---------- Forwarded message ----------
From:
Daniel Conaway <dconaway@writershouse.com>Date: Wed, Jun 15, 2011 at 7:21 PM
Subject: Proposal
To: "
greggatghc@gmail.com" <
greggatghc@gmail.com>
Hey, Gregg-
Just left you a message... I've read the ANONYMOUS proposal three times, and there's an energy to it that's alive and revolutionary (in some sense anyway)-but as a working document with which we sell what the book is, especially to dumb-ass editors (like me) who know a little about Anonymous and maybe think they know a little about the culture from whence Anonymous emerged-THINK they do, but don't, in fact-this is way too esoteric, written too much from the presumption of an insider's knowledge... and simply won't get us the level of interest among as many publishers that I feel is inherent in the subject matter itself. This is an IMPORTANT story, and we want publishers to want to envision this book as a publishing event, a bestseller. And we have quite a lot of work to do before we have a proposal that'll get us that level of enthusiasm.
Don't get me wrong: I like Barrett's energy, and it's clear that he's no white boy by the side of the road (like me)-by which I mean, it's obvious that Anonymous is in his blood. And he's clearly smart enough, in about sixty different spheres, to write this book-and that's how many spheres one would have to be smart in. FURTHERMORE, what I am fundamentally is an editor myself, and so by no means was I expecting this to be a finished, saleable document right off the bat. I'm a roll-up-my-sleeves guy, as we've discussed before.
But conceptually, we're going to need to take a different tack here. As I was reading this, again and again I found myself saying, WTF? And: Just give me the facts, already. For one thing, this doesn't even pretend to address, on a mechanical level, how the story will be told. For example: who are you in this book? I know this book isn't about you, obviously-but aren't you the tour-guide, so to speak, the everyman, the touchstone we come back to after forays into one exotic story and another? AND: what's the progression of events? And: are there other characters here (well-disguised, of course) who will be explicated, whose individual personalities and motivations we'll get close enough to so that this thing becomes human not just in terms of what it does but also in terms of who's doing it. And: what about the mechanics of this? Do people meet, ever, in the physical plane? Is it all done via chat-room? Do they know each other? Can they not know each other? Must they be as suspicious of each other as they are of the various governments and agencies and institutional hypocrisies to which they are opposed? And: will we get to see, in the way of a narrative nonfiction / whodunit, the actual in-real-time unfolding of an Anonymous event?
These are just a few of the things that occur to me as the sort of questions that have to be answered in a book proposal.
I can see where the temptation, in such a fascinating and dimensionless (or should I say deca-dimensional) world, to try to have the voice of the piece represent its weird & otherworldly texture... But in fact what's needed is the opposite-what's needed is a tour-guide willing to say, OK, you clueless-fuck reader, I'm going to pretend it doesn't annoy me, how stupid you are, and I'm going to explain all this as though I'm talking to a child. No-"child" is all wrong, because children actually have such great cranial plasticity, they can visualize almost anything. So let's rephrase: what's needed is a tour guide willing to pretend not to be annoyed by how stupid his theoretical reader is, who is going to explain all this as though he's talking to a middle-aged half-wit. Like me.
I don't want to be too lame here, but the editors we'll be submitting this to will require that we take a slightly more pedestrian/mechanistic approach to this thing, if they're going to be able to convince their bosses, the ones holding the purse strings, that this story is going to be grokkable to the great unwashed who live within shopping distance of the Mall of America (for example). And while there's quite a lot of range in terms of how a proposal is executed, how much personality it has, etc., there's some real basic shit that every proposal's GOT to have if it's going to garner serious interest from major publishers. Above all, it's got to leave no questions unanswered, HAS to let its readers in on the joke-in other words, it's got to take the reader by the hand.
Back in February I sent you three sample book proposals; I'm resending them now, because it's important that we're on the same page about what a proposal needs to have. I'm not saying they're the best proposals ever written, but they're all good examples of the basic beats that all publishers expect for narrative nonfiction they're going to consider paying more than $15,000 for. (Confidentially, of course, all three of these proposals were sold for six-figure advances.)
I'm also including my own marginal notes on the first draft of the Anonymous proposal-and I confess that I stopped with editorial marginalia about halfway through, because line edits are about the micro when, in fact, we need to take a top-down look at how we're approaching this... I'm including these notes anyway, though, in hopes that they reveal some particularity in terms of the sort of thing I was tripping over.
Obviously, there's a lot to talk about here-maybe you and Barrett and I could get on the phone together and brainstorm a bit? What do you suggest?
Best,
Dan
Dan Conaway
Literary Agent
Writers House
(212) 696-3825
________________________________
From: Daniel Conaway
Sent: Wednesday, February 16, 2011 1:10 PM
To: 'Gregg Housh'
Cc:
gthomson@thethomsonlawfirm.com
Subject: Sample proposals
Importance: High
Gregg-
Attached (for your perusal, confidentially) are three nonfiction proposals. They're all memoirs with VERY strong narrative thru-lines; I select them as examples because your book, too, will want to have a strong dramatic narrative.
STREET FREAK is the story of a Lehman Brothers trader who was there at the '08 collapse; but the story really is a memoir about his own mental health struggles that were going on throughout that time. Real time events (and personalities) are mingled into his personal story.
HONOR AMONG THIEVES is the as-told-to memoir of Myles Connor, a world-famous (Boston-based) art thief. The actual book was eventually published as ART OF THE HEIST.
MONEY TO BURN is the as-told-to memoir of Jerry Nissenbaum, a famous (Boston-based) divorce attorney, focusing on his most sensational cases. The names and identities of everybody (except Jerry) mentioned herein were changed, as you'd expect. Book was eventually published as SEX, LOVE & MONEY.
Hope these help. You can share w/ your collaborator, if appropriate, but otherwise please keep them close.
Thanks and all best,
Dan
Dan Conaway
Literary Agent
Writers House
(212) 696-3825
________________________________
From: Gregg Housh [mailto:
greggatghc@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 16, 2011 12:50 PM
To: Daniel Conaway
Cc:
gthomson@thethomsonlawfirm.com
Subject: Re: Agency Agreement
That would probably be a huge help. The only sample one I have is a dog training book that didnt seem to actually be successful. It isnt as helpful as I would have hoped, so some other material to look at would be great.
On Wed, Feb 16, 2011 at 12:42 PM, Daniel Conaway <
dconaway@writershouse.com<mailto:
dconaway@writershouse.com>> wrote:
Gregg-
Just had a nice chat w/ Greg, so we're underway already.
Can't wait to see the material, whenever you're ready. Meanwhile: would it help to see a couple of sample proposals that I've developed en route to selling projects previously? Let me know.
Best
Dan
Dan Conaway
Literary Agent
Writers House
(212) 696-3825
________________________________
From: Gregg Housh [mailto:
greggatghc@gmail.com<mailto:
greggatghc@gmail.com>]
Sent: Wednesday, February 16, 2011 11:45 AM
To: Daniel Conaway
Cc:
gthomson@thethomsonlawfirm.com<mailto:
gthomson@thethomsonlawfirm.com>
Subject: Re: Agency Agreement
Hi Daniel. I am working on the new proposal with my new partner in this. Its going well. He has a good idea of whats going on and what it needs to contain.
I wanted to introduce you to my lawyer so we could actually finish the paperwork on this. I am CC'ing him on this email, here is his information:
gthomson@thethomsonlawfirm.com<mailto:
gthomson@thethomsonlawfirm.com>
Gregory A. Thomson, Esq.
26 Broadway, 18th Floor
New York, NY 10004
Tel.
212-809-8900
Fax
212-344-0991
ps: Greg, you'll find Daniels information at the bottom of this email.
On Wed, Jan 5, 2011 at 3:07 PM, Daniel Conaway <
dconaway@writershouse.com<mailto:
dconaway@writershouse.com>> wrote:
Gregg,
Here's the Agency Agreement draft I promised. One slightly complicated thing for you to think about is how to characterize Anonymous in the context of this document. As the author, you'd be the copyright holder, and thus (for these purposes) the "owner." I put it in here in such a way as to characterize you, sorta, as an agent of Anonymous, but if you want to handle it in some other fashion, that's fine.
Have a look and let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Thanks, and all best,
Dan
Dan Conaway
Literary Agent
Writers House
(212) 696-3825