Team Hartline! Rah, rah…by Linda S. Glaz

Team Hartline! Rah, rah…by Linda S. Glaz

Four years ago I tentatively sent my resume to Joyce Hart without a clue what to expect if she said “Yes!” She did. Now what?

I was an agent, or on my way to becoming one. What did I have to offer Hartline? I’d been a reviewer for romance sites for years. I was a final proofreader, first for Wild Rose Press, and then for White Rose Press, now Pelican Book Group. I’d been an assistant to my own agent Terry Burns for a couple years, and I belonged to numerous critique groups. Why crit groups? Because I am also a writer.

Still, how would the rest of them accept me? Many had been editors at large publishing houses, editors in their own rights, booksellers for decades. What could I offer this awesome team of agents?

I’m a firm believer that those who’ve made the mistakes: alcoholism, drug addiction, and the like, and who have come out of the lifestyle are the best to minister to those struggling. Could I offer authors anything? I’d certainly made all of the mistakes. Wrote everything wrong for eighteen years, sent things out all wrong for years, and though I’d attended dozens of conferences through the years, I didn’t think there was anything I could really learn.

There! I said it. I didn’t think there was anything more to learn. So I was stagnant, foolish, and going no place really fast. Like the proverbial snowball downhill, I was gaining momentum and freezing like a Popsicle in Alaska.

After mulling that over for a couple days, I realized I had plenty to offer after all. I had done it ALL WRONG! And who better to teach and work with folks anxious to do it all right.

How had I finally managed to get an agent, get my first novella published? My first book? My second book? My multi-book deal? Could I help steer other fledgling authors in the right direction?

Well, team Hartline was awesome. They held my hand, walked me through many things, and supported me at every turn on the path. They contacted me to see if I’d like help even before my asking. They were and are true brothers and sisters, not only in Christ, but in the industry.

They sent me clients! YES, as I got started, they sent me clients. And I learned they weren’t pity submissions, the agents at Hartline do this often for each other.

“Here, know you love a great romance, and I think this one would be better served by a female agent.”

“Linda, I’ve worked with this client before, but I’m having trouble getting her to understand the pure romance idea. Would you like to take a stab at it?”

“Linda, I’m overwhelmed with subs this week, would you like to take a look at a few?”

And to think I’d be worried whether or not I’d fit in.

A couple years later, I was able to do the same for my teammates.

HARTLINE IS A TEAM. These are amazing agents there to do a primo job at placing their clients. They are also there to support one another, lift each other up in prayer when needed, and to forge forward with the newest ideas and possibilities. They aren’t afraid of controversial works that have “brilliant” stamped all over them.

Yessir. We are a team. And I’m proud to be part of the team that has represented some of the best award-winning authors in the business today.

Midlist Authors Avoiding the Sinking Sand by Jennifer Hudson Taylor

"I've always wanted to write a book."

As an author or a pre-published author, how many times have you heard this statement the moment someone discovers you're a writer? My guess, is quite often, and the longer you write, the more you will hear it.

I love writing and the publishing market, but I'm witnessing lots of changes that can be seen as both positives and negatives. Even if you're a "glass half full" kind of person, you need to be able to recognize the negatives so you can brainstorm and develop ideas on how to turn them into positives. In other words, you can't find a solution if you do not first recognize that there is a problem.

The changes that are taking shape in the publishing industry is affecting all writers whether they are the million dollar writers, multi-published, award-winning, midlist, traditionally published, POD published, e-published, or self-published. No one is exempt from the paradigm shift that is taking place, not even agents, editors, publishers, publicists, or marketers and designers that work in the industry.

What am I noticing?

Almost everyone who wants to write a book IS writing a book and the publishing market is being flooded with all kinds of books--increasingly, self-published e-books. This has its advantages and disadvantages. I've listed a few below, but there are many more points not listed that we could discuss.

Advantages for authors are:

• Not having to wait years to see their books in print 
• Having full control of their manuscripts from writing, editing to cover design
• Ability to set pricing controls and adjust it to market fluctuations
• Higher royalty payments 
• Publishing niche books that may not appeal to the general audience

Disadvantages for authors are:

• No advance
• All marketing and distribution is on the author's shoulders
• May cost more of a personal financial investment
• Higher chance of releasing books before they are ready and when more edits and rewrites are needed 
• Building a platform from scratch, since even traditionally published debut authors have the publisher's platform to start from

Now, midlist authors whether they are traditionally published, POD published, or self-published via ebooks are competing in a flooded market that is either swallowing them up or leaving them on the shore mired in sinking sand. A few are doggie-paddling to a row boat. Only the million dollar authors are on the nice yachts sailing through the water on the sails of their publishers' marketing budget. The impact on them is much less than the rest of us, but a wave might flip them over every so often.

What is the solution?

It's already been identified--a solid platform.

But how does one get there without starting out as a celebrity? 

I wish I had a short, simple answer that would take care of all our worries that would launch us to the platform where we all dream of being. The truth is, there isn't one simple answer. No publicist can provide a miracle. What we can do is give you consulting advice and get you started on a marketing plan that will increase your sales as time progresses and from one book launch to the next. When deciding on a publicist, take a close look at that publicist's Social Media following and stats--most likely, that is the market to which they are able to market your book. Overall, each author will need to take advantage of every possible marketing opportunity. Do not give up. Be consistent and recognize that slow progress is still progress.

What has been your biggest challenge to building a platform?

• Inaccurate Bookscan Stats and the Plight of the Midlist Author
• The New Midlist: Self-Published E-Book Authors Who Earn a Living
• Why Book Buying Stats Might Stifle the Next Great Author

Social Media Etiquette During National Disasters by Jennifer Hudson Taylor

In the midst and the aftermath of a storm like Sandy that takes lives and destroys over $50 billion worth of personal and business property, it's hard to focus on business as usual for the rest of us. We may have book launches, contests, and campaigns planned, but it seems awkward (and in some cases, wrong) to promote them as if nothing is happening on the other side of our country--to loved ones, family and friends. Even if we don't personally know anyone in the affected areas, we hurt and ache for them as we imagine what they must be going through and suffering. Millions are still without power and are offline--and grieving.

In times of disaster like this, I believe it is fine to postpone and/or cancel some of the promotional activities you might have planned. Not everything can be postponed or canceled, but if possible it might be appropriate. I saw where one of the online Scavenger Hunts lengthened the deadline for their contest for those in the east who had entered, but were knocked offline. It showed such thoughtfulness of others.

Many posted and tweeted encouraging thoughts and prayers. I'm never more proud of our nation than when we set aside our differences, our personal agendas, and pull together in solidarity to lend support and encouragement to those hurting and devastated by such massive tragedy. Several publishing houses in New York are struggling to reopen and become fully operational in all their facilities.

Earlier in the week Publishers Weekly posted an article detailing the status of publishers who were affected by Sandy, New York Publishing Struggling to Get Back Online Post-Sandy.

The Los Angeles Times posted an article stating that most bookstores survived the storm and will reopen with minimal damage and gave a list of a few that sustained significant damage, such as Powerhouse Arena in DUMBO, Bookstores After Sandy.

The Queens Chronicle opened their doors to two other publishers, including a direct competitor so they could publish their paper - another act banding together. Here is the article on Recovering the Devastation, Together.

While Social Media can be a valuable tool for spreading news in minutes, it can also be a massive web of confusion. A few took advantage of the moment and posted blatant lies and fake photos that others unknowingly shared, causing viral promotion of misinformation. One man even lost his job from posting false reports that were reported by real news organizations as factual news. In a situation like this where the news is being updated in minutes, there is no website where one can go in order to fact check information before sharing it. Man Faces Fallout for Spreading False Sandy Reports on Twitter.

What are your thoughts about Social Media behavior and continued promotion during times like this? Did you cancel or postpone any events? How do you decide what to share and what not to share?

A Sample Chapter Online by Terry Burns

My client group is discussing the in’s and out’s of putting the first chapter (or more) of their work in progress online. Work that is put online for a critique group such as our own ‘crit room’ or any restricted access forum is not considered published, but any work that is put online and is accessible by the general public IS considered published. Some of these sites have a major number of followers, maybe even more than a printed version would sell to.

Why would an author want to do this with an unpublished work anyway? The usual justification is hoping an agent or editor would run across it, like it, and contact them asking for more. This has happened, but it is very rare. For the most part agents and editors have enough to wade through without going online searching for more. A majority of agents and editors won’t even go online searching when someone gives them links to material instead of providing it in a proposal as requested, but that’s a different topic. I believe the potential of ruling a work out by publishing it online outweighs any potential on accidentally interesting an agent or editor in the work.

As to the weight any particular publisher would give to material that has been published online, that varies from paying no attention to it to having it rule the project out for them. It would probably depend on how much of the work had been put up. For some publishers if any at all has been put up they don’t much like it.

My own opinion is that I don’t like to put any work online until it is contracted for publishing and even then after consulting the publisher. Some would not want it to be done at all unless they do it themselves and others have rules about how it can be done. I believe they feel there is no point in courting a potential problem when they have plenty of submissions by people who have not made their work public. Most if not all of them who wouldn’t mind restrict it to a maximum of one chapter.

It can make a difference if a work is entered in contests. In contests the judges are sent the contest material without the author’s name attached. If the work has been published online WITH the author’s name attached it can contaminate the judges pool for the work. Many contests will not accept a work if that has happened.

How about blogs or social media? Publishers used to pay little attention to them, but that isn’t the case any more. Audiences for these now go up into the thousands and most publishers consider them a significant marketing tool. The number one sales tool for a book is name identification or “buzz” and having a strong online presence is a major way of doing that, hopefully beginning long before there is a book to promote.

Let’s talk about nonfiction. It used to be that non-fiction books were much easier to sell to a publisher than fiction. Not so much these days, and I believe the reason for that is just what you are talking about, the amount of material that is online for free. If someone pitches me a project and I know all of their research was done online I know all of the material in their book is available for free. It may still have value to a potential buyer since that research has been done and all of the material assembled in a logical order . . . or it may not. There is no telling which way a publisher would come down on that question.

Is an author who has a regular blog now considered ‘published?’ Actually, yes, and the degree of the publishing credit would depend on the number of regular followers. We can look at it like this, a blog with a couple of hundred followers would be like having a writing credit of writing something like a church newsletter. One of my clients has a twitter account with over 40,000 followers. That is the equivalent of being a regular columnist in a small magazine.

The bottom line is that online publishing has changed or evolved in the past few years and many aspects of it are looked upon in quite a different manner. But then that’s the only constant in the publishing industry . . . change.

Streaming Digital Books by Jennifer Hudson Taylor

First, we streamed music. Then we streamed movies. And soon, we'll stream digital books. It's the next logical step in the new process of transforming and redefining the publishing/book industry.

Publishers have clung to tradition in how to produce books for as long as possible. Likewise, book distributors and bookstores have hung onto tradition in how to sell books since their business and livelihood depended upon it. Our library systems did the same. 

Since the beginning of the printing industry, as far back as Gutenberg's printing press in the late medieval period, books were sold on a per book basis--per unit/item. In our traditional thought process, we think of books as items--things. In the new digital world, books are content, whether it is through streaming words in a visual context or words through an audio context.

Now we have Audiobooks.com where you pay for unlimited streaming of books through the cloud--a flat membership fee of $25 a month. It's the same concept as Netflix's business of streaming movies and Spotify for streaming music. The price is constant regardless of which books you download, regardless of whether you read 5 books or 20 per month, or how many minutes or hours you spend reading.

As one writer pointed out in The Atlantic article, The Future of the Book is the Stream, that streaming books reframes book-buying so that it is less about purchasing a book and more about purchasing an experience.

What are YOUR thoughts about streaming books? How do you think it will affect publishers, authors, and bookstores?

Would You Read On? hosted by Diana Flegal

We welcome your comments today. Scroll down for last weeks author reveal.

Chapter One

The thrumming in her head started at the Essex County line and crescendoed into a pounding by the time she'd reached State Route 74. She wiped one hand, then the other on her jeans and gripped the steering wheel of her rented SUV. She was in control. She was Emily Hazard, assistant art director at an award-winning New York City advertising agency. Not Emily Hazard, the klutz-queen jinx-deluxe of Schroon Lake Central High School.

She drove through Hazardtown, the four corners community in New York's Adirondack Mountains that her ancestors had settled two centuries ago. Little remained to show the bustling logging town it had once been. A new name on the diner told her it had changed ownership again. The gas station convenience store proclaimed Souvenirs Here in a big red, white and blue roadside sign. Kitty-corner, the Community Church sat as it had for the past one hundred and fifty years with its double entry doors that had originally separated the women parishioners from the men. As a teen, Emily had made a point of entering through the men's door. The newish brick volunteer fire department building occupied the fourth corner. Ironically, the old clapboard hall had burned down when she was in college.

Paradox Lake came into view on the left. A patch of blue nestled in the greens and browns of the hardwoods and mountains surrounding it. Her heart beat double-time. As she came around the curve to Hazard Cove Road, a mama duck and her ducklings waddled onto the highway. She hit the brake pedal and sensed the pickup truck behind her before she heard the screech of its brakes. The truck touched the back bumper of the SUV and nudged her forward just short of the little family.

Last weeks First Page was bravely submitted by author Cindy Sproles. Her agent is excitedly shopping around her manuscript.