Chark Blog - Moaning about publishers 2

Monday, August 14, 2006

I wrote about Gerard Jones and his directory of trade publishers. This has generated a few comments which say what a good thing he is - and I am sure he is - but I asked a question: Why does he bother? He hasn't responded in the comments section but he has emailed me this reply and in the interests of freedom of speech and assuming he has no objection here it is:

'Richard Charkin has a blog, upon which he had this to say about one of my innocent little e-mails and this to say about me:

I don't think anyone hates Gerard and certainly no-one that I know of minds his publishing names etc. Actually nobody gives a damn about him.The question is why does he bother?!

Why he bothers is that books have become "product," merely another means to make nothing but money...not art, not truth, not beauty, nothing worth anything but money. Books themselves don't matter a whit, how much money they generate is all. With the right packaging, enough endorsements, a fair amount of expensive hype and a modicum of proof-reading, any piece of unreadable drivel can make some short-term money. That's the publishing industry's stock in trade. It's the same as the salami industry. There are truly great salamis out there that nobody's ever going to get to eat 'cause you don't see 'em advertised on the telly. The Audio Book of Ginny Good is a greater literary experience than everything Macmillan has published in the last twenty years combined but nobody's ever gonna listen to it 'cause nobody can make any money off it. It's free. That's anathema. G.'

Well, I think Gerard is wrong. The publishing industry is full of people who care about books. He wants to believe the opposite simply because his proposals haven't been accepted as widely as he'd have liked. There are always two explanations of failure. One is that you need to try harder or get better. The other is that the world is conspiring against you. The latter is better for the ego. The former is probably the more likely.

8/14/2006 8:04:02 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

If this was true, we'd see the bestsellers' lists constantly populated by one hit wonders. It's not. It's often populated by books from authors with a good and building track record; authors who are entertaining storytellers and books that people love to read. We live in a world where authors are now brands, to an extent, with readers eagerly awaiting the next novels...

And some books produced are still beautiful to behold, but that's also a matter of taste.

crimeficreader

8/14/2006 8:42:15 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Books have always been product. A way to distribute information that needs to make money so the producer can continue to supply product. A well done product has a better chance of selling. Badly done product won't. A nasty fact of life. You want your pet product to be done your way to your satisfaction, then you need to persuade another it's worth his time to expend limited resources on, or you get to produce it yourself. Bitching about the unfairness of the industry is going to get you bupkis.

Don't force people to consider your work, encourage people to consider your work.

Alan Kellogg

8/15/2006 12:24:01 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Gerard's memoir, Ginny Good, is a small classic about California in the flower power era. He really can write.

Nicholas Clee

8/17/2006 5:50:35 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

There used to be a rule of thumb at OUP when considering whether to publish a book/author. The book/author must be of the highest quality. There should be a decent chance of not losing money. The author should be someone who would be good to work with - not over demanding. Many projects failed on the last criterion.

richard charkin

8/18/2006 1:30:42 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

I think Schopenhauer had one criterion: that the writer has something worth saying to say...which obviates the rules of thumb at OUP. What a grand world it would be if we could all just be nice, and not lose money. G.

Gerard Jones

8/18/2006 3:52:33 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Schopenhauer was not a publisher. One of a publisher's most pressing requirements is to stay in business.

richard charkin

8/18/2006 8:30:27 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

But don't the depths to which one must sink to "stay in business" make it absurd to want to stay in the book business? If, in order to make money, one cannot write anything worth writing or publish anything worth publishing, why not peddle a more craven commodity than books? Like salami, for example? Or change what makes money. Spend your marketing budget hyping books worth reading for a change...there's a thought. People buy hype, period. You know that. Of course, all you get to see is the drivel some agent thinks will make him or her a pot of money so you don't have much worthwhile writing to choose from. Change that too. Have a few unpaid interns get rid of the really stupid stuff and pass some new, unsolicited stuff on to your editors...let them see some real writing for a change. G.

Gerard Jones

8/19/2006 8:50:18 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

This is exactly what we are doing with Macmillan New Writing. And why are you so arrogant that you dismiss everyone else except yourself? I recommend a visit to an assertiveness-reduction consultant.

richard charkin

8/19/2006 2:08:16 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

When you got it, flaunt it, baby. G.

Gerard Jones

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