John Romaniello Quotes

I think that a really good agent should be able to get the right publisher, which the agent has already figured out, get as much money as she can from that publisher, and make a deal, rather than have the amount of money determine the sale. That's what the best agents do.

No agent/publisher is in a position to create across a spectrum of media and distribution what major publishers can accomplish for authors.

Agents are essential, because publishers will not read unsolicited manuscripts.

Authors change publishers because it's like being married for a long time and suddenly you want to go out and have a wild affair! No, not seriously, sometimes the deal is more interesting with a new publisher, and other times they have more enthusiasm for your books.

I have an agent, John Brockman, who is an agent to many academic authors like Dan Gilbert and Steven Pinker, and he's very good at conning academics into writing books. He pulled this trick on me.

Hell hath no fury like a hustler with a literary agent.

I have represented people in book deals.

Barnes & Noble is able to publish price-reduced non-copyrighted works not so much because it saves the 10 percent to 15 percent of revenue that would go to the gruel-eating authors, but because it saves the 50 percent that would go to the publishers.

I mean normally you have your agent call the other agent and all the agents talk and then finally you get a phone call and you hear some misrepresentation of what someone else had to say.

Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. As a peacemaker the lawyer has superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough.

If we have done anything wrong, send your man to my man and they can fix it up.

One shouldn't say yes in desperation to the first publisher who approaches. New authors especially should wait and weigh their deal and agree only when they are sure that they have landed themselves a good offer.

As I see it, my job has always been to champion the work of the authors I publish.

The standard publishing contract is replete with clauses that strip authors of control over their books.

I'm a huge mediator.

I just want to fight and not talk too much.

You have to find a partner when you're making a deal. You cant just say 'I need to make this deal and do whatever it possibly takes to make it.' That's not how it works.

I don't want to be fighting when I don't want to fight.

I do believe that any conflict has a better chance of being resolved if two people can come face to face.

I deal with conflicts that irritate people and give them stress, like the dispute over a car payment. I can resolve those cases in a moment.

One good thing about being in business is you learn to compromise. And so you learn to strike a deal that maybe isn't what you were looking for but is better than what you've got.

In law school, we studied the famous book 'Getting to Yes,' co-written by the head of the Harvard Law School Negotiation Project.

Don't sell your publishing.

Some of the best preparation I had for coming to Congress is being a football referee. Because you've got to make a decision, and no matter what you do, someone's unhappy with you.

I know from my own experience that lawsuits can be a very slow, wasteful, and needlessly acrimonious way to resolve a problem.