causin' trouble, throwdown-style

[lagilman]

so, according to MediaBistro, JABberwocky claims it's "the #1 agency for fantasy and science-fiction authors."

hrmmmm.

I think we need a throwdown, myself. DMLA claims, hrm, Jay Lake, Elizabeth Bear, Patrica Bray, some guy named Jim Butcher, David Feintuch, Nalo Hopkinson, Mary Robinette Kowal, Sharon Lee & Steve Miller, C.E. Murphy, Ken Scholes, Ekaterina Sedia, et moi....


Anyone got the current roster for Russ Galen? How about Writers' House?

Comments

[jslinder.livejournal.com]

Nitpick alert.. Pretty sure it's Nalo Hopkinson :)

[lagilman]

so 'tis. I'll throw myself at Nalo's feet for forgiveness and blame the triple measure of scotch the bartender poured me at dinner...

[jslinder.livejournal.com]

She was nice enough to be my guest at Philcon AND tolerate noisy accountants in the room next to hers. I have to stand up for her :)

[neutronjockey.livejournal.com]

A sampling of Agent Galen's clients. (http://suricattus.livejournal.com/1040239.html?mode=reply&style=mine) That's not including the other agents of Scovil et al.

Writers House (http://writershouse.com/content/bestsellers.asp) bestseller's page...definitely some major players there.

JABerwocky client list (http://www.awfulagent.com/client.html) for reference.

[lagilman]

dude, if I were willing to do the work of looking up a URL and cut-and-pasting, I'd have done it. You're supposed to do the actual work!

Clearly, your minion training is lacking. Tsk.

(disclaimer: yes, O my friends, I know who reps you. Bring your own damn amnmo to the knife fight)

[neutronjockey.livejournal.com]

(Was that meant for me? Did you just call me 'minion?')

[lagilman]

I did indeed. Not my minion (mine get Union scale, btw, plus benefits) but minion nonetheless....

[neutronjockey.livejournal.com]

*steals your bottle of scotch*

Ebil (and foolish) minion.

I do do unions, I've been very anti-establishment post military.

[lagilman]

Bah, you think I keep the good stuff within reach? First, you have to get past the Ogre Barkeep... and he has your stats on file.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

And then there's Spectrum . . .

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

Russ takes up most of a column in the SFWA directory. DMLA is slightly shorter, and Spectrum and Vicinanza are serious contenders.

Not going to research non-SFWAns for you, but since I had the directory to hand...

[lagilman]

are we going to count 'Estate' clients? That does need to be determined, especially when considering Spectrum...

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

Hey, your throwdown, your rules.

If we go by SFWA column length, Jabberwocky isn't even close to #1.

[lagilman]

Since the context of JABerwocky's claim was that they were the best at selling/promoting SF/F authors, we have to use active, producing clients, not Estate clients [dead-but-still-selling, for them not used to the term].

Column length may not be the best determinator, because quantity and quality don't always match. In a fair match-up the number of clients would be weighted by visibility and trajectory of career, but that's too damn much work. Some arcane mix of size of list, name recognition of list, and award nominees on list?

Nah. Again, too much work. We'll just wing it.

[smoemeth.livejournal.com]

But since Galen reps dancinghorse really there's no contest, he wins by default no? ;> ;> ;>

[lagilman]

my parents would disagree.

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

It's your contest. Ergo, DMLA wins.

Easy.

[lagilman]

Bah, where's the fun in that?

[lagilman]

huh. how did that icon get used? weeeeeird....

(oh, 'cause it's one below this on the list. silly tired fingers)

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

Lots at WH in addition to the best sellers
Octavia Butler estate
me
Robin McKinley
James Morrow

those are who I can think of off-hand.

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah. Bruce Sterling's another

[lagilman]

Yeah, WH is a serious contender. But how are Merrilee's marshmallow gun skills?

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

That I don't know :-)

[mcurry.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think I'd allow for both Galen and WH (meaning mainly Merilee Heifetz) to be contenders for the crown, along with DMLA. I'm not sure how JABberwocky vaults itself past the three of them.

[lagilman]

Well, Joshua's a damn good agent*, and he has a nice roster that's only getting stronger. But #1? Them's fighting words!





*when I was wearing a full-time editor's hat, a submission from Joshua meant that it would be something a) quality and b) that he actually thought I'd like/would be a good fit for our list. He did his homework. Plus, he knew when to push and when to step back, in negotiations. That's the kind of skill/knowledge you want in an agent.

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

so, really, whose is *bigger*?

[jslinder.livejournal.com]

The reference link above being over 1 year old.. That said, what they do have is some of the more mass market successes recently (Charlaine Harris being one of them)

If I had to pick a criteria, is there any way to determine number of books sold (titles not copies) in the past say, 5 years?

[jimhines.livejournal.com]

Clearly there's only one way to settle this. Marshmellow guns at dawn?

[lagilman]

but is it agency head vs agency head, or an array of clients?

[jimhines.livejournal.com]

If Steve was still with JABberwocky, I'd put him out there as our champion. But I haven't met Eddie, and I'm not sure how good Joshua is with a marshmallow gun. Hm...

On the other hand, I'm far from the top of JABberwocky's client list, which means I'm likely to end up in the honorable-but-short-lived "meat shield" position in a clients vs. clients showdown.

Let me check Joshua's marshmallow skills and get back to you?

[fatbaldguy60.livejournal.com]

Feintuch died in 2006. How does that work? I plead ignorance.

[lagilman]

The agent then represents the Estate Of, with the guidance of the literary executor (if any). This is why it's vitally important for anyone with literary properties to have an executor they trust to carry out their wishes, after the fact.

The results of said representation goes to the writers' heirs. In my case, that's my nephews. Their mother is hoping I hit bestseller status and then keel over, thereby sending them to college sans student loans. ;-)

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Late to the party, but...WH has Laurell, Neil, and Nora, so by sales alone...

But if we're limiting to SF/F and not the whole of the list, then for Nora, you can only count the JD Robb numbers, and Laurell and Neil may not count because while they're F, they're also way mainstream.

I do think there's room to argue, though.

[lagilman]

I think we have to discount even JD Robb, because she's not marketed as SF/F, nor is she a member of it.

Neil is Of Our Tribe, both by origin and personal affiliations.

It's not a straight numbers thing, though. We also have to consider award nominations and international acclaim... so yeah, Neil may sweep the board for WH.