Andy Unedited
Exploring Books, Life, and Writing
[Here’s Andy’s latest report from the Frankfurt Book Fair.] So who have Ellen and I been meeting with here in Frankfurt and what are they interested in? We have met with Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox and general market publishers from all over the world. Some have wanted to get reading copies of one book. Some have …
[Here Andy offers another dispatch from Germany.] Sights. The first impression you get of the Frankfurt Book Fair is its sheer size. It spreads out over six buildings, each of which could easily hold four football fields. Many of the exhibit halls have three or four levels as well. The vastness of the space filled …
[Andy sent this dispatch from Germany.]
The 2007 edition of the Frankfurt Book Fair got underway Wednesday in Germany with its usual bustle of activity. Several thousand publishers from all over the world have set up their displays—some very grand indeed, some more modest. IVP is in the latter category, but we are still very busy with half-hour appointments scheduled back to back all three days we are here, sometimes doubling up.
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The story was a legend in my family when I was growing up.
Once my mom went to have lunch with my dad, who worked as an executive at a company in downtown Minneapolis. When she got to his office she saw him behind his desk with his back turned to the door, looking out the window. She was so impressed by how hard he was working that she immediately elevated him to “Vice President of Looking Out of the Window.”
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I was with a New York publishing consultant recently and asked, “Out of every ten publishers, how many tell the truth to book buyers about their print runs?”
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Sitting on my wife’s chifforobe I recently noticed a small, old, clothbound book. On the front was the title, True Liberty, the author’s last name, Brooks, and a drawing of flowers printed on the case. The book is about 5″ x 7″ and only thirty-two pages, published by the Henry Altemus Company of Philadelphia (1842-1936), which started as a bookbinder and evolved into a publisher of photo albums, Bibles, decorative reprints of fiction, religious and moralistic books, juvenile series books, fairy tales, and puzzle books.
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“I asked five friends, and they all told me they loved the title I’m thinking of for the book.”
“I randomly surveyed a dozen people at the mall and most liked my title best.”
“I’ve been speaking on this topic lately, and when I mention my working title for the book, I get a very positive response.”
Over the years we at InterVarsity Press have heard many variations on this theme from authors. They mention their working title to friends, relatives, coworkers or people in the intended audience, and the reaction they get leads them to believe they have a winner. And they might. But why should a publisher be cautious about such a conclusion? Why should an author also be cautious about such a conclusion?
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“Publishers don’t sell books. Authors sell books.”
I was with a group of editors last week. Roy Carlisle, who has been an editor at HarperSanFrancisco (now HarperOne), Crossroad and his own imprint, was making a presentation and was getting just slightly off topic. But he was passionate nonetheless. “An author has got to have a platform. That’s what has been true in New York for the last five or ten years. It’s what every editor there knows.”
Publishers don’t sell books? How do they stay in business?
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Firing people is probably the worst experience a supervisor can go through. You want to avoid it if at all possible. But the best way to avoid it is to confront it directly. That’s what my friend Brian taught me. Here’s how to take as much emotion, subjectivity and surprise out of the equation as possible, while treating people with dignity.
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Why are people so often fired badly? Sometimes, of course, the boss is just a jerk. But many times well-intentioned supervisors just don’t know what to do.
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