Category Archives: Industry News

Posts about the writing industry.

451 Degrees – Part 1

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Noted author Judy Blume once said, “Fear is often disguised as moral outrage.” I pondered this concept – one I happen to agree with – as I read a Chicago Tribune story about a student-run book club at Chicago’s Lane Tech College Prep High School. The club is called 451 Degrees, the temperature at which book paper burns in Ray Bradbury’s classic 1953 futuristic book about a repressive America that confiscates books and burns them. The Lane Tech book club was created by 16-year-old student Levi Todd with the express purpose of reading banned and controversial books.

Earlier this month, Chicago Public Schools issued a directive that removed all copies of the highly acclaimed, award-winning autobiographical graphic novel* Persepolis from seventh-grade classrooms because of “powerful images of torture.” Author Marjane Satrapi defended the book about her childhood during the 1979 Iranian revolution, noting, “These are not photos of torture. It’s a drawing and it’s one frame. . . Seventh graders have brains and they see all kinds of things on cinema and the internet.” (*For more about graphic novels, see last week’s Book●ed blog Let’s Get Graphic.)

As a parent, I am sensitive to the challenges of protecting children from unnecessarily disturbing or inappropriate words, images and values (whatever we deem them to be). The key word is unnecessarily; the concept is very subjective. In reality, we cannot protect our children from disturbing or inappropriate words, images or values. In today’s world, they are all around, seeping into our everyday lives. If we close our eyes to this reality, we fail our children and our society. Ignorance is not bliss.

We can do better by our children and our society by being vigilant about controversial books – not by jumping the banned book bandwagon, but by reading those books and discussing the aspects that have raised the controversy. We could all learn much about our world and the people in it and the events that shape our lives – and our future.

(continued in next week’s Book●ed blog)

Recommended

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American classics that have been banned or challenged around the country include The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald; The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger; The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck; To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee; and The Color Purple by Alice Walker. For more about books in the U.S. that have been challenged as well as information about classic novels that have been challenged and/or banned, please see Frequently Challenged Books.

Hello, My Name Is . . .   The Importance of Book Titles

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Have you ever been turned on to — or away from — a book because of its title? I thought about this as I read that the London-based book industry publication The Book Seller recently announced its 35th Diagram Prize competition for the Oddest Book Title of the Year. Philip Stone, coordinator of the Diagram Prize says, “There is a cliché that you can’t judge a book by its cover, but I think people do so, the cover and the title.” Over the years, this humorous promotional invention moved from a group of judges to popular voting. The results are entertaining; last year’s winner was Cooking with Poo. Turns out that’s a Thai cookbook by a chef whose nickname is Poo. Stone says an unusual title, especially for a novel, can help attract people to pick it up, read the synopsis, and make them more likely to buy it. Examples he gives include A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian (sold almost 1 million copies) and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (sold more than 2 million copies). Doesn’t it make you wonder what other book choices those nearly 3 million readers had!

Speaking of great books, did you enjoy reading Trimalchio in West Egg? Never heard of it? How about Among Ash-Heaps and Millionaires or Under the Red, White, and Blue or The High-Bouncing Lover? Those are all titles that were considered by F. Scott Fitzgerald before settling on The Great Gatsby, an iconic American classic. Fitzgerald was partial toward the obscure Trimalchio in West Egg, briefly referenced in the novel, but his editor, Maxwell Perkins, convinced Fitzgerald to go with The Great Gatsby. Would the novel have fared so well with Fitzgerald’s first choice?

George Orwell’s publisher convinced the author to change his futuristic novel’s title from The Last Man in Europe to the strikingly simple 1984. After Ayn Rand’s husband suggested she retitle The Strike because it gave away too much of the plot, her 1957 novel became Atlas Shrugged. The title of Joseph Heller’s satirical look at war bounced from Catch-11 (when the popular movie Ocean’s Eleven came out) to Catch-18 (until Leon Uris’ novel Mila 18 became a hit) and finally settled on Catch-22, a title that would not run the risk of confusing potential buyers. It’s hard to imagine these books by any other names.

Well-established writers have a bit of leeway with their book titles. Stephen King’s The Shawshank Redemption and Louise Erdrich’s The Master Butchers Singing Club come to mind. Lesser known authors should give as much attention to their titles as they do to their manuscripts. The book represents the author and it is the first impression an author makes on the desired reader. Being a title amongst many on a bookshelf in a store or on a website listing, competing for attention, is akin to speed dating. The ones that best anticipate needs and desires (of readers) are the ones taken out for a good time. Remember that, next time you write or read a book.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly About Self-Publishing

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Bowker, the company that manages ISBNs and bibliographic information for books published in the U.S., confirmed last October what most of us already knew: self-publishing is on a strong, upward trajectory. Between 2006 and 2011, the number of print and e-books self-published annually jumped an impressive 287%. Of nearly 346,000 print books published in the U.S. in 2011, self-published titles accounted for 43%. In addition, Bowker counted 87,201 self-published e-book titles – not including the many e-books that don't have ISBN numbers.

The availability of self-publishing is good news for writers who are increasingly frustrated by the dwindling opportunities with traditional publishing houses and the limits of small, independent publishers. It's good news for readers who want a broad selection of reading options. It's good for my unique, new Book.ed venture that provides a wide variety of effective, cost-efficient marketing opportunities for authors and others in the publishing community.

In the brief time since Book●ed started inviting authors and editors to submit their published work for a possible review on our weekly webcast (to debut this Spring — visit our website for more information), at least half the books received were self-published. The quality of writing and attention to detail in these books hover between the sublime and the ridiculous. (Cue the haunting whistler.) Here's where I get to The Good, The Bad and The Ugly about self-publishing. Pay attention aspiring authors!

Down every alley and around every corner you'll find a company that would love to publish your work. They'll try to entice you like an internet matchmaking service because they know you'’re hungry for success. Most of us wouldn'’t marry after the first date nor turn our child over to the first nanny that walks through the door, no matter how attractive or affordable they appear to be. So don't casually tie your reputation to a publisher you know nothing about. Don't give away your baby just because someone says they'll make it a star. Don't let fancy clothes or fancy claims corral you into something you'll later regret.

Like Forrest Gump's momma said, “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.” Except that you can get an idea of what you're going to get when you take that big bite out of your wallet to hire a company to publish your book.

Start paying attention to self-published books already on the market. Note the ones that present well, with crisp editing, free of typos and grammatical errors. Check lists of award-winning self-published books and notice the companies that produced them. They are likely to produce a good product for you, too.

Self-publishing used to be referred to as Vanity Press. While their capabilities have advanced, be realistic about what self-publishing can – and cannot – do for you, and be prepared to do your part to achieve success. Most houses offer a range of services; make a list of your priorities: decide what's most important for them to do, what you'’re prepared to pay and what you are capable of taking on yourself.

Remember: Getting your book published may be the final step of your writing journey bit it is just the first step of your journey to being read.

Best Sellers Aren’t Always Best Books

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Have you heard of the book Soundings by Hamilton Gibbs? No? According to Publishers Weekly, it was the best selling book of 1925. But F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby didn't even crack the top 10. In 1960, Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird didn't reach the top tier either, although two of John O'Hara's steamy novels did climb that lofty pinnacle of consumer choice. In 2011, nearly 350,000 new book titles were published. How many of them will still be read in 2061? In 2099?

If magnificent books by authors like Fitzgerald and Lee had a hard time competing in the ‘20s and ‘60s, what are writers to do today to get their books to readers? What if they have something valuable to share but they're not quite of the caliber of those esteemed writers? How many good – or great – books are being overlooked in today's market?

There are tectonic shifts occurring in the publishing industry. The major houses that remain are money-driven in order to survive. It is challenging even for established authors to get publishing deals unless their last book was a best seller. Emerging authors face an even more daunting task to get their untested work accepted by the established players.

Meanwhile, the smaller, more independent publishers are also competing for readership, using tightly stretched budgets to market their authors' works. E-books are turning the industry on its ear as reading – and buying – habits are changing. Self-publishing is possibly the fastest growing segment, benefitting from both technological advances in publishing and a traditional industry that is less willing to groom new talent. Regardless of how a book gets published today, more responsibility for marketing is falling on writers' shoulders.

People are still hungry for good books. “Good” is subjective, of course. But people will buy only what they see promoted – and that's where literary art and marketing art diverge. We read about best sellers every day. I am glad for the authors – brilliant or pallid – that climb the pinnacles of best-sellerdom. But I can't help the sad feeling that we are not doing enough to help elevate the new great books by unsung authors that should be read and kept alive for future generations.