Comments (0)
March 9, 2006
Oprah, not just for books
This warms both sides of my heart, commerce and publishing, Vista's Product Manager, David Block is quoted at C-NET --
"Can we get a cool new PC in front of Oprah?...Can we do stuff like that? I think we can."
They sure hope so, check out these sales projections, also quoted from the C-NET article
Microsoft says it expects more than 400 million PCs to be running Vista within 24 months of the launch. Block said the goal is to reach a rate within that time where more than half of the machines are running some premium version of the OS.
MS is planning to ship six versions of Vista. Six Vistas, I guess you'd say.
Wow, I hope it's just confusing enough that everyone needs a book.
And maybe Oprah can help Microsoft clarify their message.
Posted by matt at 12:19 PM | Comments (0)
March 8, 2006
Entrepreneurial Proverbs
Marc Hedlund at the O'Reilly Radar has an inspiring post today, Entrepreneurial Proverbs, which has great application to any author thinking about writing a non-fiction book as well.
That makes sense because in many ways writing a book is similar to creating your own start-up. His entire post is worth reading in this vein but I'll recast a few comments for authors.
Pay attention to the idea that won't leave you alone. Great advice for authors, and taken from Paul Hawken's highly recommended Growing a Business. Find an idea that won't let you sleep at night.
If you keep your secrets from the market, the market will keep its secrets from you. Too many prospective authors believe they have an entirely unique idea that maybe agents or publishers will steal wholesale from them. It's just not true, agents and publishers are bombarded with a huge number of proposals on a daily basis and your up front request for an nda probably won't help your cause. The idea and the execution are both key and if you're afraid to talk to anyone for fear of losing your idea, you'll never see it realized.
Your ideas will get better the more you know about business. For publishing this is true in the extreme, your ideas will get better the more you know about publishing. I've seen too many proposals that tell me "this book will sell great if you shelve it at the cash register" without any appreciation at all for what it takes ($$$) to be shelved next to the cash register. It's critical that you understand as well as possible not only your reader, but where they will buy your book, why they will buy your book, and how the channel works. Sure, your agent may (and should) fill in some of the details here for you, but a solid appreciation and knowledge of how and where books are sold is critical to your ultimate success and even governs the flavor of your pitch.
Build the simplest thing possible. Here's advice that I've ignored many times myself to my own peril and it goes right back to the last point, if you don't know where and how your book is going to be shelved you're at a huge disadvantage. Combining genres is tough in this business and while certainly some books break out, you're going to have a hard time if your book doesn't really belong specifically in humor or travel. Narrow it down, solve a unique problem or question and be specific about your audience.
That's just a snapshot, I'm sure readers can find many more gems of wisdom in Marc's post.
Posted by matt at 10:13 AM | Comments (0)
March 2, 2006
The "W" word -- Work for hire
Via Media Bistro's blog, this entry about work for hire versus royalty deal, comments inspired by a column from The Publishing Contrarian, Bring Back "Work-for-Hire" Authors.
I'm not sure how many ways I can say "uggh."
The Contrarian suggests that authors should get their money up-front because they're really not likely to earn anything on the back end.
Certainly, this can happen. Books don't always earn their advances, and publishing is a bit like playing roulette (or a crapshoot as she says), but I'm reasonably certain that JK Rowling, Dan Brown, and a thousands of others in every section of the bookstore are better paid because of royalties, and I think that most authors are looking to make the same gamble.
The Contrarian seems most concerned about the emotional pain of waiting to be paid (or not paid), and the emotional highs and lows of watching a book languish with low sales.
If you want to avoid the highs and lows of writing, then maybe it's time to find a regular job. I know that lots of publishers are hiring.
In my experience, the work for hire deals I'm offered don't necessarily eclipse the license deals to the point that they're worth taking.
I'm not against work-for-hire at all, in fact one of my clients signed a work for hire deal last week. It's a decent deal that will pay the bills and leaves us in good stead with the editor -- if I was to suggest a truism it would be that "helpful authors get more work."
The Contrarian says that the advance is a "loan."
Not true, an advance is a payment for a license to specific publishing rights, those rights may or may not include foreign rights, overseas English language rights, serial rights, film rights, etc. These rights typically expire when the book (or sub-license) goes out of print.
Another agent rightly points out that you can earn royalties over multiple periods, but if you take a work-for-hire deal you pay taxes on that amount all at once.
Ownership counts for something to most of my clients. There are plenty of work-for-hire deals out there if you want them: try the magazines, write white papers, become an on staff tech writer, work with a book packager, work as a ghost writer or ghost editor.
Work-for-hire authors are a commodity, royalty authors are partners.
Work for hire is for employees, royalties are for free agents.
Royalties inspire creativity.
Royalties ensure the publishers can take chances and share the wealth down the road.
Royalties allow authors to share real wealth on mega best-seller books.
Royalties can become annuities.
You can live on work for hire, you can get by, you can get steady work, but the only way to get rich -- yeah, that's right, if you're smart and lucky -- is to take royalties.
And if the Contrarian is unhappy with her small royalty payment, how happy will she be when her work for hire deal makes millions for the publisher while she took her safe work for hire fee? Will she be any less unhappy? I don't think so.
I totally understand the heartbreak of small sales, and I'm not against work for hire when it works, but it's a silly argument to make, which is why Said Miss is posing as the Contrarian I suppose.
Posted by matt at 8:26 AM | Comments (0)