Nathan Bransford

Biography

Nathan Bransford is the author of JACOB WONDERBAR AND THE COSMIC SPACE KAPOW, a middle grade novel about three kids who blast off into space, break the universe, and have to find their way back home, which will be published by Dial Books for Young Readers in May 2011. He was a literary agent with Curtis Brown Ltd. from 2002 to 2010, but is now a publishing civilian working in the tech industry. He lives in San Francisco with his wife Alison Presley.


Nathan Bransford latest blog posts

Imagining a Post-Amazon World

posted on Tuesday 21st of May 2013

A few weeks back I wondered why publishers haven't taken the initiative to begin selling e-books in a more-agressive way, and especially why they don't empower authors to sell their own e-books. Reader Steve Davidson took that a step further and wonders why an author with a platform needs a publisher or distributor at all: Very interesting, but I don't think it takes things far enough.  What I have been wondering of late is - why are ...

The Last Few Weeks in Books 5/20/13

posted on Monday 20th of May 2013

Brooklyn Heights. Photo by me. I'm on Instagram here. Lots and lots of links stored up from the past few weeks, let's get to them! It hasn't been long since the courts rejected a settlement between the Authors Guild and Google over Google's bookscanning project, which many people characterized as far too generous to Google. Well, now the Authors Guild is taking a different tack. They're suing Google for $3 billion (disclosure: link is to...

Why I'm Paying Someone to Edit My Guide to Writing a Novel

posted on Thursday 16th of May 2013

A few months ago I announced that I'm going to be self-publishing a guide to writing a novel, and I'm pleased to report that I have finished and edited my first draft! It has 42 chapters plus an epilogue, it covers both writing and revising, and it has more references to space monkeys than you can shake a fist at. Now it's time to get it edited. And I'm going to pay for a professional editor. Why you might ask? I don't think everyone out t...

How Do You Plan to Publish Your Work-in-Progress?

posted on Tuesday 14th of May 2013

I have not been a literary agent for over two-and-a-half years now. The main way strangers contact me is through my blog, through a link under my bio, which says I was "formerly a literary agent." I still. get. query letters. Query letters are the zombies in my life. Just when I think it's safe to open my e-mail, they sneak in and send a chill down my spine. So from my vantage point, it sure seems like quite a few people out there are still...

How to Do Your Chores in 12 Easy Steps

posted on Monday 13th of May 2013

Step 1: Start a novel Step 2: Write 50 pages in a month Step 3: Write 5 pages in the next two months Step 4: Stare at the screen Step 5: Despair Step 6: Open a closet Step 7: Eye cleaning supplies longingly Step 8: Clean every square inch of your apartment/house, marveling at how much more fun you're having than writing your novel Step 9: Find a filing cabinet, organize it Step 10: Find tiles, scrub them with a toothbrush Step 11: Ru...

Publishers Should Empower Authors to Sell Their Own E-books

posted on Wednesday 8th of May 2013

Despite having extensive distribution operations, publishers have long been extremely reluctant to sell books directly to customers. Whether for lack of retail expertise, out of fear of competing with bookstores they need to thrive, or lack of concrete vision, publishers have completely ceded the e-book and e-retailing landscape to Amazon and others. Even Bookish, a site built by three publishers, is oriented around discovery and not e-bookse...

Has HBO's "Game of Thrones" Surpassed the Books?

posted on Monday 6th of May 2013

In a battle fitting for Westeros, I've started wondering if the HBO series "Game of Thrones" has managed to surpass George R.R. Martin's books. The list of movies and TV shows that have managed to be better than the books they're based on is pretty small. The Godfather, basically, and a few others. It's simply extremely difficult for filmmakers to match the depth and scope of novels, and seeing characters and events on the screen almost...
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