' "They said, the reviews of the last were great, but your sales figures were poor. I replied, they're not my sales figures, they are your sales figures. I did my job. I wrote the book.' "
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Mslexia: Mid-list crisis
Good (and depressing) article by Louise Doughty in the new issue of MsLexia, on the crisis facing mid-list authors. I love the opening paragraph in which she reports what she was told by 'a respected novelist who had had her most recent book turned down by her publisher':
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9 comments:
Good on her. I think if I was published at all, all my problems would be over. It doesn't seem to be the case for the people who have crossed that line.
That's such a great line!
I like this very much!
Yes, i saw this too. I must say tough, as depressing as it was, it did make me think that it really isn't worth considering trying to get picked up by a "big name" publisher. It saves me the trouble....
I wonder if actually - the need for writers to work hard to sell, in any way they can, spreads across smaller publishers, right the way to the larger concerns. And I cant help thinking, even if my book has thousands and thousands of marketing and sales ££ and effort thrown at it - if the public don't buy it, the book fails. That's not the publisher's fault, or mine. Its is just how it is. You cant make people read what they don't find attractive, can you? If you've done all you can, written it as well as poss, had it edited as well as the publisher can, then had all the sales n marketing stuff done fine - the book in the shops, made a good cover, tried your darnedest to get reviews...what else is there?
Stop worrying, V!
All you say is true, publishing's a gamble when all's said and done. As you say, all publishers can do is back up their hunches. I guess what the article is saying is that we do need them to do that...
i think this is what the writer's comment is actually trying to say:
"i wrote the book the way i wanted it, then my agent said s/he wanted it changed here, here and here, then the editor at the publishing house said change this, this and this, then the publishers completely ignored my sugestions for the cover, didn't bother telling me about the press releases which i may heve been able to improve, then because they didn't risk enough cash on marketing, it sank without trace."
hence, their book, their sales figures. said author just sat there, being either told what to do or completely ignored. they know best, after all.
ah thanks elizabeth, i thought i'd been asbo-ed for a while there!
No, sorry. I've got comment moderation on because I've been having terrible problems with spam, but Blogger has been failing to alert to new comments and I hadn't been into my comments box for a while...
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