Welcome to the AbsoluteWrite Water Cooler! Please read The Newbie Guide To Absolute Write

editing for authors ad

A publisher or agency using Google ads to solicit your novel probably isn't anyone you want to write for.


Go Back   Absolute Write Water Cooler > Discussion > AW Roundtable
Register FAQ Calendar Mark Forums Read

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 06-25-2009, 03:43 AM   #1
Aztecsince79
figuring it all out
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 53
Aztecsince79 is on a distinguished road
Book Packagers

I noticed a category on WM.com called "packagers."

What is a packager and how do they differ from agents and publishers?

Thanks.
Aztecsince79 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-25-2009, 09:46 AM   #2
Gillhoughly
Grumpy writer and editor
Absolute Sage
 
Gillhoughly's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Getting blitzed at Gillhoughly's Reef, Haleakaloha.
Posts: 4,902
Gillhoughly is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsGillhoughly is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsGillhoughly is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsGillhoughly is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsGillhoughly is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsGillhoughly is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsGillhoughly is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsGillhoughly is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsGillhoughly is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsGillhoughly is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsGillhoughly is so great that we've run out of appropriate compliments
A packager puts together book deals.

Walk into any bookstore, find a collection of short stories by different writers, and chances are that a packager (often the editor) put it together.

The one I'm most familiar with is Tekno Books, which does a lot of anthology deals.

Martin H. Greenberg has been doing this kind of thing for a couple decades now.

When he sells a marketable idea to a publisher, sometimes with a famous writer partnering, contacts whatever writers might work well for it, and asks if they'd like to write a story for him. I've done quite a few stories for Tekno and learned a lot from him. He pays FAST, so he's quite a favorite with writers!

Sometimes there's an open call, an announcement that so and so is looking for authors to write such and such, but usually it is by invitation only, sent to writers with a solid track record of sales who can meet a deadline.

Only rarely have I ever seen a newbie sell a first story. In a couple cases I sponsored the newbies myself, helping them make their first pro sales. I'm proud to have been able to do that!

The most important info a packager can give the writer: the theme of the anthology, payment per word, maximum word length, and the deadline.

So it's: "Hey, Gill, I just sold a collection about magical allergies to Ace. Can you do a story for six cents a word, no more than 6K words, and get it in by October 1st? You can? Great!"

Other packagers do OTHER kinds of book deals, but this is the kind I'm most familiar with.

Last edited by Gillhoughly; 06-25-2009 at 10:14 PM.
Gillhoughly is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-25-2009, 10:36 AM   #3
James D. Macdonald
Your Genial Uncle
Absolute Sage
 
James D. Macdonald's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: New Hampshire
Posts: 22,789
James D. Macdonald is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsJames D. Macdonald is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsJames D. Macdonald is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsJames D. Macdonald is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsJames D. Macdonald is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsJames D. Macdonald is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsJames D. Macdonald is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsJames D. Macdonald is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsJames D. Macdonald is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsJames D. Macdonald is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsJames D. Macdonald is so great that we've run out of appropriate compliments
Things like movie tie-ins, insta-books, and series novels (e.g. Sweet Valley High) are often packaged as well.
__________________
The Clockwork Trollop
A steampunk erotic-horror story by
Debra Doyle and James D. Macdonald
James D. Macdonald is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Custom Search

If this site is helpful to you,
Please consider a voluntary subscription to defray ongoing expenses.

Buy Scrivener 2 for Mac OS X (Regular Licence)


All times are GMT +4.5. The time now is 11:12 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.5
Copyright ©2000 - 2013, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=146273
absolutewrite.com
crawl=CC-MAIN-2013-48
63710
application/http; msgtype=response
sha1:MTL7AX4UOJAD2LMU3ZJ7MBD53SDCPHRI
<urn:uuid:df852ddb-19f3-4505-b4e2-e961ed9c2f33>
2013-12-10T06:42:11Z
184.168.82.237
sha1:B5WVQFO34LMRSEUJ7VT43TOLEIJQF6PI
<urn:uuid:a61ba5a0-fbf8-44c1-83fa-d8de274873fc>
http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=146273
response
<urn:uuid:b9dd2a72-c04d-4997-8663-7ec0df2e6b17>
robots: classic
hostname: ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal
software: Nutch 1.6 (CC)/CC WarcExport 1.0
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2013-48
operator: CommonCrawl Admin
description: Wide crawl of the web with URLs provided by Blekko for Winter 2013
publisher: CommonCrawl
format: WARC File Format 1.0
conformsTo: http://bibnum.bnf.fr/WARC/WARC_ISO_28500_version1_latestdraft.pdf