The career novelist

6

CHAPTER

The Marketing Game:

How I Sell Novels

EMPTYING THE CLOSET
SOON AFTER I SIGN UP A NEW CLIENT, A CURIOUS RITUAL
usually begins: the Emptying of the Closet. Every unsold manu-
script, old outline, out-of-print book, and list of capsule ideas is
sent to me for appraisal, usually within a week or two.
A letter generally accompanies these mothballed manuscripts.
"Can you do anything with this?" the letters plaintively ask. What my
new clients really want to know, I suspect, is this, "Can I make any
easy money off this old material?" I appreciate my clients'
confidence in my ability to sell, but sadly the answer to their hidden
question is almost always no.
I used to hate the Emptying of the Closet. It meant weeks of extra
work, not only reading mediocre manuscripts but also, in some
cases, explaining to my clients what their prior agents were too lazy
or uncaring to explain: why this or that piece did not sell, or why
marketing it now would be a mistake.
Today I have reformed my attitude. I use the Emptying of the
Closet as an opportunity to learn more about my clients' writing.
Mothballed manuscripts inevitably show me their weak points and
bad habits. When I point these out my clients are usually sheepish.
"Yeah, you are right," they say. "I sensed that myself."
Emptying the Closet is useful in another way. It keeps authors in
the habit of measuring their manuscripts against a high standard. It