Reporting Live, from the Frankfurt Book Fair

[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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Vice President of Looking Out of the Window

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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Publishing That Lasts

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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They Just Love My Title

“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

“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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The Joy of Interruptions

Yesterday I was asked

–what subtitle we should have on an upcoming book
–what title I’d recommend for a different book
–how to handle art costs for a book we are copublishing with a British publisher
–whether we are changing the retail price on a backlist book
–to consider suggestions for handling work flow in the editorial department
–if I saw any problem with an editor scheduling a business trip while I would also be gone to the Frankfurt Book Fair
–what price and print run we should recommend for a potential book
–if a particular author ever sent back a signed contract
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“I Love to Fire People”

More than one friend of mine has been fired from a job. I’m not talking about being downsized, going out of business, being a victim of cutbacks, being laid off or, as our friends on the other side of the Pond say, being made redundant. I’m talking fired, dismissed, sacked, given a pink slip. Maybe I just hang out with the wrong people.
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