Book Proposals Go Digital
Book proposals are read on Kindles, Nooks and other e-readers, and that should mean something to you if you’re writing or selling nonfiction.
I will explain.
When I picture myself in any of my three corporate book publishing editorial jobs I always see a multicolored stack of two-pocket folders in a wire basket on one corner of my desk. I often knew which proposals were from which agent by the color of the folder. Smart move, I thought, so I copied it when I opened my agency. I hoped the book editors who were now on the other side of my desk would move the “Jody Rein navy blue” folders to the top of their “read” piles, as I had done with literary agents whose taste I paticularly respected. I’ve been known to be painstaking in preparing the physical presentation from books sold through my agency, even going to far as to hand-stick little gold sparkly stars on the label of a proposal for a satirical work. Just before packing the proposals into their 25 or 30 Fed Ex packages (score one big advantage for email), I would sit at my desk and stare at a the proposal, open and closed, complete with my pitch letter snuggled into the right hand pocket. I’d rifle through the pages as presented, attempting to channel my old editor self into the physical interaction with the pitch–it did make a difference (we are all human, after all).
Now–throw that all out the window.
Proposals are now almost exclusively sent, and
Read MoreThe True Cost of Cheap Ebooks
Self publishing advocates clamor for cheap cheap cheap when it comes to ebooks. The argument goes, basically, just look at the costs! I can put an ebook online for less than $500; in fact, I can pop it up on Amazon or BN.com for free! There’s no paper; there’s no binding; there’s no production. Why not make all books accessible to the masses, price them low as possible and make books truly a medium of the people, by the people and for the people?
Why not?
Because in doing so you destroy what you love.
Even Jeffrey Trachtenberg, in his WSJ article today about the “less expensive” nature of digitized books that is already zooming around the Twitterverse misses the point. Mike Shatzkin comes much closer to my point of view, but perhaps with less personal investment. This feels personal to me, this devaluing of the medium in which I’ve invested a lifetime.
I believe in equality and fair play in access to education, health care and opportunity. I believe in innovation and forward-thinking. And I believe that not all books, and not all writers are created equal.
Whether by natural gift or by many years of hard work and schooling, the work of those relatively rare writers once filtered through to the public only by traditional publishers** still deserve to be lauded, paid, promoted, edited and wrapped in a package that signifies something special. Cheap ebooks leave no room to pay for this, and level not only the playing field, but the stands and the bleachers and even the parking lot. Everyone plays…and everyone loses.
(Here’s my comment on the article.)
**A clarification–I also believe the large corporations that turned a lovely little industry populated by many small & mid-size publishers into the current “Big Six” behemoth landscape do indeed close the doors to many deserving authors. Self publishing and small presses are now necessities. But driving down ebook prices for all is not the answer.
Read MoreIn Praise of Rarifying Books (Sort of)
Holy smokes, have I just endorsed book censorship? Yes– and no!
Steve Himmer, in his lovely essay “Making Room for Readers” on the fab TheMillions, advocates aggressively encouraging children to read, and removing any barriers that can be seen as “rarifying” the book.
I disagree. Huh???
OK. I agree with the first part: a book-encouraging environment is necessary to raise readers—but I’m not so sure I buy the negative interpretation of the obstacles Mr. Himmer found in his way.
Because I’m all for obstacles in book publishing and constraints on reading—if those obstacles and constraints reinforce the essential value…
Read MoreLiterary Agents and Self Publishing Q & A
Sue Collier, a friend and maven in the indie book world, kindly ran a a short interview with me to help promote my Writers Digest Webinar on agents and self-publishing. The Webinar is over, and I don’t think the On Demand version is available yet (sigh), but for those interested in the topic, here’s a teaser & link to the whole thing. I love talking about this stuff.
Why would a happy self-publisher want an agent? A Q&A with agent Jody Rein
Posted By Sue Collier on June 28, 2011
Sue: Ok, the big elephant in the room…Why would a happy self-publisher want an agent?
Jody: Well, you know that there are hundreds of thousands of self-publishers out there, and each one has a different story. In brief, a literary agent is a good choice for a self-publisher who hopes to publish some or all of his or her books through a traditional house, or who needs help and access to sell subsidiary rights (such as film or foreign) to his or her self-published work, or, possibly for a self-publisher who seeks career management. The services I just listed are all in flux as I type—the whole publishing world is in the midst of a massive identity shift.
I’ve been thinking lately that what we’ll see, at least in the near future, are increasing numbers of people who jump in and out of self and traditional publishing over the course of their careers…READ MORE
Read MoreSerenity Prayer for Overwhelmed Book People
Fess up. I can’t be alone. It’s just too much sometimes, isn’t it?
Because I must be informed, and it all looks so important, I subscribe to email updates from Digital Book World, Hubspot, assorted LinkedIn conversations and the TechRepublic along with PublishersMarketplace, the Observer’s book column and the requisite NYT book& other news, along with ten or twenty other feeds. It doesn’t matter whether the source is techno or literary–most of them make me feel like I jumped on the wrong bus–or, more accurately, like I was sitting on the right bus but the driver sneakily changed the route, so all of us folks happily chatting away in the back didn’t even notice we were on the wrong street.
Read MoreThe Hangman’s Daughter Makes Me Cheer
‘The Hangman’s Daughter,’ e-book hit, now out in paperback – USATODAY.com.
I love this story!
We are all guilty of bemoaning the state of book publishing today, often to the point of conflict. In the past few days, two heartfelt essays promoting what is best in both old-school corporate publishing (Adrian Zackheim in his Portfolio blog) and what is wonderful about printed books (Aaron Gilbreath in the Chicago Tribune) stood out. I scanned through the comments after each essay–so many people, so vehement, sometimes disrespectful, so convinced that both print and publishing are on the way out. The rancor is unnecessary; the issue not black and white.
There may be a best of both worlds on the way. In the tale of The Hangman’s
Read More