Greg Graffin from Bad Religion came by the office to talk about his book.  HarperStudio will publish Anarchy Evolution in 2010.

We've been thinking a lot about the 90s lately as we prepare to launch the Rolling Stone History of the 90s book. Here 17 year old Nirvana cover baby Spencer Elden recreates the cover to “Nevermind.” Time flies.

image: mtv.com

You were one of the first agents to become hip to blogs (see 2004 Talk of the Town profile and NPR piece). How has your approach to online scouting evolved since then?

It’s a different world from 2004.  Back then, there were only a handful of blogs that were getting attention, and there was a small community of like-minded bloggers in New York City.  I had no client list and needed to be as proactive as possible about building one, so I reached out to those whose voices I liked.  The blogosphere has obviously exploded, so I’m more mindful of a site’s traffic, audience, links from other sites, competition, etc.  I don’t have a method. I check out a handful of sites for news a couple of times a day. I pay particular attention to what sites or articles bloggers or news outlets that I like and trust link to.

What kind of online marketing works?
I think the building or seeding of buzz online is important–as with film, music or TV, word of mouth is invaluable.  That buzz can come through building relationships with bloggers, writing posts that you then try to get linked to, starting up a social network or “fan” group, and/or creating original online content.  The main thing is just to be out there–be writing, be posting, be Twittering, be engaging in conversation with other people in the blogosphere.

Should publishers build websites for their authors?
Ideally, they would all have a mechanism for the authors to be featured online–the publishers’ homepage, etc.–and/or perhaps kick in part of the budget to build one.  But a website is the kind of intellectual property that an author may want to own.  As you well know, authors frequently move houses, so if publishers owned author sites, it would be problematic if an author leaves.  Also, certain authors might have ventures beyond books that they want to feature online.

Do you believe social networking can be leveraged to sell books?
I’ve joined a number of Facebook groups for books, which allows the author to email the members of that group about onsale date, notable publicity features, etc.  There are also fan pages for authors through which like-minded readers can find each other.  It’s a way to speak directly to your audience.

You and I have cooked up some of our projects together. Is that something you do a lot of?
Somewhat.  It depends on the editor.

Name two websites or blogs you love that most people haven’t heard of?
Fimoculous.com and Kottke.org

-Julia

Skeptics of Radiohead’s pay as-you-wish experiment for their album In Rainbows take note: The band made more money before In Rainbows was physically released than they made in total on their previous album Hail To the Thief – and that’s despite the fact that more people downloaded the album for free than actually purchased it [rolling stone].

On the subject of free, check out Hugh McGuire’s Huffpo piece What Publishing Can Learn From Music.

Julia

At breakfast with literary agent extraordinaire Ed Victor back in August, Ed mentioned that Stewart Copeland, drummer for The Police, had been posting a series of short essays on his website under the name “Dinner Tales.”   The Police had always meant a lot to me (I had a band in college that did reggae covers of Motown songs, and when I heard “Roxanne” the first time, I knew it was time to find a different career), so I hurried back to the office and read the blogs.  I could see that Copeland was a terrific storyteller who not only had a lot to say about his experiences with The Police, but also fascinating stories about life before and after rock stardom.  I loved the counterpoint of these multiple identities, perhaps best expressed by an essay Copeland wrote about trying to figure out what to wear (should he put on “leather pants, hostile shirts and pointy shoes”?  Or wear something more appropriate to the “tax-paying, property-owning, investment-holding lotus eater” his success allowed him to become?).

These blog entries were sometimes too much like diary pages to work in book form, but after discussing them with Copeland, we were clearly of like minds about what the book should be.  So next Fall (2009), we’ll publish DINNER TALES, a memoir-in-anecdotes that moves from Copeland’s incredible childhood (his father was a CIA operative stationed in the Middle East) through the formation of The Police, from the rise to stardom to the settled-down life (polo-playing!) that followed, and finally behind the scenes at The Police’s massively successful reunion tour (massively successful, after nearing disaster).  This is a backstage view of a life fully lived…and yes, there will be chapters about Sting, too!

Bob

Can the music industry be rehabilitated?

A piece of an answer to that question may lie in yesterday’s highly anticipated ruling by the Copyright Royalty Board to keep the rates for permanent digital downloads at 9.1 cents a track (the same as physical recordings) [NYT]

In one document submitted to the judges, an Apple executive threatened that a significant increase in royalty rates could force the company to shut down its iTunes music store, which has sold 5 billion songs since it opened five years ago but which operates with thin margins.

Should royalty rates for physical recordings and digital downloads be the same? And does this ruling shed any light on the ongoing debate amongst publishers about e-book royalty rates?

Julia

To start getting prepared for my first book with a bonafide rapper, 50 Cent, I decided I’d better get familiar with the songs that made him famous. And so, in the name of research, I bought 2 albums online Curtis and Get Rich or Die Tryin’. Normally, I would just check out the most popular songs on iTunes and buy those selectively, but I didn’t want to know the best of 50. I wanted to know ALL of 50.

When the CD’s arrived, I was glad I spent the extra few bucks to get the entire albums. Inside Curtis was a flyer giving me a free download for the “I Get Money” ringtone and 2 exclusive cell phone wallpapers. The cell phone wallpapers aren’t exactly my style, but the ringtone caught my eye. Or should I say ear? We’ve been playing around with ideas for giving out ringtones or song downloads along with chapters of 50’s e-book. Just thoughts in really preliminary stages. But it makes me wonder, would some sort of a music give-away inspire you to test-run the book?

Oh, and for those of you not familiar with 50, I’m loving the track All of Me featuring Mary J. Blige.

Sarah