Page Created: 09/25/10. Last Updated: 10/29/10. Last Google Group Page Update: 03/10/10.
EDDIE SCHNEIDER
Eddie Schneider is a literary agent at the JABberwocky Literary Agency.
Personal Website: http://eddieschneider.com/
JABberwocky Literary Agency: http://www.awfulagent.com/
MEETING SUMMARY:
Meeting Date: May 8, 2010.
Meeting Site: Saddle River Valley Cultural Center, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.
Official Attendance: 23.
Meeting Program: Talk by Literary Agent.
Notes:
Meeting Memories:
Newsletter Account:
The following account is reprinted with permission from THE STARSHIP EXPRESS Copyright 2010 Philip J De Parto:
The May 8, 2010 General Meeting of the Science Fiction Association of Bergen County was held at the Saddle River Valley Cultural Center in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. Literary agent Eddie Schneider of the JABberwocky Literary Agency was our speaker.
Pre meeting activities consisted of our Animation Associates screening of the anime feature, BANNER OF THE STARS in the basement and an Ice Nine discussion of IRON MAN 2, KICK ASS, HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, WORLD WAR Z, and other movies and books on the first floor.
Eddie Schneider's education background is in information technology. His familiarity with computers helped him land a job as office manager at the Folio Agency. He soon became the foreign rights guy, which he described as a job which demands a lot of time and a lot of time in the Post Office.
He recently moved to Joshua Bilmes' JABberwocky agency where he is slowly building a client roster. Most agents earn a living off their commissions, but JABbewocky pays a salary, so Schneider feels he has the freedom to slowly nurture his clients' best long term interest.
Our guest said that the market for Young Adult fiction is still growing, both domestically and especially internationally. At the moment he has ten clients, split evenly between YA and genre, with a heavy slant towards fantasy. He would like to add science and more science fiction to his portfolio. His ideal mix would be 22% young literature, 44% science fiction and fantasy, and 22% science and history.
Schneider said the the average science fiction /fantasy novelist receives and advance of $ 5,000.00. First time and unagented writers receive less.
As an agent, he looks for books which have the potential to break out of a narrow genre sales range and to a broader clientele. The objective is to have a novel which more than one editor would like to publish.
Hot books may be sold either through a preemptive bid or via auction. A preempt originates with the publisher, who tenders an offer with a short time frame. The agent and author must decide to accept or reject the offer without listening to bids from other publishers.
There are two varieties of auctions: Best Bids or Round Robin.
In Best Bid, the publisher declares the terms of the bid and that this represents the house's final offer. That is, company A offers X dollars for E, F, and G rights. Company B may counter with Y dollars for E, F, and H rights. The seller cannot do a simple dollar comparison, but must weigh the relative values of the rights being sought.
A Round Robin is much more straight forward. The agency outlines what rights are included in the sale. Interested parties can better their initial offer if they feel it is necessary to secure a desired work.
Our thanks to Eddie Schneider for an interesting and informative presentation. Thanks also to the many people who helped with the set up ad clean up, particularly to George Galuschak for assistance with our speaker's transportation.