Sitting on News

It happens all the time. An agent gets good news for an author, shares said good news with her client, there is much private celebrating and then… what? From an outside perspective, it may not seem like much more happens. Oh sure, you might see a Publishers Marketplace announcement a few weeks or months later, but the chance that you’ll make the connection between that and the aforementioned celebrating? Pretty slim.

But that’s the way it works. For all that you may follow an agent blog or Twitter stream, or follow your favorite authors, or may even know the editors of your favorite books, and hang on their every word, you’re not ever going to know EVERYTHING that they’re doing. It’s all behind the scenes, “don’t look behind the curtain” stuff. And that’s good, especially for the authors among you.

Like ducks on a pond, agents are paddling very fast below the surface to make sure things are happening in the right order. That tweeted cover reveal you were so excited to see early? Meant we won’t be able to secure an exclusive reveal on a more prestigious site. And that’s just one example. The big deal announcement may get bogged down in contract negotiations for months, or break down entirely. Or an editor might changes houses, taking her recent acquisitions with her. Things happen, and it’s not all in the public eye, and that’s good for authors, even if it’s not big exciting news.

Which is all to say that there’s a lot of great stuff happening here at KT Literary, and I look forward to sharing it with you soon. In due course. When the time is right.