Ashley Grayson Literary Agency Blog » magic http://graysonagency.com/blog Agents, Publishers, Business, and your book Fri, 16 Jul 2010 17:20:59 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Amazing Earthquake Trick http://graysonagency.com/blog/business/amazing-earthquake-trick/ http://graysonagency.com/blog/business/amazing-earthquake-trick/#comments Mon, 18 May 2009 16:12:30 +0000 Ed http://graysonagency.com/blog/?p=39 Los Angeles experienced a 4.7 earthquake last night. Carolyn and I were sitting on the sofa when the shaking began. This was the most sudden and violent quake I’ve felt in 20+ years in LA. Nothing broke and no damage is apparent, yet one, and only one, book out of a thousand on our shelves, jumped out of a bookcase and hit the floor with a resounding BAM. The book in question was Ricky Jay’s Journal of Anomalies, a collection of his essays on hoaxsters, hustlers, and cheats (to quote the cover). This flying book event is worth a blog entry because Jay’s profession, when not writing books, is making objects do unexpected things. How did he do this; he wasn’t even in the room? See Ricky at work on this youtube video. (Disclaimer: Ricky Jay is not a client; I just like his work.)

Reading publisher’s contracts is much like watching a card trick. Where did the author’s rights go? What’s the value of the contract? Everything seems to be clear  in paragraph 5, but wow, paragraph 11 really controls the deal.

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