The career novelist

15

CHAPTER

Packagers and Work~for~Hire

GIFT WRAPPING?
FROM MY AGENCY PHOTO ALBUM, HERE ARE SNAPSHOTS OF
three career novelists:

1. Writer A is smiling. Her earnings from a best-selling novel based
   on a popular TV show are running into six figures.


2. Writer B appears worried. After finishing thirty action/adventure
   novels under another writer's name he is having trouble: pub-
   lishers are not interested in his solo fiction.


3. Writer C looks grim. A new writer who went full-time too soon,
   she has been dropped by her publisher. Desperate for a new
   advance, she is writing an outline for a YA (young adult) horror
   series.

What is the factor that these snapshots have in common? Each

of these writers is involved with some form of packager. Are pack-

agers helpful to career novelists, or do they exploit them? Is Writer

A right to feel happy? Is Writer B's career in big trouble? Is Writer C

making a smart career move or a dumb one?

First, let's see what packagers actually do. Simplified, a packager

is an individual or company that has an idea for a book. The pack-

ager pitches that idea to a publisher, obtains a contract, then hires

a writer to execute the text. Then the packager may or may not