Comments on Nathan Bransford - Literary Agent: This Week in Publishing

Ink - I do not disagree with you one bit. I dou...

2009-11-10T09:19:41.012-08:00

Ink -

I do not disagree with you one bit. I doubt the 'price wars' will continue indefinitely, hopefully it is a holiday gimmick to get folks in the shopping mood and to make a grab at the Christmas online shopping dollars early.

I'm sure a non-trivial portion of online holiday buyers wouldn't shop in an indie. They are more along the lines of:

"Okay, Aunt Martha is next on the list. She likes lawyer shows. Okay, get her the Grisham. ::Click:: Next . . . "

If they do continue the deep discounting though, it would be nice to see it spread around a bit, such as deep discounting a promising newbie.

Terri

word verify: 'troutes' the paths fish take to get from one side of the lake to the other

OK, I get it. Quick replies are efficient. After y...

2009-11-09T14:17:27.602-08:00

OK,
I get it. Quick replies are efficient. After years of querying did not expect one.

anon- Please read this post.

2009-11-09T13:44:30.917-08:00

anon-

Please read this post.

Nathan, I submitted a query via e-mail and receive...

2009-11-09T13:43:36.430-08:00

Nathan,
I submitted a query via e-mail and received what appeared to be an auto-reply rejection in less than four minutes.

The bit about book apps on the iPhone is particula...

2009-11-09T13:18:06.483-08:00

The bit about book apps on the iPhone is particularly encouraging!

Thought this was really interesting: France Rates ...

2009-11-09T12:39:31.187-08:00

Thought this was really interesting: France Rates Top Indie Bookshops Like Wine.

P-P-P-Peggy! From Mad Men. Great scenes. Also, h...

2009-11-09T12:20:57.916-08:00

P-P-P-Peggy!

From Mad Men. Great scenes.

Also, hope they e-x-p-a-n-d Carla's role beyond Draper household (what's left of it).

Loved the "strike out on our own" theme of final episode. Resonates for some reason, I wonder why that is?

C'mon Carla, strike out on your own. Seems like great narrative possibilities there. Mad Men writers, I hope you too follow NB's blog, so you can follow my advice.

Ink, I think you may be right about mid-list, but...

2009-11-09T11:53:51.655-08:00

Ink,

I think you may be right about mid-list, but not debut. Publishers are always looking for the next big thing.

It might be alittle harder for debut, but not impossible.

But honestly, this would all just make the transition to e-books faster. Traditional publishing is not the only way to publish, and if they tightened up, authors would start looking more seriously at other venues.

That's not to say there isn't a human cost here. And I suspect the government would step in when it started affecting the big book chains, but isn't this the way things are heading anyway?

Really?

Terri, I agree with that in the short term. A tem...

2009-11-09T11:36:23.136-08:00

Terri,

I agree with that in the short term. A temporary sale to increase traffic and awareness won't be too harmful, particularly if people spend the savings on other books (as you did). The problem is that if they continued and extended such a practice (which is the fear) then those three other books you bought likely wouldn't be published at all. There'd be a great abyss stretching out where the debut and midlist authors used to stand.

Just the thoughts of one humble bookseller.

My best,
Bryan

Okay - I have to step in and comment . . . I do ...

2009-11-09T11:14:37.001-08:00

Okay - I have to step in and comment . . .

I do not have an indie bookstore in my area, it is at least a three hour drive to find one. My very small town supports a used bookstore and a gift/book shop that features local authors and books of local historical interest, mostly from micropresses or self-pubbed.

My local Wal-Mart has a teeny little book section with one section of best-sellers, one section of vampires, one section of Amish/Christian romance and one section of westerns. My supermarket has an 8-foot long book section that is actually pretty eclectic for a supermarket, but not a whole lot of selection.

So, that leaves me at the mercy of the dark overlords at Amazon. I was spending an early Christmas gift certificate when I discovered the new Stephen King novel for pre-order for $9.00 instead of $35.00. Yes, I ordered it! (it drops tomorrow)

Since I didn't have to spend my entire gift booty on the King novel (which I would have purchased at full price), I was able to get three more books, all three from writers I haven't read before, but have come to know through blogs, social networking, and recommendations. So, in my case, the dark one's use of a loss leader kept me shopping and buying - four books for the price of one. An prohibition on the practice of loss leaders would just mean that I would buy fewer books.

If I had access to an indie, I would be there, but I don't. One of my goals for 2010 is to use my limited book buying funds for new(er) authors and leave the crowd-pleaser-blockbusters for checking out of the library. Grisham, Patterson, etc. can live without my purchase, but my support may help a newbie.

Just my two cents from the midwest.

Terri

Just popping over from Karen's blog - love your bl...

2009-11-09T10:40:43.586-08:00

Just popping over from Karen's blog - love your blog - I'll be back!!!

nice comments from the big guys...still doesn't gi...

2009-11-09T08:51:03.149-08:00

nice comments from the big guys...still doesn't give me hope, but what more can we little guys do?

keep writing...

Nathan, I LOVED the link about how authors write!...

2009-11-09T00:40:25.729-08:00

Nathan,

I LOVED the link about how authors write!

I have to admit, reading all of the "different" (*sneezeCRAZY!end sneeze*)methods of writing made me just a wee bit dizzy, and it felt sort of like I was becoming OCD by osmosis or something... but was like a train wreck. Could. not. look. away.

Very interesting.
Thanks for linking it.

Looking forward to reading your New York impressio...

2009-11-08T22:52:54.087-08:00

Looking forward to reading your New York impressions - literary or otherwise. Never been to New York and never likely to as I'm living on the Other Side. Would photos be out of the question?

I'm glad I found your blog; I've already found a w...

2009-11-08T17:11:30.221-08:00

I'm glad I found your blog; I've already found a wealth of information here for writers.

I want to second that the entries in the Rejection...

2009-11-08T10:48:44.762-08:00

I want to second that the entries in the Rejectionist contest are amazing and hilarious.

So, congrats on predicting the trends, Nathan. :) I wonder if you see any current trends in queries that will be coming to fruition next year.

The overweight women in chick lit trend doesn't surprise me. Chick lit does tend to be on the progressive end. Also the fantasy of: I'm not perfect, but an absolutely perfect man (and in chick lit, it's frequently TWO absolutely perfect men) loves me for who I am anyway - that's a pretty appealing fantasy.

But I also think the culture is grappling with the issue of women and standards of beauty. I've seen overweight heroines in several mystery series, too.

Yea for the Grisham and Irving! Love that the 'big guys' are standing up. Thank you, and right on!

In terms of Holly's article, I think I'm only going to say thank you to Holly, and thank you to Nathan for linking it, and thanks to Marilyn for speaking up. It's so nice to hear people speaking to this concern.

2) Or B & N could add a section for entertainment....

2009-11-07T19:08:54.285-08:00

2) Or B & N could add a section for entertainment. Sell DVDs, Wii games, etc. Would love to send my kids over to one area to browse while I browse the books...

And so was the last thing said by those who ever remembered what civilization was.

Chris Elden: LOL on the POD with the memory stick...

2009-11-07T18:00:35.495-08:00

Chris Elden:

LOL on the POD with the memory stick! I like that idea. I too go to B & N to browse. One of my friends from work said she never goes to a book store, she orders everything on-line. I like sifting through a book on the shelf to see if I'll like, say page 250 as much as I do page 1-5.

Ink: I really hope big chain stores don't push out small book owners entirely, but I have a feeling they are on their way out. My husband and I owned a TV store and it closed for the same reason here: we couldn't compete with the chain store prices

The other problem is variety. Many small book stores only stock a few titles and authors, and buy a limited supply of the newest books. So finding book published a few years back can be difficult for a reader to find.

I enjoy shopping at local bookstores - that loyalty in me from when I was a business owner - but as much as I hate to admit it, I usually have to support the big chain pockets. Very uncool to me.

As Roland Deschain would admit: The world has moved on.

Nathan, great post. I hope NYC hasn't secretly wooed you away from us.

And for the record: I love Janet Reid's posts. I find her voice and humor are refreshing.

.......dhole

I added one of those rejection letters, and I'm ex...

2009-11-07T14:29:23.942-08:00

I added one of those rejection letters, and I'm expecting to get any number of them flung back at me when my novel is actually ready to start sending queries on.

Including from Nathan. You, sir, are my first query. Fair warning, Dude.

Jennifer Weiner has been writing best sellers abou...

2009-11-07T14:13:50.979-08:00

Jennifer Weiner has been writing best sellers about larger women for years, beginning with "Good In Bed." Interesting that others are jumping aboard.

Hope you had a great time in New York!

Hi Ink, Yes I agree, which is why I qualified what...

2009-11-07T14:13:29.615-08:00

Hi Ink, Yes I agree, which is why I qualified what I said with 'depending on how far it goes.'

Still, I think it's a good opportunity for Barnes and Noble et al to consider how they do business. For example, I'll toss out three ideas (I'm not a business person, just trying to think outside the box):

1) When I go to B & N, I consider it an indulgence. Get a nice latte and browse books. Pick up a book or two. It's strictly for me. (or for my kids, but I don't bring them with me because there's nothing for them to do). When I go to Target, it's business. I'm in and out with my bath mat and laundry detergent. What if B & N plays into this "indulgence" shopping and adds a section for perfumes/lotions/candles? I know it sounds bizarre, but while in the frame of mind...

2) Or B & N could add a section for entertainment. Sell DVDs, Wii games, etc. Would love to send my kids over to one area to browse while I browse the books...

3) Or B & N could have (cough, cough) a super duper POD machine where writers could bring in their memory sticks and print out a handful of handy dandy books. Ahem.

I don't know... just some thoughts. I hope the "little" guys don't get swallowed up. I hope they are proactive.

Who knows...

AngeliqueP wrote: I heard about an experiment whe...

2009-11-07T11:13:56.746-08:00

AngeliqueP wrote:

I heard about an experiment where someone sent the first 3 chapters of War and Peace to all the major publishing houses without an agent to back it. No one picked it up or recognized it.

First, how did they know nobody recognized it?

If you send a busy publishing professional something obviously plagiarized, you're going to get a form rejection letter. They're not going to waste their time explaining why you're a jerk.

Second, people do experiments like this regularly, and I don't think it proves anything useful.

1) How do you know they queried appropriately? If they're just doing an experiment, they may not have researched how to present the work professionally or get the manuscript into the right hands.

2) War and Peace wouldn't have read as fresh and engaging writing during the seventies. It is a great book, but it wouldn't have strong enough appeal to modern readers for a publisher to want to acquire it. It's not saleable enough anymore.

Gina, I think we're already getting to that point...

2009-11-07T10:07:54.002-08:00

Gina,

I think we're already getting to that point here... but I think people are worried that this new tactic, if taken to the extreme, would pretty much finish the job and lead to a drastic narrowing of book possibilities. Ick.

Ink - you´re right to be worried. The same thing ...

2009-11-07T09:49:37.520-08:00

Ink -

you´re right to be worried. The same thing happened here in the UK more than ten years ago when the Net Book Agreement, which settled book prices between publishers and booksellers, was ruled to be illegal.

Cue supermarket chains decimating the book business over here. Heavy discounting. Tiny selection of best-selling titles.

´As of 2009, 500 independent bookshops had closed since the demise of the agreement´ - Wikipedia.

We´ve had this situation for a decade now, and I can count the indie bookshops in a thirty mile radius of where I live on one hand (and that includes a city of over one million inhabitants).

Every sure thing, such as Harry Potter or Dan Brown, is a loss leader in the big supermarkets, who buy such vast quantities of these kinds of titles that they have by now acquired an equally vast influence on pricing in publishing.

Check out this article http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article2087268.ece, in which an indie bookseller is rejoicing in the end of the Harry Potter series, as nobody on the distribution end made any money from it.
Many lost money on this the biggest recent - and homegrown - hit in publishing.

Tried that 4am thing once. Usually too sleepy. Bu...

2009-11-07T09:21:49.289-08:00

Tried that 4am thing once. Usually too sleepy. But if the Inner Merciless Critic is still asleep . . .m