The Strange World of the Publisher's Mind
To date, three publishers have rejected 'Guide Yourself to Greater Happiness'. Well, OK, fair enough… but what were their reasons?
*HarperCollins wouldn't touch it because I wasn't 'a name'.
*Virgin thought 'the advice in the book was good', but it didn't have a USP (a Unique Selling Point, the Holy Grail of marketing), and
*Simon & Shuster didn't want it a) because I don't have my own tv show or broadsheet column to launch the book from, and b) because it is written 'informally' and in this area of the book world 'authority' is vital, and that only comes from 'trained psychotherapists', like Paul McKenna, who are also able to … wait for it…. launch the book via a tv show or newspaper column.
What are we to make of this?
Are we to understand that The Victoria Beckham Book of Philosophy would be instantly snapped up? I suspect 'yes'.
Are we to suspect that publishers are very lazy and greedy, in that they just want quik'n'easy celeb-trash, and are not prepared to try something a little bit different, and will not anyway lift a finger to promote something a little bit different? I suspect 'yes' again.
And are we expected to agree with the idea implicit in the S&S rejection that humour is incompatible with seeking happiness? Sad to say, 'yes' again.
For any aspiring writers out there… be warned! The world you are hoping to enter may not be as you expect!
There's still a few more people to hear back from. A couple of them do sound like they just might see the point of 'Guide Yourself'. We'll see. And then, if nobody at all is interested, there's always the Internet!
But I wonder how you go about that? Another steep learning curve coming up, perhaps?
Life's not boring, is it? And I speak as someone who has just broken his keyboard by tapping it upside-down on the desk to shake cake crumbs out of it.
Meanwhile… a new project! I've just been reading about the seventh century Synod of Whitby, which was a brave attempt to reconcile the dogmas and practices of the Roman Catholic Church with the dogmas etc of the Celtic Church.
What a theme for a drama, I thought. I can see the cinema posters now:
'SYNOD: THE MUSICAL'
Vinnie Jones is Cuthbert...
also starring
The Chuckle Brothers as Egbert and Ogbert, the Altar Boys with a secret,
and Sherbert the terrier as himself.
Thrill to Captain Cook, the one-armed pirate
battling it out for the soul of Man with
Dracula, Prince of Rome
in the catacombs of the ruined abbey while
mighty Cuthbert weaves his web of lightning above them....
I wonder if Simon and Shuster would be interested in the spin-off book of the film?
*HarperCollins wouldn't touch it because I wasn't 'a name'.
*Virgin thought 'the advice in the book was good', but it didn't have a USP (a Unique Selling Point, the Holy Grail of marketing), and
*Simon & Shuster didn't want it a) because I don't have my own tv show or broadsheet column to launch the book from, and b) because it is written 'informally' and in this area of the book world 'authority' is vital, and that only comes from 'trained psychotherapists', like Paul McKenna, who are also able to … wait for it…. launch the book via a tv show or newspaper column.
What are we to make of this?
Are we to understand that The Victoria Beckham Book of Philosophy would be instantly snapped up? I suspect 'yes'.
Are we to suspect that publishers are very lazy and greedy, in that they just want quik'n'easy celeb-trash, and are not prepared to try something a little bit different, and will not anyway lift a finger to promote something a little bit different? I suspect 'yes' again.
And are we expected to agree with the idea implicit in the S&S rejection that humour is incompatible with seeking happiness? Sad to say, 'yes' again.
For any aspiring writers out there… be warned! The world you are hoping to enter may not be as you expect!
There's still a few more people to hear back from. A couple of them do sound like they just might see the point of 'Guide Yourself'. We'll see. And then, if nobody at all is interested, there's always the Internet!
But I wonder how you go about that? Another steep learning curve coming up, perhaps?
Life's not boring, is it? And I speak as someone who has just broken his keyboard by tapping it upside-down on the desk to shake cake crumbs out of it.
Meanwhile… a new project! I've just been reading about the seventh century Synod of Whitby, which was a brave attempt to reconcile the dogmas and practices of the Roman Catholic Church with the dogmas etc of the Celtic Church.
What a theme for a drama, I thought. I can see the cinema posters now:
'SYNOD: THE MUSICAL'
Vinnie Jones is Cuthbert...
also starring
The Chuckle Brothers as Egbert and Ogbert, the Altar Boys with a secret,
and Sherbert the terrier as himself.
Thrill to Captain Cook, the one-armed pirate
battling it out for the soul of Man with
Dracula, Prince of Rome
in the catacombs of the ruined abbey while
mighty Cuthbert weaves his web of lightning above them....
I wonder if Simon and Shuster would be interested in the spin-off book of the film?
posted by Chas Griffin at 11:33 AM
1 Comments:
Chas,
Being a novice blogger I have just written a masterpiece which has vanished into cyberspace whilst I registered myself.
I will try again.
My dad bought us a copy of Scenes I from the best secondhand bookshop in brighton (it will have got more publicity there than wterstones believe me). He read it first in the shop (he doesn't part with cash easily) and bought it as, strangely, we had put in an offer on a smallholding with 10 acres very near Newcastle Emlyn only a couple of weeks previously. Iain (husband) read it in one hit but I have evolved a strange talismanic relationship where I read a bit then panic that getting excited by runner beans and tractors will somehow make all our moving plans collapse in a heap - so I haven't finished yet but I love it too - where can we get Scenes II from (and does it have a happy ending? Can't cope with too much reality at moment as TS Eliot would say)
On another topic - have you considered becoming a smallholding life-coach? There must be lots of people who fantasise about making the move to the country and (if they make it) need emotional support and practical advice when reality hits (I am a clinical psychologist so we do say rather pretentious stuff like 'emotional support' - but I am alright really, honest). It is (I believe) and internet and phone job, pay is OK and I can see a TV programme forming before my very eyes..
Just a thought anyway.
We will be regular readers from now on, whilst we are still in brighton and when we (hopefully hopefully) hit West Wales.
Cheers,
The Wolfe Family (Lisa on this occasion)
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