New Agent – Denise Little

There’s a new agent who handles science fiction and fantasy, among other genres: Denise Little.

As you can see, she’s already up to her ears in slush. She seems quite nice, and experienced in the publishing world.

I’m excited to be trying something new, after over thirty years in the book business. I’ve sat on every side of the table in this field, from bookseller to chain book buyer to editor to book packager, and now–I’m an agent.

I’ve got a head full of industry knowlege that’s uncommon for anyone in publishing, simply because I’ve worn so many hats in the the book field. Lots of agents have publishing experience, for example, but I don’t think too many other agents have first-hand inside knowlege of what goes on at the world’s largest bookseller, Barnes & Noble.

I think it gives me an edge in figuring out what will sell that few other agents have.

In addition, I’ve been an author myself. I know exactly what it feels like to submit, then wait for an answer with my heart in my throat for what feels like forever–and sometimes is.

I love working with new writers, but I’m very blunt. If I don’t like something, I’m likely to tell you straight out that I don’t. But if I love something–I’ll tell you that, too, and work my heart out for you.

I would love to jump on the dogpile — who doesn’t love the chance to write a query letter? — but I’m going resist the urge. 🙂

Towers of Midnight – Book Trailer

Just to be completely unfair, I’m going to contrast the video in the book trailer of the previous post with this one.

See? That’s how video and voice over should be, if you are going include them. Of course, the budget for this was probably larger than the budget for my wedding, because we are talking Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson. Tor could afford to make this look good. It’s pretty hard to compete with the flagship title for a major publisher. Still, it gives all of us little guys something to aspire to.

Oh, and I have this theory that the sweet spot, length wise, for a trailer, is 70 seconds, or one minute, ten seconds. Notice the length on this one.

China Doll – Book Trailer of the Day

This video tackles two of the problems we’ve seen before: (1) trying to make video look professional, (2) combining what seems to be a documentary with the trailer for a novel. I feel the same way I do about Druids and Ghost Horse Hollow. Folks, I love that you tried, I really do. The acting and cinematography in this is surprisingly good. But it still just doesn’t look professional. If you compare this video to the quality of a lot of book trailers out there, it stands head and shoulder above the rest, but if you compare it to standard Hollywood output, it comes up short. The problem is that the viewer subconsciously thinks if the video quality is not top notch, the writing won’t be either. This is a fallacy, of course; writers are good at writing, not necessarily video production. But subconsciously the thought is there.

Finally, length. Very, very seldom does a book trailer need to be long. I would target 100 seconds as the upper limit. This book trailer could have ended at 49 seconds and packed a punch.