Author Archives: Greg Johnson

About Greg Johnson

Greg Johnson founded WordServe Literary in 2003. More importantly, I'm the husband of Becky, father to Troy and Drew, stepfather to four, and grandfather to five grandsons. In previous years, I've been a Campus Life leader (10 years), Breakaway magazine editor (5 years), author or coauthor of 21 books. But for the last 18 years, I've been a literary agent privileged to work with a great family of authors and staff trying to make a dent for the Kingdom.

The Joy of Categories

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From actual query letters…

“I’ve got a novel that’s sort of a historical fantasy magical realism.”

GregsBooks“My new nonfiction is for everyone. And when I say everyone, I mean everyone. There’s nothing as good or like it on the market. It should be stocked at the front of the store in the ‘bestseller’ section.”

“The graduation gift book I’m proposing will be the kind of book retail will stock all year around.”

One thing new (and sometimes veteran) authors don’t understand is that every book must have a recognizable category. The queries for books listed above have none. The moment you go outside of a known category, retail doesn’t know what to do with it. They don’t know where to stock it; they don’t know how to describe it to their customers. In short, they won’t know how to sell it. And that’s the point of writing books you’d like people to read . . . to sell them.

It starts with what is known as a BISAC code. It’s those few words on the back of the book that give retail and consumer a clue as to what the book is about. Every book gets a maximum of three. Here are the categories from the Book Industry Study Group:

ANTIQUES/COLLECTIBLES
ARCHITECTURE
ART
BIBLES
BIOGRAPHY/AUTOBIOGRAPHY
BODY, MIND & SPIRIT
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS
COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS
COMPUTERS
COOKING
CRAFTS & HOBBIES
DESIGN
DRAMA
EDUCATION
FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS
FICTION
FOREIGN LANGUAGE STUDY
GAMES
GARDENING
HEALTH & FITNESS
HISTORY
HOUSE & HOME
HUMOR
JUVENILE FICTION
JUVENILE NONFICTION
LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES
LAW
LITERARY COLLECTIONS
LITERARY CRITICISM
MATHEMATICS
MEDICAL
MUSIC
NATURE
PERFORMING ARTS
PETS
PHILOSOPHY
PHOTOGRAPHY
POETRY
POLITICAL SCIENCE
PSYCHOLOGY
REFERENCE
RELIGION
SCIENCE
SELF-HELP
SOCIAL SCIENCE
SPORTS & RECREATION
STUDY AIDS
TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING
TRANSPORTATION
TRAVEL
TRUE CRIME

Handy dandy, but did you notice there are only TWO categories for fiction: Fiction and Juvenile fiction.

When you toddle over to Barnes and Noble, here are the categories you’ll find as you browse the aisles:

Fiction Books & Literature
Graphic Novels
Horror
Mystery & Crime
Poetry
Romance Books
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Thrillers
Westerns

Children
Ages 0-2
Ages 3-5
Ages 6-8
Ages 9-12
Teens

Non-fiction
African Americans
Antiques & Collectibles
Art, Architecture & Photography
Bibles & Bible Studies
Biography
Business Books
Christianity
Christian Fiction
Computer & Technology Books
Cookbooks, Food & Wine
Crafts & Hobbies Books
Education & Teaching
Engineering
Foreign Languages
Game Books
Gay & Lesbian
Health & Fitness
History
Home & Garden
Humor Books
Judaism & Judaica
Law
Medical & Nursing Books
Music/Film/TV/Theater
New Age & Spirituality
Parenting & Family
Pets
Philosophy
Politics & Current Affairs
Psychology & Psychotherapy
Reference
Relationships
Religion Books
Science & Nature
Self Help & Self Improvement
Social Sciences
Sports & Adventure
Study Guides & Test Prep
Travel
True Crime
Weddings
Women’s Studies

Not bad. A little bit more descriptive in fiction, which is helpful, but if you wanted to find “historical fiction,” for example, you have to browse a few thousand books and hope you bump into a title that screams “historical” from the spine.

How about at a Christian bookstore? At a local Mardel, here is what we found:

Bible Reference
Bible Studies
Biography
Christian Living
Commentaries
Counseling
Devotional
Fiction
General Interest
Gift Books
Health
Marriage & Family
Men
Prayer
Seasonal
Software
Spanish
Spirit-Filled Life
Teen Interest
Women

Again, ONE designation for fiction. (Really? Do they really NOT want to sell novels?)

And then there are award categories. Here are the categories for the “Christy Awards,” the yearly fiction awards:

Contemporary Romance
Contemporary Series (sequels and novella)
Contemporary Stand Alones
First Novel
Historical
Historical Romance
Suspense
Visionary
Young Adult

The American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) has their own set of categories for determining the “Carol Awards”:

Debut
Long Contemporary
Long Contemporary Romance
Long Historical
Long Historical Romance
Mystery
Novella
Romantic Suspense
Short Contemporary
Short Contemporary Suspense
Speculative Fiction
Suspense/Thriller
Women’s Fiction
Young Adult

The INSPYs (Bloggers Awards of Excellence in Faith-Driven Literature) has yet another set of categories:

Romance
Literature for Young People
General Fiction
Speculative Fiction
Mystery & Thriller

The ECPA has their Gold Medallion Awards in these categories:

Book of the Year
Bibles
Bible Reference
Children
Fiction
Inspiration
New Author
Non-fiction

If all of this seems confusing, well, I suppose it is. When in doubt take comfort that you don’t have to pick from the Amazon.com categories. Just try to find three categories to mention!

The point is, each book gets three known categories on the back. Choose wisely in your proposals, but also try to choose broad categories so your book will get the most amount of exposure. And please, for the love Ernest Hemingway, don’t make up a category and call yourself a “pioneer.” Don’t implore the agent to think “outside the box.” Don’t call publishers “short-sighted non-creatives.” Just pick some categories and color inside the lines. We’ll all be happier.

Have you ever been confused about categories? How did you solve your dilemma?

Please, Pick Up the Phone

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True confessions time: I’m a man, and try as I might, I can’t read my wife’s mind. I know that must be shocking to all of you female authors (or not).

A few weeks ago I’d fallen asleep early, but by 11:15 I woke up and noticed Becky had her robe on. “Are you cold?”

“Yes.”

RedPhoneSince I’ve got great circulation, I know I can warm her up in less than 10 minutes. So does she. But instead of giving me a nudge or rolling over next to me, she played nice, didn’t want to wake me up, and tried to do the job herself. That’s a lovely thought, but shortsighted. I love spooning. And I fall back to sleep very quickly.

“Scoot over next to me and let me warm you up.”

When I’m sound asleep, and Becky’s shivering cold, whose job is it to let me know my circulation is needed for her warm-up? Since I can’t read her mind when I’m awake, I certainly can’t while sawing logs!

When I or any agent takes on a client, we’ve chosen to say, “I’d love to serve you. I’m betrothed to you literarily and hereby am very excited about managing your career; talking to you about your book (or books in general), the industry, your upcoming release, the future, your kids, the weather…”

Look, we all know every agent on the planet is busy. If they’re not, something is wrong. We get about 100 (or more) emails a day that typically ask us to tend to something. We’re editing proposals, creating or tinkering with contracts, talking to editors, staying abreast of the rapidly changing book industry…doing our job. All that, and often looking at our inbox fill up with 100 to 200 queries a week (notice I didn’t say we actually open these queries).

I’ve got several clients who give me a call at least once a week (or every other week). “Got a minute?” they’ll ask. And 98 times out of 100 I’ll say, “Of course!” They then tell me what’s going on, chit-chat about the weather or their book, I answer a few questions and we’re done.

I love it!

For many authors, being tucked away behind a computer for 6 to 8 hours a day is a fairly lonely life. I’ve been agenting for nearly 20 years, so I know this. Part of the job I love is being the ear they need on the other end of the line.

Please hear this: You’re NOT bothering me if you want to talk on the phone!

Do I have things to do? Always assume that I do.

Do I have time for a spontaneous one-hour call? Well, maybe not an hour. But I always have time for a one-hour call if you email ahead of time and ask for an appointment.

And here’s the $64,000 question: Whose job is it to reach out and meet your human voice-to-voice needs, to answer your questions about your book sales or writing future, even to know when it’s time to talk to marketing about your book?

There’s a reason this particular clause is NOT in any agency’s author-agent agreement: “Agent will periodically, as needed, and without you asking, call or email at just the right time to check in on you, your upcoming book, what stock Amazon has, what your publisher is or isn’t doing for you lately, your personal life, and your future.”

If you can find an agent like this, you’re in literary nirvana. Good luck. It may last for a month or two with a new agent, but it won’t last forever. Unless they have four clients, no agent can make this promise.

On a fair amount of occasions I certainly WILL check in. “Anything I can do for you?” I do this all of the time.

But most of the time, though I’m anxious to do things for you, I can’t read your mind. And while I usually do know where we are in the process, I’m not privy to every detail that every client has on every book project done between them and their publisher: the editorial process of a manuscript, having them email about marketing calls or cover questions (many don’t copy the agent), etc. If you expect for me to warm up the literary chill in your life, you really have to give me a nudge.

So I am hereby now giving any client permission to email (always best to set a time to talk if you want more than 10 or 15 minutes) or pick up the phone to ask:

“What’s going on with my book (cover, marketing, sales, or contract)?”

“Please send me an update about how my proposal is doing.”

“Can we talk about my next project I should be writing a year from now when I’m done with my current contract?”

Listen: You’re NOT bothering me! And if you are, too bad. I work for you. Don’t ever start a call with, “I know you’re busy…”

I love serving you. That’s why you’re my client. And even though I’m not dead asleep, I truly cannot read your mind about when the exact moment to check in might be. Yes, I will call or email once in a while myself to check in or give you an update, but I’m usually not that Johnny-on-the-spot. And if I don’t check in, it doesn’t mean I’m not thinking about you or doing work on your behalf.

Please, don’t be insecure. I like you lots, and just because I don’t initiate a call according to when you think I should doesn’t mean I don’t care about you or your career. I want to talk. But I can’t read your mind. Pick up the phone. I’ll be there. And I’ll never say I’m too busy to talk (unless, of course, I am at that very moment).

Question: Do you think it’s the agent’s job to check in all of the time . . . or the author’s? Why?

Writing for Money

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Motives in life—and the publishing industry–can be squishy.

Keep a secretBut life is all about the motive. The heart of the matter is what we’ll likely be judged by.

I started writing for money. That was my motive. It was 1988 and I was toward the end of a decade-long youth ministry gig. Loved about 8 years of it, but the last year was the worst. Support was low, two small kids, so I had to find more income. Consulting. Singles Pastor. Youth leader. And “writer.” Four “jobs.”

I got $35 each to write the “I Wonder” notes in the Life Application Bible for Students. Sixty-six of them. Big money at a time when I really needed it. (Thank you, Dave Veerman.)

Hmmmm, I thought, maybe someone will pay me to write something else. So I started writing a Bible study; a magazine article or three (thank you, Steve Strang, for publishing my first magazine article); training manuals. (Not a lot of money in training manuals…for me, none.)

But because I needed money and wrote “I Wonder” notes, I got a call from Focus on the Family in the summer of 1989. They were looking for a magazine editor. Someone who knew teen boys. “We’ll teach you commas and periods,” I was told. They did. (Thank you, Dean Merrill.) I soon had a “youth group” of 100,000 teen boys. Um, that was a bit larger than the one I had in Campus Life.

And those 66 “I Wonder” notes became my first book, If I Could Ask God One Question (Tyndale 1990). That led to more books written and co-written…21 of them over the next 12 years. (Thank you, Susie Shellenberger, Mike Yorkey, and Michael Ross.) I also made extra dough on the side writing magazine articles (200 of them). But what I discovered I loved was the idea portion of books; the fleshing out of proposals, and then the selling of those ideas where a publisher wrote me checks I wanted to take pictures of.

Oh, and writing the books once they sent the first half of the advance. That was okay, too.

But leaving my family to get on planes on weekends to speak, constant radio interviews…I didn’t like so much. Even though there were only four others I knew of at the time, maybe I could become a literary agent. That way I could work close to home, still be involved with ideas and proposals and books…and maybe someone would still send me checks for that. (Thank you, Rick Christian.)

Eighteen years later, I’ve been privileged to represent about 2,200 books. I’ve met some of the best hearted people in the world—creative types who write on eternal subjects, tell stories that move the soul, stay up late and get up early to pound out words on their computer, get on planes to speak to the few and to masses…why do they do it? Why did they start? How do they keep going?

I wonder if C.S. Lewis would have written ”The Chronicles of Narnia” if someone hadn’t written him a check of some sort to spend hours at his Royal typewriter; if they hadn’t promised to pay him odd-sounding British coins and pounds for each book sold.

And this takes us back to money. Is it okay to write for money? I ponder sometimes what my life would have been like if someone hadn’t asked me to write…for money. No small percentage of wonderfully inspired prose would have been created (nor a much larger percentage of really mediocre content), no introductions to talented wordsmiths who could help me know where commas and periods go and who were patient with me as I learned the difference between its and it’s. No lifetime friends in an industry of people dedicated to making their lives count. No involvement with authors and books and stories that are shaping the life and faith of millions of readers.

And maybe no bills paid when I needed them paid.

This is why motives are squishy. Writing only for money isn’t always the best idea, but sometimes it takes you to a place that certain Someone may want you to go; perhaps to a life where your words will outlive you and still make an impact for eternity well after you’re gone.

Nothing wrong with that motive.

Question: How do you feel about writing for money, as well as other motives as it relates to writing?

_______________
Greg Johnson is President of WordServe Literary Group, a literary agency based near Denver, Colo.

Whose Fault Is It If Your Book Doesn’t Sell?

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Pop Quiz: When your book doesn’t sell to your expectations, who is to blame?

  1. Those picky sales folks in publishing houses. They only want to sell bestsellers and big name authors anyway.
  2. The marketing folks at publishers who never seem to pick me or my book for that infamous 80/20 principle (80% of the money going to 20% of the books).
  3. My agent who takes their 15% and then runs for the hills (with no Internet access).
  4. Stupid consumers who wouldn’t know a good book from, well, a bad book.
  5. Me, the author, who sweats great drops of blood in writing the Great American book, but can’t market and PR my way out of a paper bag.
  6. God, of course. I’m not worthy of His blessings anyway.
  7. None of the above
  8. All of the above

After representing a couple of thousand books, the answer is “8” (minus “3” & “6,” of course). In my last 22 years in publishing, I’ve seen average books go through the roof, and great books struggle to find readers.  I won’t name names or titles, but we’ve all scratched our heads after reading a current bestseller, thinking Really? Naturally, I’ve seen hundreds of books sell just “okay.” And on rare occasions, I’ve even seen great books do very well. Imagine that?

So why are some books unable to find a foothold in retail and with consumers? The reasons are legion.

  • No one has heard of the author, so they’re not looking for their book.
  • A world event happened–war/disaster/crime/election–so the book and author who could have been talked about on media (and was booked on media), is no longer big news. (I’ve seen this happen more than once.)
  • Bad cover. While you can’t “judge a book by its cover,” you certainly may not buy it if it’s awful.
  • A less than scintillating title.  I’m hearing that consumers are buying books based on Search Engine Optimization (SEO), especially felt-need nonfiction.
  • Bad spine. A consumer takes .8 seconds to look at your book spine as they walk down the aisles in bookstores, and if they can’t read the font/script/type, they won’t work hard enough to pick it up to see your great title, subtitle, endorsements and back cover copy. Sale denied. (So always make sure you are sent the spine to make sure it’s readable.)
  • Interior type is too small or squished together. I’ve had several great books die because the publisher wanted to save paper so they put it in 9 pt. type.  Even a great cover and big author name can’t save a book from people saying, “My eyes got tired of reading so I didn’t finish it.”
  • Many bad reviews and too few good reviews to counteract them.
  • Retail doesn’t reorder. While a publisher will often get at least one book of yours on the shelf at most stores, they can’t put a gun to a retailer’s head and make them reorder. Complaining that “my book is not on the shelf” is rarely the fault of the publisher. Believe me; they ARE trying to sell books.
  • No e-book marketing/sales strategy.
  • No buzz. The publisher must create some buzz through TV/radio/blog reviews and all the rest. But it’s not only their job. The author must (MUST) be about the business of creating their own buzz, as well, which is why there are advantages to a bigger agency like WordServe that has a Facebook Fan page, Pinterest page, WaterCooler, and Twitter accounts. We’re doing what we can to help create a little synergistic buzz. Of the 100% of buzz needed/wanted, this is likely 5% of the overall puzzle of how books start getting buzz. (Look for my article next month on “Creating Buzz.”)

I tell my authors that a publisher can sell about 15,000 copies of almost anything if they really want to. (I only wish they really wanted to on every book.) But the book won’t sell more than 15,000 if it doesn’t get word of mouth. Good, bad or mediocre books sell well because groups of people start talking about them and telling their friends and neighbors.  Think about how many times you’ve said, “You’ve got to go see this movie,” or “You’ve got to read this book.” That’s what sells tickets and books the most.

So what causes a book to sell through the roof? (Tongue firmly in cheek…)

“We must personally thank the literary agent. She obviously hand-sold 50,000 copies.”

“I think a bookstore owner in the Southeast region is what helped put it on the list.”

“The author’s Facebook fan page made all the difference…”

You get the picture, individuals outside the creation and sales process likely would only get a very small portion of the credit (or blame).

Bottom line: They heard about it, saw it, bought it, loved it, and then told others.

Do you agree with this conclusion?  Are there other reasons you’ve seen or heard about why books sell or don’t sell (yours or others)?

Is a Backlash Coming?

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This may be more honest than a long-time agent should admit, but I have a lot more questions and not as many answers these days about where the book industry is going. As I talk with other agents, most of us are having banner years. More deals. More money. More ongoing royalties being paid out. After our three-year downturn, we’re all enjoying the upturn.

What gives?

Haven’t we all been told that e-readers, self-publishing and social networking were going to spell the end to traditional publishing? That quality literary partners (good agents) would soon be a thing of the past? That anyone could make a mint by self-pub’ing their 20,000 word “books” or their 5,000 word articles, or 200,000 word personal family sagas. All they really needed was a thousand or more Facebook friends and 5,000 to 50,000 Twitter followers. If they had a daily blog with 4,000 subscribers, then self-publishing that book they wanted out NOW instead of a year from now would be like printing money.

I love to read all of the prognostications about the end of publishing as we know it . . . almost as much as hearing about what day the world will end (which means, not very much). We have end-time prophets and we have “end of publishing” prophets.  Both, if they play their words and products right, are making a lot of money and scaring a lot of people.

Yes, the publishing industry is going through some major transitions. But where will this ultimately lead us—not 2 years from now, but 10 or 20 years from now? Is anyone’s crystal ball really so good that they KNOW physical books will go the way or the 8-track tape or be a luxury few can afford?

Are we dealing with fads that may come and go or true culture change that alters not only what platform we read our books on, but how and when and why we buy them?

How many e-readers are being purchased by new buyers versus those repeat buyers who are already hooked on them and have now bought 2, 3 or 4? Will e-readers be affordable enough to catch on overseas?

Do people with e-readers actually buy more books because they’re cheaper?  If so, how is this bad for publishing as long as the royalty structure is fair and the author is rewarded?

Why is it that (depending on which report or blog you read) overall only mass market books and a few genres of hard cover are going down in sales and not print books as a whole? In many categories, e-book sales going up doesn’t always translate across the board to print book sales going down.  People are still buying print books and printers are finding cheaper ways of printing them—faster.

Will the medical profession be treating more carpel tunnel and more eye strain because of e-readers? Will our necks and brains and fingers and forearms be able to handle the constant movements needed to be plugged into phones and e-readers and notebooks 8 to 12 hours a day? If not, then what?

Do people really want to read whole books on their phone? Music, yes. Books….?

Are readers of books so dumb that they won’t be able to tell how qualitatively different books published by traditional publishers are than self-published books that have slap-dash covers, design and editing?

Was the movie the end of books? Was TV the end of movies in theaters? Was I-Tunes the end of people wanting new music? Are e-readers the end of people wanting to read and buy whole (and physical) books?

How many social networking platforms can one person with a family and a job actually keep up on? And will there be a social networking backlash in the coming years?

How many books are bought through someone reviewing or mentioning a book from a Facebook or Pinterest account, versus actual word of mouth, face to face?

Will people start rebelling against social media and want to engage in actual relationships again? If so, how will people find out about good books again?

Will Amazon’s takeover of the world survive their politics? Or will people of all walks and faiths make sure one distributor doesn’t corner the market?

In the meantime, as I’m finding some of these answers, I’m still excited about finding new voices with great stories and great messages. I still love seeing great authors with strong sales continue to grow in their reach. I’m still privileged to work with professional editors who add value to a book’s content and improve the author’s overall work. I’m still convinced that “distribution is your destiny,” and that publishers add huge value to the overall sales of books because of their distribution networks.

And as you can read, I have lots of unanswered questions. What about you? What are the questions you’re wondering about as it relates to the long-term future of publishing and/or your career?

Be Your Agent’s Dream Client

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One thing authors wonder about is how to “behave” once they have a working relationship with a literary agent. Especially if it’s your first agent, you want to be the kind of author an agent wants to keep as a client. Agents understand that—and we want to be the kind of agent you want to work with, too! In fact, I tell my authors that the best partnerships are when the agent and author are president of each other’s fan clubs. That takes time, of course, but it shouldn’t take years if you are intentional about making the relationship great.

The secret to a good agent-author relationship isn’t a mystery. It’s like any other relationship: kindness counts; communication is key; and sometimes it takes a little work to keep things running smoothly. If you follow this commonsense advice, you’ll be well on your way to a positive long-term association with your agent.

We’ll start with the negative: The single most difficult thing that agents deal with is authors’ unrealistic expectations. These expectations fall into lots of categories—everything from the size of your advance (usually compared to others you know) to the amount of marketing the publisher will pay for, to the speed of the process (or lack thereof). It’s important that you develop realistic expectations in all of these areas. How do you do that? By talking with your agent, networking with other authors, attending conferences, and keeping up with happenings in the publishing industry (through key blogs and other news sources). If your expectations are impractical, your publishing journey will be unfulfilling. You’ll be disappointed and likely end up resentful.

I’ve had authors wonder why their advance for their sixth book is smaller than the advance for someone else’s first book. They don’t realize that one or two bad showings in sales hurts a publisher’s enthusiasm. A sales guy makes a call to a retailer, the numbers are brought up on the screen for their last book, and if they’re small they get a tepid response. It doesn’t matter about the quality of the book, it matters what the computer says their last book sold. Sad, but true (and all too common).  A new author, however, doesn’t have one bad book to muddy the waters. The value of their idea and platform can be leveraged into higher advances.

That’s why it’s essential to always keep those expectations in check!

In addition to managing expectations, it’s extremely helpful to agents when you communicate well. There is a balance to good communication—we don’t want you to be afraid to call or e-mail if there’s an issue, but daily phone calls and emails can actually slow the process, stealing time from the things an agent does behind the scenes to get clients’ work to publishers. As a general guideline, check in once a week with questions and updates, if you have them. Most important, when bigger issues do arise (and they will), go directly to your agent rather than to the publisher, your critique group, your Facebook page or your blog. Keep the lines of communication open and talk things out. If you’re not happy with your agent, this may be hard to address directly, but it’s the best way. Always.

Trust is the essence of any relationship, and agents need their authors to trust them. Agents handle the business details so you can focus on your writing and marketing, and we appreciate when you allow us to do this without second-guessing every move. If you’re confused about something, always ask, but unless it’s proven otherwise, trust that your agent has your best interest at heart in all actions, negotiations and decisions.

Today, authors have to be marketers and promoters of their work, and agents are ecstatic when their clients understand this. Many agents offer advice and can steer a writer toward good ideas for platform building, but what we really want is for our clients to have a commitment to the self-promotion mindset, and a desire to learn more about it and get better at it as time goes on. An agent rarely has the time to handhold you through every step of your marketing process, but your agent can be an enthusiastic partner and savvy advisor along the way.

Agents appreciate clients who care about the craft of writing and are always striving to learn and improve. Attend conferences and writing workshops, and work hard to learn from the editorial process. Your value to the industry increases as you improve as a writer. And this probably goes without saying, but we really like it when clients meet their publishers’ deadlines!

Don’t forget the basics: be kind, cordial and professional. And when it’s warranted, feel free to express gratefulness for a job well done.  And Starbucks cards are always appreciated.

Agent Expectations and Priorities, Part 2

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Last month I talked about mine and our agency’s priorities. You can view that post here.

Briefly, the first four were: 1. Contracts, 2. Reviewing/Editing Proposals, 3. Submitting Proposals, 4. Client Detail

Next…

5.  Editors:  I value highly my relationship with editors. Many of them are people I call my friends. I care about their lives, and, in return, they care about mine and the lives of my clients. At the end of the day, people do business with people they like. Doing business is not all about trust and relationship, but it is a huge reason that our agency is successful.

Consequently, each year I make time to meet personally with as many editors as possible. I have to get to know who they are, what they love to read, and what their particular house is looking for. Instead of making the July ICRS convention a priority, I go to Grand Rapids, Chicago, and Eugene every year; Nashville twice a year; and New York every other year, which allows me to visit all the CBA Houses, one on one, in a relaxed environment. ICRS may be handy (all editors together in one place), but they are also pushed, exhausted, and often overwhelmed during that crazy-busy week. I prefer to meet them at a relaxed, less-pressured time, making it enjoyable for all. We get more business done, but more importantly, we do more natural relationship building. Colorado Springs, the other publishing Mecca, is just down the road. I’m usually there monthly.

6.  Industry News: The transition that publishing has been going through the last three years has been a game-changer for agents. I’m now spending about 3-5 hours a week reading insider news about the publishing world. It’s a headache, but I do it so you don’t have to.

7.  Referrals: While the agency is always looking for the right type of authors, I personally am not looking to expand my author list. For the time being, Barbara is not signing new clients either. I will add a few clients each year, but it is rare. Your confidence in recommending us first to your author friends means a lot, but like every agency, we’re very picky.

What you won’t see me doing…

  1. I don’t have time or a desire to be famous. Though I tithe a small amount of time each year to encourage new writers, this is not a large focus. Most of my time is dedicated to my author-clients, as this is what they expect me to do (and what I love doing). Other agents do have a desire to be known well, and they have their reasons for this. Writing this monthly blog is hard enough with my jam-packed schedule. If I were to do a daily blog, the work above would greatly suffer. You will rarely read a Tweet from me unless it’s to announce something about what one of our agency clients is doing. Cathy keeps our fan page updated. The bottom line is that WordServe’s aim is for our authors to be well known, not me or the other agents who work in our company. I want to be known as an agency that gets things done; I want to deliver steak not sizzle. Ultimately, this is what authors want and need most.
  2. Though we are proud of our website and social media efforts (Facebook, this blog, Twitter posts that connect and promote our authors’ projects, our upcoming Pinterest emphasis), this is not our number one priority either. Quite frankly, we already receive way more inquiries than we can handle, so advertising or promoting our company does not benefit us. Word of mouth is our best advertising, when our clients and editors hand our names to excellent writers seeking publication. Most often, enthusiastic referrals from professionals yield our best new clients.

Agenting is about priorities, but so is life. Along with doing this work that I love, Becky and I are involved with people in our church, with our six kids and five grandsons, and trying to keep life balanced and fruitful. It’s a fun challenge.

What priorities matter most to you in a literary agency?  (Or if you are a new writer, what would you imagine you’d like your agent’s priorities to be?)

Agent Expectations and Priorities, Part 1

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When I first started agenting full-time in 1994 there were five other agents serving authors of faith. It was a relatively new phenomenon in Christian publishing, and not always appreciated by publishers. Some even had unwritten polices about not working with agents. Now there are about 100 agents serving Christian authors in one way or another. Today, most publishers won’t work with an author unless they’re represented.   I know many of the agents, and like most of them.  And while we all do similar work, our styles and priorities aren’t all the same.

So what should you expect from Barbara, Sarah and me (as the leader of this particular agency)?

Here’s what I’ll be doing nearly every day of the week (in general order of importance)…

  1. Negotiating and processing contracts: When a work-for-hire agreement needs to be written or a publishing contract needs working over, this is what I do first (for the whole agency). It’s what authors need and want, and what an agency ought to put on top of the stack each day.  In the last few months it seems most publishers have gone to a new boilerplate contract. That means I’ve got to renegotiate my agency boilerplate with them line by line, a time-consuming task, but it is the top priority for authors. There are typically nuanced changes that have to be made depending on whether it’s a fiction or a nonfiction contract. The rights issues in the changing face of publishing means I have to be extra diligent.  Negotiations often take several weeks because publishers put projects in line. That means after I get a draft (anywhere from 10-30 days), then I respond back within a day or two. Then it gets back in line again before they respond back, then I respond back…then it gets in line. You get the idea. Contracts take time and shouldn’t be rushed.
  2. Reading client proposals:  A close second in importance is fine-tuning new proposals.  There are always about five to ten projects I’m getting ready to pitch at any given moment (Barbara and Sarah the same).  So when you send me your new proposal, it gets in line behind the others ahead of you. It often takes two to three weeks or more before I get it back to you with edits, but publishers are expecting excellence in proposals these days, so we take our time, going back and forth with the author, to make them as close to perfect as we can. We only have one opportunity to pitch your proposal, so making it top-notch, based on our experience, is vital.  And, yes, time-consuming.
  3. Submitting proposals:  Writing or editing a pitch letter, picking out editors to send the project to, following up on the myriad of questions editors have…this is the lifeblood of any agency.
  4. Client work:  Returning client’s emails and phone calls is a huge priority with me.  My answers may be short and to the point, but I am a responsive agent, usually getting back to clients in 24 to 48 hours.  Calls with marketing directors on upcoming releases, career planning meetings and author phone calls, going over royalty reports, plus dozens of other client-related busy work details fill up a good portion of my day.

Next month I’ll share a few more of my priorities and then a couple of items that are clearly NOT what I want or have time to do.

What do you want your agent to prioritize for your career?

Your Rights

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Publishers are in the rights business, pure and simple. They are printers, sometimes marketers, hopefully good editors, but their business is charged with making money over the long haul. That means they want to control any and all rights to your book to license, sell, adapt, modify, translate…you get the picture. So what should an author know?

Every publishing house is different; that’s why an experienced agent is so essential. Some houses grasp onto a right like it’s their only child (bigger publishers, especially). They’re stubborn and unreasonable and hold all of the cards. Why? Money. They write the checks. If it’s a big check, that entitles the publisher to try to keep whatever they can. Unless an author is willing to walk away from that check, they have little leverage but to play the publisher’s game. Having said that, publishers also have a good amount of experience in selling these rights, and a big machinery to manage the process.

Primary rights that are typically non-negotiable include (and this includes the right to sell anything we grant them to anyone, anywhere, almost at any time):

  • North American (and sometimes World) English language print rights;
    • Any format, style, derivation
    • Book club
  • E-book rights (and enhanced ebook rights);
  • Large print and braille;

These primary rights are often granted because the publisher can ultimately make more money than an agent:

  • In the Christian market, foreign rights. In the general market, if the agent has good contacts overseas or good co-agents in bigger parts of the world (Europe, the Pacific Rim, etc.), there is more money to be made by the author in keeping these rights.
    • Unless the agent can negotiate a larger percentage for his author (60% to 75%). Publishers often have deeper means to keep squirrely foreign publishers accountable (due to doing lots of deals with one house).
    • Like most experienced agencies, our agency has some contacts with foreign editors, but not as many as we’d like.
    • Audio rights are sometimes non-negotiable, as publishers want to control what may compete with them out in the marketplace. But I’ve withheld audio in a few instances and sold these rights myself.
  • For Christian non-fiction especially, curriculum rights are sometimes granted to a publisher, sometimes not. Publishers are rarely putting curriculum packages together for churches, but if it’s a big book (read: big author), or has potential over the long haul to make a mark in retail, they’ll typically want to keep these rights for two or three years just in case it hits.
    • Sometimes reversion can happen after the first year if the author simply wants to produce and fund the creation of some sort of curriculum piece for his/her own sales.
    • Curriculum can also include non-dramatic video. This is even rarer, as it’s insanely expensive to produce.

Other rights:

  • Dramatic and film rights. Oddly, some Christian publishers want to hold onto 20% to 50% of these rights. What used to be automatically retained by the author is now being held onto by the publisher for up to two years, stubbornly by some houses. In New York, there is no question that dramatic rights are retained by the author, but some portions of CBA want a piece of the action. A few publishers, of course, have had some success getting producers to notice bestselling books and then getting them made into film. It’s rare, but it happens. And the money isn’t insignificant if something gets made (overall, anywhere from $50,000 to $250,000, if a book gets made into film).
    • Option Money:  Signing an option agreement to take a book to film (especially for Christian books), is common (5% to 10% of all novels published), but not lucrative. Anywhere from $500 for a one-year option (renewable at $1,000 or $2,000) to perhaps a high-end of $25,000. There are exceptions and lots of variety, depending on the entity optioning the rights. The “option” allows them to start raising money, hiring a script writer, getting a director, and attaching other talent, all with the hopes of presenting it to a studio for the green light of turning on the cameras. In 18 years as an agent, I’ve done a dozen options or so, with one finally being put into film. It’s not our core business, and the money is not large on 98% of the properties. WordServe works with an experienced Hollywood co-agent when a property is close to being optioned.
  • Calendars, magazines (1st and 2ndSerial rights), gift books, anthologies, quotations
    • Small money; typically publishers want to keep these rights.

Do you have any other questions about rights issues you’ve been wondering about?

My Day in Prison

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I went to prison not long ago to visit an inmate and to hear her story. I needed to know first-hand if she was who my client said she was. My client, her best friend on the outside, is writing a story of forgiveness between two women. I spent two hours in a small room listening as she spoke more words than my male ears could possibly take in. But I was riveted.

Outside in the main visiting area, dozens of inmates visited with parents, friends, children. Eating vending machine food, playing cards, laughing and trying to find a bit of normal in their season of isolation from the world for their public sins.

Her words filled the air for about 95 percent of our time together. She radiated the Lord like few I’ve come in contact with on the outside. Twenty-two years behind bars for a cold-blooded murder that she readily admits to committing. Many more years lie ahead. She killed the best friend of her best friend, the woman I mentioned in the first paragraph. Tears of regret come easy for the life she took, the lives of children she altered (including her own, one of whom was only 18 months old at the time and whom she has not seen since), even a city she threw into turmoil.

The good part of the story is that she’s now had 22 years of learning what it means to know, love, serve and wrestle with the Lord.

“Though I have the privilege of keeping a small TV in my cell, I have few distractions. I get up at 6:00, make coffee in my little coffee maker, and spend time with God in the Word.” She prays…a lot. She writes songs, words and lyrics, which are truly inspired. She’s an advocate for other prisoners trying to navigate a system that, by its nature, has to be more concerned with incarceration than care, with towing the line instead of grace. She understands. “It’s just the way it is.”

“There are 1,000 women here,” she says, “about 600 I would say know the Lord, probably 400 attend one of the four ‘church’ services offered once a week. Three of the services are the fire and brimstone variety, only one of the pastors of one church talks about the grace of God.”

“As if people here need more shame,” I say, attempting to understand a bit of what prisoners feel when they’re locked up for years at a time. She agrees that most of the women are so full of shame they don’t need the heaping coals of judgment to go along with it.

Before I can ask the question, she says, “That’s why books get passed around here so often. Books communicate, through story, God’s grace and the love of Jesus in a form that women can grasp. A woman can get swept away into the love of God through a story, well told. Jerry Jenkins’ book, Riven, is a favorite here, we have four copies. Francine Rivers is passed around a lot, and of course Karen Kingsbury.” Ted Dekker is mentioned, Gary Chapman, John Eldredge, as are several other familiar novelists and nonfiction authors.

You and I both know writers can’t invest their precious time writing solely to prisoners incarcerated for not playing by life’s rules. But in a bigger sense, that’s exactly what you’re doing every time you get behind your computer to tell the story God’s given you to write. We’re all prisoners to our own story in ways unseen, locked-up to our own daily grind. We all hear too much condemnation and not enough grace and love, and we all need those continual reminders that God is involved in the details but also looking out for the big picture.

And we all need to hear that He is constantly trying to inspire us to move closer to Him, His Kingdom, and communicating the true love He has to those who can’t readily touch it.

Books do that. Perhaps the book you’re writing right now does that.

So in the truest sense, you do what you do for the prisoners. You labor long hours in research, in writing and rewriting, in obeying the editorial instructions of your agent and editors. And most of the time you do it for a pretty low hourly paycheck. You hone your craft to tell the story better. You endure bad reviews and confusing royalty reports. It’s often hard and thankless and lonely.

But you do it for the prisoners.

Thank you.

Greg Johnson is president of WordServe Literary Group and has been a literary agent for 18 years serving Christian authors.