| tional publishing as we know it is indispensable | | | | “readers” in my company, and I |
| when it comes to REpublishing. No private | | | | am one of them. Corporate manuscript selection |
| entrepreneur in his or her right mind would take it | | | | involves a whole bunch of "readers" who are |
| upon him/herself to put out hundreds of | | | | limited by, not just their own personal literary |
| thousands of copies of classics, textbooks, the | | | | tastes, but also their idea (usually hallucinated) of |
| Bible, etc, knowing that the big publishing houses | | | | what their superiors want to hear from them. |
| are doing it anyway (rather well, too). When it | | | | With some exceptions (some of which go on to |
| comes to contemporary literature, though, a | | | | become national bestsellers), the rule of thumb is |
| whole different set of production rules should | | | | if a new book (fiction or non-fiction) has made it |
| apply which the majors are physically unable to | | | | all the way to the corporate press, passing |
| follow. | | | | through the usual sieve of oft-conflicting individual |
| Let us remember that major book publishers are | | | | tastes, ideas, fears, whims, moods, and on and |
| corporate entities; with them, it is either the | | | | on, it must be worthless. Few good books can |
| corporate way or the highway (which is ironic, | | | | actually please ten people in a row. A dash of |
| since without corporations, we would not have | | | | originality is certain to get a book shot down by |
| highways; or bridges, or commercial airplanes, or | | | | any one of the ten (or fifteen, or twenty) folks |
| cheap ballpoint pens, for that matter – and | | | | assessing its quality (from the agent’s |
| so forth). | | | | reader (usually a college student who will read the |
| The main thing about corporations is they tend to | | | | first twenty pages for a few bucks) to the |
| be conservative. And that is a good thing as far | | | | publisher, with many intermediaries in between, |
| as Charles Dickens, Alexandre Dumas, Mark | | | | because it is "not like anything they've read |
| Twain, William Faulkner, et al, are concerned. | | | | before" (and not in a good sense, either), and also |
| Really. Corporations do not really like the idea of | | | | because each "reader"'s idea of originality is |
| creating markets, since new markets invariably | | | | different from that of the next "reader." |
| bring new standards, while corporate business is | | | | 2. Invest very little money in each new project. |
| perfectly happy with the existing model, thank | | | | My authors do not get an advance, only royalties. |
| you very much. Corporations stick with what | | | | I don't have to do any big-time promotion. I |
| they already know, and they do a good job. They | | | | simply put a book up on the website and maybe |
| are efficient. They make things better and | | | | write a couple of articles and/or reviews about it. |
| cheaper. | | | | 3. Do away with the necessity to print a |
| When a book-publishing corporation seeks to | | | | "minimum number" of copies and pay for it. |
| publish a new book, however, the first thing it will | | | | I'm not a "print-on-demand" or |
| look for in the manuscript is whether it follows | | | | "publish-on-demand" publisher; I'm a print-on-order |
| corporate standards, i.e. – does it resemble | | | | publisher (go ahead, make fun). When a customer |
| anything the corporation (or its competitors) have | | | | orders a book online, we print one copy of that |
| published before. (If not, the corporation will just | | | | book and send it to him or her. When a book club |
| move on; if indeed the book is LIKE something | | | | orders ten copies, we print ten copies, and not |
| the large publishing house is familiar with, the next | | | | twelve or twenty. When one of our authors |
| step is to look at the earlier book's track record. | | | | wants a bunch of books for a presentation, we |
| Did it sell well? Did it flop? And so forth. | | | | usually try to discourage it. As a last resort, we |
| Meantime, NEW literature should seek to establish | | | | ask him or her to show proof that the copies we |
| new approaches, new methods, new standards. In | | | | print for him or her will actually be sold, all of |
| order to be new, it can't afford seriously to look | | | | them, at that presentation. We save a lot of |
| into anything people have seen before. That is | | | | trees in the process, but mostly we spare |
| what NEW means, after all. | | | | ourselves a lot of waste motion. Our prices are a |
| The problem is that anything new is nearly always | | | | bit higher than corporate prices - but the |
| a high-risk, high-reward proposition. Publishers of | | | | neighborhood bistro, too, charges more for a cup |
| truly new books have to take their chances. | | | | of coffee than the "franchise" and the "chain," |
| Corporations favor ventures in which the risk | | | | and, guess what, the quality is higher. |
| factor is kept to the absolute minimum. Private | | | | 4. Sell on the Web, or at conferences, or at |
| publishers would favor those too if only they | | | | events, without having to deal with distributors |
| could afford it. But you cannot beat corporations | | | | and stores, thus avoiding the risk of a thousands |
| at their own game. | | | | of books being sent back after forty days of |
| Today's technologies, however, enable the private | | | | lukewarm customer interest. |
| publisher to at least alleviate some of the risk. | | | | Sometimes, a good book takes a while to get the |
| Here are some things I do that no major | | | | readers' attention. |
| publishing house can do (physically); I'm serious, | | | | 5. Quick turnaround. |
| folks. | | | | It takes up to three years for a major publishing |
| 1. Select only those manuscripts that are | | | | corporation to put out a book. By the time it's |
| absolutely, positively riveting, and totally, totally | | | | out, some of the ideas it contains might very well |
| original. | | | | be out of date. |
| I can do this because there are only two | | | | That's the scoop. |