Track Changes: Selling Your Book (Part 1)

 
Track Changes: Selling Your Book (Part 1) Listen to the podcast
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Literary agents Holly Root, founder of Root Literary, and Seth
Fishman with The Gernert Company return to lead us through how an
agent prepares a manuscript for submission, how they choose which
editors to approach with a manuscript, and how they negotiate
common types of book sales. We get into what a writer can expect
during this notoriously nerve-wracking process.


This episode is brought to you by The Slow Novel Lab, a six-week
creativity and writing course from Printz-winning novelist Nina
LaCour. For the summer session, beginning June 7, Nina will
donate 50% of profits to Direct Relief, a humanitarian aid
organization working with underserved communities. Learn more and
sign up for the Slow Novel Lab here.


 
Catch up on the series so far:

Episode 1: Publishing 101


Episode 2: Agents: Who Are They, What Do They Do, And How Do You
Get One?


Bonus Episode: Publishing in the time of COVID


 
The following agents were interviewed for this episode:

We meet Jennifer de Leon as she prepares for the release of her
debut young adult novel, Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From, on August
4. Though Jennifer has been writing for years, she quickly learns
that there’s a lot about Capital-P-Publishing that she doesn’t
know. (Hear her First Draft interview here.)


Seth Fishman, he’s an author and literary agent with The Gernert
Company and manager of their West Coast office. He reps clients
such as John Joseph Adams, Ali Almossawi, and Kate Beaton.


Holly Root, literary agent and founder of Root Literary who
represents clients such as Victoria Schwab (hear her First Draft
interview here), Jasmine Guillory (listen to her First Draft
interview here), and Christina Lauren.
Definitions:



Genre: Kelly Jensen of BookRiot says the
term genre “refers to a type of art that shares similar
features. Often, there are standard and common conventions
and restraints, as well as common tropes and set-ups. Science
fiction is a genre. Romance is a genre. Fantasy and mystery
are also genres.”




Category: Jensen says category is “who the
book is intended for. It’s part of the marketing of a book,
as well as a way for those who work with books to quickly
ascertain the reader for whom the book would be most
appropriate.” Within the category of Young Adult there are
genres like contemporary, science fiction, mystery, etc.


More Information:



“How Long Does it Take to Sell a Book?” by Nathan Bransford




“On Being on Submission” by Stacey Lee on Pub(lishing) Crawl




A description of the auction process on the Steve Laube
Literary Agency blog




“Under the Gavel of a Book Auction” on NPR’s Pop Culture
Happy Hour blog




 


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Track Changes is produced by Hayley Hershman. Zan Romanoff is the
story editor. The music was composed by Dan Bailey, and the logo
was designed by Collin Keith.