Authors do not get final say on covers. Often they get no say at all.

Show of hands, here — how many of you writers envision a design meeting where you can share your ideas for the cover of your baby, your manuscript? Yeah, not going to happen. Maureen Johnson and I had an exceptional experience with Scholastic with the hardcover design for Suite Scarlett, including giving our opinions about the model being picked to portray Scarlett on the cover, and the cut of the dress she would wear, but that is the exception, not the rule.

The key phrase you’ll find in contracts is “consultation,” not “approval.” Most publishers do want to try to work with an author to find a cover that everyone likes, but if they can’t get everyone on board, the author’s opinion often weighs far below that of key sales accounts.

Because I’m all about positive reinforcement and optimism here at kt literary, what covers have you loved?

My question is about having multiple agents. Is it common for an author to have another agent to handle foreign rights and if so, would we have to query them in the same manner as with the original agent or would the original agent contact the other agent and say, “Hey, I need you to handle these rights for me?”

Actually, Karen, some authors have more than just another agent for foreign rights — they may have multiple foreign agents, and another one for film rights, too! But that’s more commonly the result of an agreement between the author’s original agent and the subagent, so no, it doesn’t usually fall to the author to line up her foreign rights agent, or her film representation.

To give a more specific example, I represent Maureen Johnson now, although the original deal for her Suite Scarlett series was done when I was at Janklow & Nesbit Associates, so J&N is officially the agent on the underlying agreement. In selling the foreign rights, I work directly in some international territories, and in other countries, work with local subagents. In addition, I also work with Rebecca Mancini, who freelances as a foreign agent for me in other countries. On top of all that, Maureen’s film rights are represented by Kassie Evashevski at United Talent Agency — but everything goes through me, so if Maureen has any questions about her US deal, her foreign rights, or a film offer, all she has to do is contact me.

If you’re looking on Publishers Marketplace and notice a deal for a new book by an author, you may see the sale reported as “by X Agent on behalf of Y Agent,” or “by Q Agent working with Z Agent,” which usually indicates a subagent arrangement (and is common with foreign rights sales) or previous agreement between agencies to handle the sale together. If there’s only one agent listed, it’s usually a direct sale. If you’re tracking a particular author and notice the agent listed on a sale is different than the one you previously associated with that author, it may be that the author and agent have parted ways — in which case, to go back to your original question, the author probably did contact her new agent directly.

Hope that makes sense!

But what should you buy? Well, the paperback edition of Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson is available now, as is S. Terrell French’s debut Operation Redwood. And don’t forget Band Geeked Out by Josie Bloss, the sequel to Band Geek Love! Or #1 New York Times bestseller Evermore by Alyson Noel.

But say — for whatever reason — you want to expand the possibilities beyond kt literary clients. Well, then, why don’t you do as kt lit client Stephanie Perkins is, and take today as an opportunity to pick up one or more of those books you keep meaning to read, and haven’t gotten to yet. You know — the ones that embarrass you to admit you haven’t read yet.

What’s on MY list? To make it worse, they’re books that I already own, but haven’t read yet. Books like Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan, Graceling by Kristin Cashore, and Extras by Scott Westerfeld.

*hangs head in shame*

So today, when I head to Tattered Cover to pick up City of Ashes and City of Glass by Cassandra Clare, keep me company and let me know what’s on your May reading lists, or what you’re going to buy today!

Which reminds me: did you know the forthcoming paperback edition of Suite Scarlett includes a sneak previous of Scarlett Fever? It’s true!

And since I’ve been whinging lately about everything I need to do, I thought I’d share some of that with you, to give you a sense of what happens at the fair.

First of all, over the last few weeks I’ve been putting together my rights list, which contains pages on each of the books I’ll be featuring at the fair and talking about with foreign publishers. This doesn’t include all of my titles, but does have a page or more on recent releases (like Evermore by Alyson Noel) and upcoming titles (like Operation Redwood by S. Terrell French and Powerless by Matthew Cody). Because many scouts read deal reports on Publishers Lunch, I’ve also got a page for my recent deal for Hunted by Sara Beitia, though that book has a Fall 2010 pub date. Each page contains an image of the cover (where available), an author photo, a brief description of the book, an author bio, contact information for translation or dramatic rights, and any other necessary pieces of information to help make a sale. For The Unnameables by Ellen Booraem, for instance, I included an excerpt from the starred Kirkus review and an icon indicating it had been picked by the Junior Library Guild. For Scarlett Fever by Maureen Johnson, there’s also reviews and information for Suite Scarlett and Let It Snow. Evermore’s page includes a burst celebrating it as a #1 New York Times bestseller, as well as a growing list of international sales.

So, that went out a couple of weeks ago to scouts and my subagents, but there’s still updates to be made. Eventually (as in, before I leave on Thursday, but probably not too much before), I will take the file to my nearby Kinko’s and have it printed out in full-color to put in a binder I can use for show and tell in my meetings in Italy.

Because I don’t want the editors I’m meeting with to spend too much time looking down or reading the material I’ve prepared, I’ve also put together a powerpoint presentation with three or four bullet points on each title, so they can see the cover of each book, get the most pertinent details, and we can have more of a conversation about them.

Then, I printed out all my submission logs so I can see where a title has sold or been submitted, hoping that I’ll have my computer with me most of the time, but knowing sometimes it’s easier to just have the information I need on a piece of paper right in front of me, rather than having to look it up each time. I’ve also got a status report on all of my titles, an extra thick stack of business cards to give away, and a brand new little notebook to make notes on all my meetings.

Again, though I’ll have them all with me on my computer, I’ve also got submission copies of the manuscripts that are ready to send out on a little 2GB flash drive. i know some of my colleagues bring CDs with teasers of manuscripts or even fulls to give out to people they’re meeting with — I’m hoping to do most of my followup when I get home, although the flash drive gives me the opportunity to get something to someone right away if need be.

There’s always the hope of a fast, frantic sale happening at a fair, though that’s less likely in today’s internet age. But still — a girl can dream!

Tomorrow, a little bit about what my days at the fair will look like. Unless you have specific questions about what goes on in Bologna?