Publishing #contracts and #royalties in the Big Bad World

Jane Friedman has great advice on Writers Unboxed for authors in this brave new world of electronic publishing. Click here for the post.

Woman signs 3 book contract for ebooks

You got that right, it is ebooks, not paper books. 66 year old Nancy Kay Schneider signed a three book contract with Desert Breeze Publishing.  Click here for details.

Simon & Schuster in India

This from Publisher’s Marketplace: Simon & Schuster has created a New Delhi-based sales, marketing and publishing company, Simon & Schuster India. The company’s exclusive sales agent on the subcontinent Rahul Srivastava will run the new unit locally as director of sales and marketing, reporting to S&S UK executive director Kerr MacRae. HarperCollins India will handle fulfillment and distribution, with “operations expected to commence August 1.” Inventory will come mostly from S&S UK, and they will offer titles from all of S&S’s divisions worldwide and distribution clients.

Davidar Returns to India

David Davidar, the man who, as head of Penguin India, took Indian publishing to new heights, is back. He is setting up the Aleph Book Company in collaboration with Rupa, India. Stay tuned.

Literary Agent Interviews

Agent interviews are a good way of finding out where a particular literary the agent’s interests lie. I found a site with a few interviews. Check them out. Like always, research before you query. Don’t depend on a single source. Click here for the interview.

Picking A Literary Agent

According to Chuck Sambuchino, Editor of The Guide to Literary Agents , there are 1300 odd Literary agents in the US alone. What makes one decide to pick over another? In your query to the agent, he recommends including a line as to why you are contacting the agent. One easy way to establish a connection with an agent is simply to cite something they’ve said in an interview. He has approximately 150 agent interviews so far on the GLA blog.  Click here for the interviews. If you can quickly explain a compelling reason, then the agent realizes that you’ve done your homework and targeted them for a reason. This is a good thing.

He also lists the best agent blogs of 2011 on his website. Well worth the read.   Click here for details.

The Publishing Scene in India

With India publishing the third largest number of English books in the world, and to a large reading audience, India is not an insignificant market.  Add to that the indigenous e-book readers, Wink and Infibeam Pi, with built-in Indian language support, and the potential for book sales is huge.

A few independent publishers have come together as Independent Publishers’ Distribution Alternatives. Other small publishers are aligning themselves with larger ones to market their books – like Zubaan Books with Penguin, Permanent Black and with Orient Blackswan.

Click here  for the entire article.

Literary Agents Who Mean Business

I recently came across an interesting website which lists agents that have placed books with publishers. Anyone can set up a website and claim to be a literary agent – but unless they’ve proved they can make a sale, agents are of no use to to writers.

Click here for a list of agents who’ve proved their mettle.

My disclaimer stands – make sure you check any offers from agents out before signing away your rights.

Self Publishing Is Lucrative

By now everyone in the know has to know that Amanda Hocking, who made at least a million dollars by self publishing her book, has been shopping around for a mainstream publisher.

Now comes the startling news that NYT bestselling author Barry Eisler has turned down an offer of $500,000 from St. Martin’s Press because he would rather self publish!

Click here for the story.