Why does it take 3 weeks to catch up from being out of town for 1 week? Well, I'm more or less caught up and can get back to the task of blogging! Hope all of you are doing well. The MFA residency went great and I learned a few things to boot. My professor this semester is David Payne, author of Back to Wando Passo, Gravesend Light, Ruin Creek, Early from the Dance, and Confessions of a Taoist on Wall Street. He gave me some really insightful feedback that I plan to use even if the book doesn't sell (why not make it the best thesis possible even if I can publish it?) I seem to have a really good pod this semester (though I will miss Tui and Sean!), so I'm looking forward to the next few months.
Turns out January 'tis the season for rejections. So far I've racked up 16 rejections for the New Year. There are still 7 editors considering the manuscript and my agent (Kelly Skillen) said she had a good feeling about one. This statement caused me to whip off the neurotic email asking a million questions—Why do you feel good? Did she say she liked the book or did she just like the pitch? Can I wash her car, cut her grass, or give her my first born to seal the deal? Actually, my first born would probably get an immediate rejection since he eats like a horse, is in the throes of teen angst, and would come with the electric guitar and Marshall amp he got for Christmas. My agent said she could forward the rejections if I want, but since they had only say good things it would make me crazy. If the other 7 pass on the book, she's working up a 2nd list to submit to. At this point I want my book to sell just so my agent can make a commission. I still find it amazing that not one, but two agents have been willing to work so hard for something I wrote. I want her to make some money off me so she can buy herself something fancy.
Since I'm already on the subject of publishers, Sharon Wildwind (from Sisters In Crime) sent out this great bit of info in response to a question about the difference between major and small publishers. It's kind of scary how much control these few people have over what we read.
Major presses:
Less than 1% of publishers (6 Sisters-Bertelsmann, von Holtzbrink, HarperCollins, Penguin Group, Simon & Schuster, Time Warner, and Hyperion) control more than half of all North American trade publishing. The other 99% is made up of 300-400 medium-size publishers, and 53,000 small presses and self-publishers ~Michael Larsen-Elizabeth Pomada Literary Agents (2005 figures)
These companies control more than half of all mystery publishing:
Berkeley Prime Crime, Avon Crime, Hyperion, St. Martins/Minotaur, Penguin Pocket, and Warner. 2005 figures
In 2004 Penguin Group, was reported to be in trouble. Sales dropped 6.4%, to 786 million pounds ($1.44 billion), Operating profit down 41%, to 54 million pounds ($99 million). Excluding the impact of the weak dollar, sales for the group were flat, and earnings fell 24%. ~Publishers Weekly, March 2005
Small presses
[Sharon's note: the definition of small press differs, depending on who is talking, so it's hard to get a count. It's the old comparing apples and oranges thing, but here are some figures quoted by different sources.]
Small presses can be divided into sub-groups by what their annual revenue is each years:
63,000 small presses have an annual revenue of less than $50 million, and combined, these 63,000 presses generated sales of $14.2 billion.
3,600 small presses have annual revenue of between $1 million to $49.9 million, and combined, these 3,600 presses generated sales of $11.5 billion.
594,000 small presses have annual revenue of about $5,000 per year, and combined, these 594,000 presses generated revenue of about $2.7 billion. [Sharon's note: many of these small presses may be publishing one title a year, such as a church group that publishes a cookbook.] Book Industry Study Group, 2005
More than 7,000 new publishers come into being every year. ~Publishers Weekly, 2005
50,000 is a conservative estimate of the small independent publishing houses across the country. ~Small Press Center for Independent Publishing, 2005
A small press: less than $50 million in business every year. ~Laura Newpoff, The Business Journal of Phoenix, Nov 2005
$1 million in business a year is very, very small by the traditional definition of a small press. We publish 40 books a year, and after costs, make $2 per copy sold. Typical for most small presses.
~Poison Pen Press, 2005 Global figures
172,000 new titles and editions were published in North America in 2005.
The number of small house titles declined 7%
The number of medium house titles declined 10%
The number of large house titles declined 15%
New titles from the largest houses fell 4.7%, to 23,017, while new titles from university press rose 1.8%.
Every broad non-fiction category, except legal, had significant declines. Children's books down by double-digits. Sports and rec up by 22%. Adult fiction up by 6.9%.
With costs increasing, publishers are being cautious about the number of titles they will publish in 2006.
~2005 figures, Gary Aielo, COO of R.R. Bowker
[Sharon's Note: 2004 is the last year for which Bowker has finished (or is close to finishing) actually counting books published, and the numbers are disputed to several people who responded to the article. Most people who responded felt that the numbers reported for books being published were too low. "Adult fiction" means all fiction regardless of genre.]
In 2004:
There were about 1,500 very large publishers other than Random, Simon, Harper, Penguin and Holtzbrinck who are publishing adult fiction.
7,000 to 8,000 "very respectable mid-size publishers who publish adult fiction."
The 12 largest New York trade houses published 5,125 works of adult fiction.
University presses published 295 works of adult fiction.
Major book review organs reviewed 7,752 works of adult fiction.
~Bowker, ISBN and data base provider
Here are some contests taken from various issues of FundsforWriters for those with a wanderlust:
CHARLES PICK FELLOWSHIP
http://www.uea.ac.uk/eas/fellowships/pick.shtml
Six-month fellowship commencing September 1, 2007. Award amount is £10,000. Must be a writer of fiction or nonfiction in English
and be unpublished in book form. Any age and any nationality. Submit application form with 2,500 words of unpublished fiction
or nonfiction. The fellow will be a member of the School of Literature and Creative Writing and will be required to reside
at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK. No teaching duties. Deadline January 31, 2007.
WOMEN WRITERS' FELLOWSHIPS IN ITALY
http://www.creativityworkshop.com/writeraward.html
NO ENTRY FEE
Two Creativity Workshop Fellowships for Women Writers will be given to two women fiction writers, poets, or playwrights for
attendance at the Creativity Workshop in Florence, Italy, July 13 - 22, 2007. The two fellowships will be given on the
basis of a 500 word proposal to develop a new piece of writing in the applicant's field. The proposal should include a
statement of how being in Florence and attending a workshop that includes creative writing, drawing, storytelling and memoir
would help develop the project. The chosen writers will spend10 days in the city of Florence, Italy and attend the
Creativity Workshop.
1st PRIZE: Free tuition and 9 nights accommodations in a private room in Florence, Italy to attend a Creativity
Workshop July 13 - 22, 2007. (Airfare is not included).
2nd PRIZE: Free tuition to attend a Creativity Workshop July 13 - 22, 2007 in Florence, Italy. (Airfare and
accommodations are not included).
That's all for today. I've got a manuscript to finish critiquing before my writer's group tonight. In my next post I'm going to talk about how authors treat their characters--a subject that came up several times during the residency and got me thinking.