This is going to be a relatively short post, but there were a few things on my mind and I wanted to share them. In my last post, I talked about some of the power dynamics in publishing, and one way that we make those things better for authors is through education. There are things as an author that you can get if you ask, but that maybe nobody told you about. You don’t know, so you don’t ask, and then you don’t get it.

So let’s do what we do and spread information. Here are some things you should ask for as an author. This is going to focus on agented authors, both with and without book deals.

1. When you’re sending a book out on submission, ask your agent for a list of where they are sending it. Imprints and editors. Hopefully, they’ve asked you for input on that. If not, and you have input, that’s another thing to ask about. You don’t have to have input — it’s totally normal for an author not to know which editor at a specific house that their project fits. It’s fine if you don’t even know who the editors are. But if you do and you want to have that discussion, your agent should be willing to have it with you. But the list of where it’s going is a minimum. I’d argue that you should get approval of that list (My agent gave me the list to approve without me even asking. With that said, I deferred to her completely on it, because she knows more than I do by a wide margin).

Why you want it: First, it’s your career, so you should know how its being managed just in general.

Second, and more important, it helps you keep tabs on things for when something goes wrong. Like when your agent isn’t doing their job right. I have seen situations where an agent only sent a book out to a few publishers, and the author didn’t know which ones. So when they inevitably break up because the agent is not doing their job, the author doesn’t know which editors have seen the book. This makes it very difficult for another agent to take that project on, because they can’t resubmit to places it has already been. And nobody knows where it has been.

The time to ask for that information is at the beginning, not as you’re breaking up. The reasons for that are probably obvious.

Why your agent might not want to give it to you: The reason I’ve heard given by agents for not sharing is because they don’t want clients to do bad things with the information, usually followed by a horror story of a self-destructive author who stalked editors on social media or something of the sort. And I get it. Sort of. But it’s bullshit. At best, it’s a lack of trust in the author. At worst, it’s the agent trying to maintain power by withholding information. Neither is good.

Now…know yourself. Are you the kind of person who is going to drunk tweet at an editor late some night as you’re stressing out about submission? If so, maybe don’t ask for the information. Are you going to obsess and waste time watching for every little thing those editors say? If so, then maybe you don’t want it. And that’s fine too. But I’d still have them send it to someone you trust to hold it and not tell you, just in case you need the info later.

If your agent won’t share it when you ask, I’m not sure what recourse you have. So it might be something to ask before you sign, or to ask their clients when you talk to them before you sign. Because an agent who is withholding this information is not treating you as an equal partner. I don’t care what their reasons are. It’s your book and your career.

2. Reversion clause for audio. This is one that has come onto my radar recently: you should ask for a reversion clause for audio rights to be put into your contracts with publishers.

Why you need it: Ideally, you keep as many rights as possible, but in the current environment, it’s really hard to get a book deal with a major publisher that doesn’t include audio rights. That’s business, and there’s not much that you (or your agent) can do about it in the current environment. If you can keep the rights, you’re special, and you don’t need to be here listening to me. But trust that most of us can’t.

A reversion clause is something in your contract that says that you’re giving the publisher the rights, but if they don’t use those rights by a certain time, they revert to you. My agent got one of these for audio in my first contract without me asking–she’s just smart like that. If, after twelve weeks, the publisher didn’t produce an audio book, we got the rights back. This was great to me, because I love audio books and it was important to me that I have one (this was 2017, when not everything was getting audio.) The publisher was willing to give it to us because it cost them nothing. We never used the clause. The publisher made an audio book, and we were all happy. But we had it, just in case.

Flash forward to 2022 and why you need this clause. I’ve recently seen more than one major SFF publishers decline to produce audio books on some of their new releases. Again, that’s the business, and I’m sure there’s a business reason for it. That’s not the discussion here. The point is, those rights have value to the author, and if the publisher isn’t going to use them, you can sell them elsewhere.

Why your agent might not do this: Because they don’t think it’s necessary. The publisher tells them that they’re going to make an audio book, and they believe it. And I’m not blaming agents here. I’ve seen really good agents fail to get that clause inserted, because they didn’t think they needed it. My guess is they won’t make that mistake again.

You don’t have to be a dick about it, or even be confrontational. If your agent tells you that you don’t need that clause because of course the publisher is going to use the rights, just politely say “I believe you, and I’m really excited about that. But I’d like to have it in writing.” This should be your default position on just about everything, and it should be your agent’s position on everything too. Recently, my agent and I were working on a contract and I was the one saying ‘oh, I know this guy, we don’t need that.’ And she was the one insisting that we get things in writing. Which is another reason why she’s a good agent (both in general, and specifically for me.)

Now, maybe your agent tries and the publisher won’t do it. I’m honestly not sure how forthcoming publishers are in that regard right now. I think that’s a great time to ask why. Because if you’re intending to make an audio book, the clause, as mentioned, costs nothing. If you’re not going to make it, why do you want the rights in the first place? Should you walk away from a deal if you can’t get that clause? I don’t know. That’s a discussion between you and your agent, and every situation is different.

3. Ask your publicist where they sent your book for reviews. This one isn’t nearly as important as the other two, but I felt like I needed three points to justify a blog post, so here we are. Your publicist will send your book to trade reviewers (and perhaps some other genre reviewers). They probably won’t tell you who they sent it to. Unless you ask.

Why you want to know: First, it’s going to make you feel better. Because not every reviewer is going to review. Your publicist will send your book to trade reviewers, but they can’t make them read it. Knowing that they got it, you can rest easy knowing that you did what you could.

Second: It can prompt a conversation about other outlets. Maybe you know some reviewers who you’d like to have your publicist engage. Seeing the list, you can then talk about who isn’t on the list. As an aside, your publicist should facilitate getting an ARC of your book to any reviewer who you want (sometimes that will be an eARC — not everyone gets print ARCs, or there may be a limited quantity)

Third: It will help you with later books. If you know who got your book, you can compare that to who reviewed. This can help make your list for your next book. This is especially helpful when you have a new publicist. And I’ve got some news for you about publishing in case you’ve been under a rock…a lot of people leave the business or go elsewhere for jobs. So plan like you’ll have a different publicist in the future.

And that’s all I’ve got for today, other than a couple of announcements.

Did you know that I’m open to guest posts on my blog? If you’re a SFF writer and you want to promote your book, I’m hosting a series where you write about an SFF book (that’s not your own) that really means something to you. For details on what to do and how to request a spot, go here.

If you want to read some cool guest posts, you can see them here:
K. Pimpinella
Wayne Santos
Jamie Killen
Adam Oyebanji
Jonathan Nevair

In other news, I’m a guest at AtomaCon this coming weekend in Charleston. It’s a great small con — the kind of place where you can sit around with other authors and drink talk about stuff. So if you’re local, come out and see us. Mary Robinette Kowal is the guest of honor, and if you’ve not had the chance to see her speak, that’s worth the price of admission on its own.

Tags: Author advice, Author Agent relationships, literary agents, Publishing