Jeff Herman - Jeff Hermans Guide to Book Publishers, Editors & Literary Agents 2017: Who They Are, What They Want, How to Win Them Over

G eorgia Hughes, my remarkable editor at New World Library, deserves my eternal gratitude for her confidence in this book and in me. She was one of my very first editors more than 15 years ago. Since then this book has experienced many publishers and editors, so it felt like a homecoming to be embraced by her once again.

I was extremely fortunate to have Kristen Cashman, the managing editor at New World Library, on my side. She is smart and incredibly patient, and got me to do a better job than I would have without her.

For more than 20 years, Deborah Herman, my partner in life and work, has contributed more than she knows to this book throughout its history with her perfectly timed comments and words of encouragement.

Finally, a huge thank you to all the people who taught me to be humble and appreciative even if Im frequently appointed to learn it all over again.

Also by Jeff Herman

Write the Perfect Book Proposal: 10 That Sold and Why (with Deborah Levine Herman)

J eff Herman opened his literary agency in the mid-1980s while in his mid-20s. He has made nearly 1,000 book deals, including many bestsellers. His own books include Jeff Hermans Guide to Publishers, Editors & Literary Agents (more than 500,000 copies sold) and Write the Perfect Book Proposal (coauthored with Deborah Herman). He has presented hundreds of workshops about writing and publishing and has been interviewed for dozens of publications and programs.

In 1981, shortly after graduating from Syracuse University, Herman was riding the subway on a hot summer day when he spotted an ad stating: I found my job in The New York Times. He promptly bought a copy and answered some Help Wanted ads. A few days later he was summoned for an interview with the publicity director at an independent publishing house and was hired on the spot as her assistant for $200 a week. Showering, shaving, wearing a suit, saying little, and promising to show up were the clinchers.

The publicity department comprised Herman and his boss, who took her summer vacation his first week on the job. He was left in charge, though he knew nothing about publicity, publishing, or how an office functioned. But he was a quick study and soon helped make When Bad Things Happen to Good People a massive bestseller.

In time, Herman followed the money into corporate marketing, where he worked on various product-promotion campaigns for Nabisco, AT&T, and many other large and small brands. But books were his passion and calling.

Today, Jeff Herman is an exceptionally successful veteran literary agent, entrepreneur, and author. His areas of editorial expertise include popular business, spirituality, and most other areas of nonfiction. If I feel I can sell it, Ill represent it, says Herman.

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Jeff Herman

E xcept for a few hiatuses, I have been in the book-publishing business since the early 1980s, when I was in my early twenties. I entered the business without any forethought. I wasnt an avid book lover or English major. My primary mission was to be respectfully employed in a Manhattan skyscraper where people wore jackets and ties and performed seemingly important tasks. That was my projection for post-college success, and I imagined it as glamorous and exotic. Reality was a hard, slow grind compared to the glorious images painted by youthful endorphins and innocence, and getting what we wish for tends to be easier than wearing the shoes day in and day out.

I answered countless blind ads in the employment section of the New York Times for entry-level office jobs. One day, someone with a harried, high-pitched voice called to schedule an interview. I showered and showed up on time in a decent suit. I said little and tried to smile and nod on cue. The only question I recall was if I could start work the following Monday (it was a Friday) for $200 a week (1981) as a publicity assistant. It was a small independent book-publishing company with a compelling list and history. I was second-in-command of the firms two-person publicity department, which entitled me to do the filing, phone answering, and typing none of which I knew how to do before doing it. I knew nothing about publishing or what the job entailed. My most important attributes may have been a calm persona of sanity and an apparent willingness to follow orders. Or maybe it was just my sincere promise to show up. In a nutshell, that explains how I chose the business I am in.

I tell this vignette because people often ask how I got into the business. But theres also a larger reason why I share this. I didnt have much of a plan or fixed direction, but yet I arrived somewhere and along the way made decisions (good or otherwise), grew, and helped make constructive things happen for myself and others. Maybe its okay to not know what we want or where we are going in order to accomplish what we should. When I was young, a wise man told me that man plans, god laughs, and I have subsequently heard that phrase many times. Frankly, I had to grow into understanding what that meant, and I frequently question it all over again. Perhaps writers shouldnt overplan what they write or will write. For sure, they cant fully control what happens to their work after they write it, short of destroying it.

Because it can be useful to consider what others say about what you do and wish to achieve, I have generated this section of the book. Read what you will with absolute discernment. Not all of it is for you, and all of it is imperfect same as you and me. The only perfection is that you and I are here now together.

Jeff Herman

T hink of a venture capitalist: those people who invest their resources in other peoples talents and dreams in exchange for a piece of the glory. The capitalists skill is the ability to choose wisely and help manifest the endeavor. Literary agents are conceptually similar. For an industry-standard 15 percent commission (ownership), we invest considerable measures of time, expertise, and faith in the writers we choose to represent. Our professional credibility is on the line with each pitch we make. We dont directly provide the cash; part of our job is to get the publisher to put its money on the line. If you stick with the trajectory of information that follows, the reasons why most writers elect to have an agent will be made clear.