2 New Literary Agents Actively Seeking Clients

New agents are a boon to writers. They work hard, and are enthusiastic. (Enthusiasm goes far in this business.) Read their agency websites carefully to see who they have represented, and which publishing companies they have worked with. And don't forget to google both the agent and their agency to see what pops up.

Rachel Brooks's focus is fiction, specifically adult romance and young adult, as well as select women's fiction and cozy mysteries.

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Rachel Brooks of BookEnds

About Rachel: After three years as an agent at the L. Perkins Agency, Rachel Brooks joined BookEnds in June 2017. While at LPA she established a mix of romance, young adult, and cozy mystery clients. Prior to that she was apprentice to agent Louise Fury.

What she is seeking: Rachel's focus is fiction, specifically adult romance and young adult, as well as select women's fiction and cozy mysteries. To break it down further, in adult romance she's looking for high concept stories with sizzling chemistry. Some of her favorite tropes are enemies to lovers, fake relationship, and second chance romance. In young adult she especially wants to read manuscripts by authors of color and LGBTQIA authors (although this applies to adult projects too). In women's fiction she is selectively looking for modern, commercial stories with wit and humor, multicultural stories, and novels that explore the relationships between sisters. For cozy mysteries, she wants a lovable sleuth you can't help but follow for many books, with a strong series hook, humor, and pets serving as an extra brownie point.

How to submit: Use this form on the agency's site.

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Siobhan McBride of Serendipity Literary Agency

CLOSED TO QUERIES

About Siobhan: Siobhan McBride joined Serendipity Literary Agency in 2014. Raised in New York’s Hudson Valley region she studied painting, drawing, and ceramics before receiving her Bachelor of Arts in English and Creative Writing from SUNY New Paltz. She began her career in Publishing as an intern for the literary agency Objective Entertainment, and from there went on to work as a writer in the Editorial departments of various magazines including MovieMaker and Chronogram. Her passion for music and film led her to becoming the Music Editor of CriticalMob, eventually moving on to do freelance work with their parent company, Company Cue. Recently she has been tutoring young adults as a volunteer with 826NYC. Siobhan looks forward to creating lasting relationships with her clients and wants to work closely with them to give life to the vision of their work. Holding positions on both sides of the editorial field gives her a strong grasp of what an audience is looking for and the knack to balance that with a writers’ artistic drive.

What she is seeking: Siobhan is actively seeking voice driven narratives whether Fiction, Memoir, or Non-Fiction. She holds a strong interest in Literary and Gothic Fiction, Horror, Paranormal, Adult Dystopian, Mystery/Crime, Thrillers (bonus points if they’re psychological), Historical, daring Young Adult, and narratives with philosophical undertones. For Memoir and Nonfiction titles, she seeks Investigative, True Crime, and dark/bizarre History. Siobhan enjoys the dark, macabre aspects of life where paranormal fiction and horror are viewed an under appreciated art forms deeply rooted in psychology, and looks for authors unafraid to delve into these inner workings of the human psyche.

How to submit: Visit the submissions page on Serendipity’s website: serendipitylit.com. You can direct your submission directly to Siobhan by requesting her in the body of the submission form. The average response time is 4-6 weeks.

Why I Love Weird Al ... and Other Word Crimes

I love Weird Al. I have always loved Weird Al. (Who could resist that adorable face?)

But now I REALLY love Weird Al.

Not only does he know that "it's" is a contraction, he also knows what a dangling participle is. (Be still my heart!)

Now that I am backed by a celebrity, I feel inspired to add my own Word Crimes. And at the top of this list is:

1) Impact is not a verb. It is a noun. You can have an impact on something, but you can't impact it. It may be true that all your friends, TV announcers, and anybody with an MBA uses impact as a verb, BUT THEY ARE ALL WRONG! (And anyone who says "impactful" is going straight to hell.)

To continue my rant:

2) "Issue" does not mean "problem," it means a topic of debate. You can discuss an issue, but you cannot have one. (This grammar crime was fomented by therapists, who also have convinced susceptible individuals that they are "conflicted" when they have "issues.")

3) "Grow" is what you do with potatoes - not audiences, businesses, or twitter followers. (This is an MBA-speak crime.)

4) "Conflicted" is not an adjective. You can feel conflict, you can even be in conflict, but you can't be conflicted. (See number 2 above.)

5) "Different from" (or "different to" in Great Britain) is correct when you are comparing nouns, not "different than." For example, California is different from ... well, just about anywhere.

6) The object of a preposition is object case, not subject. Let's keep this between you and me, not you and I.

7) "Like" is for comparing nouns. "As if" is for verb phrases. I act like you, but we can't act like nothing matters. We must act as if nothing matters.

8) Plurals do not use apostrophes - ever. You own CDs, not *CD's.

9) A possessive goes with a gerund. "My going to California upset her" is correct, not *Me going to California upset her."

10) Reported speech uses declarative sentence structure. "I asked him what the time was" not *"I asked him what was the time." If you are quoting, you can use interrogative structure. Ex. I asked him, "What is the time?" (Reported speech is comprised of sentences beginning with phrases using verbs such as wonder, consider, ask, etc. Ex. I wondered what the time was. I considered what the alternatives were.)

11) "Lay" is a transitive verb. That means it requires an object. You lay a book on a table, or lay your head upon your pillow. "Lie" is intransitive. It does not take an object. Therefore, *"I'm going to lay down" is incorrect. "I'm going to lie down" is correct. Where this gets confusing is that the past tense of "lie" is "lay." "Last night I lay down at eight" is correct. (Note: "Lay low" is a colloquialism. Grammatically, it couldn't be more incorrect.)

If you are guilty of any of the above grammar indiscretions, you are doomed to suffer the eternal torment of grammarian hell. Also, people will assume you did not pay attention in my English class. (That's right. I'm talking about you, Pete.)

Round 7 of the Amazon vs Everybody Wars: Amazon vs the FTC

I am beginning to wonder how many rounds Amazon can take. So far, Amazon has been punched by France, kicked by Germany, bludgeoned by Stephen Colbert (that's gotta hurt), tastefully critiqued by the Authors Guild, and now it is getting hammered by the Federal Trade Commission.

What is at stake here? Well, Amazon allowed children to download games using their parents' accounts, but without parental consent. And what's more, they knew about it but did nothing. That annoyed the FTC. So, now the FTC is suing Amazon.

The FTC says it is "seeking full refunds for all affected consumers, disgorgement of Amazon's ill-gotten gains, and a court order ensuring that in the future Amazon obtains permission before imposing charges for in-app purchases."

I am delighted to see that the FTC has such literary flair - "ill-gotten gains" indeed.

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Daily Report: F.T.C. Sues Amazon Over Billing for Children’s App Purchases

By THE NEW YORK TIMES, July 11, 2014

The Federal Trade Commission filed a suit in a Federal District Court in Seattle on Thursday, contending that Amazon improperly billed customers for “many millions of dollars” of charges that children made without their parents’ consent. The suit focuses on charges related to games downloaded through Amazon’s app store.

Read the rest of this article here. 

Graphic Novel Sales Hit $870 Million in 2013

Once relegated to gathering dust under the beds of pre-teens, and eventually their parents' garages, comics and graphic novels have expanded their reach by leaps and bounds over the past decade.

Publishers Weekly recently posted this interesting article (see below) about the breakneck speed at which the comics sector is expanding.

If you are a graphic novelist, click below for publishers accepting manuscripts from writers.


7 Graphic Novel Publishers Accepting Manuscripts Directly From Writers

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Comics, Graphic Novels Market Hit $870 Million in 2013

By Calvin Reid | Jul 16, 2014

Led by book format comics with $415 million in sales, the North American comics and graphic novel marketplace generated $870 million in sales in 2013, according to a new estimate by ICV2 and Comichron, two comics industry trade news and data sources. The estimate includes sales of traditional comic book periodicals, digital comics, and book format comics in both the comics shop market, newsstands and the general book trade.

Chart courtesy of Comichron and ICV2.com.

According to new estimates, the $870 million figure for 2013 can be divided into $365 million in sales from comics periodicals—traditional American comic books—sold almost entirely via the direct market or comic shop market, the network of about 2,000 comic shops around the country. Comichron also noted that about $25 million of the $365 million in periodical sales come from newsstands.

Book format comics or graphic novels, have grown into the largest section of the comics market. Graphic novels generated $415 million in sales in 2013, divided between sales in the comics shop market ($170 million) and general bookstores ($245 million).

Digital comics sales, the newest and fastest growing category in the market, are estimated to be about $90 million in 2013.

Read the rest of this article here.

2 Literary Agents Looking for Fiction, MG, YA, New Adult Fiction and Narrative Nonfiction

Updated 1/15/23

These two agents are looking for clients. Pam Pho has a passion for adult genre fiction (no erotica) as well as MG, YA, and New Adult fiction. Mackenzie Brady Watson focuses on narrative non-fiction for all ages and select Young Adult fiction.

As always, go to the agency's website before sending your query. See which publishing houses they have worked with, what type of books they have represented. And don't forget to do a google search on the agency (and agent) to check for other authors' experiences. Remember: Agents may close their lists, and submission requirements can change. 

You can find a full list of agents actively seeking new clients here: Agents Seeking Clients

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Pam Pho at Steven Literary

About Pam: Pam began her career as a literary assistant to an agent in 2012. In her first two years as an agent, Pam brokered 24 deals, with publishers such as Knopf, Scholastic, NAL, ACE, Grand Central, and others. She joined D4EO in June 2014, where she will continue to build her list. In October of 2022 she created Steven Literary, named after her favorite soul-mate dog.

What she is looking for: Pam has a passion for adult genre fiction (no erotica) as well as MG, YA, and New Adult fiction.

How to submit: Pam accepts queries through the Query Manager.

Mackenzie Brady Watson at Stuart Krichevsky Agency

About Mackenzie: Mackenzie began her publishing career as an intern at Fine Print Literary Management and Farrar, Straus & Giroux. She was an agent with Charlotte Sheedy Literary Agency and New Leaf Literary & Media before joining SKLA in 2016.

What she is seeking: Mackenzie Brady Watson focuses on narrative non-fiction for all ages and select Young Adult fiction. As a former research scientist, she has a great passion for science books, especially if they are historically driven or revolutionize current theory, as well as sociology, investigative journalism, food writing, memoir, health and wellness, and business books. She particularly appreciates work that sheds light on marginalized experiences and helps contribute to the cultural conversation. On the fiction side, she’s always on the lookout for an original voice and a lot of heart.

How to submit: Please send a query letter and the first few (up to 10) pages of your manuscript or proposal in the body of an email (not an attachment) to mbwquery@skagency.com

16th (free!) “Dear Lucky Agent” Contest - Middle-Grade Fiction

Writer's Digest has just announced its 16th "Dear Lucky Agent" Contest. This is a free contest, so you lose nothing by entering.

The contest closes on July 30.
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ANNOUNCEMENT

Welcome to the 16th (free!) “Dear Lucky Agent” Contest on the GLA blog. This is a recurring online contest with agent judges and super-cool prizes. Here’s the deal: With every contest, the details are essentially the same, but the niche itself changes—meaning each contest is focused around a specific category or two. So if you’re writing middle grade fiction, this 16th contest is for you! (The contest is live through EOD, Wednesday, July 30, 2014.)

WHY YOU SHOULD GET EXCITED

After a previous “Dear Lucky Agent” contest, the agent judge, Tamar Rydzinski (The Laura Dail Literary Agency), signed one of the three contest winners. After Tamar signed the writer, she went on to sell two of that writer’s books! How cool! That’s why these contests are not to missed if you have an eligible submission.

HOW TO SUBMIT

E-mail entries to dearluckyagent16@gmail.com. Please paste everything. No attachments.

WHAT TO SUBMIT

The first 150-200 words of your unpublished, completed book-length work of middle grade fiction. You must include a contact e-mail address with your entry and use your real name. Also, submit the title of the work and a logline (one-sentence description of the work) with each entry.

Please note: To be eligible to submit, you must mention this contest twice through any any social-media.

Please provide a social-media link or Twitter handle or screenshot or blog post URL, etc., with your official e-mailed entry so the judge and I can verify eligibility. Some previous entrants could not be considered because they skipped this step! Simply spread the word twice through any means and give us a way to verify you did; a tinyURL for this link/contest for you to easily use is http://tinyurl.com/pwbds3q. An easy way to notify me of your sharing is to include my Twitter handle @chucksambuchino at the end of your mention(s) if using Twitter. If we’re friends on FB, tag me in the mention. And if you are going to solely use Twitter as your 2 times, please wait 1 day between mentions to spread out the notices, rather than simply tweeting twice back to back. Thanks. (Please note that simply tweeting me does not count. You have to include the contest URL with your mention; that’s the point.)

Here is a sample tweet you can use (feel free to tweak): New FREE contest for writers of middle grade fiction http://tinyurl.com/pwbds3q Judged by agent @petejknapp - via @chucksambuchino

WHAT IS ELIGIBLE?

Middle grade fiction. The agent judge did not choose to exclude any subgenre, so everything is fair game.

CONTEST DETAILS

This contest will be live through the end of July 30, 2014, PST. Winners notified by e-mail within approximately three weeks of end of contest. Winners announced on the blog thereafter.

To enter, submit the first 150-200 words of your book. Shorter or longer entries will not be considered.

Keep it within word count range please.

You can submit as many times as you wish. You can submit even if you submitted to other contests in the past, but please note that past winners cannot win again. All that said, you are urged to only submit your best work.

The contest is open to everyone of all ages, save those employees, officers and directors of GLA’s publisher, F+W Media, Inc.

By e-mailing your entry, you are submitting an entry for consideration in this contest and thereby agreeing to the terms written here as well as any terms possibly added by me in the “Comments” section of this blog post. (If you have questions or concerns, write me personally at chuck.sambuchino (at) fwmedia.com. The Gmail account above is for submissions, not questions.)

PRIZES!!!

Top 3 winners all get: 1) A critique of the first 10 double-spaced pages of your work, by your agent judge. 2) A free one-year subscription to WritersMarket.com ($50 value)!

MEET YOUR (AWESOME) AGENT JUDGE!

Peter Knapp joined the Park Literary Group in July 2011, where he represents authors of middle grade and young adult fiction. His recent sales include a contemporary YA to Scholastic, a contemporary MG to Penguin, and a YA fantasy series to Entangled. He does not represent picture books or nonfiction. Prior to joining Park Literary, he was the story editor at Floren Shieh Productions, where he consulted on book-to-film adaptations for Los Angeles-based film and TV entities. He graduated from New York University with a B.A. in art history

3 Horror and Dark Fiction Publishers Accepting Unsolicited Manuscripts

Updated 9/11/24

Horror is an immensely popular genre. (Zombies! Vampires! Werewolves!)

Perhaps, for that reason there are relatively few publishers accepting unagented manuscripts. (Many horror publishers say they are "swamped.")

The publishers I have listed below accept a variety of formats: short stories, novellas, and novels. All are traditional publishers.

Please read all submission guidelines carefully.

Note: You can find an extensive list of hundreds of publishers accepting manuscripts directly from authors here: Publishers Accepting Unagented Manuscripts
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Black Bed Sheet Books specializes in publishing fiction….particularly of a dark nature: Horror, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Suspense, Young Adult, Contemporary, Thrillers, anything appealing and written very well. "If you don’t think your writing is exemplary, don’t shy away.  If it shows promise and meets what we’re looking for, we can work with you to make it exemplary.  We believe in opening doorways for damn good talent that larger publishers don’t seem to have time for, as well as working with accomplished, seasoned pros."

They also accept submissions for their EBOOK-ONLY line of titles.  Their Ebook-only line generally consists of content too short to publish in print. 

They receive an average of 2,500 submissions a year and their response time is a minimum of six months. 

Submissions: Contact them first with a query. Read guidelines here.

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Unveiling Nightmares welcomes works across a variety of genres, including horror (all sub-genres including extreme/splatterpunk), romance, science fiction, erotica, poetry, and young adult fiction. "Whether your story sparks love, nightmares, adventure, passion, or discovery, we’re excited to explore its depths. At Unveiling Nightmares, we understand the craving for adventure, excitement, and thrills that our readers seek. Yearning to escape the mundane and delve into worlds teeming with mystery and intrigue.

Whether you have a novelette, novella, a gripping novel, or a collection of short stories, we’re eager to take a look." 

Submissions: Please read full guidelines here.

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Unnerving publishes Horror, Crime, Mystery, & Dark General Fiction novels and novellas. "The themes are fairly open (not interested in stories that revolve around people feeling unloved or out of place, nor sad tales about sad people being sad, seriously don't send me this stuff, I don't want it), but my favorite stuff resembles the glory days of horror 70s, 80s, even the early 90s. Stuff like Stephen King's Pet Sematary, The Shining, Carrie, Revival, Creepshow. Think Douglas Clegg, Ray Garton, John Saul, Michael McDowell, Thomas Tryon, and so on. Also, open to absurdity, splatterpunk, dark comedy, smut." 

The finished products will need to be between 20,000 and 110,000 words in length. 50/50 net royalties split. No contract fees. 5-year publishing terms. Unnerving also publishes anthologies. 

Submissions: Please read full guidelines here. Has submission periods.

Are Full-Time Authors Becoming an Endangered Species?

The economic figures recently released in the UK do not bode well for authors. While authors' income has dropped 29% since 2005, publishers' income has increased, which means authors are getting a smaller cut of the profits generated from their work.

Prospects for UK authors bear a depressing similarity to those of the US. A poll conducted in 2013 by Digital Book World and Writer's Digest revealed that the median income for self-published authors was $5000.  Hybrid authors (those who both self-publish and publish with established publishers) had a median income range of $15,000 to $19,999. Fewer than 10% of traditionally published authors make a livelihood that could be called lucrative.

Does this mean you should abandon writing? Absolutely not. Just keep your day job.
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Traditional publishing is 'no longer fair or sustainable', says Society of Authors

Chief executive of 9,000-member UK group argues that while 'authors' earnings are going down generally, those of publishers are increasing'

By Alison Flood - The Guardian, July 11, 2014

After figures released this week showed professional authors' median annual incomes have collapsed to to £11,000, The Society of Authors' chief executive has claimed that traditional publishers' terms "are no longer fair or sustainable".

Earlier this week, the Authors' Licensing & Collecting Society released a survey of almost 2,500 writers which found that the median income of a professional author last year was £11,000, down 29% since 2005 – a period in which median earnings for UK employees have fallen by 8%. By this year, according to the survey, just 11.5% of professional authors said they earned their income from writing alone, compared with 40% in 2005.

The ALCS set its findings against Department of Culture, Media and Sport figures which show that in 2014, the creative industries were worth £71.4bn per year to the UK economy. "In contrast to the decline in earnings of professional authors, the wealth generated by the UK creative industries is on the increase," it said. "If unchecked, this rapid decline in the number of full-time writers could have serious implications for the breadth and quality of content that drives the economic success of our creative industries in the UK."

Continue reading this article here.

Round 6 of the Amazon vs Everybody Wars: Amazon vs The Authors Guild

Yesterday, I received an open letter (see below) from Richard Russo, co-Vice President of the Authors Guild. The Guild has steadfastly promoted the interests of writers throughout its long history. Now, it is weighing in, alongside Stephen Colbert, the NYT, and numerous authors, on the protracted Hachette-Amazon dispute.

Indie authors may not feel any particular allegiance to Hachette, or to any of the "Big Five" in this war. Most will feel inclined to side with Amazon, which provides a platform for self-published authors. Amazon's latest tactic, to give Hachette authors 100% of their royalties during the dispute, would seem to vindicate the idea that Amazon is concerned for the writers who appear to be caught "in the middle."

Authors, as Russo pointed out, are not caught in the middle. As far as Amazon and Hachette are concerned, they do not even figure into this battle. The royalties offer is a stunt designed to hurt Hachette (Hachette will not get its cut of the sales) while appearing to be the good guy. It is a short-term ploy to deflect the mounting criticism of Amazon's tactics.

The truth is that Amazon doesn't stand for the best interests of authors any more than Hachette does. Amazon is the Everything Store. The majority of its sales come from electronics, not books. Books, as far as Amazon is concerned, are just another product on its increasingly long retail list.

Russo makes a point that is crucial, if largely ignored, in his letter. "Books," he says, "are special ... and can't be treated like other commodities."

Books are not products; they are ideas. In spite of the fact that publishers may treat them as if they were simply objects, books don't primarily occupy the physical realm. As repositories of information, knowledge, and imagination, they exist in the mind.

Neither the big publishing houses nor Amazon has taken the real nature of books into account. Nor have they offered genuine support to the authors who create them. Instead, we are thrown a nominal percentage out of the millions that both the Big Five and Amazon rake in. (Even when authors garner 70% of the royalties, Amazon takes 30% from the sale of hundreds of thousands of books that they don't have to print, market, distribute or pay advances for.)

In a world in which people whose sole interest is in "moving the merchandise" dominate publishing, we can kiss Shakespeare, Socrates, and Einstein goodbye.

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Dear Authors Guild Member,

We want to share with you an open letter on the Amazon-Hachette dispute, written by Richard Russo, novelist and co-Vice President of the Authors Guild.

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The primary mission of the Authors Guild has always been the defense of the writing life. While it may be true that there are new opportunities and platforms for writers in the digital age, only the willfully blind refuse to acknowledge that authorship is imperiled on many fronts. True, not all writers are equally impacted. Some authors still make fortunes through traditional publishing, and genre writers (both traditionally published and independently published) appear to be doing better than writers of nonfiction and “literary” mid-list fiction. (The Guild has members in all of these categories.) But there’s evidence, both statistical and anecdotal, that as a species we are significantly endangered. In the UK, for instance, the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society reports that authors’ incomes have fallen 29 percent since 2005, a decline they deem “shocking.” If a similar study were done in the U.S., the results would be, we believe, all too similar.

On Tuesday, Amazon made an offer to Hachette Book Group that would “take authors out of the middle” of their ongoing dispute by offering Hachette authors windfall royalties on e-books until the dispute between the companies is resolved. While Amazon claims to be concerned about the fate of mid-list and debut authors, we believe their offer—the majority of which Hachette would essentially fund—is highly disingenuous. For one thing, it’s impossible to remove authors from the middle of the dispute. We write the books they’re fighting over. And because it is the writing life itself we seek to defend, we’re not interested in a short-term windfall to some of the writers we represent. What we care about is a healthy ecosystem where all writers, both traditionally and independently published, can thrive. We believe that ecosystem should be as diverse as possible, containing traditional big publishers, smaller publishers, Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble and independent bookstores, as well as both e-books and print books. We believe that such an ecosystem cannot exist while entities within it are committed to the eradication of other entities.

Over the years the Guild has often opposed Amazon’s more ruthless tactics, not because we’re anti-Amazon but because we believe the company has stepped over the line and threatened the publishing ecosystem in ways that jeopardize both our livelihoods and the future of authorship itself. There’s no need to rehash our disagreements here. But it is worth stating that we are not anti-Amazon, or anti-e-book, or anti-indie-publishing. Amazon invented a platform for selling e-books that enriches the very ecosystem we believe in, and for which we are grateful. If indie authors are making a living using that platform, bravo. Nor are we taking Hachette’s side in the present dispute. Those of us who publish traditionally may love our publishers, but the truth is, they’ve not treated us fairly with regard to e-book revenues, and they know it. That needs to change.

If we sometimes appear to take their side against Amazon, it’s because we’re in the same business: the book business. It may be true that some of our publishers are owned by corporations that, like Amazon, sell a lot more than books, but those larger corporations seem to understand that books are special, indeed integral to the culture in a way that garden tools and diapers and flat-screen TVs are not. To our knowledge, Amazon has never clearly and unequivocally stated (as traditional publishers have) that books are different and special, that they can’t be treated like the other commodities they sell. This doesn’t strike us as an oversight. If we’re wrong, Mr. Bezos, now would be a good time to correct us. First say it, then act like you believe it. 

We’d love to be your partners.

What Makes a Successful Ebook

Smashwords, the largest all-platform publisher for self-published ebooks, conducts an informative yearly survey of its authors. The survey is not only useful for gauging the success of various sales strategies. it also provides valuable information on marketing trends. 

What does a successful ebook look like? If it is fiction, it is priced between $2.99 and $3.99, is more than 50,000 words, is part of a series, and has been placed on a pre-order list. 

Most self published authors don't utilize the pre-order feature, which is a mistake. The reason indie authors don't take advantage of pre-orders is that they don't do pre-release marketing, which is also a mistake. If you are self publishing a book, you need to spend at least three months marketing it - through reviews, interviews, ads - before your publication date. Otherwise your book will hit the market with a whimper instead of a bang.

If you are thinking of self publishing your book, it's worth taking the time to read the full Smashwords report. Highlights are below.

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2014 Smashwords Survey Reveals New Opportunities for Indie Authors

Posted on Smashwords, July 6, 2014

The ebook sales power curve is extremely steep - This isn't a surprise, but for the first time we share some numbers along the curve (see the slides in the Series section).  A few titles sell fabulously well and most sell poorly.  An incremental increase is sales rank is usually matched by an exponential increase is sales.  Despite the steep sales curve, a lot of Smashwords authors are earning good income from their books.  Your opportunity as a Smashwords author or publisher is to do those things that give you an incremental advantage so you can climb in sales rank.

Readers prefer longer ebooks - We observed this in the prior surveys.  Longer books sell better, and when you view the data through the prism of the power curve, it becomes clear why longer books give authors such a huge sales advantage.

Pricing - The highest earning indie authors are utilizing lower average prices than the authors who earn less, but this doesn't mean that ultra-low prices such as $.99 are the path to riches.  $2.99 and $3.99 are the sweet spots for most of the bestsellers.

FREE still works great, but it's losing some mojo - Free remains one of the most powerful book marketing tools because it makes it easier for readers to take a risk on an author brand that is unknown or untrusted.  Free ebooks, according to our data derived from iBooks downloads, generated 39 times more downloads on average during our survey period than books at any price.  Yet the effectiveness of free is down dramatically compared to our 2013 (91X) and 2012 (100X) survey results.  While there is still much untapped greenfield opportunity for indies to leverage free, I expect the effectiveness of free will continue to decline as more authors learn to take advantage of it.  If you've never utilized free, now's the time to do so before your window of maximum opportunity closes further.

Preorders yield sales advantage - When we launched preorders in 2013, we knew anecdotally from our early alpha tests that preorders gave authors a sales advantage.  The 2014 Survey is the first time we're able to share aggregated results, and the results are strongly suggestive that ebooks borne as preorders sell more copies and earn the author more money than books that don't utilized preorders.  I think preorders today are where free was five years ago.  The first authors to effectively utilize preorders will gain the most advantage, just as the first authors to enter new distribution channels gain the most advantage.  Five years from now once all indies recognize that preorders are a no-brainer essential best practice, the effectiveness of preorders will decline.  Also revealed in the data is the fact that most Smashwords authors (and therefore, most indies) ARE NOT utilizing preorders yet despite our aggressive promotion of this exciting new tool.  The authors who heeded our advice, however, are reaping the rewards.

Series yield sales advantage - For the first time, we examine the performance of series books.  This new analysis is enabled by the fact that in September we launched Smashwords Series Manager which allows us to capture enhanced metadata on series.  The results are interesting!  Series books outsell standalone books.  We also look at the characteristics of series.  I'll want to do more with series in our 2015 survey.

Best-performing series have longer books - Not a surprise, but the implications are significant.  If you imagine the power curve overlaid on the series data we share, you see why authors who write full-length books in their series have an advantage over authors who break books into smaller chunks.  Also interesting, we found series books under 50,000 words are especially disadvantaged.  This is not to say that you can't become a bestseller writing shorter novellas.  Multiple Smashwords authors have had success here.  But what the data does tell me is that successful novella writers might achieve even greater success if they write full-length.  The data appears to suggest that series books under 50,000 words might create friction that makes readers incrementally less willing to buy.

FREE series starters pack a punch - This is a big deal.  I suspected this for a long time based on numerous authors' results going back to Brian S. Pratt who was one of the first Smashwords authors to prove the effectiveness of free series starters, but the aggregated numbers now confirm it.  We found strong evidence that series that have free series starters earn more money for authors than series that do not have free series starters.  For the many Smashwords authors who are reluctant to experiment with free for fear it'll devalue your books, now you've got the kick in the butt you need to give it a try.  All Smashwords retailers support free without restriction.

Non-fiction earns more at higher prices -  For the first time we added new data for non-fiction pricing.  We looked at the most common price points for indie non-fiction, the price points that earn the most downloads, and the price points that earn the non-fiction author the most money.  The results are fascinating.  It's not a surprise that non-fiction readers respond differently to price.  The surprise is how differently.  Non-fiction buyers are less price-sensitive.  After crunching the numbers it appears as if most non-fiction authors are under-pricing their works, and they should experiment with higher prices.

Read the full article here.

The World's Largest Publishers

Publishers Weekly recently posted the Livres Hebdo/Publishers Weekly’s annual ranking, based on annual revenue, of the world’s largest publishers in 2013. (You can read the full article here.)

What is interesting. though not surprising, about this list is that the top publishers are in the corporate/business sector. (Educational testing is dominated by Pearson.) 

Trade publishing is dominated by Random/Penguin (owned by Bertelsmann), followed by Hachette, Holtzbrinck (owner of St. Martin's Press), and Grupo Planeta, a Spanish media group. (After Mandarin, Spanish is the most widely spoken language in the world.)

Oxford University Press, the oldest university press in the world, and Cambridge University Press still rank in the top 50, but no other university press generated enough income to make it onto the list.

To offer some perspective, Walmart, the largest company in the world, rakes in $456 billion annually. That's 50 times more than the largest publisher (Pearson) and 150 times more than the largest trade publisher (Random/Penguin).

Rank (2013)	Rank (2012)	Publishing Company (Group or Division)	Country	Mother Corporation or Owner	Country of Mother Corporation	2013 Revenue in $M	2012 Revenue in $M
1	1	Pearson	UK	Pearson	UK	$9,330	$9,158
2	2	Reed Elsevier	UK/NL/US	Reed Elsevier	UK/NL/US	$7,288	$5,934
3	3	Thomson-Reuters	US	The Woodbridge Company Ltd.	Canada	$5,576	$5,386
4	4	Wolters Kluwer	NL	Wolters Kluwer	NL	$4,920	$4,766
5	5	Random House	Germany	Bertelsmann AG	Germany	$3,664	$3,328
6	6	Hachette Livre	France	Lagardère	France	$2,851	$2,833
7	10	Holtzbrinck	Germany	Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck	Germany	$2,222	$2,220
8	8	Grupo Planeta	Spain	Grupo Planeta	Spain	$2,161	$2,597
9	11	Cengage*	US	Apax Partners et al.	US/Canada	N/A	$1,993
10	7	McGraw-Hill Education	US	The McGraw-Hill Companies	US	$1,992	$2,292
11	9	Scholastic	US	Scholastic	US	$1,792	$2,148
12	12	Wiley	US	Wiley	US	$1,761	$1,783
13	13	De Agostini Editore*	Italy	Gruppo De Agostini	Italy	N/A	$1,724
14	22	China Publishing Group	China (PR)	Government; partly publicly listed	China (PR)	$1,499	$1,104
15	17	Houghton Mifflin Harcourt	US	Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Group Ltd.	US/Cayman Islands	$1,379	$1,286
16	19	HarperCollins	US	News Corporation	US	$1,369	$1,189
17	16	Springer Science and Business Media	Germany	EQT and GIC Investors	Sweden, Singapore	$1,301	$1,298
18	21	Oxford University Press	UK	Oxford University	UK	$1,254	$1,125
19	14	Shueisha	Japan	Hitotsubashi Group	Japan	$1,191	$1,464
20	20	Informa	UK	Informa plc	UK	$1,185	$1,126
21	30	China Education and Media Group (form. Higher Education Press)	China (PR)	China Education and Media Group	China (PR)	$1,152	$702
22	15	Kodansha	Japan	Kodansha	Japan	$1,143	$1,368
23	29	Egmont Group	Denmark/Norway	Egmont International Holding A/S	Denmark	$1,101	$792
24	25	Grupo Santillana	Spain	PRISA	Spain	$1,020	$985
25	18	Shogakukan	Japan	Hitotsubashi Group	Japan	$1,011	$1,254
26	26	Bonnier	Sweden	The Bonnier Group	Sweden	$976	$968
27	24	Kadokawa Publishing	Japan	Kadokawa Holdings Inc.	Japan	$900	$1,000
28	28	Simon & Schuster	US	CBS	US	$809	$790
29	32	Klett	Germany	Klett Gruppe	Germany	$622	$604
30	31	Woongjin ThinkBig	Korea	Woongjin Holding	Korea	$616	$667
31	47	Groupe Madrigall (Gallimard, Flammarion)	France	Madrigall	France	N/A	N/A
32	38	Lefebvre-Sarrut	France	Frojal	France	$559	$447
33	34	Readers Digest*	US	RDA Holding Co.	US	N/A	$533
34	36	Messagerie / GeMS	Italy	Messagerie Italiane	Italy	$543	$491
35	37	Media Participations	France	Media Participations	Belgium	$481	$455
36	35	Mondadori	Italy	The Mondadori Group	Italy	$462	$511
37	33	Cornelsen	Germany	Cornelsen	Germany	$456	$577
38	43	Cambridge University Press	UK	Cambridge University Press	UK	$433	$396
39	41	Perseus*	USA	Perseus	USA	N/A	$425
40	42	Sanoma	Finland	Sanoma WSOY	Finland	$422	$426
41	44	Westermann Verlagsgruppe	Germany	Medien Union	Germany	$401	$361
42	40	Harlequin	Canada	Torstar Corp.	Canada	$374	$428
43	49	Kyowon	Korea	Kyowon	Korea	$353	$322
44	48	RCS Libri	Italy	RCS Media Group	Italy	$348	$333
45	55	EKSMO-AST (since 2012: EKSMO)	Russia	Privately owned	Russia	$343	$232
46	45	La Martinière Groupe	France	La Martinière Groupe	France	$329	$351
47	53	Weka	Germany	Weka Firmengruppe	Germany	$316	$258
48	51	Haufe Gruppe	Germany	Privately owned	Germany	$315	$291
49	52	OLMA Media Group	Russia	Privately owned	Cyprus	$306	$257
50	27	Gakken	Japan	Gakken Co. Ltd.	Japan	$297	$937
51	50	Bungeishunju	Japan	N/A	Japan	$253	$298
52	54	Shinchosha	Japan	Privately owned	Japan	N/A	$245
53	57	Editions Atlas	France	Gruppo De Agostini	Italy	N/A	$230
54	58	Groupe Albin Michel	France	Groupe Albin Michel	France	$232	$224
55	39	Abril Educação	Brazil	Abril group	Brazil	$216	$203
56	56	Saraiva	Brazil	Saraiva	Brazil	$215	$230

*2013 placement estimated based on 2012 revenue

2 New Agents Seeking Clients

New agents are a boon to writers, because they are actively building their lists. Read their agency websites carefully and pay particular attention to the publishers the agency has worked with.

Note: You can find a comprehensive list of new and established agents seeking clients here: Agents Seeking Clients

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Whitley Abell of Inklings Literary Agency

Agency has closed

About Whitley: Whitley Abell joined Inklings Literary Agency in 2013. Before joining Inklings, she completed successful internships with Carol Mann Agency and P.S. Literary Agency. She is based in St. Louis, MO, where she daylights as a production manager for several medical and S & T journals. She graduated in 2011 BA in English and Creative Writing, and again in 2012 with a MAT in Secondary English Education, which basically means she can tell you anything there is to know about feminist literary theory and the Common Core Standards.

What she is seeking: Whitley is primarily interested in Young Adult, Middle Grade, and select Upmarket Women’s fiction. She likes characters who are relatable yet flawed, hooks that offer new points of view and exciting adventures, vibrant settings that become active characters in their own right, and a story that sticks with the reader long after turning the last page, be it contemporary or historical, realistic or supernatural, tragic or quirky. She loves mythology and literary re-imaginings, heartbreaking contemporary novels, historical suspense, and cute romantic comedies for YA through adult (ex: Sophie Kinsella, Lauren Morrill, Stephanie Perkins).

She is not interested in vampires, werewolves, angels, zombies, dystopian societies, steampunk, or epic fantasy. Please no paranormal / fantasy for adults.

Submissions: Type “Query for Whitley: ” plus the title of your novel in the e-mail subject line, then send the following pasted into the body of the e-mail to query(at)inklingsliterary(dot)com. The query should include the title, genre, and word count of your project, your story pitch, and a brief bio including any publishing credits. Under the query, paste a brief (1-2 pages) synopsis, and the first 10 pages of your manuscript. Read submission guidelines here.

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Alexander Slater of Sanford J. Greenburger Associates

About Alexander: A UConn graduate with a concentration in creative writing, he has experience in every area of literary agenting, from interning and assisting, to selling foreign rights and cultivating his own client list. After two years at the Maria Carvainis Agency, and twelve years at Trident Media Group, he’s thrilled to be bringing his passion for publishing and his expertise in its business to SJGA and GreenburgerKids. 

What he is seeking: Please query him with smart and innovative thrillers, as well as witty and original rom-coms in the YA space. As for middle grade, he loves graphic novels and hopes to see more grounded sci-fi and fantasy, as well as books that aim for the highest literary prizes. Ultimately, all stories must have that sense of urgency that the best books for children share, and be from writers passionate about their own voice and eager to engage in the diverse and dynamic conversation already ongoing in contemporary literature.

How to submit: To submit your work: please email aslater@sjga.com