How to Be Your Own Literary Agent: An Insider's Guide to Getting Your Book Published

How to Be Your Own Literary Agent takes the mystery out of book publishing for any writer, published or not. Richard Curtis — a top literary agent for more than thirty years — provides a comprehensive practical overview of the publishing process, from submissions to contract negotiations to subsidiary rights to marketing, publicity, and beyond. He also gives away trade secrets and invaluable wisdom — candid advice that can be found nowhere else. Now completely revised and expanded, How to Be Your Own Literary Agent is essential reading for all writers.

* Big publishers, small publishers, self-publishers, e-publishers: how to keep up in a rapidly changing business * The new breed of busy literary editors: how to find them and know what they're looking for * What the electronic revolution means to you, and how to take advantage of it * How to know your "publishing" rights and negotiate effectively * How to have a say in your book's design, jacket, and promotion * How book chains and superstores have altered publishing — and what that means for you

Contents

Introduction xv

1. An Agent Looks at the Market 1

How a literary agency evaluates your manuscript • How economic factors affect editorial decisions • The blockbuster mentality • Four categories of books: backlist, frontlist, midlist, and genre • The best way to break into print

2. Slush 10

The odds against unagented writers • Overcoming publisher resistance to unagented submissions • Studying the market • Submitting to specific editors • Multiple submissions • Post–9/11 precautions • Writing a strong cover letter • Packaging your submissions • E-mail submissions • Whether to send complete manuscript, partial manuscript, or query letter • Producing winning nonfiction presentations • The key components of a nonfiction pitch • Pitching fiction • Following up your submission

3. Negotiation 28

Taking the mystery out of negotiation • The first thing to do if you get an offer • Calling in an agent after you get an offer • Getting information from an agent without hiring him • Why many publishers would rather deal with agents than with unrepresented writers • The basic deal vs. the boilerplate • Formulating your negotiating strategy • Researching and rehearsing for negotiation • Relationship with your editor during negotiation • Supporting your position with cogent arguments

4. The Basic Deal 57

Why it is essential for writers to understand contracts • Copyright— what is it? • Common-law vs. statutory copyright protection • Elements of the basic deal: form, language, territory, subsidiary rights • E-books vs. traditional books • The difference between primary and secondary subsidiary rights • Understanding royalties • Royalties based on list price vs. those based on net proceeds • The importance of understanding discounts when calculating royalties • The basic royalty • Other types of royalties • Overstock and remainders • Amazon.com • Primary subsidiary rights: book club, reprint, second serial, electronic, and others • How primary sub-rights income is split between publisher and author • How hardcover-softcover deals work • Advances • How publishers calculate advance offers • The payout of advances • Escalators and bonuses • Joint accounting of advances • Refund of advances: the “acceptable” clause • Trading off advances, royalties, and subsidiary rights in negotiation

5. Warranties and Indemnities 83

The authors liability • Withholding of authors royalties to defray legal expenses, damages, settlements • Warranties you make to your publisher: libel, defamation, obscenity, others • Indemnifying your publisher against expenses and damages • Modifying warranty and indemnity provisions of contracts • Libel insurance • Care is the best defense

6. Permissions 94

The cost of ignoring the permissions clause of your contract • Getting the publisher to pick up some of the permissions cost • The authors responsibility for illustrations, quotations, etc. • Indexing • Designing a permission request • Anticipate costs now, save money later

7. The Option Clause 99

Disastrous results of poorly worded option clauses • When and why to modify your option clause • Specific language for modifying option clauses • An ideal option clause

8. Termination and Reversion of Rights 106

Sharp reduction in life span of books • Authors demand reversions of rights as soon as sales cease • Why books go out of print so quickly • The desirability of recovering rights to your out-of-print books • The profound impact of electronic technology on definitions of “out of print” • Sharpening the language of your termination provisions • Why publishers resist requests for termination • Giving publishers a break on reversion requests • How valuable are reissues of reverted books? • Reissuing your reverted book in e- book format

9. Royalty Statements 114

Bookkeeping games publishers play • Why and how publishers delay payments due authors • Reading a royalty statement: the basic components • How publishers manipulate reserves against returns • Tactics for getting fuller royalty statements from publishers • Combating delays • Pass-through of royalties after advance has been earned • Auditing publishers accounts —a suggested audit clause • How to audit without using an accountant • Collective action to combat “creative bookkeeping”

10. Ancillary Rights 131

Why and when you should reserve ancillary rights • The economics of ancillary rights • Handling your own ancillary rights

11. Cyberbooks and Hyperauthors 137

New language appearing in publishing contracts as publishers discover multimedia • How electronic media compare to traditional print medium • How they compare to traditionnal motion picture medium • Publishers and authors vie for control of electronic rights • Potential of new technology to create “living books” • In the 1990s CD-ROMs foreshadowed the electronic rrrrrevolution • Publishers, authors, and agents awaken to unprecedented opportunities for education and entertainment

12. The E-Book Revolution and How to Join It 143

Three events in 1998 that revolutionized the publishing industry • Introduction of print-on-demand technology • Launch of palm-sized electronic reading devices • Realization that Internet, not CD-ROMs, is delivery system of choice • Vision of a “virtual” publishing model • How the computer “disintermediates” middlemen between buyer and seller • Digital is forever • Digital transmissions do not recognize national boundaries • Publishing no longer a physical place • How electronic technology changes roles and relationships • Key elements of an e-book contract • Royalty • Format • Territory • Term • Subsidiary rights • Term • Hype vs. reality of an e- book future • Signs that e-books are beginning to “take”

13. Movie and Television Deals 150

Critical elements in movie making: financing, producing, distributing • How producers assemble the elements of a movie deal • Options vs. outright sale of rights • The rights an author grants in a movie deal • The value of these rights • Earning profits above the sale price of movie rights • Your legal responsibilities and liabilities • Screen credit for your work • Writing the screenplay of your book • How television deals differ from theatrical motion picture deals • Networks vs. cable television • How books get “sneaked” to the studios • Getting your book into the hands of producers, directors, stars

14. Miscellaneous Provisions 169

Copyright • Competing publication • Competing schedules • Deferred royalties • Minimum royalties • Bankruptcy • Failure to publish • Assignment • Jurisdiction of publishing contracts • Authors copies

15. All About Agents 177

Why literary agents have so much clout • How editors are recovering ground lost to agents • Why you should always trust your agent • Why you should never trust your agent • When an author should approach an agent for representation • Finding and selecting the right agent • Using the Association of Authors Representatives to check out agents • Evaluating agents • What questions to ask • What agents do that authors cant do for themselves • What to expect and what not to expect from your agent • Reading fees • Designing and negotiating an author-agent agreement • Commissions • Breaking up with your agent

16. To Publication Date 198

Agents can influence every important publishing decision • Copy-editing • Advantages and limitations of computerized copy-editing • Galleys and page proofs • Production • Publishers catalogues • Entry in catalogue essential to the life of a book • How the publisher determines the size of a printing • The role of the sales representative and sales manager • Enormous influence of sales reps on publishing strategies • How publishers Web sites and e-mail affect their relationships with stores and chains • How authors can help sales reps

17. Is There Life After Pub Date? 213

Dont expect a publication party • How the publisher determines the advertising, promotion, and publicity for your book • “Platform” • Helping your publisher publish your book better • Why the annual Book Expo America bookseller convention is important to authors

18. Beyond the Bestseller List 226

Are bestseller lists honest and objective? • Time lag problem • Selection criteria problem • Can the lists be manipulated? • BookScan program enables the book trade to track sales information more accurately

19. Consenting Adults 232

Who should have editorial control, editor or author? • Control over covers, design and style, subsidiary-rights negotiations? • Authors not always good judges • Difference between consultation and approval • Veteran authors gain more control • How new authors can get some, too

20. Collaborations 238

Rewards and dangers • Types of collaborations • Good matches vs. bad • How collaborators find each other • Collaboration agreements • How to split proceeds • Bylines • Copyright • Liability and indemnification • Expenses • Other obligations of collaborators toward each other • Approval of manuscript • Authorization of agent • Termination of collaboration

21. Book Packagers 248

Definition: combination of author, agent, and publisher • How you might become a packager • Advantages and disadvantages of working with packagers • Why relations with packagers tend to deteriorate • Tips for dealing with packagers

22. Auctions 254

Factors in the decision to submit simultaneously: Is the book timely? Does it have universal appeal? Is it a big book? • Difference between multiple submissions and auctions • How auctions are run • Benefits and hazards of auctions

23. Of Taxes and the Writer 260

Writers are vulnerable to IRS audit • What you can deduct • Writeoffs in lean years • Prosperous years: government-sponsored tax plans, income averaging, etc. • Depreciable capital purchases • Straight deductions: office expenses, office use of home, travel • Documentation • Incorporation

24. Solidarity 266

Many organizations of authors, but how much influence do they have? • Comparison with Writers Guild of America • Why free-lance authors cant wield similar power • Power of literary agents • Problems of collective action • Bad publicity a cheap but effective weapon

25. Superstores 270

Rise of bookstore chains • Superstores designed to provide variety of services • Bookstores expanding to sell software • Appeal of traditional bookstores • A typical superstore • Challenges to traditional bookstores by Amazon.com and other online retailers • Beyond Amazon.com: Internet cafés, print-on-demand kiosks

26. Titles, or My Life in Titles, or The Title Game, or Adventures of a Title Maven, or Titles: The Writers Indispensable Tool, or Whats in a Title?, or The Principles of Titling, or My Kingdom for a Title, or . . . 276

The title helps authors, publishers, and consumers focus on the subject or category • Sales reps influence over title selection • Fashions in titling • How to select an appropriate title • Some memorable titles

27. Lets Have Lunch 283

Importance of editorial luncheons • Protocol of making lunch dates • Some common misconceptions • How book deals are developed at lunch • Who pays

28. If I Were You 290

What authors need to know to launch their careers in todays environment • Twenty-first-century model of publishing: a writer, a reader, and a server • Alternatives to traditional publishing opportunities • Small presses • Self- publication • Electronic publication

Appendix: Is It a Good Deal? 295

A quick guide to deal points for authors in the midst of negotiations