Industry News: 5/1/10

Random House has reorganized for the second time this year. If you want the details of the restructuring, you’ll find them here.

According to this New York Times article, Random House’s decision to release the digital rights to some of William Styron’s books could “potentially open … the way for other authors to take their e-books away from traditional publishers.”

Chuck Sambuchino at Guide to Literary Agents says Be (Slightly) Afraid of Posting Your Work Online. It could be stolen.

Alan Rinzler, Executive Editor at Jossey-Bass, an imprint of John Wiley & Sons, writes about How Successful Writers Maintain Confidence.

“The most accomplished and productive writers I work with are able to sustain a level of assurance and optimism. And that’s even when they’re feeling blocked, burned out and unappreciated.”

If you’re interested in Which Book Publishers Tweet Best, you’ll find the list on this Follow The Reader blog.

Curious about effective marketing? At her BookEnds blog, Jessica Faust asked readers questions about PR and got some interesting answers.

Good news for writers! Kristin Nelson thinks they are a hot commodity.

For the last six months, any project Sara or I have wanted, we’ve had to fight for. In other words, when we offered rep, the author already had, bare minimum, five other agent offers on the table in addition to ours.

A not-to-be-missed blog by PC Hutchins on honing your pitch is as important to published writers as nonpubbed.

“Great pitches — and for many of us, this important task occurs most often in agent query letters — are comprised of several key ingredients. Like your fiction, they must have a great hook, and must resonate on intellectual and emotional levels. They’re heavy on sizzle and light on steak; these things are designed to dazzle, not data-dump the plot. Finally, pitches must be brief. A handful of sentences, tops.”

Caren Johnson Literary Agency agent Elana Roth explains how she tackles her queries:

“When I open your letter, I usually do a quick eye scan for both format and keywords that look interesting. These are speed reading tricks. The more cleanly formatted emails are more pleasing to the eye and are usually more inviting for closer reads. The jumbled ones are less so. If there is an attachment, you are most likely going to get a rejection letter, because I explicitly say don’t do that, and it’s 2 extra steps for me to read what you sent, plus you could be trying to poison me or my precious laptop.”

FinePrint agent Suzie Townsend says that even though she loves YA, she’s interested in representing other genres, including women’s fiction.

On another blog post, she gives great pitching advice:

“Come prepared. With possible questions. If you finish the pitch early, you can ask anything – if you can’t think of anything, ask about good book recommendations. We love talking books.”

Award-winning writer Edie Ramer is funnier on the page than in real life. She loves her cat so much she made her the heroine of CATTITUDE, her first paranormal romance. Her second book, DEAD PEOPLE, Book one of her Haunted Hearts series, was her American Title V final book. She also has a short story available.

Edie Ramer

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