Product Description

How to Be Your Own Literary Agent takes the mystery out of book publishing for any writer, published or not. Richard Curtis -- a top literary agent for more than thirty years -- provides a comprehensive practical overview of the publishing process, from submissions to contract negotiations to subsidiary rights to marketing, publicity, and beyond. He also gives away trade secrets and invaluable wisdom -- candid advice that can be found nowhere else. Now completely revised and expanded, How to Be Your Own Literary Agent is essential reading for all writers.

* Big publishers, small publishers, self-publishers, e-publishers: how to keep up in a rapidly changing business
* The new breed of busy literary editors: how to find them and know what they're looking for
* What the electronic revolution means to you, and how to take advantage of it
* How to know your "publishing" rights and negotiate effectively
* How to have a say in your book's design, jacket, and promotion
* How book chains and superstores have altered publishing -- and what that means for you

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #72797 in Books
• Published on: 2003-11-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780618380411
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

About the Author

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Introduction

If professionalism may be defined as mastery of the tools of one"s trade, I
have to wonder how many writers earning money from their work can truly
call themselves professionals. After all, one of the most important tools of
their trade is the publishing contract. Yet, of the thousands of writers I have
known over the course of my career as agent, author, and lecturer, only a
small percentage have had more than a superficial understanding of contracts
and the negotiating skills associated with them. It is a sad irony that after
struggling so hard for so long and at last achieving something worthy, a writer
will then proceed to depreciate its value with a stroke of his pen on a
publishing agreement.
I"m not sure I comprehend this reluctance of writers to understand
and negotiate contracts. I know it"s not necessarily a lack of legal
sophistication. An editor friend of mine tells about the late Justice Abe Fortas
of the United States Supreme Court, whom he signed up to write a book. The
editor mailed off the firm"s standard publishing contract, wondering what
would be left of the document after so distinguished a jurist finished
dismembering it. To the editor"s astonishment it came back by return mail,
signed without so much as one alteration. Appended to the contract was a
note. "I haven"t looked at it," scribbled Fortas, "but I"m sure it"s okay."
Perhaps writers are apprehensive of contracts because they have
something to do with being businesslike, a quality that some artists feel is
not in keeping with the creative spirit. Many writers, particularly new ones,
tend not to think of their work as having commercial or legal value. Not long
ago an agent I know phoned a client to report he"d sold her first book. As
expected, the author went slightly berserk with joy and hung up to share the
news with her family. Fifteen minutes later she phoned back sheepishly. "Uh,
I forgot to ask. How much are they going to pay?" Authors, it seems, are so
grateful somebody wants to publish them that matters of money and contract
become secondary.
The moment a writer receives his first offer for something he"s
written, however, he crosses the threshold into the business world. By
endorsing that first check, he makes a legal commitment every bit as binding
as a lease or a car-purchase agreement. Although lawyers and literary
agents exist to interpret contracts for authors and conduct their business,
rare is the writer who has not woken up one day to the realization that his
appointed representative has not represented his interests as completely, as
competently, as responsibly as was expected. Indeed, not a few wake up to
realize their appointed representative has botched things up terribly. And
that"s just writers who do engage agents or lawyers; there are countless
numbers who don"t, and botch it without professional help.
Consonant with the creative spirit or not, then, it is every writer"s
responsibility to be businesslike, to feel comfortable with a contract, to
understand what his agent or lawyer is trying to do for him, to understand
what a publisher is trying to get him to do. There are some wonderful works
available on how to write, and this book doesn"t pretend to compete with
them. It assumes you"re already writing or have written something and want
to sell it, or have received an offer for it and want to negotiate a good
contract. Despite its title, it is aimed as much at writers who have agents as
at those who do not. Because agents are mortal and subject to errors,
sometimes egregious and even fatal ones, no author is relieved from
responsibility for his contractual commitments merely because he has an
agent who is supposed to be an expert in such affairs. Quite the contrary,
whether your agent is an expert or not, he has no liability whatever for legal
and other problems arising out of documents he hands you to sign. My
purpose for represented writers, then, is to help them understand and oversee
their agent"s work, to become informed clients.
I rest my authority on two qualifications. First, I have been a
literary agent for over forty years. Second, as author of more than fifty books I
have committed just about every contractual blunder on record. Luckily, I am,
I assure you, much better at representing others than I am at representing
myself. But because of these experiences I feel compelled to state this
book"s bias candidly: I"m by no means certain a writer can be his own agent.
The famous proverb of the legal profession, that the lawyer who represents
himself has a fool for a client, may be apt for the writing profession as well.
As my own client I tend to be impatient, to have no objectivity about my
work, and to be so easily flattered that someone wants to publish me as to
accept terms I would sternly reject if they were offered for one of my authors"
properties. So this book is definitely a case of Do What I Say, Not What I Do.
Another bias of this book is that it"s aimed at book, not magazine,
writers. Most of the marketing, negotiation, and contractual strategies
discussed in these pages can be utilized by magazine writers, however.
Because short stories, articles, essays, and poetry sales are so
low-paying, most agents will not handle such material except as a courtesy
to certain clients or in cases where the material clearly has the potential to
sell to a high-paying market. My agency is no exception. But I"m not sure
there"s much an agent can do for magazine writers that they can"t do for
themselves. Magazine editors are much more responsive to unrepresented
authors than book editors are, so it"s easier for magazine writers to get a foot
in the door. The price ranges of magazines are fairly inflexible, so there"s not
that much negotiating leeway for an agent. Magazine purchase agreements
are less complicated than book contracts. All in all, magazine writers can
survive without highly developed business skills; I don"t think book writers
can. Still, all writing paths seem to lead to books; at least I"ve never met a
magazine writer who didn"t have a book in him. Sooner or later, then, every
writer will have to deal with the problems discussed here.
I wish to apologize to all women readers of this book for my use of
the masculine pronoun when referring to authors and editors. Writing this
work has certainly raised my consciousness about the way our language
discriminates against women. At the same time I found that such usages
as "he/she" didn"t sit comfortably with me, and I was twisting sentences into
cruel configurations by employing "they" or "you" or "one" all the time. So I"ve
fallen back on the publishing tradition wherein, on all contracts, the
masculine pronoun signifies writers of either sex.
Finally, a number of statements made in this book are critical of
publishers. For these I will not apologize. But I would like to thank
my publishers for tolerantly permitting me the freedom to make
them. The opinions expressed herein are, I"m fairly certain, not necessarily
those of the sponsor.

Copyright © 1983, 1984, 1996, 2003 by Richard Curtis. Reprinted by
permission of Houghton Mifflin Company.

Customer Reviews

You need this book
The author is an experienced agent sharing his knowledge with a gentle humour. Ok, sometimes not so gentle - the quip about the type of negotiating stance a first-time author should take with their publisher is a real gem.
I read the book cover to cover in one sitting, skimming only the sections on collaborative writing and book packagers, and not only did I learn a lot I also laughed out loud at several observations. Information is so much easier to digest when it's presented in a breezy conversational style.
The book includes a sample publishing contract and several author-friendly clauses which can be substituted for the more usual publisher-friendly versions.
Like another reviewer's copy, my book also looks like a group of preschoolers had a go at it. Corners folded, underlining everywhere, notes in the margins... but that's always the sign of an informative title.
Highly recommended if you're at this stage of the game.

All About the Business of Publishing Books for Every Writer!
Several days ago I finished reading HOW TO BE YOUR OWN LITERARY AGENT, and my book looks as if its been in a HURRICANE! The cover is battered; the pages are dogeared; and the margins are scribbled in! This book was originally published in 1983 and has undergone two later revisions. But authors, don't read the early editions, though they have a lot of valuable info. in them. Read this latest 2003 revision that has been expanded to add observations about the way the publishing industry has changed including recent electronic advances. The book has chapters on negotiating contracts, how to make the best deals, steps books go through to publication, ongoing publicity before, during, and after the book is published, chain/independent bookstores, the role of agents, taxes, and on and on. This book is written by one of NY's top literary agents who has seen it all in the last 40 years of his career. Richard Curtis writes very well, sometimes humorously, and has covered just about everything. It is not a book about how to plot, flesh out characters, describe settings, etc. This book is about the business of writing books. The only criticism I have is that it does not include an index nor does it go into detail about Amazon.com and Bn.com, or how to track book sales. This is a must book for every writer. I am a reader of historical fiction and highly recommend any Leon Uris novel, the first novels of James Michener, slave narratives written by actual slaves, biographies of historical known and unknown historical figures and fictional young adult novels such as The Diary of a Slave Girl, Ruby Jo and The Journal of Darien Dexter Duff, an Emancipated Slave.

Great Book for New Writers Breaking In
This is a wonderful book that describes the business side of literary agencies, publishing houses and the relationship between the two that makes the publishing wheel go round. He offers loads of contractual tips and explainations of your rights - which is very important.

I read his book when I was shopping my own book Never Trust A Man In Alligator Loafers. I still refer to it and brush up on contract knowledge and rights.

If you're wondering if you need a literary agent - my answer is yes!