The Writer's Predicament
I was working on "Injustice for All" when I got a call from Lukas Ortiz, the managing director of the Philip Spitzer Literary Agency. "I have some bad news," Lukas said. "Kristen Weber is quitting."
Kristen was my editor at New American Library. I was sorry to hear she was leaving because I liked her very much and she'd been so easy to work with. But I had no idea of the consequences of her departure. I thought NAL would hire someone to take her place and business would go on as usual.
"You're an orphan now," Lukas said.
"Orphan? What do you mean, orphan?"
"You have no editor."
I didn't know how the publishing business worked at the time. (I'm still not certain, to be honest.) I'd tried to figure it out, but nobody seemed to be willing to offer much information. I soon learned, however, that a writer's editor is his advocate "in-house." In other words, the editor champions the writer and the book to the myriad of corporate decision-makers at the publishing house. It's very much like having another agent within the walls of the corporation. And since the larger houses publish hundreds, or even thousands, of titles each year, there is apparently some pretty stiff competition within the walls for such things as promotional, distributing, and printing dollars. If there's no one there to compete on an author's behalf, the books die on the vine, if they get to the vine at all.
Still, I remained optimistic. My first book had been well-received. Everyone who seemed to know anything about it said it was selling well. Kristen had edited by second novel, "In Good Faith," and thought it was even stronger than "An Innocent Client." "In Good Faith" hadn't been released (the publisher moving at the speed of snail again), but I figured as long as NAL gave "In Good Faith" at least the kind of promotional support they'd given "An Innocent Client," the snowball would continue to roll. I was hoping they'd give it more promotional support than "An Innocent Client," because it would have made sense to do so, but I suppose I would have been satisfied with something similar.
Boy, was I wrong. When "In Good Faith" was released in June of 2009, the silence was deafening. I was in Nashville the day it came out because my wife was having one of her many breast-cancer surgeries at Vanderbilt. I walked down to a Borders bookstore (they're gone now, and in my opinion, the rest are soon to follow) and started looking around for my new novel. I looked everywhere... couldn't find it. It wasn't even on the stack of books on the "newly-released mass market paperback" table. So I walked back to the mystery/thriller section of the store, and by golly, there it was, hidden among thousands of other titles. A needle in a haystack.
I thought, this can't be right. There's been some kind of mistake.
So I went to Barnes and Noble, where "An Innocent Client" had been prominently displayed (for a month) when it was released. Same thing. There were two copies of "In Good Faith" back among the stack, next to "An Innocent Client." I called my agent and asked what was up. They didn't know. Didn't you have any idea of what kind of promotional commitment they were going to make? You're my agent, aren't you?
No, the agents didn't know anything about it and just couldn't seem to get a straight answer from anyone at NAL. As a matter of fact, NAL said they weren't going to replace Kristen and hadn't even decided which editor they would assign me to (traslate: which editor they would dump me on). Apparently, the fact that they bought the book and paid me an advance didn't mean much. Once Kristen left, it was as though I no longer existed. And do you know what else? There wasn't a damned thing I could do about it. I'd already signed a contract for another book and was almost finished with it. But if they'd bailed on "In Good Faith," what would happen to "Injustice for All?" And what about a new editor? Were they even going to bother?
They bothered, finally. Next time, I'll tell you about the new editor. You're gonna love it.
Kristen was my editor at New American Library. I was sorry to hear she was leaving because I liked her very much and she'd been so easy to work with. But I had no idea of the consequences of her departure. I thought NAL would hire someone to take her place and business would go on as usual.
"You're an orphan now," Lukas said.
"Orphan? What do you mean, orphan?"
"You have no editor."
I didn't know how the publishing business worked at the time. (I'm still not certain, to be honest.) I'd tried to figure it out, but nobody seemed to be willing to offer much information. I soon learned, however, that a writer's editor is his advocate "in-house." In other words, the editor champions the writer and the book to the myriad of corporate decision-makers at the publishing house. It's very much like having another agent within the walls of the corporation. And since the larger houses publish hundreds, or even thousands, of titles each year, there is apparently some pretty stiff competition within the walls for such things as promotional, distributing, and printing dollars. If there's no one there to compete on an author's behalf, the books die on the vine, if they get to the vine at all.
Still, I remained optimistic. My first book had been well-received. Everyone who seemed to know anything about it said it was selling well. Kristen had edited by second novel, "In Good Faith," and thought it was even stronger than "An Innocent Client." "In Good Faith" hadn't been released (the publisher moving at the speed of snail again), but I figured as long as NAL gave "In Good Faith" at least the kind of promotional support they'd given "An Innocent Client," the snowball would continue to roll. I was hoping they'd give it more promotional support than "An Innocent Client," because it would have made sense to do so, but I suppose I would have been satisfied with something similar.
Boy, was I wrong. When "In Good Faith" was released in June of 2009, the silence was deafening. I was in Nashville the day it came out because my wife was having one of her many breast-cancer surgeries at Vanderbilt. I walked down to a Borders bookstore (they're gone now, and in my opinion, the rest are soon to follow) and started looking around for my new novel. I looked everywhere... couldn't find it. It wasn't even on the stack of books on the "newly-released mass market paperback" table. So I walked back to the mystery/thriller section of the store, and by golly, there it was, hidden among thousands of other titles. A needle in a haystack.
I thought, this can't be right. There's been some kind of mistake.
So I went to Barnes and Noble, where "An Innocent Client" had been prominently displayed (for a month) when it was released. Same thing. There were two copies of "In Good Faith" back among the stack, next to "An Innocent Client." I called my agent and asked what was up. They didn't know. Didn't you have any idea of what kind of promotional commitment they were going to make? You're my agent, aren't you?
No, the agents didn't know anything about it and just couldn't seem to get a straight answer from anyone at NAL. As a matter of fact, NAL said they weren't going to replace Kristen and hadn't even decided which editor they would assign me to (traslate: which editor they would dump me on). Apparently, the fact that they bought the book and paid me an advance didn't mean much. Once Kristen left, it was as though I no longer existed. And do you know what else? There wasn't a damned thing I could do about it. I'd already signed a contract for another book and was almost finished with it. But if they'd bailed on "In Good Faith," what would happen to "Injustice for All?" And what about a new editor? Were they even going to bother?
They bothered, finally. Next time, I'll tell you about the new editor. You're gonna love it.
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