Tag Archive - Gossip

Barriers to Effective Communication

March 19, 2012 in Business, Communication, Writing with 19 Comments

By Steve Laube

It has been said that ninety percent of all problems in the universe are failures in communication. And the other ten percent are failures to understand the failure in communication. In the publishing business, or any business for that matter, this is so true. There are a couple common barriers to effective communication, assumption and expectation.

But I Assumed

Often one party assumes knowledge that the other person does not know. Or someone without knowledge fails to admit their lack and try to fake their way through the situation for fear of being found ignorant. Simple to fix. Just ask if you don’t know and alternatively make sure the other person knows what you are talking about. I learn something new nearly every single day and hope to continue that streak for the rest of my life.

But even  worse, and more common, is assuming the other party is mad at you for some reason. The fear of that “assumed anger” prevents an open dialogue or at least delays it.

Much of our business comes down to relationships and fear or anger prevent them from being healthy.

Why Don’t You Answer?

I once had a client terminate their relationship with our agency because I did not answer their e-mails fast enough or had ignored them entirely. I was bewildered by this and tracked down the problem. My records showed a consistent pattern of answering everything the same day or shortly thereafter. Unfortunately, the author’s e-mail server was intercepting 40% of my e-mails, declaring them spam, and not delivering them (they weren’t even sent to the client’s spam folder!). Unfortunately the author’s trust in me had been broken (due to technological error) and we went our separate ways.

This taught me a good lesson about expectations when it comes to e-mail in particular. Make sure you have an early conversation with your agent or editor or publicist to set out reasonable times for replies. And if that timing goes too long find out if the e-mail was ever received.

It is ironic that we used to make jokes about the Postal Service losing mail. Now it is more likely that a server doesn’t deliver or receive an email. A couple weeks ago a client told me they found an email in their “draft” folder that they thought they had sent to me and had been wondering why I had not yet replied.

Silence is Molten

When someone doesn’t reply and days roll by without an answer the tendency is to start thinking the worst. “They have bad news.” “They hate me.” “My career is over.” “Steve thinks I’m annoying.” “My publisher is going to cancel my contract.” “They have discovered that I really don’t know how to write.” None of which are true. But you feel the need to fill in the silence with some answer. And eventually the answer turns volcanic, at least in our minds. Out of that comes discontent, rage, and the rants begin.

Your Style

Every person has their own preference in communicating. I have one client who does not use e-mail, prefers a fax or a phone call. Another does not ever want to talk on the phone, e-mail only. Another says, “E-mail me before you call so I can drive close enough to the local cell tower so my phone can get a signal, I don’t have any bars in my house.” We try our best to accommodate each client’s unique communication styles. But we aren’t always perfect.

Grace is the Solution

Give each other the benefit of the doubt. E-mail can sound stern and unyielding, even angry, in tone. So before assuming (see #1 above) grant a measure of grace. The ease of e-mail makes it simple to fire off something without adding a couple filters.

It may be that your editor or agent were called into a meeting for the day. Your agent may be traveling. The editor may have twenty fires to put out before they go home for the day, none of which they had anticipated when the got to work that morning. Give that editor or agent another day before lighting the fuse.

Oh, and if you want to rant to your agent about your editor, make sure you double, no triple, check the “To” line before you click SEND. The auto-complete function in your email system can be trouble if you are not careful…trust me.

What other barriers to communication have you found?

And look for Karen and Tamela’s blogs this week as each are on the theme of communication.

Tell No Secrets

February 22, 2011 in Business, Publishing with 8 Comments

How much should author friends reveal to each other about contracts or other business dealings when they have business with the same publisher?

I think it is a huge mistake to reveal the amount of your advances to other authors. This is similar to finding out the salary of the co-worker in the office cubicle next to yours. When I was a retail store manager we had major problems when salaries were revealed, a near fist-fight between two people who had been friends.

Money is viewed as a measure of worth; i.e. a measure of the worthiness of your work. Consequently if you contract for a $5,000 advance with AlphaGammaDelta publisher and a month later, your best writing friend, who is at the same stage in her career as you are, contracts for a $8,000 advance with the same publisher for a similar project…what is your reaction? Sure, at first, it is excitement and joy for your friend. But later, in private, you will naturally begin to wonder about your publisher’s commitment to you. You think, “They must like Sally better than me!” Jealousy and bitterness can set in.

I’m not saying that this will happen to you, but I caution you with every ounce of my being, be very careful about ever revealing monetary details of a book contract with anyone. It can become a form of gossip that does no one any good. I know of an e-mail trail among authors that was very free with this kind of information and consequently there is tension towards a particular publisher for not paying everyone the same. This is unreasonable and unfair…and doesn’t help anyone.

In my years as an editor and now as an agent I’ve seen contracts land all over the board. The timing of a publisher’s economic situation and certain management directives can change quarterly (even weekly!). The relationship the author has with the publisher, the relationship the agent has with the publisher, the perception of value that the publisher has of a project…They all influence each situation uniquely.

But we tend to compare contracts as if all contracts are equal. Trust me, they are not.

Of course I’m speaking specifically about contracts here. There are professional people who can help you determine if your deal is a good one. Or you can simply trust your agent….!!!

Rumor Control

April 8, 2010 in Agency with 21 Comments

I was talking with an editor this week who asked me, “How are things going? I hear that your agency is barely making ends meet and that you’ve had to take on other type of work to survive.”

I must admit that I was so startled by this rumor that words nearly failed me.

“Where did you hear that?” I exclaimed.

“Oh it was at a recent writers conference and folks were talking, and your name came up.”

At the risk of sounding defensive, let me set the record straight. While there is no question that the publishing industry is in a mode of risk management, our agency is very healthy. We have the privilege of representing a large number of highly successful authors whose books are selling and whose new books are being contracted. Plus we have recently placed some first time authors and added some new veteran clients to our roster. In fact, if my projections hold true, we will break our single year sales record by the end of this calendar year. As of April 7, 2010 we have already contracted 29 new books. And we continue to have a lot of great new books being published.

In other words, The Steve Laube Agency is alive and well and is not having to scramble to survive.

Which brings me to the larger issue about rumors. After questioning this editor a little further it became evident that they had either misheard or misunderstood what was said. I am grateful that this editor asked me directly or I would never have known what was being said. Please don’t think that what I write next is directed at this person. Instead I’m addressing the issue of rumors and gossip in general.

Why is it that some people tend to believe gossip over actual truth? And then why do they spread the “news” to others without verifying the facts? These rumors can take a tragic turn. I know a friend whose career was nearly derailed by a nasty rumor. It took that person years to recover their reputation. Another example was last July when Michael Hyatt had to quell rumors being spread about Thomas Nelson Publishers. As it has been said, “Some bring oxy­gen and oth­ers expel CO2.”

The publishing community is a small one. And the Christian publishing industry is even smaller. I try, albeit imperfectly, to verify a rumor before ever repeating it. This is the right thing to do. Stop gossip before it starts. It may be that we “like” to hear bad news (why do we slow down to look at the accident on the freeway?). And good news sounds like bragging. In fact the above paragraph about our agency will come across as braggadocios to some.

Let us endeavor to keep our own counsel. And undergird all matters with a Christ-like spirit. Celebrate each others victories and pray for each others miseries. We all have both. But rumors and gossip have no place in either.