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A
PROFILE OF Katharine
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In this exclusive interview,
we ask Katharine Sands about her philosophy as an agent and her recommendations
for authors. She tells us what makes an author successful and, moreover, what it takes to be successfully published and marketed in today's fast-paced business sector. She also gives us the scoop on her soon-to-be-published book about the craft of the Pitch.
"Let writers understand
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| In examining what a writer encounters, Katharine Sands comments, "Writing is solitary, but publishing is collaborative. Writing commercially has probably been a bane to writers since Pliny plied the trade, but, the truth is, today writers could have the universal wisdom of Frank Mc Court, the magical imagination of J. K. Rowling, the perfect economy of Hemingway and the ageless brilliance of whoever really wrote Shakespeare, and they still need to pitch, query and propose before they can be published." Finishing a book, while difficult, opens up the next critical segment
of the Katharine Sands understands this--more than most agents--and while a significant portion of her time is spent representing writers, she is unusually generous with her time. She assists writers' careers by conducting seminars filled with insider tips.
Insider
Tips. She presents
information: candid, correct, elusive. She tells writers what they may
not have heard in a way they are, perhaps, not used "Writers need to come out of their heads and into the world
of In a recent newsletter about the writing craft from the ASJA (American Society of Journalists and Authors, Inc.) the headline stated "Guerrilla Marketing: Making Writing Pay Better" and the first paragraph states: "Sometimes I feel that writers intentionally make an effort to fail as business people." It is a business. A creative business, nonetheless. Does the right-brain work always need to renounce the left-brain causes and requirements? Are the two concepts so split? Katharine Sands believes the split can be healed. Challenges for emerging authors: The Great Disconnect In classes that she teaches throughout the Atlantic Coast (Washington,
D.C., upstate New York, across the country at major workshops and conferences)
she provides information on a variety of topics. Popular seminars include
Practicing PitchCraft, First Writes, How to Succeed as a New Writer,
Copyright: To © or Not to © and she teaches a systematic
method for getting an agent to discover the writer. PitchCraft. A course she has taught for the Boston Center for Adult Education includes these publishing topics:
If you ask her, she will tell you to do whatever it takes to get read by an agent, or by an editor. And she will also tell you to obtain the Golden Word. The word REQUESTED. "If you have been brave enough to call, or if anyone you meet at a conference says 'send it' then you have the right to use that Golden Word, to put Requested on the manuscript." Katharine emphasizes the word again. "Requested," she comments, "it's that word separates you from the other manuscripts-the slush piles sent by the guys from prison and the ones who think they are The Messiah, and who're looking for an agent." As for finding an agent, she disregards the maxim of looking for representation from someone who has succeeded in your specific category. . Why not? Pitch to whom then? Although it is a valid concept, because often, and predictably, like does beget like, Katharine Sands has an interesting hypothesis, "You can't target properly that way because the Chaos theory is in play." She illustrates the idea with this thought. If a science fiction author sends the book to an existing agent-one who is well known for representing science fiction-how does that author know if the agent is over-stocked in the category, or even worse, reaching a burnout phase. Her point is not to overlook any avenue, any agent. Even if a written description of the agency states it only accepts non-fiction, a new agent who just joined the agency may focus on a completely different category than the one that is listed. Attitudes change. People change.
Trends reverse themselves. The tides in publishing are well known,
and what may wash up from the sea this week could be thought of as flotsam,
yet the following week the same book would be considered a treasure
from the deep.
Walking across The Platform into the spotlight. This concept of "platform" is separate from another buzzword-the designation
synergy -which has to do more with layered licensing, multiple
channels for a book, and the book's marketing concepts. Platform is
a concept that links directly to the author's ability to self-promote,
to distinguish themselves from existing crowds of authors. It's publishing's
new tool and one that seems to add another mystifying stratum to isolate
the writer from a goal of getting published. Fully aware of this disconnection,
Katharine writes about it, teaches about it, and tries to narrow the
great divide.
In another workshop titled, How to Write a Best Seller, she
lectures on key components: how best-seller potential is evaluated by
publishers, how to enhance your chances for (writing) a best-selling
book, and how to write a proposal that will produce results.
For most writers, the last topic (along with writing the synopsis)
are the most harrowing and intimidating. Many authors realize their
book is good, but taking it to the next level, describing Why-It-Is-Good,
in synopsis form or within a well-crafted proposal-it's
often the most daunting task for them.
The dreaded proposal. This procedural point (or lack of) lengthens
and enlarges the Great Disconnect. But, it's why Katharine teaches the
finer points of this phase in her pre-publishing workshops. It's vital
to the success of an author.
What is timely is Katharine Sand's ability to recognize emerging trends
in the publishing industry, to keep a watchful eye for new talent, and
to provide the guidance-the innate sonar-to bring creative products
to into the spotlight. Currently, she brings all this knowledge and
experience into a book that, when finished, will provide any author's
creative force a stairway to getting published.
In an excerpt from her forthcoming book on how to pitch, she provides
her mission statement for new writers:
"Few writers know how to pitch. Showcasing the art and craft of pitching,
this book is needed for those who would succeed in leading the writing
life. Here novice and experienced writers develop the pitching skills
that are now crucial to the business of writing."
For many authors, learning the art of the pitch is difficult. The
hands-on guide to the nitty gritty of crafting a pitch takes reluctant
writers by the hand, modifies the fear by giving details, and de-mystifies
the entire process of contacting agents, editors, and working with all
the human sprockets in major publishing houses who "make the deal work"
and without whom no book will ever be published.
To summarize, if a writer is not aware that publishing houses contain
individuals beyond the editors' offices, e.g., marketing, distribution,
sales, not to mention senior executives and being awash in corporate
shareholders whose only raison d' être is the all-holy bottom line,
then that writer needs a savvy agent in the form of Katharine Sands
to part the sea.
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If a writer is lucky enough to participate in workshops taught by Katharine
Sands, that writer discovers a strategic and well-planned process. It's
the important process of publishing.
"A platform, in publishing, is considered to be the proactive way
in which authors appear in their own non-writing world, in business,
in their connections to their community, if they have a Web site, a
newsletter, a platform to greater visibility."
