Posts

Showing posts from 2012

Blog Challenge #15: 10 Things I've learned about being the ePub agent in 2012

Image
Photo by Saritza Hernandez If I could go back in time and leave myself a note about becoming a literary agent, what would I tell myself? What have I really learned about being an ePub Agent, the first in the industry and one of the first to approach digitally-pubbed authors with an opportunity to have a partner in their career? I suppose the best way to do so is to do a Top Ten list. So here are the top ten things I learned about being an ePub Agent in 2012. 1. Go with your instincts and don't let your authors deviate you from them. Your gut's never steered you wrong. 2. Authors need guidance as well as a partner in business. Be ready to not just talk them down but to lift them up as well. 3. Business and friendship don't always mesh. Be ready to part ways with one if your friend is also your client. 4. Digital publishers have authors who are sometimes blindly loyal to them. Warn your clients about this but understand that sometimes it's better to just

Blog Challenge #14: Welcome to my workday

Image
Well, it's that time again. The holidays are coming upon us and end-of-year planning is happening all around yet it sometimes feels like I have to remind folks agents are people too. I was reading Andrew Zach's Annual Reminder that Agents are People, too  and while I was nodding along with the post, I received several emails from folks who queried me a few months ago asking for status on their queries. They were well within the allotted timeframe to send a status request so I wasn't bothered by the emails but it suddenly hit me how much I have to get done at the end of this year and how much that's delayed my response time. So, I wanted to give you a glimpse into my regular "workday". I put the word in quotes because so much of my day is a workday that it's generally a full 18-21-hour day. My day starts at 5:30 AM where I get the kids up, start breakfast and get the medicine regimen started. Two of my three teens are on daily prescriptions so breakfa

Blog Challenge #13: Why Gay Romance?

Image
My kids during gender-swap day at school I'm an advocate of love. A champion for its cause. A passionate believer in the happily ever after. Gender has never played a factor in how I perceive love and if my children are anything to go by, they feel the same way. Love is love. If you've followed my blog or read through the posts (welcome new readers) you've undoubtedly noticed that I represent a lot of GLBTQ romance. These "Gay Romance" authors have works in various subgenres, featuring a myriad of gender-pairings but at the core of each of their books is love. It's all about the love! When I'm passionate about something, everyone knows about it. Ask any of my clients and they'll tell you how passionate I can be when discussing any of their works, their careers, my family, coffee, the publishing industry and Harry Potter. Get me talking about any of these topics and you'll not hear an intake of breath for several minutes. But I don

Blog Challenge #12: Conference Etiquette

I'm at the Florida Writers Conference in Lake Mary, Florida this weekend and having a great time talking to prospective clients, other industry professionals and the amazing staff and faculty of the FWA. While I'm here, a few of my clients are attending GayRomLit in Albuquerque, New Mexico (and getting up to all kinds of fun shenanigans if the FB pictures are anything to go by). Before they attend conferences, my clients usually ask me what should they be doing (especially if I'm not attending and there are pitch appointments available) so I thought it would make for a good blog post. If you're an unagented author at a writer's conference, your focus should be to pitch your work to as many agents and editors as you can. Get your work and your face in front of these amazing individuals who will eventually fight each other for the privilege to say they signed you. If you're already represented however, what are you supposed to do? Talk to editors and agent

Blog Challenge #11: The Grinchlike Agent?

My son David is a huge fan of Jim Carrey's How the Grinch Stole Christmas movie. When it's on, we watch it on TV even though we own the DVD and one year when he was 9 or 10, if I could've managed it, he would have gone as the Grinch for Halloween. Now, I'm just a fan of Christmas music. Most of my friends and colleagues shriek when they hear me playing Christmas music before Halloween but I just love the way the music makes me feel. I'm always smiling when listening to it and whether it's a Carol or a Song, it always makes brings me great joy. I'm about to dive into my query inbox and no... I'm not planning to reply in Grinch fashion but actually giggled when I came across the Grinch YouTube vids. I think authors sometimes see us as Grinch-like with our book of queries open saying, hate, hate, hate, double hate, loathe entirely! It's not always like that! ;)

Blog Challenge #10: Customer Service and Customer Loyalty

Image
Customer Loyalty: The fact that people choose to use a particular shop or buy one particular product, rather than use other shops or buy products made by other companies. Source: The Longman Business English Dictionary Photo credit:  The Consumerist Customer service is as much about customer loyalty as it is about having a happy customer. A happy customer is a repeat customer and repeat business is what can make the difference in the bottom line for any business.  Customers are not just the people walking into your storefront to buy your book, eat your food, buy your product. Customers are also consumers and this definition encompasses everyone from the patron to the store clerk. Successful businesses know the biggest part of good customer service is dependent upon a happy workforce. While a good salary is important to keep employees, many remain with their employers simply because they feel loyal to their employer. Why? Because their employer has gone out of their way t

Blog Challenge #9: Dealing with Self-Doubt

Image
I'm sure we have all reached a point in our lives where everything comes into question. Am I good enough? Am I worth it? Do I deserve it? What if I fail again? Writers deal with self-doubt all of the time and I know because I get those calls from clients when they reach the finish line, when all the words have been written and the book has really taken shape where the niggling feeling of "this is not my best work" comes into play. All it takes is one critique partner to not enthusiastically react to the work the way the author had hoped to send them into a corner, knees drawn up wondering if they should ever write another word. Writers are not the only ones. I can't speak for other agents when I say this but I can assure you that there are many days where I wonder if I'm good enough. Can I do this? Can I really live off 15%? Can I sell this manuscript to New York? Can I get my client what they deserve? Can I... can I... can I? My mantra on a post-it note

Blog Challenge #8: Reasons for having representation in ePub market

Image
Just a few of my clients As the writer conferences continue to fill up and folks start to make appointments with various agents and editors to pitch their work, I hear the proverbial "you don't need an agent to query epubs" and I sigh, turn my iPad sideways and start writing a blog post about why, yes, you DO need representation. So... here are just a few good reasons to have an agent in your corner when publishing in ePub or otherwise. Sale of sub-rights - You still need an agent to do this. Audio, foreign language, movie/TV, etc. are still managed through agents. If you're not aiming for the sale of these rights for your work, then yes, you may not need an agent. If you're aiming high, get an agent! Contract negotiation / Advice - Yes, you can do this on your own and those who understand contract law (specifically publishing contracts) can negotiate the contract without having to pay someone 15% commission but if you're not sure about what

Blog Challenge #6: The Art of the Query

Image
Courtesy of The Art of Alba I'm always genuinely surprised at the sheer volume of queries I receive on a daily basis that I end up having to reject for simple reasons: they're not what I'm looking for. Queries that didn't hit the mark this week include works I don't represent, weak character and/or plot development, stories with clichéd storylines/heroes and genres I'm not currently seeking works in. While it can appear frustrating to go through so many queries in a day and not be able to request a partial or full, I do enjoy seeing the creativity displayed in the vast number of stories I get to weed through on a daily basis. Some stories, while intriguing to me, fall outside any genre I represent or appear great as story ideas but then fail to capture the essence of what the query tried to convey. For example, a new twist on the werewolf/vampire dynamic that in the query shows promise but in the sample provided proves it's just another werewolf

Blog Challenge #3: Reading speeds and editing

Image
I'm not a fast reader. Even if the Staples eReader speed reading test stays I read faster than 60% of the nation, I just know I'm not a fast reader. Never have been and it has frustrated me in the past because friends would finish books hours (in some instances days) before I would and sometimes spoil the ending for me. In high school, I started "skimming" through texts I had to read just to avoid this and the bad habit stayed through college. Mind you, some of the reading material we had in college was boring as hell and skimming saved my sanity (and my eyesight) but it made it difficult and sometimes even more frustrating when someone would catch something I missed. When I started working in the textbook publishing industry, one of my first jobs required me to do a Quality Control check (QC) on page elements. We were expressly told NOT to read text but to review the "look" of the page. Were there widows, orphans on the page? How many sentences started w

Blog Challenge #2: Personal Reading Interests vs Professional Ones

Image
Continuing with my Blog challenge : 100 Things Important to Me, I've decided to post today about personal reading interests versus professional reading interests. While these are usually the same (genre, pairings, etc.), my professional reading interests also include those of the editors whose lists I'm hoping to pitch my clients' works. Here are a few personal reading interests and how these then translate to my professional ones. My Personal Reading Interests include: M/M erotic romance in all sub-genres with my tastes leaning more toward BDSM and Sci-fi. Combine the two and do it well and I'm in reading heaven! Some of my favorites include Christine D'Abo's No Quarter . I also love it when books remind me of a world I'm already familiar with and enjoy. In this case, it was Star Wars with Han Solo and the Bounty Hunters. While the story is not fanfic, per se, it has a taste of the world I've always loved and explores aspects of the world I would

Blog Challenge #1: 100 Things Challenge

Image
So, I'm kinda late to this party but I figured it can't hurt to start it but not sure what to post about so I'm keeping my 100 things to various sundry and whatever strikes my fancy. I may post about movies, books, music, coffee, traditions, cultures, photos (could put my Pinterest account to good use then), quotes, fandom things or dog pictures. You just never know what you're going to get with me. I'm going to call it 100 Things Important To Me . If you'd like to participate as well, click on the banner below to get started. {Take the 100 Things challenge!} My first post: My grandmother, as some of you know, was (and continues to be) the most influential woman in my life. When I think of everything she endured and lived through in her lifetime (1922-2007) and the way she embraced being a human being, not just a GENDER, I'm humbled to be part of her legacy. I've started writing about her life and fictionalizing a few things I'm not 100

When you're autistic, you can't have misunderstandings

Image
Was having a pretty good day today despite the unsettling feeling in the pit of my stomach that something bad was going to happen. I've been feeling "off" for a few days and today the feeling was a bit stronger. When I've had these feelings before, I've ended up in a car accident or with a family member in jail. I should've listened to my gut and stayed ho me. 14-year-old girl with autism. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Instead, I took the kids to Barnes & Noble at Waterford Lakes as we often do when we're bored and don't have much money to spend. We were there for less than an hour when David rushes to me to tell me they are kicking him out of the store. When I turn around, there's the manager of the store (must be a new one or a weekend one because I've not seen her before and I know most of the staff there, we've spent more time at that store than we have anywhere else in the city) telling me she's received complaints

Bored... bored... bored

Image
If you've submitted a query in the past month or so, you know I'm out of the office on medical leave. Had a hysterectomy in March and have been laid up (forced bed rest) since. The entire experience has wreaked havoc in my life as I'm not one to sit idle and just... rest. My idea of resting (pre-surgery) was going through manuscripts on a Saturday while finishing several loads of laundry, cleaning the kitchen and talking clients down off the ledge. I realized, while being on bed rest the last three weeks, that I've forgotten how to rest. I mean, even while I was on my cruise last year, I was working so this forced bed rest has been very difficult for me. I'm eager to return to the office in a few weeks and get back to work. In the meantime, I'm reading books I haven't had a chance to read and playing games on my iPad. In other words, I'm bored out of my ever-loving mind. What do you do when you're on forced bed rest?

Ready for my close-up

Image
Spent a good portion of the past two days watching documentaries I've had sitting in my Netflix Instant Queue for months (ok, some close to a year... don't judge me) while working on a million things at once. If you've followed this blog at all you know I can't just sit still and often have several things going on at once . Such was the case with the documentary watching. Most of it was watched on my iPad while I helped kids with their homework and housework. (Love being able to lay the iPad down beside me while folding laundry!) The problem with watching so many documentaries back-to-back is that you start to feel like you're starring in your own documentary and find yourself providing commentary for every day tasks. "While brushing her teeth, Saritza checks her to-do list on her iPad prioritizing items before consuming her first cup of coffee." I even had background music playing from my iTunes library on my iPad. The funny thing is I used to do

Know Thyself

Image
Know thyself. — Socrates I've been on a constant search for identity as I reach my forties and I can safely say it's almost reached an obsessive level. My private journal is riddled with entries where I've asked myself "who are you" or are tagged " self-identity " and in this search for self-identity I've continue to answer: an agent . I'm the representative for a talent to a business who plans to exploit and benefit financially from said talent and I take this role very seriously. I strive to be better at my job on a daily basis and I spend countless hours learning and absorbing information from an industry (who like our economy) is in a constant state of flux. There have been times (many, in fact) where I've felt insecure about my abilities and my knowledge of what I do but the minute I sit down and talk with a client, another agent or an editor, I know, without a shadow of a doubt who I am. I'm an agent! In the beginning of my

Giving Thanks

Image
I often head straight for the fiction and literature section in my local Barnes & Noble and scan the shelves. I may pick up a book here and there with intent to purchase but 9 times out of 10 I spend my time looking for author names I know or recognize and seeing what they may have new that I haven't read yet. I may pick up a "new to me" author and browse through the first few pages then head over to to the romance section and do it all over again.  The first thing I look at when I open the book is the acknowledgments page. Who did the author thank? Did they mention their editor and agent? I must admit that when I find a book without that acknowledgement, I put it back and feel a little sad that the author didn't thank them. I don't think it's because I'm an agent because it's a habit I've had all of my life and it doesn't prevent me from buying the book. It's just something I thought about today.  I don't do this when b

Having your a ha moment

Image
Tree of Life by  Hartwig   HKD   Oprah calls it an a-ha moment. That moment when you "get" something that makes you snap your fingers and say, oh my God, that's it! That's what I've been waiting for! I get it! I finally understand! In his interview with Oprah for her new  Next Chapter series,   George Lucas  said people are always asking him "how do you know what your passion is" and he said, "if you get up to do something in the morning and have breakfast at 7 AM [then look up again only to] realize it's 7 PM then THAT's your passion." What do I wake up thinking about every morning?  In Sister Act 2 , when Whoopi Goldberg 's character talks to Lauryn Hill 's character about singing in the choir when her mother says it's not worth her time, Sister Mary Clarence says, "if you wake up every morning thinking about singing, then you're meant to be a singer, baby!" That quote has stayed with m

Judging a book by its cover

Image
We all do it, right? We scan the shelves at the bookstore, grocery store, or online bookstore and if we don't know the author, we make our decision about a book purchase solely on the cover of the book. Publishers know how important good cover design is and those with a strong budget and staff, hire freelance cover artists whose works can help them sell books. Some have an entire Design department with a  Design Manager overseeing the cover art requests and assigning the work to various cover designers. These folks take the time to not only ensure the cover design is aesthetically pleasing but also meets photo and digital rights requirements as well as marketing scopes which will help sell the book to the right demographic. Not all publishers have the budget or staff allocated to do this but those that do, I've found, tend to sell more books than those who don't. Regardless of whether your publisher has one of these nifty Design department managers on staff or not, it&#