JAMES McGINNISS

James McGinniss was born into the publishing industry and comes from a family of publishing greats (son of bestselling author Joe McGinniss and esteemed editor Nancy Doherty, and brother to acclaimed novelist Joe McGinniss, Jr). During his tenure at Vigliano Associates, James worked closely with the agents there on a number of high level projects. Sensing a strong shift in the publishing industry, James made the timely move of founding McGinniss Associates Literary Agency in order to help his clients flourish in the new market.

HOW TO PUBLISH A BOOK: Let’s start at the start. Your father is a very successful bestselling author. What are some of the earliest memories you would associate with the “business” of publishing and writing?

JAMES MCGINNISS: The earliest recollection I have was probably the late 80s when he was researching the book that would become CRUEL DOUBT.  He moved the family to North Carolina for a month that summer to do research and I can remember months later when the FedEx package arrived with the first copy of the book.  Then the NBC mini-series aired not long after.  It all made a huge impression on me, seeing how quickly things moved from interviewing people, to being sequestered in his office with the computer and finally the book arriving from a publishing house in New York.  There was something thrilling about it.

On the flip side, I distinctly remember the day when he was hauling boxes of books up to the attic to be preserved.  A couple of his 70s titles had gone out of print and I guess that was my first exposure to the dark side of this business, how authors (and agents, publishers, booksellers) are all constantly fighting to be of-the-moment. 

HOW TO PUBLISH A BOOK: What are two of the most important lessons regarding the business of publishing books that you learned as an adolescent growing up with an editor mother (Nancy Doherty) and bestselling author dad?

JAMES MCGINNISS:  1. Increasingly, authors have had to be their own best publicists.  The first thing any agent or publisher looks for from an author is what their “platform” is. 

2. Without deadlines, we all perish. 

HOW TO PUBLISH A BOOK: What are your thoughts on your dad’s book on Sarah Palin and her FaceBook response to his research?

JAMES MCGINNISS: He first spotted her as a political and cultural phenomenon before she even got the VP nod in 2008.  He’s got insights into her personality and what drives her followers that people can’t get on the blogospheres or the instant books that have been put out on her the last couple of years.  It’s going to be a very important book. 

Her hysterical reaction to his research last year says a lot about her character.  She’s paranoid, and quick to anger.  I can’t wait to see her head explode (figuratively, of course) when she sees what’s in the book. 

HOW TO PUBLISH A BOOK: How did the job at Vigliano Associates come to you?

JAMES MCGINNISS: Through an associate. 

HOW TO PUBLISH A BOOK: You’ve said that while at Vigliano you sensed a “strong shift in the publishing industry” and so made the decision to launch your own agency. Take us through that decision process. What was the shift? What steps did you have to take to launch a new agency?

JAMES MCGINNISS: Starting in late 2008 I was seeing people at all the big publishing houses losing their jobs, getting laid off.  There had been a model for years of publishers overpaying for books that had no chance of earning out their advances.  There’s a new business model being implemented industry wide and I thought the best way to be part of it was to strike out on my own. 

HOW TO PUBLISH A BOOK: How did you and Barry Zucker first meet?

JAMES MCGINNISS: We’ve been friends for many years. 

HOW TO PUBLISH A BOOK: If you had to describe the mission of McGinnis Associates Literary Agency, what would it be?

JAMES MCGINNISS: To keep our clients’ priorities close to our hearts through every step of the process, not just throughout the submission and the contract negotiation.  We think an agent needs to be involved in helping authors promote their work throughout the publication. 

HOW TO PUBLISH A BOOK: How should prospective clients establish contact with you?

JAMES MCGINNISS: Through our website’s submissions page. 

HOW TO PUBLISH A BOOK: What kinds of writers are you most interested in?

JAMES MCGINNISS: As long as it’s a compelling project there’s no genre we look to take on in particular. 

HOW TO PUBLISH A BOOK: How long does it take you to recognize a potential client’s work as commercially viable? As an agent are there any strategies you’ve learned to distinguish exceptional talent from that of just the mildly interesting?

JAMES MCGINNISS: For nonfiction, we look right for the author’s platform and ability to publicize the work, since any publisher will be looking at the same information as soon as they receive the proposal.

For fiction, there are a couple of steps.  First is reading the synopsis and seeing if it’s a project I’d feel passionate about.  Second is examining the first 50 pages to see if the writing is polished enough, talented enough, etc.  Lastly, we closely read the entire manuscript to see how taut the plot is and how tight the narrative structure is.  If it passes all those tests I’d say it’s more than “mildly interesting.”

HOW TO PUBLISH A BOOK: What are your thoughts on eBooks? Specifically, will major traditional publishers survive the switch to digital reading that many folks believe the next ten year’s holds for us?

JAMES MCGINNISS: Whatever format someone is buying a book in, there will always need to be a higher authority to separate the compelling and exceptional work from the thousands of other manuscripts that are out there.  eBooks will ultimately have more books sold and read than ever before, and that won’t be a bad thing.

HOW TO PUBLISH A BOOK: At the end of the day, what is the most satisfying part of working in publishing?

JAMES MCGINNISS: Opening the box of books that you had a part in creating.

HOW TO PUBLISH A BOOK: Thanks so much, James.

_____