Beyond the Bestseller; a literary agent takes you inside the book business - Hardcover

Curtis, Richard

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9780453006705: Beyond the Bestseller; a literary agent takes you inside the book business

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0453006701 ISBN 13: 9780453006705

Publisher: New American Library, 1989

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New York literary agent Richard Curtis has represented many bestselling authors. When Curtis talks, authors -- and publishers -- listen. Now he is talking, straight from the shoulder, to writers, telling everything an author must know to get published and not get exploited or taken advantage of -- by an agent, a publisher, or the IRS.

read about:

The truth about the clout of agents in getting a writer sold;
the best deal to make if you sell your book to the movies;
when to sign a multibook contract, and when to sell one book at a time;
is the advance offered to you poor, good, or terrific?

And lots more.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author:

Late in 1998, Richard Curtis announced the formation of E-Rights/E-Reads, Ltd., an online publisher, retailer, and electronic rights clearing house. The company‘s mission is to assist authors, literary agents, and other content-providers to take advantage of fundamental changes in publishing and printing technology.

The E-Rights service helps authors to recover the rights to their out-of-print books. Using a number of databases, the company helps authors ascertain the in-print or out-of-print status of their books and to obtain reversions of rights. E-Rights then converts, encrypts, and formats those books for re-release in electronic versions, and print bound hard copies for distribution through Ingram, Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com, and other leading book wholesalers.

The E-Reads division is a combination of online publisher and online retailer utilizing its web site to transmit original and reissued titles to customers’ PCs or dedicated electronic readers. It has contracts with NuvoMedia (for the Rocket eBook), SoftBooks (for the SoftBook) and Peanut Press (for Palm Pilot), and has created a secure proprietary PC download for desktop and laptop applications.

Richard Curtis is also president of Richard Curtis Associates, Inc., a leading New York literary agency. He is also a well known author advocate and author of numerous works of fiction and nonfiction including several books about the publishing industry.

He graduated from Syracuse University in 1958 with a BA in American Studies and from the University of Wyoming with a Masters degree, also in American Studies. He joined Scott Meredith Literary Agency after graduation, and was foreign rights manager there for seven years. In 1967, he launched a freelance writing career, and has had some fifty books published by many major houses. In the early 1970's, he began his own literary agency, and in 1979 incorporated it. Richard Curtis Associates, Inc. currently represents close to 150 authors in all fields. The agency reports millions of dollars in annual sales for leading authors in every area of nonfiction and in such categories of fiction as romance, westerns, thrillers, science fiction, and fantasy.

His interest in emerging media and technology has enabled him to help authors anticipate trends in publishing and multimedia. He has lectured extensively and conducted panels and seminars devoted to raising consciousness in the author and agent community about the future of communications.

Early in the 1980's, he started writing an advice column for Locus, a science fiction newsletter, and out of his articles several books have been published including HOW TO BE YOUR OWN LITERARY AGENT, BEYOND THE BESTSELLER, MASTERING THE BUSINESS OF WRITING, and THIS BUSINESS OF PUBLISHING. He has testified as an expert witness in several publishing trials.

He was the first president of the Independent Literary Agents Association and was President of the Association of Authors' Representatives in 1996 and 1997. His company served for over a decade as agency for the Science Fiction Writers of America. In 1994, he received the prestigious Romance Writers of America Industry Award for Distinguished Service to Authors. In 1999 he was invited to serve on the editorial advisory board of Writer’s Digest. In 2000 he was invited to serve on the advisory board for the publishing Master in Science program at Pace University.

Richard Curtis was born in 1937, is married, and has two children. He currently resides in Manhattan. His hobbies are sports, music and painting.

From Publishers Weekly:

In these 53 short chapters, previously published in Locus , the science fiction trade paper, a New York literary agent describes the publishing scene in general and explains many aspects of his profession. In the section "Agents Demystified," he defines clout and compares the benefits and shortcomings of variously sized agencies. "Breaking In" addresses the subjects of book outlines, hardcover vs. softcover publication, book packagers, multi-book deals, payout schedules and escalation clauses. Other subjects include sales conferences, promotion and advertising, book club sales, movie adaptations. The section "Manners and Morals" examines courtesy, honor, scruples, luck, bankruptcy and mergers in the industry. Curtis also proposes reforms in publishing and speculates about collective activity by authors. Full of facts, advice, opinions and anecdotes, this book offers food for thought to authors, editors and publishers, aspiring and established.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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