Steve

Christy Award Finalists 2012

By Steve Laubeon April 16, 2012

We are quite excited to announce that our agency has a number of finalists in this year’s Christy Awards. (Click here for the list of this year’s finalists.) Congratulations to all finalists. Below are our clients who have been honored and a link to their publisher’s site for more information on the book.

Susan May Warren – My Foolish Heart (Tyndale) – Contemporary Romance

Ronie Kendig – Wolfsbane (Barbour) – Contemporary Romance

Ginny Yttrup – Words (B&H Publishing) – NOMINATED TWICE – Contemporary Standalone & First Novel

Ted Dekker & Tosca Lee – Forbidden (Center Street) – Visionary – (we represent Tosca)

Lisa Bergren – Waterfall (David C. Cook) – Young Adult

Implications of the Department of Justice Lawsuit Against Five Major Publishers

By Steve Laubeon April 16, 2012

by Steve Laube

As you have heard by now the Department of Justice (DOJ) has leveled a lawsuit against Apple and five major publishers accusing them of conspiring to fix prices. There has been a lot written on the topic with varying degrees of understanding and a wide disparity of conclusions.

Authors are asking what this all means to them. And many are confused about the math involved. A …

Category: Agency, Book Business, Contracts, Get Published, Legal Issues, SteveTag: Book Business, Get Published, lawsuit, News, retail prices

News You Can Use – Mar. 6, 2012

By Steve Laubeon March 6, 2012

Your Average Facebook Post Only Reaches 12% of Your Friends - Exposing yet another challenge to the world of marketing, either through traditional means or through social media.

New French Law Seizes Digital Rights - "Any book published in France--which would include translated foreign-language books--that went out of print in France--not necessarily elsewhere--before 2001, can be scanned into …

Category: News You Can Use, SteveTag: Copyright, Creativity, Curation, Facebook, Marketing, novels, press releases, Writing Craft, Writing tools

7 Ways Agents Measure Social Media

By Steve Laubeon February 20, 2012

Guest Blog by Thomas Umstattd We are thrilled to have Thomas Umstattd as our guest today. His company built our web site and we unabashedly recommend their services. Thomas built his first website at the age of 13 and taught his first web design class at only 16 years old. He has been helping authors and small businesses use the web ever since. Thomas currently serves as the CEO of Castle Media …

Category: Agency, Book Business, Branding, Guest Post, Marketing, Social Media, SteveTag: Branding Platform Agents, Facebook, Marketing, Social Media, Trends

News You Can Use – Feb. 14, 2012

By Steve Laubeon February 14, 2012

It has begun - The Welcome Assault on Costly Textbooks- But is this the best way to do it? Free online publisher-quality textbooks for five of the country’s most-attended college courses. Funded by big charitable organizations like The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It could change the economic future of some major textbook publishers. I fear the homogenization of Education or the control of …

Category: Book Business, News You Can Use, SteveTag: Book Business, E-Books, Facebook, Marketing, Pinterest, Publishing News, Self-Publishing

Fun Fridays – Feb. 3, 2012

By Steve Laubeon February 3, 2012

The English Language challenged by a 102 year old man.

Category: Fun Fridays, SteveTag: Fun, Humor

Clarification on Sale of Heartsong to Harlequin

By Steve Laubeon January 30, 2012

New information has surfaced regarding the sale of Heartsong to Harlequin.

In my post on Friday I made the assumption that the sale included all the backlist and the currently contracted titles. This was reflected in point #5 in the post.

That is not the case. Harlequin did not buy the backlist or the currently contracted titles. Those will remain the property of Barbour Publishing. Thus …

Category: Agency, Book Business, Get Published, Romance, Steve, TrendsTag: Agents, Book Business, Editors, Publishing News, Trends, Writing Craft

Barbour Sells Heartsong to Harlequin

By Steve Laubeon January 27, 2012

Today Barbour Publishing announced they have sold their Heartsong Presents line of inspirational romances to Harlequin.

For those of us who have been wondering about the eventual buyer, this comes as no surprise. We have known they were being sold since last Fall. In December I spoke with Barbour's president, Tim Martins, and he confirmed that the sale was in its last stages of negotiation but …

Category: Agency, Book Business, Book Business, Contracts, Get Published, Steve, TrendsTag: Agents, Book Business, Publishing News, rumors, Writing Craft

News You Can Use – Jan. 24, 2012

By Steve Laubeon January 24, 2012

The Secrets Behind the Bestseller List - Ever wonder how those lists are compiled? The Sacramento Bee takes a stab at uncovering the secret.

3 Important Questions about Digital that No One is Asking - Nick Atkinson adds to the ongoing discussion in a sharp manner.

Do Book Bloggers Still Matter? - Beth Kephart asks whether this form of marketing has any influence any more.

10 Bits of …

Category: Book Business, News You Can Use, SteveTag: Bestsellers, Bookselling, Digital Books, E-Books, Publishing News, Trends

The Bestseller Code

By Steve Laubeon January 23, 2012

Take the Bestseller Code test. I dare you.

The web site www.thebestsellercode.com is fascinating. Through some mysterious algorithm it evaluates about 500 words of your novel and grades it on a scale of one to twenty (1 to 20).

Does it work? I gave it a try with a recent proposal from a bestselling client. I took the first page and a half and plugged it into the test. It scored 20.0. A …

Category: Craft, Get Published, Steve, Writing CraftTag: Bestseller, Craft, Get Published, Proposals, Writing Craft