But maybe I’m wrong!

So tell me a little bit about YOU, please. I’d love to know more about my readers. Are you a writer? Or just interested in the industry? Are you a fan of my clients? Are you represented, or seeking an agent? Are you published? What’s your favorite kind of shoes? Favorite book? Favorite genre? Favorite tv show?

And to make it super interesting, I will pick one random commenter to win a galley of The Name of The Star. Get to chatting!

I’m asking because tomorrow is the last About My Query post I have currently scheduled, and I’m thinking about taking a break from them. Maybe. Or mixing them up with something else, perhaps, but I don’t yet know what that “something else” might be. I’m always going to use this space to talk about my authors and their books, but I really do want to make sure it serves a useful and entertaining purpose for you, too.

So, what do you want to see here? Let’s get some ideas in the comments, please!

But what does that MEAN? Moonrat explains some, but I’ll add my own thoughts as well.

In terms of Full Fiscal Disclosure, as an author, you are entitled to all the information your agent receives about the financial status of your books. Have they earned out? By how much? How many copies have sold? When money comes in from a publisher, your share should be sent to you within 5 to 10 business days of receipt (specific times may vary depending on each agent, but should be laid out in writing in your agent agreement). In addition, all money for an agent’s clients should be kept in a separate bank account than the one the agent uses for his or her general business expenses. This is a standard set out by the Association of Author’s Representatives (the AAR), an organization I’m proud to have officially joined. To whit:

Members must maintain separate bank accounts for money due their clients so that there is no commingling of clients’ and members’ funds. Members shall deposit funds received on behalf of clients promptly upon receipt, and shall make payments of domestic earnings due clients promptly, but in no event later than ten business days after clearance.

It’s the second rule in the AAR’s Canon of Ethics, which shows how important it is.

Comfortable Communication is a less structured idea, but basically, I see it as this: if you’re my client, I have time for you. Always. You want to know what’s going on with your book? I’m going to tell you. Your emails are not ignored, and any question you may have for me is treated with respect and due consideration. Now, does that mean that I’m going to respond to your worried emails at 11:35pm instantaneously? Probably not, but then again, I just might. What I’m not going to do is ignore them for days.

I hear about these authors who don’t get responses from their agents to emails or phone calls for weeks on end, and I just don’t understand! Sure, something may come up in a day, and I might not be able to respond to your question the same day I receive it (probably because I’m dealing with something else for another client), but I WILL respond. That’s my promise to my clients.

In fact, as soon as I finish this blog post, I’m going to respond to an author’s email I received yesterday, that I wasn’t able to get to right away.

For another agent’s thoughts on what being an agent means in terms of responses, please check out Rachelle Gardner’s recent post on griping:

if you’re an unagented author, you should be glad agents prioritize their clients over the thousands of non-clients who contact us each year. One of these days when you have an agent, you’ll want your agent paying more attention to you than to all those others who are clamoring for attention.

What do you think? What do you want in an agent that we haven’t covered? What’s the most important thing to you in that relationship?

I am a big fan of social networking. No matter what I’m doing or where I am, I have my phone close by so I can check in with my twitter or facebook account to stay up to date on everything. I know it’s important to build a following, and to meet and talk about things with literary agents and fellow writers, but I am also scared that I am going to put off some of the agents I really love by being so accessible at all times and always commenting on their statuses and twitter updates.

How do we find the balance? I feel like the internet can really help my career, but I don’t want to overdo it.

In other words, Am I stalking my future agent?

Are you? Probably not. The wonderful thing about Twitter and Facebook is that the interaction is gated, to a degree. As agents, heck, as PEOPLE, we want to be followed, and friended. We’re choosing to interact with authors and readers, and that means two-way interaction. That being said, there are structures in place with both that allow agents and other public figures a remove, if we need it. On Twitter, for instance, someone can’t send me a direct message if I’m not following them. And I only see @ replies to me if I choose to go look at them (which I do, regularly, but the structure is there to avoid them if need be). On Facebook, I have to accept a friend request to give permission to view and comment on my status updates. If I don’t want someone to see those anymore, I can un-friend them — although that phrase brings to mind all sorts of squeaky girl trauma about breaking up with your best friend, and stuff like that. Anyway, moving on…

But you don’t want to be that person you gets blocked on Twitter or de-friended on Facebook, do you? Of course not. So what to do? Well, let’s go with a stalker analogy. Are you sharing a walk home with someone because you’re interested in what they have to say, and having a dialogue, or are you following them home from a distance, watching them through binoculars, and pawing through their trash to find out more about them? Are you commenting on their updates because something about them connects with you, or just to reply, to remind them that you exist? Social networking conversations, great as they are, aren’t actual conversations. No one minds a little silence, and not everyone involved in the conversation needs to have input into it.

Don’t get me wrong, I love comments of all sorts — on my blog, on Facebook, and in @ replies on Twitter. But the ones that work best for me are the ones with something to say, that add something meaningful to the conversation. If you’re doing that, then you’re cool by me.

So what’s too much? Well, there’s nothing wrong with reading every update, but save your comments and replies for the ones that matter.

What do you think? Where’s the line between interacting online and over-indulging?

Much like Nathan Bransford’s Agent for a Day contest last week, I think events like this are a great way for authors — or anyone interested in what agents do — get a sense of what our days are like, workwise.

In looking at the other authors’ comments on the first pages on Authoress’ blog, the biggest thing I noticed was how often the readers remarked that they were “hooked.” I think many of them confused “hooked” with “curious,” and said as much. I may be curious about what’s going to happen in a story, but am I hooked? Do I NEED to know what happens next? Not all that often.

Out of the 50 first pages I looked at, I expressed further interest in 8 of them. This is a much higher percentage of requests than I normally make on queries, but I only specifically asked for material on two runners-up and one winner.

Want to play Secret Agent? Take a look at the 50 first pages on Authoress’ blog, without looking at the comments or the post with my winners, and see if your favorites match mine! (Start here, and click “newer post” at the bottom of each page after you’ve made your decision.) Let me know how you did in the comments below.

Ok, not quite. Not exactly. But if you check out this link from way back in the Daphne archives, you too can read the origin story of Daphne Unfeasible, courtesy of Maureen Johnson.

Regular readers of my blog will be well familiar with the name Daphne Unfeasible. Daphne is my literary agent. I get a lot of questions about Daphne, literary agents, and publishing in general. Today, I am going to take an unprescendented step . . . and in doing so, provide you with A LOT of answers. Obviously, I have to tell you a long story first.

Of course, she skips the usual, informative stuff, like how “Daphne” came to be.

Once up on a time… a lot of agents and agencies weren’t on the internet, and were perfectly happy about that. But some agents wanted to reach out to writers, and when they couldn’t do it under their own names for fear of the Powers That Be, or just didn’t want to reveal their true identities, they blogged under pseudonyms.

Back when Maureen and I started working together, and she started blogging, my name wasn’t something that was sharable with the whole wide world. (Thank the internets things have changed!) So she gave me a new one that she could use, frequently. I don’t recall if I was the first person on her blog to get a special MJ nickname, but I know Daphne has since been joined by Emma Lollipop, and Oscar Gingersnort, and Pixie Potpie, among others.

When I started kt literary last year, I’d already been known as Daphne Unfeasible to the readers of Maureen’s blog for a few years, and it seemed silly to give up a perfectly reasonable name just because I could now use my REAL name. Thus, Ask Daphne was born.

For that same reason — familiarity — I use Daphne for my public Facebook and Twitter accounts. They’re all me, but the most important thing about Daphne is that she is an agent, first and foremost. Here to give advice, share interesting articles, talk about publishing, and wear cute shoes. Kate? Well, Kate does all that too, but not just that.

Still, Kate’s the one who reads all your queries and partials and fulls, so when you’re personalizing one of those, do go with “Kate Schafer Testerman” instead of “Daphne Unfeasible”. Because no one wants an imaginary literary agent.

Which I’m truly sorry about, what with Maureen Johnson’s “Blog Every Day in April” initiative, at which I ALREADY failed! But unlike some authors who need to create an internet phenomenon just to keep them blogging, I already try to blog every day (well, every work day), and feel bad when I don’t.

If it’s a consolation, I had some brilliant things I was going to blog about, like a wonderful book I read on the flight home to Denver (which I will pull out in a Recent Reads post following this one), some of the hilarious posts Tor.com threw up for April Fools Day, and #agentfail, which others have already discussed in more detail. Given Elana’s reaction, and others that I’ve heard, I’m not going to sit and read the full comment thread on the original post. I know I do my best every day to be the best agent I can be, knowing that that “best” isn’t going to be right for every author. And honestly, I’m fine with that.

And how could I have let the pub day of Band Geeked Out slip by! What if Josie Bloss got another tattoo and I missed it?

I’d be heartbroken, that’s what.

So I just won’t let that happen again. What else have I missed while I’ve been AFK?

To me the separation between YA and Adult is not necessarily thematic, it has more to do with pacing and presentation. When you read a YA novel the pace tends to be quicker, the books tend to be shorter, and things happen in a more straightforward fashion. While of course there is a ton of variation and exceptions, things tend to unfold on the surface to keep a younger reader interested and engaged.

Check it out!
Lots of authors were busy too. Justine Larbalestier inaugurated “January is Writing Advice Month,” and you wouldn’t do bad to follow all her posts on the subject. She also shared her opinion on the old adage “Write What You Know.” Well worth a close read!
I’m sure I missed other exciting posts and helpful hints over the holidays. What links did you come across that are worth sharing? Post ‘em in the comments!

1. A day in the life of a literary agent, from fellow Coloradan Rachelle Gardner
2. Nathan Bransford’s thoughts on unagented revisions
3. New kt literary client Carrie Harris is throwing a party, and you can invite five literary characters of your choice!
4. Another fab kt literary client, Susan Sandmore, is putting together a sort of cultural literacy quiz for writers of children’s books. Stop in and help her out!
5. Galleycat’s taking another look at the YA morality clause Random House UK is rumored to be inserting into contracts.
6. And Friend of the Blog De offers some useful thoughts (in a six-part series) on writing intriguing minor characters

What other interesting links have you come across lately?