Saturday, June 23, 2007
Cri de grrr from Vienna

Please note the change in spelling from yesterday's post, which generated some interesting and alarming comments. I do hope that Chip Dale has made it up with his cat although I'm not quite sure why he should have been so depressed. More authors are being published than ever. Whilst it may be harder to find publication through the traditional 'literary' publishing houses there are many alternative ways of being published and many new and innovative companies. Glass half full or half empty? There have always been bad books as well as good books. There have always been potboilers and ground-breakers. I believe there has never been a more interesting time in the history of the book trade and authors are in the perfect position to take advantage of all the new ways of reaching readers either with traditional publishers or through new routes.

This extraordinary room is the lobby of the Hotel Sacher in Vienna, which is probably most famous for its invention of Sachertorte. It's hard to avoid while you're here. Even the soap is chocolate-scented. Here is a slice to admire.

Sachertorte from Hotel Sacher, Vienna.

I'm here for the wedding of a friend and it's the whole works - morning suit, evening dress, hats, reception, waltzes. I'm not really used to all this dressing up and the FAZ description of me as having the look of a Möbelpacker (furniture mover) is feeling distinctly accurate. Must run and pick up my morning coat and make my way to the Schottenkirche where the wedding takes place - beautiful.

 

 

#    |  Comments [3]  | 
6/23/2007 8:26:50 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)
CHOCOLATE. The perfect food for tackling unpublished writers'(plural intended) depression. All I need to do is sell a book and waltz off to this delightful hotel.
Paul Drewitt
6/23/2007 10:25:16 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)
Richard, I agree with you about there never having been a more interesting time in the history of the book trade. However, as in all times of change it makes people more nervous than usual.

I worked in the airline business in a former life and no one in that industry would ever have predicted that travel agents, and in particular 'bucket shops' - those people who sold heavily discounted tickets - would cease to hold the sway that they once did. The internet has revolutionised air travel and it will do likewise with publishing and book selling - way beyond what we've experienced hitherto with Amazon and the like. There still remain questions that publishers need to ask themselves in relation to how they 'dump' books onto the market, undercutting their own business and adversely affecting their profitability. There's also, in my view, a real need for publishers, in general, to better understand marketing than they do.
Richard Havers
6/23/2007 1:11:54 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)
After hours of negotiation involving a rubber mouse, I've finally resolved my differences with the cat who, incidentally, agrees with you that the glass if half full.

Perhaps I still see it as the glass being half empty. The letter from your anonymous correspondent struck me as an accurate portrayal of the average writer's life. Yet it may well be the case that writers need to start marketing their work as well as the celebrities. Perhaps Jordan can teach everybody a lesson. And isn't that a fine thought for a Saturday afternoon?
Chip Dale