Neil Gudovitz, founder of Gudovitz & Company Literary Agency, has been working as a literary agent for over 25 years. His agency focuses on both fiction and non-fiction works from far east markets, such as Japan. In particular, he has sold rights in over 45 languages for Marie Kondo’s books, including her best-selling book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. He also is the agent for the BEFORE THE COFFEE GETS COLD series of novels from Japan, which have been published in over 40 languages, sold over 5 million copies, and are currently bestsellers in the US, UK, and many countries throughout the world.
Over the years, I’ve worked with Neil on a handful of small jobs related to Japanese books and I’ve always enjoyed interacting with someone who works so closely with Japanese publishers. So I thought asking him a few questions about his job and the industry would prove interesting.
Q: What’s a day in the life of a literary agent like? Are you reading books (or summaries) most of the time, or do things like writing emails and meeting people take up more time?
NG: I wish that was my day! Most days it’s largely taking care of existing and forthcoming deals for the books I handle. Negotiations with foreign publishers or my partner literary agents overseas, or touching-up contracts. About 25% of my day is taken up with submissions to, and correspondence with, editors around the world regarding books I’m submitting in anticipation of future offers. That’s the fun, and I suppose in some sense ‘glamorous’, part of being an agent, but it’s not the majority of my day.
Q: How long does it typically take between the beginning of a project (i.e. when you first learn of a certain book), and the translation of that book appears on shelves?
NG: Licensing, as I do, publishing rights into so many 45 languages, the answer varies widely. Many of the books I handle have already been published in their native language (e.g., Japanese) so the publishers I’m working with are able to translate immediately from Japanese, or from English if the translation already exists. I’m not answering the question so readily because the timeframe varies so widely, but it can be 6 to 36 months. Publishers require ‘lead time’, to market their books to their retailers and their public, though some markets work more quickly. Some markets publish quickly and begin their marketing right when the book publishes.
Q: Being intimately familiar with literary rights (where I see you have started your career) seems like an important part of the job of a literary agent. I’ve studied a little about translation rights myself, but I’ve found it can be difficult to get accurate, up-to-date, and reliable information. Getting professional opinions from lawyers also seems very costly, where the number of billable hours required may not be clear in advance. Do you have any suggestions for people wanting to become knowledgeable about literary rights?
NG: The answer is that so far as I know, those of us in rights & literary agency learn on the job. I don’t know that we – certainly I cannot – advise a person on how to gain the knowledge we learn by doing it 40 hours per week. It’s just practical experience, and if you don’t have that, frankly I don’t know. Like in most lines of work, you almost certainly need to start at the Assistant level.
Some authors are their own agents but I imagine there’s a lot of – pardon the pejorative – handholding going on from the other side of the deal just get through it. I did go to law school but never actively practiced law but still I think my grasp of contract law is pretty good, I have never had to rely upon an attorney for advice on anything related to contracts. There are publishing attorneys but it’s a highly, highly specialized field and they probably aren’t who you need if there’s not, per se, a legal complication. I can’t exactly say it’s a mistake to hire an attorney just for a publishing contract, but I’d guess they won’t take less payment than an agent would.
Of course it’s a gross exaggeration but I wouldn’t be quicker to recommend ‘home literary agenting’ than I would home dentistry. Some agents, like some dentists, are mean and horrible people, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to do it right on your own. Some do, of course.
Q: It seems like you focus primarily on works from the far east, especially Japan. What do you think makes Japan unique and able to produce works that might not have been possible by other countries?
NG: I can only speak for Japan, as I think other Asian markets are as distinct from Japan as they are distinct from the US or Europe. I have found that people are fascinated by Japan, how the country melds ancient practices with a highly contemporary lifestyle. As I have often said about my experience, it seems that much of the world feels that Japan has “figured out” how to live happy and productive lives and are looking for wisdom towards those ends. Of course every society has its strains and its faults, Japan is no different in my estimation, but there is this perception that Japan and its people cope better than many around the world. I cannot comment on the accuracy of that perception, it’s a larger issue than I can tackle, but books from Japanese authors in both nonfiction and fiction are widely sought-after by publishers and readers around the world, pardon the platitude.
Q: I imagine that one of the most important things about being a great literary agent is knowing what will sell in your target audience. How have you developed your intuition for that sort of thing? Do you think it’s a learned ability, or more of an inherent skill?
NG: I worked for somebody else for more than 10 years, and tried to sell largely what was given to me to sell. That of course has its drawbacks but in a sense it’s an asset to be able to see what sticks and what doesn’t internationally. If you’re going to learn on the job, as I’ve stated previously, then it’s probably not a bad thing to not have a personal and emotional investment in what you are trying to agent. I should also say that I wasn’t focusing on Japanese books during that time.
I can’t stress enough this point: the most important single element or key for success in terms of selling a book in the international marketplace is the success it has had in its home market. That’s true for a Japanese book but perhaps even more true for a book from the US. If you are a US author or a US agent trying to sell a book to publishers in other languages, the #1 asset you will have (or lack) is the success of the book in the US. Yes, intriguing content can get a book noticed, but nothing opens doors in a given market quicker than success in a book’s home market.
As for intuition, I believe that I cannot make anything sound interesting that isn’t deeply interesting to me. I start thinking about my pitch the second I hear about a book. Maybe the first question I ask is “what makes this book special?” If it’s not special, it fails my first test. If it’s just what I very frequently refer to as SOSO, ‘same old same old’, I don’t want to handle it. I want my list to surprise editors, to have books and topics they never imagined. I don’t want books that will sell only because they’re like other books that have done well.
Q: As a follow up to the last question: When you read through a work (or even a summary of a work), is it immediately clear to you whether it has a good chance to sell or not? Or does it take a great deal of research and thought before you arrive at a conclusion?
NG: Yes, I can tell very quickly. And quick aside, a “Summary” is to my mind nearly useless, especially for Fiction. I’d rather have 2 sentences of summary than 2 pages. More than that is a waste of time and money (as translators charge money). An editor needs to see how the author writes, at least with respect to consideration of the content of the book, that’s the most important element. And it cannot be conveyed by a Summary. Subject matter only gets you so far if the writing is poor.
Q: Are there any AI-based tools you commonly use during your daily workflow? (For example, translation or summary tools.) Or do you only rely on humans for these sorts of things?
NG: Yes, I use Google Translate nearly every day. But only for correspondence or things like book descriptions listed on webpages in foreign languages. That’s for my personal, day-to-day use, not in preparing professional materials for bookfairs. I never use it for translation of book text. It may be useful but see my answer above, it cannot convey the author’s skill, or lack thereof, when it comes to writing. I’d rather wait in perfect ignorance to see a good translation than to get the wrong idea about something from a bad translation, whether machine or human.
Q: The book industry seems to have gone through major changes in the last decade or two. Have you seen major changes in your workflow and in the types of books that sell? Or do you think things are fundamentally unchanged?
NG: I am frequently asked this kind of question by publishers around the world. I wish I could take a half-step back and analyze trends and so forth, but I can’t. I’ve definitely seen that there is copycatting of successful books, such as a few I’ve handled, and that is what it is, I doubt it’s something new. To me, trends are like the weather, I can’t do anything about it so I don’t worry much about it. A good book will sell, a bad book that’s popular for whatever reason may also sell. When something I love doesn’t do as well as I think it should, I am just thankful I am in a business where there’s always something else good down the pike.
Q: As a followup to the last question: What kind of person do you think would be a good literary agent? Do you recommend it as a good field to get into in the upcoming years? Or do you think with things like AI selection algorithms, the need for human literary agents will decrease?
NG: This question reminds me of discussions people have about, for example, Americans vs. people from Country X. I may have less in common with the person who lives next door than I do with a person who lives across the world. I know a good number of agents and even more people working in publishing, and I don’t see much commonality. I can only speak for myself and say that determination has been an essential element. You can’t succeed if you don’t believe in your book and convey that belief. But not everything will be for everybody. Just don’t give up. Never argue with an editor’s assessment however, no matter how wrong you find the explanation. As for AI, well again that’s like the weather. I know it’s a hot topic but I can’t stop it nor enable it, so I open my laptop every morning and do the best I can, for as many years as I can. Agency is a little like baseball, where a Hall of Famer fails 7 out of 10 times at bat. You have to be persistent and not take rejection too personally.
Q: Trying to evaluate Japanese books without knowing much Japanese seems challenging, although I guess with the right team of translators and interpreters the language barrier can be broken. Perhaps for your job, understanding Japan’s culture is more important than understanding the language itself. Can you tell us about any interesting things about Japanese culture that you’ve learned that help you interact with Japanese people better?
NG: I often quote that great American, Dirty Harry: A man needs to know his limitations. I don’t know Japanese, I don’t know very much about Japanese customs, and so I don’t push it. I try to be myself, and never try to fake knowing something I don’t. There are some very fine Japanese agents with whom I compete, but I seem to be able to do things a little differently than they do, with pretty good results. Of course they can do things I cannot do. I have some key partners – I’d call them allies – in Japan who are of inestimably gigantic assistance to me, in terms of ID’ing interesting books and handling day-to-day communications with publishers and authors. Honestly, publishing people, I’d say business people in general, are largely interested in results more than anything, and if you have a track record, it matters more than what you can’t do or say at any particular meeting.
Q: Have you come across situations where a book originally written in Japanese has great content, but you feel that because of certain topics it just won’t do well with English-speaking audiences? If so, can you give a specific example of a book, or at least an idea of such topics?
NG: More often than not I turn down books that are proposed to me. There are entire genres of books that I don’t handle. Frankly I’m not sure if they would have a market but as they don’t interest me and I’m not a great actor, I couldn’t feign interest in them when it comes time to present them at bookfairs or via email pitches. Things like business books, for example, they may do well but I just…can’t. I did handle those, when I wasn’t working for myself, but it truly was like doing homework, everything in me resisted. There’s a genre in Japan, and for all I know in much of the world, called the “Business Novel”. Things happen within a corporation, intrigue or malfeasance, and moral dilemmas result. A subordinate is pitted through circumstances against a powerful Executive at the company, and morality plays against self-interest. I have limited corporate experience but I do have some – and I’d call that an “average Tuesday” on the job in the USA. My thought has always been, “OK time to find a new job”, but I guess it’s more complicated than that in Japan, and perhaps other places as well. But since I don’t understand it well enough to appreciate the tension, I can’t pitch it across the world. It’s an especially tired cliché or stereotype but shame and “saving face” does play a role in Japan greater than in many other places.
There are countless other examples of books that are maybe tougher to sell than others. Many of the arguments against them are just common sense, as if it’s something extremely practical, like an exercise regimen or even parenting, it’s going to be difficult for a book to take hold because an author really needs to be local to promote his or her work, go on radio, bookstores, etc. Of course there are exceptions, and I’ve been lucky enough to handle some of them, but on the whole it’s difficult to get a footing with something that requires an author to be able to heavily promote, market-to-market, with no impediments with regard to language. Often time these books are written by authors who are well-known in Japan from their national TV appearances – yes authors do get to go on TV in Japan.
Fiction is easier in this sense, as the ‘foreignness’ of it is largely what you’re after as a reader. But even then it can be difficult. A few years ago I tried to handle a domestically very successful novel that centered around a particular style of Japanese comedy, with a particular style of verbal expression. To say that, at least so far as my experience revealed, it didn’t ‘travel’ is an understatement. The book did eventually find a publisher in some markets and I was glad for that, but editors I dealt with had difficulties connecting because humor needs to be seen as funny.
Q: In closing, are there any recent projects you want to mention?
NG: Well, everything I represent is the best book ever. No seriously, I’d love for more people to discover a book I’ve agented titled RENTAL PERSON WHO DOES NOTHING by Shoji Morimoto, published by Hanover Square Press (HarperCollins) in the US and by other publishers around the world. It’s the true story of Shoji Morimoto, a daily worker in Japan told one day by his boss, with no trace of whimsy, “It doesn’t matter when you are here or not, you don’t make a difference”. Morimoto, despite having a wife and child, quit that job immediately and after a period of reflection, decided to hire himself out to do…nothing. He was determined to prove that even a person who does nothing has value. He promoted himself on Twitter, and was gaining followers, and customers too. He really does nothing except provide his presence, and will answer questions with a yes or no. Beyond that, he does nothing. The book was both his origin story, and included many of his early adventures as Rental Person.
When I first found out about this book, my first reaction was that it had to be a gimmick, a lark. But I read a short translation snippet and found also that Morimoto had already been noticed by the global press, and I became increasingly fascinated. It’s fair to say that my appreciation was enabled by the journalists’ framing of Morimoto’s service. He’s far more than just an extra man, however. But what really grabbed me was not Morimoto himself, but rather his ‘clients’ and their stories. And over time and no small amount of framing this one myself, before I pitched it, it came to me that there’s a universal truth here: when we have a secret so big that we cannot share it family or friends (it is a secret after all…), we need more than anything a non-judgmental complete stranger with whom to talk.
The book succeeds because it reveals more than many of us know about Japan, but also about ourselves and the way we communicate, or fail to, in the modern world. I’ve had the benefit of meeting Mr. Morimoto and he is indeed the real deal, integrity through and through. Readers will also note, if they read carefully enough because it is not labored-upon, that Morimoto himself had a key life experience that provides the motivation for his service. It’s unbearably poignant, despite his natural tendency to underplay.
It’s been frustrating to see that Morimoto has received a great deal of press around the world but most of it focuses on how much money he’s alleged to have made for “doing nothing”. Even mentioning that, as he charges only a very modest amount to cover transportation and to discourage joyriders, couldn’t be less important when compared to the value of what he’s providing. Watching the global media just get it wrong over and over has been disconcerting.
I urge readers to seek out his book, and share it with others.
Thanks very much to Neil for answering all my questions in great detail. For me this was truly an enlightening interview, and I plan to come back to this again in the future and reread it so I can make sure I keep some of his key lessons in the back of my mind. And wow, that Morimoto story sounds incredibly interesting, I’ll have to pick up the original Japanese version.