A Meerkat's Bolthole

 http://www.kameronhurley.com/dealno-deal-writers-arent-totally-stupid/ …  

 What situation, you ask?  This one.

This Saturday I saw the New York Times article Barnes and Noble/Simon & Schuster Dispute Said to Hurt Sales. Later in the day, a high-up Simon & Schuster executive also linked to that post from his Facebook account, saying that yes, this is what's going on.

Another article about it was published in the Wall Street Journal: Barnes & Noble Cuts Back Simon & Schuster Titles.

Both articles are worth reading in full, but in brief: due to the dispute between Simon & Schuster and Barnes & Noble, B&N has cut their orders of S&S books drastically. According to the New York Times, "Industry executives, as well as authors of recently published Simon & Schuster books and their agents, say that Barnes & Noble has reduced book orders greatly, to almost nothing in the case of some lesser-known writers." This policy began in January, apparently.

Needless to say, the people getting hurt most badly by this policy are the S&S writers, especially the lesser-known S&S writers, whose new books...just aren't getting ordered.

 At the end of last year, I made a very difficult, painful decision, and ended my association* with my agency of a decade+.

I'm pleased today to say that I will now be represented by Joe Monti, of the Barry Goldblatt Literary Agency. And yes, both he and Barry are fully aware of what they're getting into, and seem to be looking forward to it. :-D

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I know that it's popular now for writers to decide to go sans agent, and handle their affairs on their own, or with a lawyer's assist (especially if they've been burned in the past). I'd never say "don't do that" because for many people that is the right decision. But not for me. 

Ironic, perhaps, since my previous career as an editor gave me the skills to go solo (I have no fear of negotiations, contracts or paperwork). But gaining those skills also made me aware of how much time and energy they eat up, especially when things drag out, or details (and people) need to be tracked down and brought back to order.  Over the long haul, that time and energy adds up, and leeches away from the writing.  Having a business partner who handles all that, promptly and professionally and with an eye toward my best interests, so I don't have stress over it?  Makes financial and emotional sense to me. 

Plus, I really appreciate someone acting as a pro-level sounding board for projects, gently poking at the holes and commenting on the elements that could be stronger, while thinking not only of the story but potential markets/editors for that story.  AND that person talks me down off the occasional writerly ledge?

For me, a good agent** is worth 15% of my income. For you, for whatever reasons, it may not.

So when you hear people saying "you need an agent" or "you're better off without an agent," don't think about what THEY say.  Think about what YOU want, and need.



* she's a wonderful person, we just weren't a good fit any more
**a bad agent - by which I mean one that is fraudulent, not giving good advice, or simply isn't listening to you, is NOT worth it.  At any percentage.

-- I was attacked by a nap monster! But awake now and revving up again. Three things to share with you:

-It looks like Blood From Stone got my usual 4 star rating from RT, bless them. Anyone got the actual print review? And fashionista_35 to the rescue, as usual:

"Gilman's sixth -- and hopefully not final! -- Retrievers novel is of a piece with the others -- paced at breakneck speed, compulsively readable and with a believable story. Wren continues to be a compelling protagonist, and her relationship with Sergei is as steady and as sure as her magic." Woot! and emphasis mine, natch.


-"Growls Garden" is surprisingly good to edit with. And now people who thought they knew my musical taste are going "Growls Garden? Clark? Gilman? WTF?" *laugh* My tastes, they are eclectic. Yes. The soundtrack for "Mustang" though is totally Chris Isaak, and the Bonnie books demand smooth jazz, while the Vineart books tend to veer from trance to opera. No, I don't know why, either.

-- And now, the Essential Mockery Moment:

In my spam filter this weekend, an e-mail from one Dr. Michael J. Duckett with the subject header "Make big money writing books."

( Okay, you guys KNOW I HAD to click on that, just for the inevitable amusement factor. )


And yes, this has already been forwarded to Writer Beware, I suspect by a LOT of people.

Barnes & Noble Acquires Fictionwise

Barnes & Noble announced that it has purchased the e-book retailer Fictionwise for $15.7 million in cash today.

The major e-book company operates two websites, Fictionwise.com and eReader.com, and both will remain functioning after the sale. According to Fictionwise, founders Steve Pendergrast and Scott Pendergrast will continue to operate the e-book retailer as a separate unit under the Barnes & Noble umbrella.

Here's more from the official release: "Barnes & Noble said it plans to use Fictionwise as part of its overall digital strategy, which includes the launch of an e-Bookstore later this year. In addition to the closing purchase price, Fictionwise may receive earn out payments for achieving certain performance targets over the next two years." (Via TeleRead)

http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/web_tech/barnes_noble_acquires_fictionwise_110402.asp

First, the bad news: As is already known to the Internet, Realms of Fantasy is being shuttered. Sad day for those of us who read short fantasy fiction (and the staff there too, natch). And so much for the submission I had there. *sighs* I don't think this is Doom, but it's not good news, obviously. Is short fiction dying, or is it moving to another format (electronic) entirely? The discussion rages on. Me, I'm still not ready to call for last rites for the short story. We'll see.


However, in the good news category, I came home to a box of mass market editions of CURSE THE DARK. Yay! So for your amusement, edification, and shopping needs, I give you LAG's release schedule for the first half of 2009:

*January: nothing.
*February: still nothing. Buy other peoples' books.
*March: the mass market release of CURSE THE DARK and BRING IT ON Pre-order 'em now! (seriously: pre-order them now. Bookstores are standing by. And you'll get a sneak peek at Blood From Stone, too!)
*April: the trade edition of Midnight Cravings, the novella anthology containing Anna Leonard's "Dreamcatcher," first time in paper form!
*May: Blood From Stone. Book 6 in the Retrievers series, and a whole new chapter in their lives... This one's PB-riffic!
*June: TBA


Under 'No news': I did not come to the end of Part II -- I am close, but said hellwithit and went downtown for Puppy Time and dinner, instead. Tomorrow is another workday. Tonight, I have to do some invoicing and bill-paying...

However, I am amused to note:

1. I have my hero riding hard all day -- at a steady walk, broken by an occasional trot, and stopping when it's too dark to see the road.

2. I actually know how a sea-serpent would eat someone.

Lots of discussion across the blogosphere about What's Wrong with Publishing, How Publishing Is/Isn't Dying, etc and What it All Means.

To that I can only say what I've been saying about the economy all along: it didn't get broken overnight, and if it were easy to fix -- a simple matter of changing A for B -- it would have been don already. Really. TBTB? They're not stupid, most of them. Venal, short-sighted, and stuck in a previous generation, maybe, but not stupid. And none of them want to lose their jobs (or answer to corporate head-choppers) for screwing the pooch if they can avoid it.

So what's the answer? Damned if I know. Got some ideas.

-Telling shareholders to take their narrow profit margin and be happy with it, damn it.
-Adapting faster to new technology.
-Bringing prices back into line with reality -- I love me some books, but even for my addicted-to authors, $25-30 is a lot to shell out. Give me a $12 trade paperback and I'll go away happy. A $6 mass market, likewise. Yes, I know what production costs are. See points 1 and 2.
-creating a single industry-wide format for e-books, by god, and telling manufacturers to create readers around that, rather than scattering their focus.
-Creating a new delivery system -- I used to think that direct-from-publisher sales were a bad idea, because it limited reader access. Now I'm not so sure -- if you can skip around from imprint to imprint via websites to look at what's available, is that any better/worse than a bookstore? And that way every title could be showcased, not just what a buyer thinks will sell. On the other hand, that puts a lot of people in the chain of events out of work, too. So...



Meanwhile, all I can do is keep on keeping on. 38 pages and one rather major comment to hammer into better shape, and HARD MAGIC is done. I've rescheduled my dinner plans [pity the person keeping company with a writer on deadline!] and plan to hit fini by the time I sleep. That may not be until dawn, but...

If you are at all involved in the publishing world, or just curious about it, read this: http://theswivet.blogspot.com/2008/12/major-restructuring-at-random-house-inc.html


and make sure to read the first comment.

*goes off, still laughing*

ETA: apparently, some people thought I was laughing at the news of layoffs. Very much not - I've been there and it's hellish. But this is What Happens and it's not The End of Publishing any more than it's been every othere time panic has set in. And the comment was funny and true...

I have no words. (warning: probably NSFW)

No, actually, I do. WTF? Seriously. WTF? Yes, okay, in the mists of time I was co-editor of the much-loved OtherWere. And we did indeed have the dread were-guppie, among other critters. But it wasn't erotica! At no point was billing and cooing an actual..

no, not going there. Not in print, anyway.

Yes, that's right, folks. Smut has taken to the pond. Were-duck erotica! (also maybe NSFW)

Proof that you should never ever say 'don't go there' because someone's gonna think it was an invitation.


Right. Back on the pony, Gilman. Deadlines to crash into, yet....

Awake at 6am. Caffeinated and at my desk by 7am. Spent an hour correcting the copy-editor who thought that all dialog should be in textbook-perfect English grammatical structure, without regard for regional variations or personal speech patterns. *facepalm* I will cheerfully take correction, Universe knows. But please to be keeping your grubby hands off my character dialog, kthnxbai. Sent changes back to editor in time to feel Virtuous and still have entire day to do other needful stuff, yay.

Also, off comments in a locked post elsewhere about the 'joy' of Book Release Day, I present you with my procrastination of the morning:


To brace or not to brace; that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The inevitability of that Klausner review,
Or to take refuge against a poor store display,
And by ignoring deny them? To work: to weep;
No more; and by weeping to say we endure
The heart-ache and the thousand returned books
An author is prone to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To work, to weep;
To weep: perchance to go out of stock: aye, there's the rub;
For in that work of bookstores what fears may come
When we have shuffled off this contractual coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of too little backlist;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of Locus,
The reviewers's wrong, the disappointed reader's spite,
The pangs of despised love, the payment's delay,
The insolence of wannabes and the spurns
That patient merit of the unpublished takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a delete button? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of there being nothing after,
The remainder'd country from whose bourn
No author returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus publishing does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And manuscripts of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the pacing of action. - Soft you now!
The fair New York Times list! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember'd.

(and yeah, I couldn't get the scansion to work on the fly. Bite me)

Right. Back on the pony, Gilman.