Great interview with Wall Street Journal’s intrepid investigative reporter, Ellen E. Schultz, regarding her new book, RETIREMENT HEIST (Portfolio/Penguin, September 2011 pub).  Schultz reveals how private companies have knowingly and in some cases, legally, plundered retirement benefits for millions of workers in order to boost profits and executive compensation.  Your blood will boil!

http://www.thedailyshow.com/

Publishing has never been more like the Wild West.  Anything and everything is possible. Lines are blurring–between publisher and distributor, vendor and publisher, agency and publisher, with many more variants.  It’s confusing at times, but it is also incredibly exciting.  The walls are coming down, not only in terms of publishing roles and functions, but between publishers, authors, vendors, distributors and most important–readers, our ultimate consumer.

For years, when I was an editor at Random House and HarperCollins, the protocol was that editors did not speak to booksellers.  And only booksellers had access to the consumer. Now, in just the last couple of months, I have had fascinating meetings with Amazon, Barnes & Noble’s digital media group and Perseus, whose Constellation encompasses distribution functions for many small publishers, and now agencies. Very soon, my agency will be working with all three of these “partners” we hope in selecting, publishing, marketing and distributing e-books, some with a print-on-demand component. As a former publisher, this is music to my ears. I’ve often said that my current incarnation as an agent was just a disguise for a publisher-in-drag. In sum, you can’t take the editor and the publisher out of the agent I’ve become.

It’s also terrifying. This is going to be so much work!  How will be do it? Will authors put their confidence in us? Will we still have time and energy to be terrific agents for our authors?  And how will authors and agents get paid?  All of this is a work in progress, but there are many incentives to try new formulas. Like the government, which is thought at times to be “broken,” so, too, publishing desperately needs to reinvent itself.

In the months ahead, I’m hoping this will all become clearer in terms of how we work with authors and publishers.  But I’ve always felt that partnership is the key to any successful business. So I am looking forward to adding new dimensions to who might be partners in the future and how we might work together to do what we all hope and dream: to bring great writing and important information, “curated” to readers everywhere: whoever they might be, in whatever form they might want, and at any time that they might want it.

I’ll let you know how it all develops and would welcome your input. Write to me at joelle@delbourgo.com with your thoughts and questions.

–Joelle Delbourgo

On 9/7, I posted a conversation with Dr. Benjamin Luft, the compassionate doctor who founded the World Trade Center monitoring and treatment center, working with first responders, and who also created the WTC Oral History project, drawn from his work over ten years with nearly 6,000 first responders.

Last night, on the evening of 9/11, 60 Minutes interviewed Dr. Luft and a few of the patients he’s treated in a very powerful segment.  Here is the link:  http://tinyurl.com/44sfyg7. WLIW, a PBS station in the greater New York City area and several others, aired the remarkable documentary that Dr. Luft has produced.  The transcripts of the interviews by Dr. Luft and his team will eventually be housed at the Library of Congress.

This morning, the book that has grown out of the oral history project, WE’RE NOT LEAVING was #24 on Amazon, and also #4 in the “history” category, #5 in all “non-fiction” and #6 in “memoir.” What a triumph for Greenpoint Press, a non-profit press headed by my friend Charles Salzberg, which was nimble enough to produce a beautiful book in record time–something no major press was able or willing to do.  Profits of the sales of the book will go to funding research and treatment for the World Trade Center Monitoring and Treatment Center.

September 6, 2011 marks the publication date for one of the most important books this agency has helped to bring into being.  WE’RE NOT LEAVING: 9/11 Responders Tell Their Stories of Courage, Sacrifice and Renewal, Edited by Benjamin J. Luft, M.D. A compilation of powerful first-person narratives, it is told from the vantage point of WTC disaster workers–police officers, firefighters, construction workers, and other volunteers at the site.

Benjamin J. Luft, M.D. is the Edmund D. Pellegrino Professor of Medicine at SUNY Stony Brook and a native New Yorker. He was inspired to establish the Long Island World Trade Center Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program which provides care to more than 6,000 disaster responders.

Joelle:  What inspired you to write this book?

Ben: “This book emerged from the confluence of two journeys that each began on September 11, 2001.  One was the journey my colleagues and I embarked upon that morning when as Chairman at Stony Brook Medical School on Long Island, I gathered together a medical team that stood ready to treat what we expected to be droves of wounded from the disaster. The other was the tortured journey the responders to the disaster undertook when they rushed to the scene of the calamity without consideration for their safety and well being, and did everything humanly possible to rescue and give aid to the victims.  Initially, our journey seemed to end before it even began. We waited and waited for patients to arrive, yearning to be able to care for those innocents caught by chance in the horrific maelstrom perpetrated by the  terrorists.  No patients arrived that day.  People either escaped…or were killed.  The responders had to face that tragic reality as well.  Too soon, they had to shift the focus of their efforts from rescue to recovery.

Several days after the attack, I went down to the World Trade Center site.  I witnessed the smoldering destruction and all-pervasive dust, inhaled the caustic odor that permeated the air, and was humbled by the extraordinary response. As a trained clinician and scientist, I observed a situation containing all the ingredients needed for the development of significant mental and physical disease…I decided to change course. We established a voluntary clinic for responders from our community, both professional and nonprofessional, to help meet their medical and psychological needs.”

Out of this experience, our oral history project was born.

In preparation for my upcoming week as one of a team of publishing “experts” at Rancho La Puerta, I chatted with an editor colleague about the state of the industry.   The editor had just come from a writer’s conference. He told me: “I used to introduce myself as an acquisition editor. But now, I say instead: I’m a guy who says ‘no’ 1,000 times a year.” The editor received 5 submissions a day on average.  He calculated that the tally for the year was a little over 1,000, and of those submissions, the percentage he acquired to meet his quota of 20 books a year was a little over 1%.  Let’s take into account here, too, that many (though not all) of these submissions are coming from agents, many of them trusted sources who themselves filter at about the same rate as the editor.  This, people, is why it is so hard to get published!  If you are a writer who has gathered rejection after rejection, it may be because there is something seriously wrong or unmarketable about your proposed book.  But it also may be simply that the chances are so slim that your book will make it through the various levels it must to be acquired by a traditional house.  This is because so many books that are acquired fail miserably–fail to meet their target distribution and sales. Given this, and the pressure that editors are under, it is a miracle that any book sees the light of day.

The good news is that there are many, many options today, from traditional publishing (I’m still a believer that there is something miraculous that a great publisher can do for you) to small presses, niche publishers and self-publishing.  So take heart in knowing that if your book really is wonderful, there will be a way to bring it to market if you are willing to keep your options open and be entrepreneurial. And more and more, agents are helping authors navigate the myriad pathways to publication.

In the meantime, wish me luck catching a flight out of Newark as hurricane Irene rapidly approaches!

–Joelle Delbourgo

Writers are always asking for advice about how to write the query that will help them land an agent.  I used a recent mega-session of reviewing submissions to draw up a list of reasons why I say no. So here it is, in no particular order, my list of Query Killers to avoid if you want to hook yourself an agent!

• Doesn’t follow the submission guidelines. Agents post guidelines to let prospective clients know what they need to consider new projects. Not following the guidelines sends a clear message about how much time and respect you have put into your query. SOLUTION: Follow each agent’s guidelines to the letter.
• The writing isn’t strong enough. The 1^st pages you include in your query have to be exquisite.  A great premise followed by a weak sample still gets a NO. SOLUTION: Don’t send an agent your work-in-progress to find out how you are doing. This is the job of an editor. Hire one to review your manuscript or proposal.
• No hook. The best way to peak an agent’s interest, a hook is one sentence that captures the essence of your book, introduces the main characters and the key point of drama, and establishes that your book is fresh and marketable.  Writing the hook line is incredibly difficult, but nailing a good one is worth the effort. SOLUTION: Pull books in your genre off the shelf and start reading the first line or two of the jacket copy to get an idea of what you need to do. Work on it until every person who you say it to, without fail, says, “Oooh I want to read that book.”  One of my favorite posts on premise lines from Alexandra Sokoloff is here: http://thedarksalon.blogspot.com/2008/05/whats-your-premise.html.
• The premise seems derivative: Many submissions come in that try to jump on a hot trend. The problem is that by time the market is flooded with books of a certain type, editors and agents have been sick of the topic for a year or two (Yes I’m looking at you vampires!). SOLUTION: It may seem like there is nothing new under the sun, but talented writers prove us wrong every year. Keep working until you have something fresh!
• Narrative nonfiction with no arc. This is particularly a problem with memoir submissions. Authors realize correctly that they’ve had an interesting life but then submit a book that reads like “this happened-this happened-and this happened.” It falls flat and asks the readers to do the work that the author should be doing. SOLUTION: All narrative non-fiction (i.e. non-fiction not of the step-by-step how-to variety) needs an arc including a compelling story and characters, a key point of drama and good pacing to draw the reader through the story. You also have to balance your writing with a combination of facts or remembrances and meaning making.  After you have done your research and know you have a good subject, you need to figure out what the story is.  Here is a great post from Alan Rinzler about constructing a traditional narrative arc. http://www.alanrinzler.com/blog/2008/07/07/ask-the-editor-constructing-the-narrative-arc/ WARNING: Yes, there are also many creative and successful alternative approaches to constructing an arc. Take the road less traveled if you must, but it’s more work for you and harder to find people willing to go with you on the trip.
• Lack of author platform. Platform is the author’s ability to directly reach out to potential readers (i.e. purchasers) of the book through speaking engagements, media appearances and an online presence. The platform isn’t about what you are going to do; it’s about what you already have in place. SOLUTION: Your platform must be fully developed prior to querying an agent or shopping the projects to publishers.
• Does not fit the requirements of the proposed genre. Every genre has its conventions and you need to follow them. That means you need to have the right length, the right amount of world building, the right reading level, the right voice and so forth. SOLUTION: Mine blog posts, writers’ groups, and publisher websites to find out what the conventions of your genre are and follow them.
• Too long. A high word count sends up an instant red-flag that the manuscript needs serious editing. Readers of a few select genres such as high-fantasy and historical fiction go for extra length, but make sure you are in line with the conventions of the genre (per previous bullet). Pages translate to cost. So a long book has to sell more copies in order to be profitable. When your manuscript is shorter, you lower the financial risk of publishing your book which is a smart strategy for a first time author without an established audience.  SOLUTION: Cut, cut and cut again. When you are famous you can intimidate your editor and write that book that’s twice as long as it should be.
• Criticisms of other agents or complaints that no one gets you. At least once a week I get a query in which an author complains about another agent or about the short-sightedness of the publishing industry. When you start your query by complaining, you come across as cranky, and that’s not appealing. SOLUTION: Mom was right, if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.
• I don’t love it. If your query makes it through all the other query killers, you’ve passed the viability test. But then comes a tough question – Do if I love it enough to make it part of my life? Selling books is a tough business. To be a good agent you have to be willing to climb mountains and fight dragons for the books and authors you represent. But you can only do that if you love them. SOLUTION: The best advice for addressing this query killer is to do your research, create a great query and let the magic happen!

Good Luck with landing an agent and keep writing!

Jacquie Flynn

We were delighted to hear that Jid Lee’s TO KILL A TIGER (Overlook Press, 2010),  a memoir of growing up in Korea that gorgeously blends her personal recollections with history and myth, has been recognized by ForeWord Book of the Year Awards with a Bronze Award; these awards are specifically intended for distinguished books published by independent presses.  Jid spent twelve years writing and refining the memoir, including time spent working with a private editor who is now Editor-in-Chief of a major trade house before writing me a query letter.  It took me a long time to read it (it was well over 120,000 words!) and an even longer time to deliberate about whether or not to take it on.  I didn’t know if American readers had enough curiosity about Korean history and culture, although I thought they should be curious.

By the time Jid’s query letter landed on my desk, her work had been rejected by scores of literary agents.  I was knocked out by the brilliance of her insight, her mesmerizing use of a language that was not her native tongue, her in-depth understanding of the complex history of the country where she grew up in a time of tremendous upheaval and change, and the haunting power of memory.  I insisted that Jid work with an editor to cut the manuscript down and tighten it before we could submit it to publishers.  Many editors turned it down, albeit graciously, some of them perplexed by the idea of selling a work by a native Korean who lives and teaches at the university level in the deep South (a fact I found intriguing); we expect our “Asian” memoirs to be written by Asian-American writers like Amy Tan.  But Peter Mayer at Overlook Press was eager to develop an Asian list, and a young editor who was at Overlook at the time, Juliet Grames, brought it to his attention.  Thank you, Juliet and Peter, for your vision and courage in helping me and Jid bring this wonderful work into print.  I am so pleased to see ForeWord, read widely by booksellers and librarians, honor Jid Lee’s achievement.

–Joelle Delbourgo

It was a Saturday night and alas, I was doing laundry and continuing to unpack boxes from a recent move.  When I discarded some cartons in the recycling room on my complex, I noticed that someone had neatly stacked scores of books–good books–including pristine hardcovers and a tasteful selection of trade paperback fiction.  I could not help a slight contraction of upset at the thought that these books might be thrown out the next morning in the trash. A few minutes later, arriving with another load of cardboard boxes, I noticed that the books were gone, as well as my boxes.  I discovered them a few minutes later, neatly stacked in my discarded boxes next to the concierge’s desk.

“Do you like to read?,” I asked.  “Oh,” he said, his whole face lighting up.  “I just love to read!  And next year, my three children will be coming here permanently from Ghana, and they will be so happy to find all of these wonderful books.” I asked him what he liked to read, to which he replied with an ear-splitting grin:  “Everything!”

It was my turn to glow.  Now I know, when I next prune my ever-growing collection, to whom I can donate books.  My friend in the lobby does not own a Kindle, a Nook, or any other device, but taking possession of actual, physical books gave him incredible joy.  Would he have felt the same way if I offered to give him a free download?  Not a relevant one for the moment, but food for thought.

–Joelle Delbourgo

From August 27 – September 3, join me, journalist and writer Leslie Levine, publicist and author Kathi Kamen Goldmark and Sam Barry, author and marketing director at HarperOne, for a week of workshops and discussion about the written word. Whether you are a published writer, an aspiring writer or just a passionate reader of books who has thought about writing but never had the courage to try, you will find inspiration and pleasure in joining our team in a week of activities.  Located in Tecata, Mexico, Rancho La Puerta offers a stunning and serene setting, a healthy and active lifestyle filled with exercise and relaxation classes, mountain hikes, cooking classes at a first-class cooking school and organic farm, delicious vegetarian meals, spa treatments and the company of other remarkable individuals. We will take you behind-the-scenes of the publishing industry, discuss current trends, and offer a lot of practical advice and encouragement for writers of all genres and level. And you’re invited to join the Rancho book club. For more about the calendar of events, go to www.rancholapuerta.

–Joelle Delbourgo

I was thrilled to receive our first trade review of a remarkable whistle-blowing book from veteran financial reporter at the Wall Street Journal, Ellen E. Schultz, which publishes in September.  We’ve also just learned that Ellen will be on NPR’s Morning Edition on 9/12.  I’m confident that this is just the beginning of a terrific publicity campaign, engineered by Schultz’s brilliant team at Penguin’s Portfolio and Angela Hayes of Goldberg McDuffie, who has to be one of the top business book PR people in the business.

Retirement Heist: How Companies Plunder and Profit from the Nest Eggs of American WorkersEllen E. Schultz. Penguin/Portfolio, $26.95 (256p) ISBN 978-1-59184-333-7

The retirement crisis is no accident, claims Wall Street Journal investigative reporter Schultz; large companies have played a significant role in its creation to protect the wealth of its top executives. When GE, IBM, Verizon, and others slashed pensions and medical benefits for millions of American retirees, they pointed fingers everywhere but at themselves–but who was really at fault? Pension funds were not bleeding the companies of cash. GE hadn’t contributed a cent to the workers’ pension plans since 1987, but still had enough money to cover all current and future retirees. Executive pensions at GE, with a $6 billion obligation, are a drag on earnings. These are largely hidden, however, lumped in with the figures for regular pensions. Schultz’s methodical cataloguing of these abuses paints a highly unflattering picture of companies that cut benefits to boost earnings, lay off older workers who are entering the years in which their pensions will spike, inflate retiree health benefits to boost profits, lobby for laws that keep the system inequitable, hoard death benefits, and fire whistle-blowers. Heartbreaking stories of destitute seniors are juxtaposed with the obscene surpluses in pension funds for executives ($25 billion at GE; $24 billion at Verizon; $20 billion at AT&T)–and unless the global retirement industry is reined in, Schultz points out, it will continue to capture retirement wealth earned by many to enrich a relative few, and within our lifetimes, “retirement” will inevitably revert to what it was in the 1930s and before. A fascinating, troubling exposé and a sobering call to arms. (Sept.)

Congratulations, Ellen!

–Joelle Delbourgo