Speak Up or Shut Up: The Author-Editor Dilemmas

Once again, let's think about whether the squeaky wheel gets the grease or the boot...when it comes to talking with your publishing house editor about disagreements or frustrations. When a publisher buys your book, it is their job to first make your book the best it can be from an editorial standpoint, and yet the book remains your book.

1. The first frustrations for the author come in the editing. It is not uncommon to receive a manuscript back from your editor so full of post it notes you shout, "If they hate it so much, why did they buy it?" Take a deep breath. Read through the whole manuscript, every single post it. Jot some notes if you like, but don't spend time on any of it yet. You may ultimately disagree with some of the editorial suggestions, and that is your right, but first you have to step back and read through all the editing in order to see the overarching shape of those edits. How does this editing make the book more clear, more accessible to readers, more compelling? If in due course you believe that some of the editing in fact detracts, or is inaccurate, or pushes the book a direction you do not want to go, this is fair discussion that you should have with your editor. It is your approach to this conversation --on the phone, not email--that creates success or disaster.

The author-editor relationship needs to be respectful, rational, thoughtful, and positive--on both sides. You do not want to push issues to the point of being that "most difficult author to work with" or persona non grata. And it should not be necessary if you are considerate and patient in your approach and communications.

If you approach the editor with gratitude for the time, effort, and talent he or she has just put into your manuscript, you will be off on the right foot. If you leap into "I can't accept this" you are jumping off a cliff.

Remember the KKK rule: kiss, kick, kiss. Kiss for the overall wonderful editing; kick for those points you don't agree with and why; ending the conversation on a kiss and optimism. The editor will graciously accept your point of view as long as you show you understand the problem he or she pointed out, and you have an equally good way of addressing it so the problem is solved. Not ignored--solved, but solved your way.

2. The second most common frustration comes with the title debates. An author should always be cautioned not to fall in love with his or her title--because it is often the first thing to go! Publishers have final control over title, cover design, layout, and marketing of the book--since it is a product they have significantly invested in to bring to market. It is a commercial product--which is a far notion from how the author experiences his or her book. The publishing team has multiple title meetings, including input from sales, marketing, and publicity departments, who in turn have input from booksellers (more than we'd like). Booksellers are on the front lines of book selling, and they have the statistical tools to provide feedback to the publishing houses about what is or isn't working in the book stores. This includes titles, cover designs and colors (which seem to change like fashion), as well as positioning phrases --i.e. you wouldn't put a quote on the cover saying this is the next "X" if "X" didn't sell up to expectations.

It is perfectly fine for you to make an initial case for your original title, but then you must engage in the ongoing discussions with an open mind to the publisher's needs. It is fair to ask them for more than one title suggestion--at least then there is some choice. You have to gauge their "determination" -- if they are basically adamant about a certain title, and if all else fails, work in a subtitle that will make you feel comfortable with it. Or give them back a couple other titles you like that seem to provide what they wanted, but with a slant you like. You must speak up if they are forcing a title you can't live with or work with; that you cannot in good conscience promote. That is a "No." Usually, it doesn't come to this, but do not hesitate if it does. And note that title discussions are time sensitive -- you don't usually have weeks to figure this out. You will get one or two back-and-forths and then the decision will be made. If you're a really savvy author, you'll have some alternate titles you can live with hidden in you back pocket before you ever get a publishing deal.

Remember the old saying: Pick Your Battles. Publishing is often a 9-month process--editorial, production, post-production, pre-sales, and publication/launch. You can't be a screaming hyena on everything that comes up, or you will quickly be "one of those."

3. The third tricky author-editor situation, which is increasingly common, is that half way through the process, your editor accepts a position at another publishing house and jumps ship. You are not necessarily the first to know. With luck your agent is, but sometimes it is sudden. Here are a few indicators that your editor might have one foot out the door:

• He or she usually returns your email or call within one day, sometimes two. Now it has been a week and you know the editor is not on vacation.
• Whereas usually the editor is somewhat chatty with you, now the tone is all business and "efficient."
• The editor's assistant starts communicating with you more, whereas before this the editor always talked with you.

Something is up. First ask your agent to find out what's going on, and if you are still not satisfied, it is perfectly okay to ask your editor directly, saying you've noticed this change. You do not want to be surprised. A new editor will have to be assigned, and you will need to make contact with your new person to create a seamless flow in the ongoing process. You will also have to get your new person excited about your book. This person did not buy it--but you need him or her to be your voice in-house, to rally the troops for you. A little cheerleading and, let's face it, kissing up, will be in order. Handle it with grace-don't let it throw you off your game; you're the only one who pays the price.

There are authors out there--you know who you are--who think they can "demand" things from their publisher. Not true, unless you own a stake in the publishing house. It is your book, but they publish "at will" and it is product and sales oriented, and they are the ones ponying up $50,000 just to bring your book to market (without considering your advance). You do not have control, you have influence. Used correctly, influence is just as good.

If you have other issues with your editor that you'd like addressed, feel free to post a comment or question.

Here's to diplomacy!
Laurie

www.authorbiz.com
Photo credit: Clipart (c) 2009 Laurie Harper

Speak Up or Shut Up? Author-Agent Dilemmas

Does the squeaky wheel get the grease, or the boot? How do you know when to speak up or when to shut up? Over these next few blogs we're going to take a look at some typical dilemmas authors face, first with their agents, then editors, and finally, publicists and marketing departments. It should help you think through your particular situation and choose a course of action and dialogue that won't get you the boot or put you on blacklists. Your first professional relationship (aside from any freelance editor you may have worked with) is the agent. You were very excited to have an agent, but then.....

• You understood that your agent would be submitting your proposal/book to publishers within a certain time frame, and after much time has passed, the agent has not told you what's happening and does not answer your email or phone call asking for an update. What to do?
  
• You signed on with an agent who was very excited about your book, but after several rejections, you're now thinking about the other agents you passed on, wondering if you made the right choice. . .
  
• The agent has made a few submissions of the book and you are eagerly awaiting The Call saying there is an offer on your book, but after the first rejections come in, you notice a tone in your agent's communication with you that implies you are bothering him or her when you checking in or ask questions. You wonder what you did wrong, what you said that changed things....

Consider this:

(1) Agents are not generic beings. Each one has come to the agent career through their own unique routes, each with his or her own personality and an agency that reflects individual philosophy and perspective. When you look through a resource book like Jeff Herman's Guide to Book Publishers, Editors and Literary Agents, you will see the personality of any agent if you patiently read the whole listing. In my experience, it is about 95% accurate. If an agent comes off as aloof and to the point; he or she is. If the agent comes across as personable, broad-minded, open to new ideas, with a sense of humor, it's true.

When you first spoke to your agent, before signing on with the agency, was the conversation open and relaxed? Were you comfortable asking your questions? Did you feel satisfied that the agent had spent significant time with your proposal or book, with a definite plan for going to the publishers? Or was it a straightforward business conversation, fairly short, that basically just gave you the chance to say "Okay, I'll sign with you"? Did you feel that you were beginning a relationship or that you were just saying yes with crossed fingers?

Some authors want a business-like relationship where the agent just does what he or she is supposed to do, and the author puts the book out of mind until there is a publisher, trusting that the agent is doing the job and will call if he or she has something to report. This is a perfect match between client and agent if the agent is a "hands-off, strictly business" agent, who sees the job as Present the Author to Editors, Get a Publishing Offer, Negotiate the Contract, and Manage Royalty Payments. Otherwise, you can see it is not an ideal match if either party was looking for a closer working relationship, with a constant information exchange, getting to know each other, planning future books, etc.

The important word here is "match." A mis-matched author-agent team is inherently difficult for both sides. More than anything you want a good match of agent for who you are, how you work, what you write, and for helping you create lasting publishing relationships that will build your career. Only you can say which agent is that match for you.

If you signed with an agent and have unsuccessfully tried to discuss what is bothering you, and you now believe you chose the wrong one, then let the agent know that you would like to terminate representation, subject to the outstanding submissions he or she has, and don't get wishy-washy about it. You need to make the best business decision for your own future--it's not a popularity contest. Maybe the next agent can do what the previous agent could not: Maybe yes, maybe no. You leave an agent because it was not the right match for you or the book, or because after a realistic and targeted effort there is not publishing offer; not necessarily because the agent didn't get a deal for you in the first 3 months or call you back within 24 hours.

(2) The relationship is cultivated by both sides. Each party has responsibility to state his or her needs clearly and to communicate when needs are not being met, or when they change. The agent can contribute to the relationship by providing information, coaching, suggestions, being supportive of the author's challenges in the process, and also by helping the author understand which battles to pick and which to let go of. The author typically relies on the agent for advice on making the best choices to achieve his or her goals at each step of the publication process.

The author can contribute to the relationship by giving the agent everything he or she needs to make the best sale, by sincerely considering the advice or suggestions the agent is making, and giving the agent feedback based on the author's expertise. The relationship should be an exchange of ideas, the author and agent putting their heads together to combine their separate expertise for the right end result.

If the relationship is not going right, the agent and author should speak up. Both have a responsibility to each other to be honest and straightforward, as well as sympathetic to situations that happen which prevent one or the other from doing something perfectly. Play fair. If in the course of these discussions it is obvious that there is no meeting of the minds, that what you or the agent needs isn't going to happen, then you can both make a fair and professional decision to part company and not waste each other's time and energy. There does not need to be any wringing of the hands or lost sleep.

What I have often observed is an author firing the agent or an agent firing the author without even a single open conversation (NOTE: not email) where both parties have the chance to explain themselves, calmly and professionally. This is not fair to either author or agent. Just like with couples or marriages, expecting mind reading is a sure path to failure.

(3) The agent works for the author. Yes, it's true. The agent is the author's representative, though they will work as a team of equals. Yet it is most common for the author to feel like he or she works for the agent. This single mis-conception perpetuates a lopsided, unsatisfying relationship. Authors need to tell agents what they are unhappy about, frustrated with, or confused about; Agents need to tell their client authors what they need to be successful in their endeavors, how best to communicate with them during the various processes of selling the book, and to be candid about problems they may be having at the moment. The author should be comfortable saying "I know you are busy with submissions to the editors, but I need to know--every now and then--who has seen it, who has it, what has anyone said...so while I understand you are not giving weekly reports, what would be a realistic schedule for this?" You have a right to updates but the agent legitimately needs enough uninterrupted time and space to actually do the work--so you can see that it needs to be discussed and worked out.

It is not uncommon for an agent to lose all sense of time--busy in the doing--not realizing that you have gotten no information. Agents also have lives, sometimes complicated lives, and in spite of their best intentions, Life Happens and they get thrown off track, temporarily. Of course if you don't know what's happening with the agent, you can't very well decide if you want to be supportive and cut him or her some slack. You may even be sympathetic but not have time to wait, in which case you need to say "Sorry, but I have to go."

So when in doubt, confused, or irritated: speak up, but speak up earlier , not later. Just ask. If you don't get any response, then you will know what to do.

There is an odd dynamic during the Get-An-Agent process. Initially you are querying to ask if you and your book might be of interest to the agent, and the agent is in the driver's seat. The agent has sole choice of which authors to represent, or not. But once an agent says "Yes, I would like to be your agent," the agent now works for you. It is not good if this transition doesn't happen and the author stays in the "Gee, I'm so grateful" position. You are two professionals working as a team, on the author's behalf.

Many authors say, "I'm not good at confrontation." I assure you, it doesn't have to be a confrontation to solve problems. Think of it as a conversation. You want to hear what prevents the agent from giving you X, and you want the agent to hear why you are unsatisfied, what you expect and need. During this conversation, either or both of you will come up with the right next step, whether that is new understanding and agreement between you two, or parting company (without acrimony).

When your gut says something is wrong, act on it. Speak up for yourself. Next time, we'll look at author-editor dilemmas.

Laurie

http://www.authorbiz.com/
Photo credit: Clipart (c) 2009 Laurie Harper

A Sense of Humor is Handy in Publishing....

Okay, I have to share this--posted today....

• USAir Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger's memoir, to William Morrow, reportedly for between $2.5 million and $3.2 million by various reports, at auction, in a two-book deal (the second said by the Daily Beast to be a collection of inspirational poetry), by Jan Miller at Dupree Miller & Associates.

Laurie

www.authorbiz.com

What The Editors Bought Today

It is always enlightening (in some way) to know, from all the submissions the editors have received lately, which they chose to make offers on. Here are some "done deals" of today, with kudos to the authors, agents, and editors:

• Mauro DiPreta at Harper Collins' IT BOOKS bought Peter Hanson and Paul Robert Herman's TALES FROM THE SCRIPT: HOW SCREENWRITERS WIN THE HOLLYWOOD GAME, a collection of exclusive interviews in which Hollywood screenwriters reveal the secrets behind their successes and failures, and offer up uplifting stories about how faith in their talent empowers their careers, to accompany a companion documentary produced by the authors.


• He also bought Kelly Roman's graphic novel, THE ART OF WAR, which "reframes the classic text within a futuristic, post-collapse world of hedge-funds."


• FILM RIGHTS to John Armstrong's GUILTY OF EVERYTHING, Armstrong (aka Buck Cherry), lead singer-guitarist of the Modernettes, tours us pell-mell through his misspent youth as part of Vancouver's punk scene circa 1978-82, were optioned to Patrick Carroll and Optic Nerve Films.


• Jordan Fenn of Fenn Publishing bought Terry McConnell, Jennifer Nye and Peter Pocklington's I'D TRADE HIM AGAIN, the memoir of one of hockey's most colorful team owners, with a foreward by Wayne Gretssky.


• Stephen Morrow at Dutton bought Kevin Nelson, M.D.'s A NEUROLOGIST'S SEARCH FOR THE SPIRITUAL SELF, which uncovers the origin of spirituality in the most ancient areas of the brain and includes case histories drawn from three decades' of clinical work.


• Sam Douglas at Picador bought poet and professor Wayne Koestenbaum's HUMILIATION, exploring the connection between our private experiences of humiliation and our current fascination with the public humiliation of others. Picador has a Big Ideas series.


• Jennifer Urban-Brown at Trumpeter Books bought Kathleen Dean Moore's WILD COMFORT, an elegant narrative on nature's ability to comfort us during times of great sadness.


• Karen Kosztolnyik at Grand Central (formerly known as Warner Books) bought Sue-Ellen Welfonder's SWORDS OF THE GLEN, in a 3-book deal.


• David Moldawer at Sentinel bought THE PERSECUTION OF SARAH PALIN, by THE K STREET GANG author and associate editor of The Weekly Standard Matthew Continett...the title says it all, though I will say it is in defense of her, not a how-to manual.


• Heather Proulx at Brown bought Michelle Moran's MASKS OF THE REVOLUTION, about the life of Madame Tussaud, in which young Marie Tussaud joins the gilded but troubled court of Marie Antoinette, and survived the French Revolution by creating "Death Masks" of the beheaded aristocracy.


• Peter Gethers at Broadway Books bought "740 Park" author Michael Gross's PLATINUM TRIANGLE, a social history that will uncover the lives and lifestyles of the owners of the most extravagant trophy homes in Beverly Hills, Bel Air and Holmby Hills -- the Los Angeles estate district.

Have a ponder....

Laurie

www.authorbiz.com
Photo credit: (c) Clipart

Blogger Beware: Copyright Issues

Leslie Kossoff over in Paris (www.kossoff.com) kindly pointed me to a March 2 article by Brian Stelter in the NYT Technology section that talked about media companies taking an increasingly tougher line on granting permission for the excerpting of their material. It talks about web sites "scraping" other sites' material and ad revenue (such as it is). It reminded me of bloggers "hijacking" material or commentary from other bloggers to form their own post for the day. Early on in cyberspace evolution, the media and authors saw the excerpting as beneficial since with hyperlinks the new article or blog could send readers back to the original web site for the full article. Everyone was loose about the formal permission, and most writers still figure that with proper credit, and only quoting a small piece, there should be no problem. Let's stop and reflect on Copyright for a moment-- writers' rights and responsibilities.

I'll recap the basics on this issue, but you should not take anything in this Post as legal advice: It is for your general understanding and perspective--how to think about it.

The Fair Use law is not a black-and-white standard, giving even the higher courts pause. It typically includes quoting for "criticism, comment, news, reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research" but as literary attorney Sallie Randolph (www.authorlaw.com) states in her book, AuthorLaw A-Z **, "The general rule is that it must result in a public benefit or an increase in knowledge beyond the contribution of the original work." She notes that a use of other's material is not fair "simply because it is a single or small infringement, or a private non-commercial use" [which I quote by permission :-)].

There are a number of factors considered, case by case, but from a practical operating standpoint, here is a checklist:

• Is your excerpt for commercial use or educational? If it's for commercial use, there is more scrutiny. (Along the lines of If you're making money on it, you should be paying for it.)
  
• Typically, excerpting from another author's book is Fair Use below 250 words. However, if you take the "heart" of that author's proprietary material, you are likely to still be in hot water. And the ploy of excerpting smaller pieces but taking many pieces that you then use throughout your book will cumulatively put it into question -- suggesting your book is derivative of the other author's book. You see how this goes... There is a common sense element to copyright and Fair Use when you think about it.
  
• If you excerpt from an article, you will want to get permission for 50 words or more (giving credit and referencing link, if online)--but again, you can't lift the heart of the article and expect it to go unnoticed.
  
• Reproduction of any figure, table, illustration, photograph, diagram...These require permission unless it is expressly stated to be free and without copyright. And even if it is free, you need to provide credit.
  
• Quoting songs or poems -- you will always need permission -- even for a few words.
  
• Lengthy paraphrasing of someone else's material will also not get you off the hook. You can paraphrase a paragraph, or the gist of an entire article in a few sentences, but you can't literally rephrase the bulk of it...which I think is common sense, again.

Do unto other writers as you would have them do unto you. If it were my material being excepted, what would I think it fair use? When would I think it is egregious or flat out stealing? As a writer, you should be highly sensitive to copyright issues, since you want to protect your own work.

And why not get permission? Can't be bothered? Don't you want other writers to be bothered enough to contact you? Plan with enough time, in advance of your deadlines, to secure the appropriate permissions. It can only be recommended that you err on the side of caution. You will find a number of books available to help you with forms and procedures.

Over recent years we've seen a number of high-profile plagiarism lawsuits and situations. Authors Guild has steadily pursued (and won) class action suits against the media for abuse of freelance writers' material, and now Google for their online scanning of books to offer in their book search program. Amazon has just backed down from its Kindle 2 speech mechanism to state that each author will have the Yea or Nea option to authorize the audio portion of Kindle (which they were earlier just going to use without permissions or fees).

I regularly see writers being too cavalier with their online material, be it a blog or a website. I see everyone helping themselves to everyone else's stuff, and piggybacking on it. It is up to each of us, each writer, to protect our material, and to show that same respect for other writers' work. You should also have this book on your shelf: The Copyright Permission and Libel Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide for Writers, Editors, and Publishers by Lloyd Jassin and Steve Schecter. Taking the preventative approach to copyright infringement is the cheapest insurance you can have. Be careful out there. . .

Laurie

www.authorbiz.com Photo: Clipart (c) 2009 Laurie Harper

** Disclosure: I am the agent on this excellent book, though I would recommend it even if I were not.