Publishing News Roundup Series: Why Authors Should Regularly Check on Their Agents

Everyone says an author to agent relationship should be close and built on trust. But how much trust can you give, and how

close should you actually be?

There should always be trust, but please remember this is a business and to make sure to keep track of your assets. When

it comes to being close, that’s a definite. The bottom line being keep a close, but business conscious relationship with your

agent.

It has been a horrible week for some kidlit writers and agents in the blogosphere. Danielle Smith, a ’respected’ agent who

having worked for high flying agencies struck out on her own was shown to be a fraud. This has stunned her colleagues,

her clients and her staff. The kidlit community is a tight knit community and are rallying round as they do with offers of help

coming from all over.

The bottom line in all of this is – Once you get an agent… the work begins. Follow up regularly. They work for you. If they

can’t or won’t communicate at least quarterly… ask who they have subbed to? Ask publishers to split the check at source.

They can pay agents fees separately… if your agent is upset about this, ask why. There are a whole lot of writers and

illustrators taken on by Danielle Smith, who have no idea what properties have been taken on or off or subbed or not…

and not only that… it goes back years through other clients for other agencies where she was an agent on staff. A hashtag

search in Twitter #Daniellesmith pulls up some sad stories.

Forbes has covered the latest scams in the publishing world this week just as this was breaking… Be Aware that there are

some awful predators out there.

In the continuing serial decline of CreateSpace, Nate Hoffelder reports that Amazon has hammered another nail in the coffin.

This week they pulled the plug on publishing CD’s and DVD’s. Will the Kindle Print arm pick these up too? Everyone still in

CreateSpace are hanging on grimly…

While Amazon is putting the screws into CreateSpace, Publish Drive has been wooing China. Publish Drive are doing some

interesting things in the global publishing marketplace… If you want world wide sales take a look…

Data Guy was asked to present at the Sci Fi & Fantasy conference just held and he posted up his slides looking

at the last years sales of SFF across the board. The SFF Marketing Podcast crew took a look at the trends – Even

if you don’t write SFF this is a good podcast to follow.

Every year about this time Joanna Penn takes a yearly snapshot of her working life…It is really interesting… I always learn

something from this indie powerhouse.

In The Craft Section,

Killing off an important character -Live Write Breathe- Bookmark

5 things psychology can teach writers– Angela Ackerman

How to show emotion on the page – cheat sheets – Jessica Grace Kelley

9 character types to include in your story– Writers Cookbook- Bookmark

Different Types of movie stories– Go into the Story

In The Marketing Section,

Why authors should be speaking about their books– Joel Friedlander

5 terrible ways to launch your book– Kevin Tumlinson

How to create pre-launch buzz for your book– Rachel Thompson- Bookmark

Are you paying too much attention to Amazon reviews?– Barry Faulkner

2 Bookmark posts from Frances Caballo Publishing your first book – follow these steps and
Selling more books- tips from experts.

To Finish,

Every year about this time Joanna Penn takes a yearly snapshot of her working life…
It is really interesting… I always learn something from this indie powerhouse.
I had an unexpected hospital stay this last week.This screwed up quite a few things publishing wise for me.
Pro tip from me… build in plenty of time for life’s hiccups and rest where you can…
I wonder if the wicked witch of the west cursed me last week for using her picture on my blog.

Maureen

@craicer

About Maureen Crisp

Maureen Crisp has been writing her weekly publishing roundups for over seven years. She is a traditionally published children's author as well as indie-published. She lives in New Zealand and is heading the team organising the 4th National Conference of Children's Writers and Illustrators. She is currently trying her hand at writing a children’s book series if she can drag herself away from forever tweaking her Mars novel or obsessing over space.

Resources and tips for the self-published author.