Literary agent. Why do you need a literary agent?
Through the eyes of a literary agent
Chairman of the Board of the non-profit association Kunst im Dialog e.V. (Germany), consultant to a number of German publishing houses on issues of Russian literature and the Russian book publishing market, literary agent
A literary agent is one of the professions directly related to the book business. According to Wikipedia, the functions of a literary agent include finding a suitable publishing house, negotiating the possibility of publishing a book, agreeing on a legally sound contract and further business support for the author both before and after the book is published, that is, tracking all payments due to the author, selling rights to translation, film adaptation, audiobook recording, etc.
As a rule, the agent does not provide editorial and marketing services; in any case, this requires additional agreements between the author and the literary agent.
An important component in the work of a literary agent is to ensure optimal conditions for authors in selling rights.
“Author - agent - publishing house” - this is a modern diagram that can be used to represent the path of a work from manuscript to publication of the book. In the first stage of this scheme, the literary agent must evaluate the text that the author provides him with. If the assessment is positive, the search for a publisher to publish the text begins. Of course, this is almost the most difficult stage, because the publishing house is interested not only in the quality of the text itself, but also in the profit it will receive from its sale. At the same time, the author of one book is commercially uninteresting. The publisher needs a long-term project, that is, confidence that readers who are already familiar with one book will buy the next one.
The publishing house prefers to publish an author who has won literary awards, which are for the market business card author and publisher. Unfortunately, in this state of affairs, the majority of interesting authors who are not crowned with awards in the form of literary prizes pass by the reader.
As a rule, the author himself turns to a literary agent. Sometimes an agent can offer him his services, but this most likely applies to authors who have received recognition in Russia, with the aim of promoting them abroad, that is, for publishing translations in foreign publishing houses.
Here the nature of the activity of a literary agent is somewhat different from what he must undertake to publish an author in Russia. In the West, the institution of literary agents has existed much longer than in Russia, which means that growing pains are behind us, although problems still remain.
The profession of a literary agent in the modern sense initially existed only in America; there were only a few of them in Europe. American literature came to be translated into other countries only through literary agents, who have always controlled and continue to control the market. One well-known translator in Germany, in a conversation with the author of an article about ten years ago, even called the institution of literary agents a mafia, meaning that, bypassing literary agents, the author’s works cannot get into the publishing house. Here it should be explained that the author, by signing an agreement with a literary agent, transfers to him the rights to publish his works. It is this circumstance that limits the possibilities of the publisher and the author if they find each other on their own. About ten to fifteen years ago there were only two literary agencies in Germany that were engaged in selling the rights of Russian writers - Galina Dursthof and Nibbe & Wiedling.
They are still the most successful literary agents today. Later, several more literary agencies focused on Russian literature were formed. Today in the European space there are already a certain number of literary agents who can work independently or in a sub-agency, which the situation implies that literary agents agree on working together based on a specific author or work. In this case, the subagent finds a publisher interested in publishing, and the fee is divided accordingly between the agent and the subagent. This may be useful because a literary agent based in Germany has more possibilities working with a German publishing house than his colleague located in another country. In these business relations, along with increasing work efficiency, conflicts may arise not only due to difficulties at work, but also due to non-compliance with universal ethical standards.
The first criterion that a literary agent must take into account when offering a work to foreign publishing houses is the tastes of readers in a particular country. They can be completely different even in neighboring European countries. If a hit occurs at this stage, foreign publishers select works for publication of translations according to the same criteria as in Russian publishing houses - the author must be “promoted” in Russia, have literary awards - the more, the better - and in his portfolio it should have several books that ensure long-term business.
A literary agent sometimes has to be both editor and critic, provided, of course, that there is a relationship of trust between the agent and the author. However, this is not the responsibility of a literary agent. By the way, trusting relationships certainly contribute to the success of work that at first glance seems simple. In fact, the work of a literary agent is painstaking and not always rewarding. An agent must have certain qualities, first of all, a love of literature, no matter how trivial it may sound. And not just love, but have a good understanding of literary genres and professionally evaluate the quality of the text. Required quality literary agent - the power of persuasion. He must present the author’s manuscript in such a way that the publisher understands that he simply does not have the right to refuse publication without damage to the publishing house and even to the country, which will lose the opportunity to get acquainted with the works of such a wonderful author. The main thing is that the agent himself also believes in what he says. This is where psychology comes into play.
To this we can add intuition, which leads the agent to the “right” author, that is, a certain instinct that suggests that this particular book and this particular author will be able to be successful, and therefore will most likely provide profit from sales.
Unfortunately, we cannot abstract ourselves from this category - yes, the success of a book is measured by the number of copies sold, that is, the amount of profit of the publisher. No one has been ashamed of this for a long time - book sales ratings are posted on popular Internet sites. Based on this, it can be stated that literature is ruled by the market, which, through literature admitted to it, shapes the consciousness of people. This dialectic of book publishing, which is part modern world, extends to a literary agent. He must be a “merchandiser,” but, on the other hand, be able to recognize in the author’s work something that makes literature literature.
A literary agent must have taste that the publisher must trust when working with him. Otherwise, the publisher will spend a lot of time searching for authors - both new and those who have already taken their place in the literature market - tracking the appearance of new publications, reading texts in order to identify those that meet the criteria or concept of the publishing house. At this stage, the publisher is very interested in a competent literary agent who will provide him with exactly the kind of texts and authors in which the publishing house is interested. But, focusing on the taste of the literary agent and sharing his opinion, the publishing house cannot immediately make a positive decision. The publishing house also does not immediately approve the manuscript for publication. In large publishing houses, marketers usually analyze the likely sales of each author's works. To do this, a review must be written and reviewed. The issue of the order in which several works of a particular author will be published is also being resolved, so that the first publication hooks the reader with the most winning book. Of course, the publisher has other navigation options to find authors. Nowadays, literally on the day the long and short lists are published and the winners of both major and minor literary awards are announced, the results are posted, where you can see the names of the authors who were shortlisted, and therefore nominated for the prize. Of course, all publishers are waiting for the announcement of the winner, whose name appears in print and online media on the same day.
There is a certain code of conduct in the author-agent-publisher scheme that applies equally to all participants in this triad. In foreign countries, there are prescribed rules for participants in the process, which are united in organizations such as trade unions or communities. Members of such communities have the opportunity to protect their interests and resolve conflict situations, which often arise in this profession.
Unfortunately, in our country this code is still unspoken, which allows participants in the process to violate it with impunity. Sometimes such dramas are played out that may well become the basis of a separate literary work. In the practice of any literary agent and even publishing house, there are usually several of them. Authors, as creative people, do not always delve into the clauses of the contract they sign with a publishing house or literary agent. When asked who owns the rights, they answer with bewilderment that they don’t know, but probably... This does not happen to all authors, but it occurs in both Russian and foreign practice. Often authors believe that they were underestimated, which, by the way, really happens, but they blame their literary agent for this, reproaching him for shortcomings or lack of actions that are not part of his duties at all. For example, I am familiar with the story when the author accused a literary agent of not conducting a PR campaign in the country where the translation of the book was published - not organizing a tour of the country with this translation, not working with local media, so the book sold poorly . In fact, the PR campaign is organized by the publishing house and carried out centrally by special services, which receive information from the publishing house about the publication of books that the publishing houses ask the media to pay attention to in order to publish reviews. Sometimes a publishing house can organize an author’s appearance at international book fairs (this depends on the financial capabilities of the publishing house and the availability of a PR service), but no one organizes a tour for anyone, in any case, this is not the function of a literary agent, who simply does not have the funds for this . It must be said that in such a precarious business as book publishing, with a lot of risks, the business of a literary agent is even less protected from them.
You can offer a manuscript for a long time to a publisher who claims that the author is very interesting, but is in no hurry to publish it. Indeed, no one can promise guaranteed sales. Publishers are afraid of losses. Sometimes authors find a sponsor or finance the publication of their works themselves in small publishing houses that do not have money and do not want to take risks. The issue of distribution in such cases is decided by the author himself; he must sell his books independently.
The situation with the translation of books by Russian authors into foreign languages is even more tense. Russian classics - Tolstoy, Chekhov, Dostoevsky - are published abroad with confident regularity. But with modern Russian literature the situation is somewhat different. Foreign Russian scholars and publishers state that interest in it has noticeably decreased compared to what it was ten years ago. And this is not to mention the fact that the tastes of readers have generally changed. In other words, new challenges have emerged, which is quite natural and requires book publishing and all its components to have the necessary flexibility and prompt response. The main competitor of modern literature in any country is the American mainstream.
Sometimes a publishing house deliberately chooses to publish an author from whom there will clearly be no profit. This is necessary for the image of the publishing house and compliance with the concept adopted in it. This was the case with Pelevin’s first book translated in Germany, “Chapaev and Emptiness,” which was published there under the title “Little Finger of the Buddha.”
Of particular note is the work of a literary agent in “promoting” authors who write serious literature. If they are published in Russia, although not always by large publishing houses, then it is almost impossible to bring the book to publication of a translation in another country; here the risks are simply colossal. There are a number of unusually gifted authors: Anatoly Korolev, Afanasy Mamedov, Alexey Kozlachkov, who write subtle, intelligent prose, but the publication of their works abroad does not promise publishers profits. Olga Slavnikova, whose texts have been translated into many foreign languages, has not been able to enter the German-language market for several years, experiencing persistent resistance. It's very sad, but this is a common feature of modern society.
1. What is a literary agent? To prove my right to write on the stated topic, I hasten to present the “credentials” of my activities. I signed the first contract between a Moscow publisher and a highly respected American author (for 8 novels at once) in the summer of 1993, this is the beginning of my practice. In the fall of the same year, I was offered to create a permanent literary agency under the “wing” of one publishing house, which is still widely known. Actually, since then I have been a literary agent. Sold and bought more than 300 titles, made very long-term acquaintances among Western, mainly Anglo-American, agents and publishers, tested such exotic markets as Japanese, helped organize more than a dozen publishing series, “selected” a considerable group of highly qualified specialists (translators) , editors and reviewers), who are now working, so to speak, “in the mode” of my literary agency, and, of course, I have been quite “dragging around” with our book publishers, starting with those that everyone has now forgotten about, and ending with the current “whales”. So I know what literary agency practice is, as well as related areas - copyright, negotiations, evaluation and selection of books, translation, editorial preparation, and all sorts of difficulties that arise in this case - not at all “at a close glance”. Most of the writing and publishing fraternity believes that a literary agent is “just” a distributor of manuscripts to publishing houses and an “interpreter” of a contract who knows how to defend the interests of the author. Only a few believe that he “serves” as a guarantor of the deal and a pacifier of pirates, a drafter of statements of claim and a person who decides in what form to seek a compromise between the publisher and the writer. In general, this is the writer’s “crutch” in everything that makes book publishing an industry... So, such a “primitive” practically cannot be considered a literary agent, although we have many such “operators”. And who is the real literary agent? I’ll try to explain now. To understand the specifics of a literary agent’s activities, you should immediately talk about remuneration and his fees. In general, it is believed that the literary agent is content with a percentage of the fee received by the author; most often in the “domestic” market the range is from 10% to 35%. Although the latter figure occurs very rarely and is considered overestimated. But I have heard about such payments, and once saw a contract with exactly this amount of the agent’s share. In most transactions, the author “unfastens” the average amount of his fee between the indicated limits for the agent’s work, and this is considered a well-established practice. For the sale of subsidiary (translated) rights of foreign authors, obtained, as a rule, as a result of direct contact with a Western publisher or literary agent, our agent is content with 10%, or... receives nothing. “Westerners” introduced this practice in the mid-nineties, focusing on the very low fees they received in developing countries such as China, India and, of course, Russia. In parentheses, I note that our fees are lower than Chinese, and much lower than in India. In the case of “free” work for a Westerner, it is believed that our publisher must pay, who often “forgets” to do this. Or he pays so late that it is not always possible to remember who exactly “sent” the money and for what. In contrast to the generally accepted myth about a “properly” organized literary agency, it should be said that they are very different. They are divided into the following types - “creative” agencies, which are primarily engaged in the “execution” of the book, and “legal” agencies, which are “only” engaged in drawing up contracts and its compliance. There are free agencies (i.e., a literary agent reviews the manuscript and “accepts” it without prepayment), and paid agencies (where the author contributes a “starting” amount based on the volume of the submitted manuscript), which are very difficult to get into, but if you do get , then he can count on higher fees, and there will be almost no problems with the publication of any “opuses”. And of course, there are “internal” agencies that are involved in promoting the author and his works on the “own” market, among their own publishing houses, and “external” ones that are mainly concerned with the sale of subsidiary rights abroad and the translation of texts into other languages. Of course, this “orientation” of agencies is given for those countries where they exist “in abundance,” for example, in the USA, but even there, each of the agencies is very rare in its pure form. Agencies tend to experiment by the nature of their structure, which means they easily “buy” into different proposals, even “abstract” from their activities... But up to certain limits. Almost a third of the annual directory of US literary agents has an entry that, loosely translated, can be interpreted as “the agency is not currently seeking new contacts.” This means that people who play a decisive role in the company’s activities are overloaded with work and do not need “extra” income. It is believed that this is an objective indicator of the qualifications of agents and the company, the most genuine evidence of success. It also makes sense to stipulate that there are countries where there are very few literary agents in their real, “internal” form, practically none. This “situation” has developed, for example, in Germany and France. Agencies are not required where there is a practice of constant “reprinting” of each book until complete market “saturation”, where the degree of confidence of the author in the publishing house is such that he enters into contracts for, say, 30 or even 50 years, where the status of the publishing manager is rights is rated higher than the “merits” of any literary agent. As a rule, this manager enjoys impeccable business reputation, besides, he is personally responsible for compliance with contracts, so piracy practices (as is often done here) cannot be “covered up” with false bankruptcy. We do not have any of the three indicated components in relation to the author and publisher, and they will not appear soon. Not because we are very thieving (people with dubious inclinations have already been fairly “washed out” of the publishing environment; they are not satisfied with the book “norms” of income). It’s just that our Copyright Law is formulated in such a way that the merchant is “at the forefront.” And such a practice leads to a crisis, and this has already been proven, as, for example, the French book industry came to a crisis in the late fifties. In general, although this digression is not related to the topic of the article, it should be said that any provisions of the Law should have been “danced” by the author and publisher - that is, it would be necessary to “invest” in the Law a fixed price for each copy (copy) of the book, as done all over the world. Then we would get not a bunch of traders and the lack of control over their finances, resulting from the lack of control over their prices and sales, but “disinhibited” replication and the notorious practice of “saturating” the market, up to a drop in the price of those “commodity” stocks that lie in the warehouse of the awkward book wholesaler. Therefore, in principle, we would need literary agents. They do not “mortify” the book like a publisher who puts it aside after “pressing” it once. They are not hampered by the “difficulties” of booksellers, who are often in “counterposition” to the interests of the author and publisher. They are more mobile, freer and more aggressive in in a good way. Finally, they are often smarter and more experienced. And they are interested in selling the rights to books... But what is stopping them? The answer may seem paradoxical - the unpreparedness of the authors. By the time they receive the money, our authors begin to very “diligently” discuss whether the agent’s work was worth the money that he will have to pay. And in a good quarter of cases they try to deceive the agent in one way or another. In addition, the author always asks the agent to attach the manuscript once or twice... And then he himself goes to the publisher, calling himself a completely “promoted” writer. In the West, not a single agent will make frantic efforts at the initial, most difficult moment of any writing career, unless one takes into account the dividends that can be received after the “start”, when the author begins to “pursue pure goods.” This “infidelity” of writers “cuts down” all agents, even the most disinterested ones. Thirdly, this should also be kept in mind, our writer does not tolerate “commercial” amendments made by the agent, so to speak, “at hand.” Even if the agent has his own literary achievements, if he knows the market conditions in which he works, “three lengths ahead” of the author, any comments are still perceived as interference by an “amateur” in the creative process. This not only interferes with the literary agent, but often makes his work impossible. And finally, the last thing. A literary agent will almost certainly reject unprofessional manuscripts, but he is not an editor; even if he could improve a weak text, he will not do so, because it is not his job. And in our country professional texts so rarely reach the desks of trustworthy people that there is no need to “worry” about two or three cases a year. And it turns out that the weakness, underdevelopment of the “environment” that supplies texts, the rarity and small number of the writing fraternity simply does not “provide” the conditions for the economic survival of the “internal” agent. But what then does he do, what is his practice, what is the “filling” of the provisions formulated above, so to speak, of the literary agency “theory”? 2. What does our literary agent actually do? Mainly, the literary agent receives manuscripts, even if he asks not to send them. But they are sent anyway, because for aspiring writers, or those who no longer have the energy to “sell” their literary work, this is the only “suitable” solution. The ease of the author's "permission" to sell a manuscript pushes people with an adventurous streak down this path. Oddly enough, sometimes this works, the manuscript is “adjusted”, and then such an “intercessor” openly considers himself a full-fledged agent. Yes, and the authors think so... In fact, I don’t know a single person who would submit manuscripts a couple of times, and about whom there was no talk that he was a “breakthrough” agent. Although in fact, he is not an agent. There is the same difference here as between a girl who introduces her friend to a potential beau, and a professional matchmaker who has experience, a “database” of suitors, and knowledge of the psychological laws operating in this difficult “field of activity”... In our case, it should be understood that the one who “simply” added the manuscript is not yet an expert - he does not know the “rules of the game” that he got involved in, does not know the difficulties that often arise between a not very smart publisher and the author, and does not know way to overcome them. But what should we do if “real” agents often refuse to work with our authors for reasons already known to us? Well, firstly, an agent can still be “persuaded” to cooperate, and not necessarily by offering him an incredible fee. The following turns out to be “better” than money - the theme of the work, the ability to write, the presence of interesting characters, the life experience of the author... I personally “succumb” to correct, rich, precise speech. As soon as I hear a person who can “think out loud,” I begin to suspect that he can think “in writing,” and I agree to read the manuscript. That is, no matter how difficult it may be for an author who sells his opus to any literary agent, sometimes he still manages to do it. And a reputable agent, if he likes the text at least for some components, will definitely start “pushing” it into the publishing house, because no matter what I said before, a good manuscript will also contribute to his, the agent’s, image. An agent who is “concerned” with the manuscript is better than the option when the author himself trudges around publishing houses, listening to reproaches about the flaws in the text. Because the agent will force the author himself to correct these flaws, and corrections made “under the direction” of a knowledgeable person are a valuable lesson that is not forgotten. No publishing house will do this. There they will either reject the proposed “material” or make all the corrections themselves, and therefore the “technical” development of the author may stop. At least several times a year I come across such writers who, having written one (or even more than one) successful text, without “correcting” it sufficiently under the “guidance” of an experienced mentor, believe that they know how to write - in fact, they have already been published... And “disappointing” them can be very difficult, sometimes impossible. When the manuscript has reached some sort of “sellable” condition, the agent turns out to be useful in at least two more cases. He prohibits (if he treats his work responsibly) the author from “publishing” on the Internet - simply because a number of publishing houses, having learned that the manuscript has already been “lit up” in in electronic format, will not consider it, but these are “successful” publishing houses, as a rule, the very ones that a smart literary agent counts on in the first place. Secondly, the agent teaches the author, as already mentioned, to play by the rules and not break them. You see, the “marker” of a newbie is the inability to talk to the publisher adequately, without inflated expectations. I will never forget how I witnessed the amazing “phenomenon” of a young writer who brought his first, very short story to the publishing house, having previously, however, made several scripts “about animals” for TV. He came not alone, but with a girlfriend, who was supposed to look at him, batting her eyes in delight, and with a friend, whom he called his “agent,” although he was the same agent as a clay bullet. And he conducted negotiations, immediately “conditioning” the rights to sell “abroad”, demanding advertising promotion on TV in “prime time”, mentioning the conditions for the film adaptation of his opus... In general, having realized half of these demands, the publishing house refused with work with him. That’s when I realized that it was precisely the “gap” between the author’s behavior and the permanent “fatigue” of the publisher, to whom up to two hundred manuscripts can be received “by gravity” every month, that gave rise to the profession of a literary agent. You see, an editor is simply more comfortable communicating with someone who is prepared and knowledgeable person . By the “convenience” of negotiations for the publishing side, the agent “justifies” his profession, especially if he has done quality preliminary work - read the manuscript, helped “finish” it and correctly “calculated” the publishing house to which he applied. But such work several times a year does not provide the income necessary to “support the agent’s pants.” Therefore, many begin, as it seems to them, to successfully “earn extra money” by compiling, “scraping out” pre-convention (published before 1973, when the USSR signed the Geneva Convention on Copyright) publications from libraries. For some reason, this is also considered an agency practice. In fact, the one who “xerites” books in libraries, or “breaks through” the repositories of Soviet publishing houses, many of which have remained untouched to this day, is about the same literary agent as, for example, a bibliographer. That is, none, because everything has already been “composed” before him, and even more precisely. Such a figure is simply a “free hunter.” Best case scenario. Because there are also outright “looters” who do not care at all about the cultural component of their activity (in addition to the economic one), “thinking” only about their wallet. But these appear always and everywhere, so we won’t talk about them. Probably, this practice is a “simplification” of the activities of a “normal” literary agent, allowing him to survive, namely, contacts with Western agents and publishers, presenting their books in Russia, concluding contracts as a subagent and, of course, maintaining the terms of these contracts. Having established effective contacts with Westerners, the subagent can act in two ways. Either present Western authors on an equal basis with the manuscripts of our authors, or try what, if desired, can be called the practice of “packager”. This book “under-publisher” selects works, “packages” them under one cover or in a series, provides their translation, editing, artistic design, that is, carries out the entire cycle of editorial preparation, and then sells them to someone - someone who “invests” in the replication and sale of the resulting product. However, sometimes lazy packagers also sell books, and it is from this that they “get” the funds necessary to continue their existence. The difference between both options is visible by eye. Subagency "from" Westerners requires experience, skill, subtlety and psychological flexibility, but does not include a publishing component. And peking is “almost” publishing, only without replication. Since our authors never turn to packagers, this profession is “not too” known, and we can only have “Western”-oriented packagers who are engaged in buying rights “from there”... So we said these words - rights “from there” . 3. Purchases from there and sales there. The sub-agency of “Westerners” arose in the early nineties as a response to the need to fill the templates of publishing houses in the absence of books offering fresh, not mossy communist ideas. Of course, these were not completely “new” ideas for those who looked through the catalogs of Western publishing houses, but the difficulty was not in adapting these ideas. The point is to organize long-term contacts so that they work. That’s why all our active agents ended up with Western “derivatives”. Purchasing rights “from there” required skills - good knowledge of languages, the ability to choose sometimes from dozens of “almost” identical books (which did not exist in Russia at that time - it was believed that a single title “closes the topic”), the ability to politely reduce non-“international”, overpriced by our standards, fees, and guidance on possible contacts. The fact is that at that time the Westerners communicated with us very “easily”; they were curious to look at us “up close”, and this led, for example, to a huge number of “extra”, unproductive contacts. I still remember with horror the international fairs of that time - the number of negotiations exceeded a dozen a day, and this was 5-7 hours of work “for wear and tear”, and it was necessary to explain the situation not only to a Western colleague, but mostly to some “ to a representative of a publishing house from among us, who seemed to want to “get into” the situation, believing himself to be a “decisive” figure in the publishing business... It should be noted here that such an agent sometimes looks like an ordinary rights manager. But only “outwardly”. The difference is that the manager is a performer, almost a secretary in an “international” role, while an agent is the essence of the creator of his own book and legal policy, visible only to him. True, it should be said that by now there are almost no intelligent “purely” Western agents left. The trend of consolidation of publishing and production concerns has “included” all somewhat professional performers, requiring them to “surrender” to the position of rights manager. Even those who were once “registered” as small agency enterprises on one basis or another were simply bought up, a little later reorganized to suit the needs of the “big guys”. One way or another, the “scheme” worked, and even the overloads of that time contributed to the speedy - although I will not say that it was always error-free - introduction of “our” agency view into the unfamiliar environment of the Western book industry. And the books “went” from there. Moreover, their flow turned out to be quite a successful “vaccination” for some genres - women's novels, everyday psychology (self-help - English). , self-help), fortune telling, popular tests, books on healthy image life, some sports, computers, some popular science topics. This flow has given rise to a number of illusions that our authors have the same opportunity to enter the Western market as Westerners do to come to us. I repeat once again - this is an illusion. The market there is so saturated that you should understand that the “promotion” of any, especially foreign, author in the West requires a huge investment of funds (I always begin to “hesitate” when they offer me to sell works there, even by popular authors, say, in English) . After all, it is absurd to think that a literary agent can do this only because he has friends (sometimes many friends) in Western book publishing. Especially in Lately, because almost any options for cooperation were seriously undermined by the “Chechen” issue. And it’s quite difficult to blame the Westerners here - in their own way they are simply patriotic, and if the position of their countries is such that the Russians are “imperialists again,” then it is so. Not many people understand that the truth is not expressed by their media, that there are many nuances in this painful problem. To overcome this “effect,” I wrote “messages” that were very far from the literary agency routine, almost containing political reports. True, I knew who to write them to, and tried to make “my” point of view intelligent... All this would not have applied to literary agency practice at all, if this had not caused the “burst” of connections developed over the years. Another hindrance is a certain type of our businessmen, which Westerners accurately defined with the term “no problems” - these are people who respond to all difficulties with this established phrase, even where problems objectively exist. And of course, one cannot help but mention the huge number of incompetents who are trying to “bungle” things in their own way, with complete ignorance of how book publishers live and work in the West, which leads to a very unfavorable impression in general. But these people can still be understood somehow. What I don’t like most of all are our “contactors” who, under the guise of agents, “intercept” potential Western partners, supposedly “to work” on the Russian market, but buy the rights only “for themselves”, believing that in this way they have “extinguished "activity of competitors. Essentially, these are “legal trade scammers”, and this is no longer stupidity, not unprofessionalism, this is a malicious violation business ethics, and such “actors” as weeds are very clogging up the book publishing industry. True, recently they have learned to recognize them, and their “services” are skillfully refused. Because among our representatives “for the West” a system of recommendations and reputations has developed, although it is not flawless. The “gate” through which one can “enter” as a subagent and publishing partner of a reputable Western company has become narrower. But in order to avoid even the “edge” of your activity falling into any of these unseemly categories, it apparently makes sense to list the typical mistakes of a publisher when working with Westerners. The same as when collaborating with our agents. 4. What mistakes should a publisher not make? First of all, sad as it may be, we have to once again point out the most important “commandment” of a book publisher - do not steal. This is serious. The development of the industry in our country did not follow a completely straight path; to all the “obstacles” that arise “due to” the practice of legal trade, many publishers responded with the traditional “spoiled” implementation of the law... Without even noticing that the revenue side turns out to be over time There are fewer and fewer, and the market position of such “inventors” with their books is sharply “decreasing.” Indeed, the widespread and highly profitable piracy that happened, for example, with the sequel to Gone with the Wind, written by Ripley, when copies of hundreds of thousands literally scattered across the country, is a thing of the past. But there are more and more mechanisms to “influence” the pirate, to rein him in “through” shops and printing houses. And most importantly, there are already examples where such a pirate, even changing the sign before a new attempt to enter the market, still does not win anything. That is, by “stealing” something once or twice, you can put an end to the brand of the publishing house and the careers of the people working in it. The second thing that a publisher should avoid is to consider that a literary agent is a “nuisance.” It seems that this view is initially absurd, and yet it found its “adherents” after an article once published in “KO” under the authorship of Messrs. Mikhailov and Blyakherova. I’m not going to argue here, I’m just suggesting that you analyze the situation yourself and honestly. Everyone can be convinced that this point of view, even outwardly, does not lead to “profitable” practice. Third, as I said, it is important to distinguish between a rights manager and a literary agent. Among the first were people... “simply” knowing English, or another “strong” language. Despite the fact that they “sort of” agree to work for a lower salary and are extremely obedient, they have the “defect” that they, as a rule, are not “interested” in books. This means that they simply do not perform the functions that arise during the selection of books, which is necessary in conditions of already noticeable competition, “leading” their companies to completely catastrophic financial losses. I know “managers” who literally ruined other publishers, or, at best, slowed down their activity for months. The fourth mistake would be funny if it weren’t so common, and very smart publishers fell for it - we're talking about about sending copyright ("free") copies to the copyright holder. For some reason, many “forget” about this condition, always stipulated in the contract, and because of seven to ten copies of the book (or even less) they irretrievably lose valuable Western partners. An attempt to “atone” this sin after some time, as a rule, does not lead to success. You see, Westerners look at us, their “Russian friends,” literally through a magnifying glass, and if they even think that they are being treated incorrectly, they immediately “go deaf” mercilessly. Because the timely dispatch of these copies is traditionally considered one of the most “convincing” tests. There's nothing you can do, that's how they are "designed". It’s about the same “story” about the obligation to put the author’s copyright on the back of the title or front title, as this is also always “agreed” in the contract. As well as the “condition” to provide the title of the work and the name of the author in the original language, which for some reason is also often “forgot” to do. This constitutes the fifth mistake, now more “rare” than a couple of years ago, but I believe it is being eliminated precisely because in this “test of partnership” the Westerners were absolutely adamant from the very beginning, and those who often made it were simply left without their “participation”. Our industry was experiencing last years not the most "fun" times, and it often happens that the situation, according to external signs While not being a force majeure event, it is in fact one. In such cases, if you do not want to deceive your Western partner, you have to explain yourself to him, prove your honesty and goodwill, your desire and ability to get out of a conflict that is unpleasant for both parties without violating your obligations. This is fine. The trouble and the sixth mistake of our publishers is that for some reason they often did not inform the Westerner, but hung “noodles on his ears.” This is where this “defect” arises. Westerners, as a rule, are no more stupid than us, often even more sophisticated people, and therefore I react harshly to the “embellishment” of the situation, as well as to the habit of “crying” to them unnecessarily. Especially lately. Hence my advice - don’t lie! Those who followed him, as a rule, solved their problems, while those to whom “noodles” seemed like a “way out” of the situation quickly lost both their partners and the opportunity to work with transfer books. And one last thing. Of course, you can work with Western agencies and publishers by correspondence. It is not difficult now to master the Internet scheme, which is almost instantaneous in speed. But at the same time, one cannot help but “shine” at least once a year at some international fair. Frankfurt is the most “suitable” for us; by the way, it is indeed the most democratic and friendly. But a very strong impression is made by, say, entering into general lists a participant or at least a guest, a company or a responsible person from a company of the London Fair. The fact is that it is from the catalogs of this “English” fair that the activity of the “mysterious” Russian partner is assessed. And another way, even more difficult, is to “arrange” long-term, often very informal contacts with a Western partner, but this requires time, perseverance, the ability and desire to “be friends” with people who are very psychologically different from us, and of course, frequent technically impeccable purchase of at least any books from him. If these qualities are not present - and many of our publishers, except the most “advanced” ones, do not have them - “cooperation” may not arise at all. Now I’ll give you a couple of illustrations - which I personally don’t like. Not “in terms of” self-promotion, but because, although these “blunders” cannot be called a real mistake, and it is unreasonable to include them in the above list, the publisher should keep them in mind. So, I stop all—I repeat, all—contacts with any partner if the publishing house “steals” my book. It doesn’t matter which one - a cheap reissue with a cover, or an expensive photo album, indispensable for my work. And it doesn’t matter who stole it - the editor-in-chief, who “thought” that only he could like the book, or a random translator, trying to get a “souvenir” for his work in this way. It’s not very pleasant to talk about this, but somehow I handed over to Mr. Uspensky the photo album “Material World”, a publication where in documentary and photographic terms everything that the average family owns, it seems, in 47 countries of the world, was examined, from a toilet and saucepans to cars. An interesting publication and “indicative” for Russia at that moment. I never saw this album again. And I don’t work with Vagrius. There is a second reason why I am ending the collaboration. It is a little more complicated and requires explanation. At the initial stage, when the publisher considers Western catalogues, goes through options and evaluates its financial capabilities, you can do almost anything - be capricious, make exorbitant demands, bargain on advances and royalty percentages, but... When the conditions are negotiated, and most importantly, when the Western partner sends contracts, all sorts of “wiggling” stop. The contract, even if it seems absurd - although such things usually do not happen - is better to fulfill. This is where “often” someone from the management suddenly “switches on” and tries to “reverse” the agreement. But this cannot be done. Because you cannot explain to any of the Westerners that the rights manager turned out to be not fully capable - either he did not inform the management of his company, or this same management was too lazy to first consider the planned work. They believe - and quite rightly - that the decision has been made, and they have spent highly paid time (as opposed to the prices for our “legal” managers) to prepare and execute contracts, and therefore the Russian publisher is obliged to fulfill it. By the way, when I warn our publishers about this “strangeness,” they promise to take it into account. But several times I have had contracts that, when sent by mail, turned out to be “no longer” needed. Then you have to leave, even from the publisher with interesting program . For this reason, for example, I do not work at Veche, which refused to fulfill more than a dozen contracts, and with three other smaller publishing houses. There is one more Western “nonsense” that is better to be taken into account, although here I no longer “strive” to immediately break off relations, namely, their requirement to send reports on the “sale” condition of the book and the remaining circulation in the warehouse. And the Westerners themselves do not strictly demand this, having learned that we do not have a computer system as perfect as theirs for recording each specimen at any given time, in any corner of the country. They only wonder why it is difficult to obtain this information if in contracts we do not state bookselling “conditions”, but take into account only publishing warehouses. But they still understand that if this is not the case, then “loading” our publishers with “additional” work may turn out to be costly for some. And they retreat. But if the Westerner is stubborn, it is better to make this calculation at least approximately. To be honest, I didn’t really want to mention the above “postulates”, believing in the simplicity of my soul that smart publishers themselves “have a mustache”, and the rest must learn, or they will have to refuse to publish books “from there”. But practice shows that book publishers believe that they know everything in the world much better than any “side advisors”... And this is observed precisely at the level of “middle” publishing houses, which in the near future, unless something unexpected happens, will try to be “active” in the market to the greatest extent. This is especially evident at the time of “selecting” books, assessing their commercial viability, which when working with Westerners also grows - due to the development of their market - into a serious problem. In fact, there are a lot of books “out there”, and it is not at all easy to navigate this “sea” of ideas and proposals. There was a time when decisions about publication were made... based on the cover of the book. If I liked the cover, they could have published it, but it seemed somehow “not like that” - too smart or exotic - and they put it off. Only recently it became clear that the choice follows “by contradiction”, that the themes of “feng shui”, “origami” or “popular history” sell much better than the boring fortune-telling according to Miller. It was only due to “circumstances” that the selection of books, the choice of what should be bought “there” and what should be made by “our” analogues, suddenly began to be understood as a problem requiring intelligence and qualifications. And this is very good. This shows that the attitude of our publishers to the book market is changing from the plot “by analogy” of those already on sale to the paradigm of publications “in anticipation” of reader interest. What happens here is that the literary agent is constantly engaged in this work; by virtue of his profession, he “monitors” both Western and our “internal” proposals, which not even a smart publisher requires from its rights manager, even if there is one. If it is not there, then the value of this “specificity” of the agent increases many times. And “suddenly” it turned out that this work is to a large extent creative... And the future of our agencies depends on “understanding” how much a literary agency is a commercial “enterprise” and how much a “creative” system. 5. What is the future of our literary agents? It should be recognized that the system as a whole has developed. We have several conscientious domestic agents working for the West too. There are a number of representatives of powerful Western structures that understand our specifics quite well. We have agents who have become established and are capable of developing their capabilities - they are “even” showing interest in selling our rights “there”, although in reality, in my opinion, this will not soon become fully operational. Therefore, it probably won’t be too far-fetched to conclude that this profession has prospects for the future. Of course, they depend on the state of the industry as a whole, on what financial “relief” will develop in book publishing. But this is normal, it cannot be that one specialty suddenly “breaks away” from all the others. What is somewhat frightening is a certain general “crisis” on our horizon, “fatigue” of previous ideas and, of course, a decline in interest in a certain kind of books. But the “lafa” of the first half of the nineties could not last all the time; books should not “fly away” simply because they were printed at a somewhat decent printing level. Therefore, it will be necessary to work very professionally, and accurately, and correctly “in essence”, according to commercial calculations, and not according to “appearance” and random guessing of reader interest. That is, again, creatively. And the literary agent here, no matter how much some publishers “honor” him, can be a “figure”. Because, in principle, in many respects, he is “not a manager.” He has his own ideas, his own preferences, his own tastes, his own performing skills. This is the only way he provides a wide selection of books, a variety of topics, does not just “stuff” the template with hundreds of titles, but “gives” productive ideas and fresh solutions... If this is not the case, then he is not a literary agent at all, but simply a secretary when concluding contracts , and the conversation about it should be different, say, according to the category of office accounting. So, I assert that literary agents are “not an extra wheel” now, but they will be needed to an even greater extent in the future, especially those who work with quality and variety, across the entire “spectrum” of their profession. After all, more and more publishers are beginning to understand that smart specialists cannot be obtained quickly and cheaply. And those agents who have mastered this difficult, but interesting work, have proven this in the most clear way... Would you like to join?If we immediately get personal, then the entrepreneur from Alexander Korzhenevsky would seem to be useless: accounting difficulties, in his own words, are “beyond his understanding”, he is obsessed with great-hearted ideas, which often have a very distant relation to commerce, and even, in addition to everything - an avid bookworm and fan of science fiction. Investors shy away from such things like hell from incense. Fortunately, for Alexander’s enterprise they were of no use.
Just such a person was able to create a business, albeit small, but noticeable on the scale of Russia and “very effective”, according to the reviews of his competitors. Alexander became the founder of the first literary agency in our country. Almost all domestic publishers, of those that actively publish translations of foreign authors, know his name. It’s just that at one fine moment, having contacted a Western publishing house about acquiring rights, they received the answer: “Our interests in your country are represented by the literary agency of Alex Korzhenevsky. Please contact him."
Alexander started as a private entrepreneur in 1991. Today, the entire enterprise consists of, as they say, “two and a half people” - Alexander himself, his wife and an assistant who comes from time to time. Judging by external signs, the scope is not very large. But this is generally characteristic of the activity called “litigation.” English literary agent Christopher Little, for example, manages the affairs of his client, the writer JK Rowling, quite deftly, managing the multimillion-dollar intellectual property called Harry Potter in many countries around the world from his small office in south-east London.
A business built on obsession
Naked enthusiasm, it would seem, is not best foundation For profitable enterprise. The path of Alexander Korzhenevsky, a Baumanka graduate, to become a literary agent began in the 1980s and ran through... a tank training ground. He worked in a Moscow “mailbox”, designed shells and often traveled to the Urals on business trips. While his colleagues, on long winter evenings in the absence of other entertainment, exhausted each other with endless conversations over vodka, Alexander “swallowed” the books of foreign science fiction writers brought with him to English language. When his business trip was once again extended, and the books ran out, Alexander, in order to kill time, took up translations of the stories he liked. The first experiments of an amateur translator—a technician who studied English in courses and then on his own—produced monstrous results. “But I only realized this later,” Alexander smiles. “At first it seemed to me that I was perfect, and for some reason the magazines returned my translations...” In 1983, the first magazine publication did take place, which greatly encouraged Alexander: with his engineer’s salary of 130 rubles, the fee amounted to as much as 83. Immediately a means of production was purchased - a typewriter. And my relatives have finally calmed down about the rampant spending on expensive foreign books. Further - more, it came to the translation of novels, and by 1987 it became finally clear: the profession of a translator feeds much better than the profession of an engineer. After resigning from a secret enterprise, Korzhenevsky received a pleasant opportunity to correspond with his idols - foreign science fiction writers. Those, of course, were extremely pleased to learn from the letters of their Russian correspondent that their books were being translated and sold in gigantic editions in the USSR, but... But what about royalties, actually? At that time, our country was distinguished by the most unbridled book - and not only book - “piracy”. And no VAAP, which was then involved in copyright protection in our country, could do anything about it. It is clear that the author’s fees should be paid by the publisher, not the translator, but Alexander was still terribly embarrassed in front of the writers whom he sincerely admired. It turned out that he, unwittingly, was a member of the “pirate gang.” He tried to help some of his idols, on his own initiative getting involved in long and dense correspondence with our publishers, and even managed several times to “knock something out of them” in favor of the authors. But these were pitiful and unproductive attempts of a loner.
Around then, Alexander had the idea of opening his own literary agency, which would represent the interests of Western publishers and authors in Russia. The idea is a little crazy: to make a business selling rights to one-sixth of the land, over which the Jolly Roger flies shamelessly, and where the grappling hook rule applies...
Western publishers who knew each other through correspondence morally supported the idea, although they did not have much faith in the success of the business: everything looked very neglected. And they were in no hurry to send catalogs and book samples to Russia.
And so in 1992, Alexander Korzhenevsky, with $240 in his pocket, went to the USA for two months to establish personal contacts. First, he made a “pilgrimage” to Orlando (Florida) to the Science Fiction Convention, then moved to New York, where he settled in a YMCA dormitory and began spending his days visiting the offices of book publishers and literary agents. This Russian must have made a slightly strange impression on his American interlocutors. “A modestly dressed man, but with a sparkle in his eyes, which intensified many times over at the sight of books,” is how Alexander described himself at that time. It was difficult to convince potential partners that it was possible to receive money from Russia for published translated works. “I could not guarantee anything to the Western copyright holders except my own tenacity and stubbornness.” But still, he returned home with the status of “exclusive representative” of a number of publishing houses, supported by oral agreements.
How much do rights to books by foreign authors cost in Russia?
Typical royalty rates: 9% for paperback, 10% for hardcover (calculated based on the publisher's average wholesale price for the book).
After concluding a contract for the transfer of copyright, the domestic publisher makes an advance payment, which averages $1,000–$1,500. If we are talking about a global bestseller, then the payment can be many times higher, especially when several publishers begin to argue for the right to publish and an auction is held. There are already examples in Russia when the initial payment was over 50 thousand dollars.
The advance payment is subsequently taken into account when paying royalties. According to established practice in the West, the publisher must prepare sales reports and make payments to the copyright holder every six months.
A literary agent, representing the interests of foreign copyright holders, receives a fee of 5–10% of all payments under the contract.
The matter got off the ground. Boxes with catalogs and samples of books began to arrive from abroad. The agency of Alexander Korzhenevsky initially housed five thousand publications and... his own family, since the office of the first Russian literary agent worked right at his place of registration - in a room in a communal apartment in the capital's Izmailovo district. Alexander was very complex about this. After all, business is such that partners must be invited to come to you - given the opportunity to delve into the “samples”. And then some “unfingered” Russian publisher goes to visit him on the outskirts of Moscow “to, like, publish books,” enters a communal apartment, trips in the corridor over the felt boots of his grandmother-neighbor... What a situation! But still the work went on. Rights began to be acquired, foreign rights holders felt the impact, and began to transfer Alexander’s contacts to colleagues.
“A literary agent hatched from a communal apartment” was the headline they once wrote about him in one “yellow” newspaper in the early 90s. However, some time later, Alexander was able to afford to rent a real, quite decent office.
War with "pirates"
Everyone involved in the publishing business sometimes wonders how quickly the Russian book market cleared itself of “piracy” and began to play by the rules accepted throughout the civilized world, and without special effort from the state. Alexander Korzhenevsky became not only a witness to how this happened, but also an active participant in the process. And one of the most interested parties - due to the specifics of their own business. “To be honest, I expected much stronger resistance from our publisher,” Alexander says now.
Pioneer agents still recall how at first they encountered the sincere surprise of some Russian “book” businessmen: “Buy the rights to publish? A promising book? What are you talking about? You'd better just sell us the book, without the rights. And we’ll do it ourselves somehow: we’ll translate it, publish it...”
It would seem, what could a modest literary agent do with the “pirates”? What real leverage did he have? No army of lawyers, no “Sonderkommandos” to seize counterfeit copies. But only tricks, tricks and several forms of light innocent “blackmail”.
— Then there was only one way: to “pit” publishers against each other. “Oh, did you “spiral”? Either pay, or I will do this: I will sell the rights to another Russian publisher, and then you will not be dealing with me (yes, I am alone, and small!), but with a large publishing structure, whose rights you have violated!” Our times were wild back then. I don’t mean that everything was decided with the help of pistols and machine guns. The legal acquirer of rights could always put pressure on bookselling structures, telling them: “My publication is legal, but this one is counterfeit, it should not be accepted for sale!” And it worked. So, for the most part, no one even had to sue the “pirates.”
Gradually, it became a matter of pride for respectable publishers to say in their circle: “Have you heard? We bought the rights to this!” - “And that’s what we’re up to!”
“Now it seems to me that during the time of general “piracy,” most of our publishers still felt uneasy deep down,” says Alexander. — In the early nineties, private firms could already purchase foreign currency at quite legally transfer money under contracts abroad. There were no formal reasons not to pay foreign authors. Moreover, we were not talking about some huge sums.
It was easier to pay: you feel like a decent person, and you can sleep peacefully - a competitor with the same book will not enter the market. They paid, among other things, after the fact - for their past “pirate” adventures in order to be able to buy the rights to subsequent works of this or that author. Market self-regulation is a great thing. It has reached the point, as market observers claim, that there is no trace of “pirated” translated literature in domestic bookstores. If the state decided to regulate the process from above, in its own way, it would need an army of officials to keep track of the powerful flow of literature that is translated and published in the country. And so it’s quiet and quiet: competing publishers themselves keep a vigilant eye on each other and will not fail to be indignant if, beyond their expectations, they spot “piracy.”
— I like to repeat: authors and literary agents have very long and dark memories. Both of them do not forgive bad attitude towards themselves. There are domestic publishers that I still don’t allow onto my doorstep. These are those who once allowed themselves to behave unworthily. By the way, it’s surprising but true: almost everyone who resisted and did not want to move on to the normal process eventually left the book business.
Everyday life of a Russian literary agent
In the West, where literary agents began to appear more than two hundred years ago, this business is now quite widespread. British directories list the addresses of hundreds of professional literary agencies, American ones - many thousands. There, agents have long since begun to specialize depending on the subject matter and genre of works. Based on the nature of the services provided, literary agents are divided into two categories. The so-called primary agencies ("primary agencies") find promising authors, help with advice in creating a manuscript, and sometimes even edit it, in order to then attach it to some publishing house and receive a reward for their work in the amount of 10-20% of the due amount. royalties to the author. The literary agent guards the interests of the author, settling all commercial issues related to the use of his intellectual property: “Just write, don’t be distracted!” When it comes to selling the rights to publish a book abroad, the “primary” agencies and copyright holder publishers usually resort to the help of so-called subagencies (“sub-agencies”), working directly in a given country. This is not at all an extra link, not a useless intermediary who receives his commission. The literary subagent assists foreign partners in concluding a contract and ensures a situation in which their rights will not be violated. And it makes the process of acquiring rights easier for compatriot publishers.
The current situation in the Russian book market is that we employ only literary subagents, that is, “importers” who supply copyrights from foreign copyright holders to Russian publishers. Moreover, for our entire country, which publishes a lot of translated literature, there are... only 4 professional literary agencies. The list is very laconic: our hero's agency, Rights and Translations, Andrew Nuremberg Literary Agency and Synopsis. All except Alexander Korzhenevsky are representatives of foreign literary agencies. Why so few? Just right, experts say. These four have long divided among themselves the main foreign “suppliers” of rights and are not sitting without work. “There are few competitors, but there is a lot of competition,” this is how Elizabeth Van Leer, the owner of the Synopsis agency with offices in London and Moscow, briefly explains the situation.
The literary agent who believed in Harry Potter
Everything connected with the birth of Harry Potter in 1996 is now almost a legend. For example, the story of how an unemployed teacher, single mother, JK Rowling wrote her first book in a cafe in Edinburgh, so as not to spend extra money on steam heating in her apartment...
The role of her literary agent, whose name is Christopher Little, is also quite remarkable. Having received the first chapters of a book by an unknown author about a young wizard in the mail, Little’s assistant sent them straight to the shelf with the inscription “Refuse.” She knew that the boss did not take on children's books - they were not profitable. But Little had a useful habit of looking through the manuscripts of the “refuseniks” from time to time. He fished out Harry Potter and decided that the boy might still be good. But he considered it his duty to honestly warn Joan when they met: “This is all very cool, but remember: it won’t bring real money!”
Potter was immediately rejected by the eminent publishers Pinguin, TransWorld and HarperCollins, not to mention the mass of unfamous ones. The middling publisher Bloomsbery finally agreed to Little to publish a book about Harry and paid Joan a modest advance of £1,500. Art. What follows is well known: Harry Potter, initially without even any advertising support, set out to conquer the world and, as a result, made the writer herself multimillionaires,
and her literary agent, who is rumored to receive an increased commission of 20%.
A reasonable question: in addition to the “import” of rights, there is also such a vast and uncultivated field as the search and promotion of promising domestic authors. Is it really impossible to make money on Russian talents?
Alexander smiles sadly:
“Anyone who now in Russia takes up and devotes 100 percent of their time to this will very quickly die of hunger. See for yourself. Let's say, on the one hand, there is a manuscript (most likely still raw) of our unknown, even very talented, author. On the other hand, it is an already established book, published by a Western publishing house and with a certain history of international recognition. What is more profitable for me, a literary agent, to work with? The answer is obvious. Especially when you consider that the fees for beginning writers in our country are ridiculous amounts of money: 300-400 dollars. As for well-known and popular authors, they resolve all issues with publishers without our help, and sooner or later they make their way to the West on their own.
According to Alexander Korzhenevsky, all the “distortions” that exist in the field of Russian book publishing are a consequence of the fact that books in our country, for historical and economic reasons, are very cheap. The average publishing price of a book in Russia in 2003 was $1.22, and the retail price was $2.4. In the West, books cost several times, or even an order of magnitude more, which allows the author, publisher, and bookseller to make good money. And if the literary agent is lucky, he also gets something. Until the situation with the price of books in Russia changes, we will not face a boom in the development of literary agency as a business.
How can we monitor how accurately Russian publishers fulfill their obligations to foreign copyright holders? After all, it would seem that the publishing house has a lot of ways to “minimize” royalty payments - for example, “announce” reduced sales volumes or a lower selling price.
“We are a literary agency, not a detective agency,” explains Alexander. “We have neither the strength nor the time to spy on our Russian partners. And I’m still sure: we are not being seriously deceived. There is “public control” of competitors. And the publishers themselves value their reputation.
It is much more difficult to establish a process for regular payment of royalties for published works. Not because they don’t want to pay, but because it requires the routine work of compiling sales reports every six months. For many Russian publishing houses, this is a painful and unpleasant responsibility.
Litagent Alexander Korzhenevsky at work is a spectacle devoid of external dynamics: browsing catalogues, leafing through books, making calls, processing orders, endless correspondence with foreign partners: who is the copyright holder? Have the rights to this name been sold?
“Sometimes you even start to hate the letters themselves.” Because your whole life revolves around words and books. I still love science fiction, but sometimes I catch myself taking an overly professional approach: you read and constantly get caught up in the roughness of the text or the flaws in the translation. Agree, this is no longer a 100% pleasure to read.
But in this work Alexander found himself. “It wasn’t possible to get fabulously rich, but you can earn a very decent living,” he says. Moreover, he brought the dream of an avid bibliophile to life: publishing houses different countries without any reminder they rush to send him all the most interesting, most recently published things. Read it - I don’t want to!
Literary agents, as a rule, become former editors - over the years of work they have developed a certain commercial sense, and they know all the necessary moves and exits.
Literary agent in the West
In the West, a literary agent is an integral part of the book business. He reviews the manuscript and, if he sees potential in it, proposes it for publication. It saves publishers from contacts with graphomaniacs, and gives writers the opportunity to sell their works on the most favorable terms - that is, it saves all market participants time and money.
Functions of a literary agent
The agent always tries to provide his client with the most profitable contract, since his own income directly depends on the writer's income - he receives from 10 to 20 percent of the author's royalties. On average, agents charge 15 percent for mediation and 20 percent for selling translation rights.
Primary agents and subagents
Literary agents can be roughly divided into two categories: primary agents and subagents.
Literary agents in Russia
Real primary literary agencies in Russia are an extremely rare phenomenon, and main reason In addition, low fees: fifteen percent of a writer's penny earnings is not worth all the trouble.
However, literary stars with large advances and royalties often use primary agents. They proceed from the fact that a writer should not burden his head with commercial issues. His job is to write, the agent's job is to sell what he has written.
Publisher-agents
Many small Russian publishing houses, in fact, perform agency functions: they look for manuscripts for a larger partner and resell them at a markup. This is where they differ from traditional literary agents: they do not work for a percentage of the author's royalties, but either for the difference between the purchase and sale price of a manuscript to a large publishing house, or for a share of its sale to wholesalers. As a rule, these publishing agencies also prepare the text for printing, and the printing and distribution is undertaken by a large partner.
How to find a literary agent?
Mostly, agents are found either via the Internet or through recommendations. Manuscripts are offered to agencies in exactly the same order as to publishing houses: , and the main text (unless otherwise specified on the agent’s website).
Cooperation with an agent
If you receive an offer for cooperation, make sure that you are pleased to work with this person. The agent will be the only thread that will connect you with the big book world, so you must be sure that he:
a) is quite professional in his field;
b) has an impeccable reputation;
c) will regard you as a respected client and will devote as much effort and time to your book as it should;
d) has convincing evidence of success, namely a list of clients whose manuscripts he has submitted to publishing houses.
If an agent refers to the confidentiality of such information, there is no point in dealing with him.
A good literary agent is someone who doesn't make you worry about the fate of your book. Closeness and reluctance to share essential information is a bad sign.
Be interested in the progress of events. Ask your agent who he sent your manuscript to and what responses he received.
Negotiate the conditions for terminating the contract in advance. Leave yourself an escape route in case something doesn’t suit you (for example, a significant delay in submitting your manuscript to the publishing house).
Rogue agents
Never pay an agent to review your book. The agent should make money by selling the rights to the manuscript, not you. You can find a lot of Russian-language literary agencies on the Internet, but among them there are very few who actually help publish a book for a percentage of the fee. Most try to take money from writers for copyright protection, posting texts on the site, proofreading, editing and writing reviews.
All this, of course, has nothing to do with real agency work.
