Q&A: A Tale of Agents

I get asked about agents all the time, and it's high time we did another question and answer. So that's our theme today.

I've already talked about how you get an agent in a prior Q&A: CLICK HERE. So today I'm going to discuss the point of having an agent, and whether or not you should get one. And it's real simple: yes. If you write a book that you want other people to read - i.e. you are an author - then you should get an agent. Period. Wasn't that simple?

This isn't rocket science. Yes, you have to pay your agent 15 percent of every dollar you make as an author. Whoopty do. If your agent is even remotely competent, he or she will probably make that up to you and more. Far more. Foreign rights, movie rights, audio rights, paperback rights, yada yada yada. An agent will get you deals and subsidiary rights deals that you'll never get on your own.

Also, Brandon Sanderson told me a very important thing, that I haven't seen yet because I'm just starting out. All his money funnels through his agent. Can you imagine the headaches if you had to deal with every separate check from foreign agents, dealing with tons of 1099s, taxes, yada yada yada? It all goes to Brandon's agent, and Brandon then gets one nice check, always from the same source. One 1099.

I firmly believe an author should have an agent. A good one. A reputable one. One that believes in you as an author and wants to fight for you. One that is willing to give feedback on what you write. This is what's so cool about having an agent: they don't make a dime unless you make a dime. You're both in it together, and both of you have every incentive to work hard and make money together.

A sidenote: You should already know this, but NEVER sign with an agent that charges you a fee. Never. Like I said, an agent shouldn't make a dime until you make a dime. And to find an agent, go to writer's conferences or buy the book "Guide to Literary Agents."

Now, ready for the kicker? I DON'T HAVE AN AGENT.

Don't you love that? I'm such a hypocrite.

Ah, man, it's such a long story. I did have an agent until recently. And I appreciate all she did for me, and I consider her a friend and always will. But it just didn't work out, and we went our separate ways about a month ago. This may happen to you. It happens to a lot of people. There's only one thing more important than having an agent - having an agent that you're comfortable with and get along with and yada yada yada. (notice the yada theme today)

But don't worry, I will have an agent. I've already spoken with several, and have one in mind that I really, really like. But my situation is kind of different for now, so I'm not in a rush.

My publisher, Shadow Mountain, owns world rights to my book. Most agents would have never agreed to that, but I'm totally fine with it. My publisher is extremely selective in which authors and books they choose, and then they spend a bahoonkas amount of money to promote it. I'm perfectly happy. I'd rather get a little less of a lot of money than a whole lot of a little money. Go figure that statement out, take some advil, and then come back.

In other words, when my publisher sells subsidiary rights, we will split it 50-50. I'm cool wid dat.

Some of you old grizzly, grumpy authors out there probably think I'm an idiot. Yes, you're very smart. Congratulations! As for me, I couldn't be happier. What a wonderful problem I have:

My publisher currently has one of the biggest agencies in New York representing my series at the Children's Fair in Bologna (this week! keep your fingers crossed). They also have Creative Artists Agency in Los Angeles shopping the movie rights. I see great things on the horizon. My publisher really knows what they're doing. Chris Schoebinger and his people are geniuses. Let me repeat my profound statement: I'd rather get a little less of a lot of money than a whole lot of a little money.

Okay, enough of this - it's ruining my day. It's not about the money, and if you don't believe me, then you don't know me. I love to write. I love to write for children. I love to speak at the schools. I love being an author. And my dream has come true. I'm the luckiest schmoe on Planet Earth.

What a bizarre post. Maybe I should delete it. Not sure I taught you anything. Pretty sure I rambled. Meh, we'll go with it.

Okay, new feature at The Dashner Dude! (if you've actually read this far) I will now start ending my posts with a little snippet of lyrics I've heard and really liked recently. Blame it on my iPod. This is totally random, but I heard this today and thought it was cool, even though I have no idea what it means:

You've gone a million miles, but where did you get?
To that place you can't remember, and you can't forget.
- Bruce Springsteen

Would someone let me know what that means?

Have a great day!

Fan Mail of the Year

I don't usually do this (in fact, never have), but I had to share an email I received from a new fan. It's just kinda cool. Enjoy:

Hi!
I recently bought The 13th Reality: The Journal of Curious Letters at Barnes and Noble. In fact it was only last night (Tuesday, March 26th). The first thing that attracted me to your book is that I caught the number 13 looking out at me from a distance. It may interest you to know that: A) my lucky number is Thirteen B) I am currently 13 years old and C) I was born on Friday, January 13th 1995. So, you may well see that the number thirteen has been and is currently a big part in my life.

As I moved closer to the curious book with the large 13 on the front I read the next thing that stood out to me. A sticker, saying, "From the publisher of Fableheaven and Leven Thumps." Now, I have read the Leven Thumps series and have liked it quite well. So, I thought, why not look at it and see? I read the inside flap with a short summary of the book (the one that asks you all the questions you know?) and almost dropped it. You see the letters M and G are my initials. Right after that I was like OMG! I have to buy this book!!!!!! Besides it sounds really good too!!! Thirteen and the letters M and G, it was a sign!

I am very pleased with what I have read so far except one little thing, you made M.G. a boy. (JUST KIDDING!!!) Yup, you probably guessed it, I'm a girl. A pretty smart one at that, if I may say so myself. (And I read too much for my own good. Everyone, including my parents will tell you that I need to get a life!) I will probably finish your book sometime tomorrow (I'm halfway through it!) and I absolutely LOVE the story!! It's soooooo cool! If you don't mind responding to this e-mail could you? I will be greatly pleased if you would. (Hopefully,)Talk to you soon!

From,
NAME WITHHELD

Thanks, MG. That was a lot of fun to read, and I hope you like the rest of the book. And it's really cool to call you MG. See ya, MG.

A Few Quick Things

1. Hi, how are you doing?

2. The 13th Reality has received a lot of good reviews in the bloggy world, which we've been thrilled about. But one this week just really struck me as well written and very perceptive of what I tried to accomplish in the book, without giving things away. Plus, the reviewer loved it! Her name is Tia (I think) and she runs a blog called Fantasy Debut. I just discovered it and it's awesome - she basically reviews any major release in that genre. Please go check it out: CLICK HERE.

3. This is really cool: my book was #8 in the Deseret Book store chain the last couple of weeks, so for the next two weeks I'll be prominently displayed in the bestseller section in all of their stores. Hopefully that'll just create a snowball effect from the extra exposure. I think they have about 50 stores, so that's great news. Thanks, DB!

4. Have I mentioned lately how much I love Borders Bookstores? I can't wait to see the effect of all the things they are doing for me nationwide in April. I hope it doesn't tank for them. If you're new to the Dashner Dude, they are doing THREE major things about The 13th Reality. I'll be in their Original Voices section, they ordered 20,000 teaser chapter booklets for their teacher education packets, and there will be a story on me in their newsletter.

I'm not saying this to brag. I'm saying this because I feel strongly I should thank them for their support as often as I can. Borders, you truly ROCK!!!!!!

5. Can I just tell you that I love Led Zeppelin? Ever since I got my iPod, I've been rediscovering them over and over. Not that I ever abandoned them, but carrying around CDs was about the stupidest thing on the planet. How did people live in the album days? Anyway, I'd just like to reiterate to the world that LZ is the best band ever.

I hereby declare that when my book is made into a movie, I will insist that Kashmir plays during the credits. Hollywood, take note. I won't budge on this. Well, unless you pay me a lot of money.

6. Do you realize I haven't seen a movie in over a month? This is the most frightening thing that's ever happened to me. I feel empty inside. How can I be so busy that I haven't taken 2 hours to go see a movie? This is shameful. Note to wife: please "make" me go to the movies this weekend. Anyone have suggestions?

Movies are a HUGE part of my creative process. When I write, my ideas form very visually in my mind, often inspired by recent trips to the theater or DVD player. Next to reading, movies affect my writing more than anything else, and it's a very close second.

7. Spring is here. And it's awesome. I'm a big winter guy, but even I was getting tired of this long, cold, snowy winter in Utah. It's so stinkin nice outside!

8. Have a nice day. You really look great today. Did you lose some weight?

Doug Wright, Borders, and the Storymakers Conference

I think the Internet let out a sigh of relief with me shutting my yapper the last few days. I want to report on a few things - it's been an awesome weekend.

Thing #1: Earlier today I did an interview with Doug Wright of KSL in Salt Lake City. Now, anyone who lives in Utah will know who Doug is, and I was more than honored and excited to have the opportunity. This guy's a stud, okay? He does a daily show in the mornings on the radio, and a prerecorded weekly show on Sundays. He talks about everything on the planet, but my personal favorite is his movie show on Fridays. I love movies, and I usually agree with him.

Anyway, you'll be able to hear the interview this Sunday at 9:00 am MST. If you don't get KSL, you can listen to it on www.ksl.com. I think you have to hear it live to catch it. Anyway, I really enjoyed talking to him - like I said, he's a stud. And I hope he's okay with me calling him a stud, since I've done it twice.

My favorite part: when the interview was over, he had me sign his book and then we talked about movies for awhile. We both shared our matching opinions on movies like No Country for Old Men and actors like Daniel Day Lewis, but then came the scary part.

Doug said, "Okay, now the acid test. Who did the greatest job of portraying Doc Holladay in the movies?"

I paused, thinking through it to make sure it wasn't a trick question. Then I answered: "Val Kilmer in Tombstone."

I passed the test! I told him (read: begged him) to let me come on as a guest movie reviewer when I'm rich and famous. Yeah, I'm sure he'll be calling me any day now.

Thing #2: I've already told you guys about how I will be an Original Voices selection in the Borders bookstores in April. As if that weren't cool enough, they are now doing a piece on me in their newsletter, and asked me to write a letter to Borders Customers. I've done so, and I can't wait to see it in the real thing. How cool is Borders, huh? (Pretty much really cool.) I sure hope it works and my book makes them a lot of money. Borders, I love you.

Thing #3: This past weekend was the 5th annual Storymakers Conference. It was so incredible I don't know where or how to begin. In fact, I won't even try. Seriously, I can't do it justice. This conference has grown from a tiny one-day workshop with 20 or 30 people to a major two-day event with almost 200 attendees. Not to mention the first Whitney Awards, which could not have possibly gone any better.

Even though I saw a lot of old friends, met a lot of new friends, and mingled with everyone from a senior editor at Putnam to agents to some big name authors, I will only mention four people, because they deserve it.

First, Heather (H.B.) Moore and Annette Lyon for being the "Conference Queens" and planning everything and overseeing the committee. Unbelievable. I can honestly say I've never attended anything so well run and professional. And the WORK these guys did. Great job.

Second, Julie Wright (and her family) for running the bookstore. Talk about a lot of work and headaches. Awesome.

Finally, Robison Wells, the president of the Whitney Awards committee. This dude worked his tail off, as did the entire committee. But Rob held it together and made it happen. And I think he may have started something that will last a very long time. Congrats.

I'd go into more details, but I don't know where to begin. It was awesome. If you missed it, try to come next year. You won't be disappointed.

Thing #4: Just for fun, if you attended the conference and read this, please leave a comment. Let us know what you thought, maybe what your favorite part was. I'm really interested to know how many of you faithful readers of my blog came to the conference.

And last but not least, Easter was yesterday and I had a great time with my family. You haven't lived until you've seen my 3-year-old daughter Kayla try to get an easter egg out of a tree.

Later.

More TKE and random stuff

I was very honored and pleased by new Dashner Dude Favorite Jenn Northington's writeup on our event at The King's English. Check it out: CLICK HERE.

By the way, I forgot to mention that Trent Nelson from the SL Tribune (Chief Photographer) was there with his family, too. He's my new pal and his boys are awesome.

You can read my account in the post before this one.

I'll be sure to report on the Storymaker's Conference this weekend.

I'm still trying to recover from my beloved Georgia Bulldogs blowing their lead against Xavier today. Here's a heads up for all you budding basketball players: don't try to dribble through a frickin' double team!!!!!!!

For you American Idol watchers: when did Elliott Yamine turn into the Wolfman? Nah, that was a sweet story. The 13th Reality Charity Drive money will be going to the same charity group behind American Idol Gives Back, which is just amazingly awesome in case you're wondering. Whether you love the show or hate it.

Good Times at TKE

Well, all of you living within 300 miles of Salt Lake City who decided not to come last night, you missed out. We had a great time at The King's English, and I feel like I've officially arrived having been a guest at their awesome bookstore.

The crowd was exactly as I'd hoped - big enough to have fun but small enough to have fun. A super duper Dashner Dude thanks to Jenn Northington of TKE for setting it all up and treating me so well. We're pretty much buds now and I look forward to more events in her store.

By the way, TKE is hosting an exclusive party for the launch of Stephenie Meyer's new book, THE HOST, when it comes out. Stephenie will be there, which is one of an extremely limited number of events she'll be doing. Yeah, that's right. Me and Stephenie Meyer, same store. I think she'll have more people. In fact, they're doing it at a high school. Some day for me!

Anyway, last night was really fun. I did my very first offical reading of THE 13TH REALITY, doing the first chapter. I tried my best to perform a British accent for MG, but failed miserably. Still, the kids in the audience seemed pretty enraptured if I do say so myself. Although it would've been way cooler if Mark Wright could've done it (did the audio version of my book).

A lot of the people there were friends and family, which was nice. But I also got to meet some cool kids, like Kailee and Kiley and Noah and Nathaniel and Ian and okay, I better stop because I'm gonna leave someone out. My cuz Kristie was even there! And Don came all the way from Texas! Well, kind of not really.

My good author friends Sara Zarr (STORY OF A GIRL) and Jessica Day George (DRAGON SLIPPERS) came (check out their blogs now!), which made me feel all special. Angie Wager (my longtime supporter and friend) was there, too, and might never forgive me for outing her as a Barnes and Noble employee within the walls of an independent bookstore. Jessica's agent, Amy Jameson, also came - she's way cool.

You may be asking yourself, why is James giving us a list of the people at his signing? The answer would be: no particular reason. Shut it.

Oh, and my awesome editor and her husband came (Lisa and Tracy Mangum) and brought me cookies! Such nice, if a little strange, people they are (hello, that's a compliment). Tracy took some pictures and posted them on my sis's Flickr site for The 13th Reality if you'd like to see: CLICK HERE. You should also check out Tracy's blog. Great stuff on there.

Hmm, what else? I ate at this sweet Italian cafe before the signing called Fresco's. Very, very good, and I'll be returning with the missus for sure.

Okay, I think that's just about enough on that. Even I'm bored now.

This weekend is the Storymaker's Conference in Sandy, UT. It's gonna be awesome as usual - it sold out of spots well over a month ago. Yours truly will be participating in 3 different workshop sessions, one of which will be with the utterly terrible and ugly J. Scott Savage. You might not have heard of him yet, but trust me, he is terrible and ugly. His first book comes out this August with my same publisher. Woot.

The only problem with this scenario: the NCAA tourney starts this weekend. I've never heard of such tragic scheduling in all my life. Good thing CBS streams it online baby!!!!!

Hey, Miss Zoot liked my book so much she upped her giveaway to 3 books! Check it out and put your name in the hat: CLICK HERE. Miss Zoot is pretty much awesome.

Man, I feel so lost now that I'm not reporting every day on a tour. Good news on that, by the way. Angie told me her little analysis of my trip showed they came out ahead. Which, evidently, is better than NOT coming out ahead. Woot. Also, I was the #8 bestseller in all the Deseret Book stores last week. Woot. (Honestly, I don't know what "woot" means or if I'm using it correctly.)

Oh, btw to Ron Simpson: the reason I'm so behind on Lost is BECAUSE we have a DVR. All the episodes are sitting there nice and pretty, waiting for a certain Lost marathon that will occur very soon in the Dashner household. Can't wait. NO SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow, random. I'm pretty sure it's time to end this post now. I promise to be more interesting next time. Later!

The King's English and Miss Zoot

Tuesday night. March 18th. Tomorrow. 7:00 pm.

I really want this to be a good event for The King's English. So, if you live within 100 miles of the bookstore, please quit being so selfish and drive over to see us. I mean, after all, you do get a free poster - doesn't that make it worth the gas? :-) And a chance to hear me read from my book and ask me questions. Why, you should be willing to drive 200 miles. Nay, 300! (Okay, do I sound desperate yet?)

Here is the address: 1511 South 1500 East in Salt Lake City. It's right next to a Starbucks in case you need a cappuccino or hot chocolate or caramel steamer or strawberry frap (my fave).

It'll be a lot of fun. And it's the coolest place - you have to see it if you've never been there. I think our crowd will be quaint and intimate and very, very fun since I didn't speak at any schools associated with the signing. So please come!!!!!!!

And I'm sorry for calling you selfish.

By the way, Miss Zoot is having a giveaway for a signed copy of The 13th Reality. All you have to do is comment to enter. Check it out: CLICK HERE.

And for those of you who liked my book, please go review it on Amazon and bn.com. If you have time, of course. Because I love you.

Change the World Tour: Day 13

The Tour is not over. In fact, it will never be over. But our first 2 weeks are done, and the Change the World Tour is officially paused. I thought I'd be so relieved at this point, but I'm actually sad because I had so much fun with the students, teachers, librarians, foundation folks, bookstore employees, etc. It was an awesome experience that I'll never forget.

Yesterday, Day 13, I went to Hooper, Riverdale, and Pioneer Elementary Schools. The amazing Cathy and Rachel from Deseret Book were the poor souls who had to go around with me, and it was great to have them along. I feel like I'm out of superlatives to describe these school experiences, so I apologize to those toward the end of this 2 week tour. But I loved being with you just as much as those at the beginning.

A huge thanks to everyone for making this an unforgettable time (especially Cathy Blaisdell, who has supported me from the Jimmy Fincher days and is one awesome lady).

Last night was a great way to end it, too. We'd sold 60 or so books at the schools during the day, so I expected a repeat of the slower signing the previous night. Instead, we had a big crowd that lasted a couple of hours. Even then, we got a call from a parent asking me to stay just 10 more minutes. I did, of course, and luckily got to meet the Official Last Person to Buy a Book from James Dashner on His Two Week Tour That's Not Really Over but is now Paused. Congrats, Lucas.

Here are the official stats of the past 2 weeks. Most of these are estimates, but should be pretty close:

States Visited: 4
Schools Visited: 24
Students Spoken To: 6,000
Book Signings: 7
Books Sold (with me present): 900
Posters Signed: 1,000
Total Signatures: 1,900
Carpal Tunnel Injuries: To Be Determined
Unhealthy Meals Consumed: 8
Somewhat Healthy Meals Consumed: The rest
All You Can Eat Sushi Meals: 1
Traffic Tickets: 1 (Photocop in Duluth, GA for running a redlight. I have no memory of doing this.)
Blog Posts: 13
Airplane takeoffs: 5
Airplane Landings: 5
Obnoxious Snoring People Within Three Feet on Airplanes: 1
Miles Travelled: 5,632
Books Read: 0.5
Pages Written: 0 (This is my most shameful statistic.)
Wives Missed: 1
Kids Missed: 4
Friends Missed: 1 (You can all fight over which one it was.)
Episodes Behind in "Lost": 4
Total Books Sold So Far: No idea
Times I Thought This is Too Good to be True: 1,534,846
Days Until Book 2 Comes Out: 350

Well, as promised, I posted about every day of the tour. I kinda got lazy toward the end, but I felt like I was just repeating myself. My final conclusion is that being an author is the best thing on the planet, especially a children's author. I have no doubt that never in my life have I had so many fulfilling moments jam packed into such a short period of time.

To all of you elementary and middle school students I had the fortune of visiting, thank you. And a big thanks to all the "old people" I met, too. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Look for details on more tour dates, coming soon.

And next week, I'll resume regular blog posts, talking about anything and everything, no matter how stupid. Bye!

Change the World Tour: Day 12

Today was a little different, but great. My visits today were sponsored by the Granite School Foundation, and they went around with me to every school (thanks to Scott, Sandy, Karma, and everyone else). Deseret Book also went and sold books at the schools. I was amazed at how many we sold, which kind of lessened the signing tonight, but that doesn't matter now does it?

I bet in total we sold around 150 books today, maybe 200. A surprisingly large amount of those were Jimmy Fincher books. Jimmy's makin' a comeback!

Thanks to Rolling Meadows, Monroe, and Farnsworth Elementary Schools, and all the wonderful people there: teachers, librarians, principals, and students alike. I had a great lunch with some students at Rolling Meadows. That is so fun and I hope to do more of that.

Whew, today was by far the most hectic yet. We had to blister through those signings at the schools in order to get to the next one. Sandy from the Foundation was pretty much superwoman making sure everything went smoothly. I told her when I become a billionaire I'm going to hire her full time. I tried my best to spend a little time with each student, but we didn't get much. Oh well.

The signing tonight was fun, if a little slow. I think most of the kids who wanted books bought them at the school. But we still had a crowd of 30 or so, and it was really fun to take more time with people. I had quite the crowd of student bodyguards tonight.

A quick shout out to Dan, Tracy, and Zach from the Deseret Book store at Valley Fair Mall. They were awesome and made me feel right at home. I really enjoyed getting to know you guys.

Almost Favorite Moment of the Night: When this kid named Dylan quietly asked me to add "The Chick Magnet" under his name on the poster I signed to him.

The Favorite Moment of the Night: When the crowd dwindled to 3 kids, I found 2 extra t-shirts that had been hiding. This 6th grader named Jose very humbly and kindly insisted that the two 4th grade gals get the shirts, not him. And seriously, this guy was as sincere as you can get. And he wants to be an author someday. Jose, you are my Person of the Month, dude.

Well, tomorrow is the last day of the first leg of The Change the World Tour. There will be other cities in the next couple of months, but this was a good start. I might be a little tired, but for the most part I enjoyed these 2 weeks more than I even thought I would. Thanks for sticking with me as I've posted every day.

By the way, I've received a lot of emails the last week or so, and I promise to get to them. I kinda got backlogged. So please be patient with me.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you live in Ogden, the 13th Reality website has the wrong address for the signing tomorrow night (Friday). It's at 4151 South Riverdale Road at 6:30. IT'S NOT IN HARRISVILLE. (And I'm supposed to say this was discovered by my best friend, Ben "Slackjaw" Egan. So . . . this was discovered by my best friend, Ben "Slackjaw" Egan. Thanks, Ben. You crazy rocker.)

Change the World Tour: Day 11

Oopsie daisy, looks like someone missed blogging last night. Sorry about that. It was a long and great day.

I woke up at 3:40 am to catch my 6:00 am flight and all went smoothly. For the life of me I couldn't sleep on the plane, even though I had a whole row to myself. Maybe it had to do with the creepy guy sitting across the aisle from me who snored the whole time.

Chris Schoebinger from my publisher picked me up at the airport in Salt Lake City and drove me to my first school, Butterfield Canyon Elementary. This is a special place to me because I've been there before and I'm very close now to the principal, Shelly Davis. The Literacy Facilitator, Laurie Larsen, is also awesome. Needless to say, we had a great time and Butterfield solidified their status as one of the Top Ten Greatest Schools of All Time.

Angie Wager from Barnes and Noble, who I've talked about before, was nice enough to come with me to every school today. She's definitely one of the 4 or 5 people with the most influence on my career, so I'll always be grateful to her. Even though she's psycho (in the good way) and loves my wife way more than me.

We also went to Hayden Peak Elementary and Copper Canyon Elementary. Thanks to Jayne Wassom and Stephanie Rich from the schools. Steph was a supporter from the very beginning of the Jimmy Fincher days, so I love her to death. She even came despite being off track! And Hayden Peak was incredible - and had the most students come to the signing last night.

I finally reunited with my family today. They came to the last school visit, and there was much merrymaking and joviality (that's for those of you who loved my frolicked with glee comment). I don't like to get into my personal life too much on this blog, but I think you know very well how awesome it was to see my wife and kids after a week and a half of being gone. Insert about 30 adjectives like wonderful and sweet and you'll get the picture.

Chris took my wife and me out to dinner before the signing. We had such a great time, I was ticked off when we had to leave. It was the first time Chris and my wife had met, and luckily they both thought the other was very cool.

Finally, the signing at Barnes and Noble. Angie took great care of the Dashner Dude as usual, providing me with a strawberry frap to last through the night. She even reminded me when I needed to shake it up. The event was awesome - Angie just emailed and said we sold almost 200 books total yesterday (including some Jimmy Fincher Saga books). Not bad, eh?

Once again, there are people I'd really like to mention. But I don't dare because I know I'd leave someone out. But for all of those who came, especially you students from the schools, thank you very, very much. Yesterday was one of the greatest days ever.

I gotta get out of here. Three schools and another signing tonight!

It's good to be home.