Read, Eat, Drink–Fourth of July Edition

by Maria

A weekly round-up of books, news, thoughts, recipes, and miscellany for the weekend.

Read:
It’s just about time for some good fiction summer reads! I read almost entirely nonfiction, since it’s what I specialize in as an agent, but every once in a while I get a hankering to jump into a novel. And that hankering has now hit hard. The problem is, I’m completely hopeless about deciding on just one book when there are so, so many fantastic summer reads I hear about through industry folks. I just can’t do it.

Right now, I’m leaning toward picking up The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty, because it’s guaranteed to be a knock-out (and it has one of the most striking covers I’ve seen in awhile). But what’s everyone else reading? Recommendations wanted!

Liane Moriarty

 

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3 Strategies to Help Creatives and Writers Be More Productive

by Maria

writer productivity tips literary agent

I read an interesting essay this weekend about how the world is split into Makers and Managers, and why these two types of people work completely differently. The idea is that there are those of us whose job it is to make something—programmers, writers, creatives, artists, chefs, designers—and those of us whose job it is to keep the whole shebang running smoothly. (Here’s the whole essay; it’s written by Paul Graham, co-founder of the seed capital firm Y Combinator, found via The Nester.)

But I actually think more jobs fall right in between Maker and Manager these days. The job of an agent definitely requires a bit of Maker and Manager. We’re managing our author’s careers; we’re meeting with editors; we’re coordinating and mediating and generally making sure projects run smoothly. But we’re also creatives, particularly in the initial stages of a project, when ideas are still being molded and the proposal or manuscript is being revised and often rewritten.

I also thinks that most authors are all also part Makers and part Managers. Yes, a big part of their work—the writing—falls strictly in the realm of creative work. But the other stuff that’s just as important—the platform and brand building—requires managing designers and often employees, meeting with potential partners, crafting business plans, marketing, networking, etc. After all, an author who is building a platform is essentially a small business owner, and therefore wears many, many hats. And what does that lead to?

Hat hair. Oh, and burnout.

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Read, Eat, Drink — Weekend Roundup

by Maria

A weekly round-up of books, news, thoughts, recipes, and miscellany for the weekend. 

Read: The Great Contraction.

Tuesday brought the announcement that Hachette Book Group (one of the Big Five publishers) will be buying the Perseus Books Group imprints, while the distribution arm of Perseus will be sold to Ingram. This follows news that broke in May that HarperCollins (another Big Five publisher) will buy Harlequin (most known for its series romance, but which also publishes fiction and nonfiction for women) from Torstar, the Canadian media company.

I think Dennis Johnson, co-founder of indie press Melville House, sums up the big picture best here:

“…It’s just another consolidation story, one that’s been predicted all along: More of American publishing is going to consolidate, not necessarily to fight Amazon but simply to survive in a marketplace that dictates consolidation, and has since before Amazon existed. American publishing, after all, has been consolidating slowly since the 1960s. It’s only accelerated recently, and now the other shoe will drop soon enough — HarperCollins merging with Simon and Schuster is the one most are predicting.”

For agents, consolidation means less places to sell books, since imprints within one house often won’t bid against each other in an auction. For writers, this means less competition for your book, which is never a good thing. This is especially important in the nonfiction realm, since Perseus is primarily made up of fantastic nonfiction imprints like Running Press, Basic Books, Da Capo, and others that will now come under the Hachette Book Group umbrella.

Of all the coverage since the news broke on Tuesday, this article is my favorite. It manages to capture that particular feeling and mood that washes over publishing people when news like this breaks. It’s one of quiet concern, contemplation, and increasingly shaky optimism.

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Eat: Elk.

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Anyone who knows me knows that I get a great kick out of trying wild game. It was only a few years ago that I’d never even had a taste of venison, but now I’ve grown to love it in all its forms—steaks, pastrami, jerky, whole roasted loins, sausage.

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Interview with Amy Newman

by Maria

Happy Day 7 of the World Cup!

In case you’re trying to distract yourself from the jitters of Brazil playing at 3 pm, head on over to Amy Newman’s blog for a quick interview with me. Amy was kind enough to feature me as part of her agent interview series, and she let me talk about how I got started in publishing and what I think it takes to succeed as a writer.

And I definitely encourage aspiring writers to sift through the other agent interviews on her site–Stephen Barr’s interview is particularly hilarious!