PG 6 Ben Seales explains what it’s like to be the talent behind the scenes in publishing and why good editors make authors great.
pg 10 What can authors learn from musicians about making books, reaching readers and hitting the bigtime in the digital age?
pg 21 literary agent yasmin standen unveils three hares publishing, urging readers to pick books based not on genre but on mood.
NEW EDITION CONTEMPORARY
PUBLISHING
MAGAZINE ISSUE 15, JUNE 2014
Dark and deadly: how a self publishing rising star’s working life feeds his fiction
NICK BROWN
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WELCOME to the June issue of New Edition! This month we chat with lots of publishing insiders – from editor Ben Seales on the vastly important albeit invisible role that editors play in the publishing process to author Nick Brown on turning his passion for archaeology and history into a change of career path. All while brushing up on our publishing jargon! See how the music industry is setting standards for digital evolution that the book trade can follow. And are there enough books out there for boys? Find out what we think in this issue of New Edition.
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HAPPENI N GS June 9|
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Poetry Walk Across the Brooklyn Bridge
Brooklyn Bridge, New York, NY poetshouse.org/programs-and-events/poetry-walk/poetry-walk-across-brooklynbridge-0 A yearly benefit event for Poets House, the Poetry Walk traverses the Brooklyn Bridge from City Hall to DUMBO. Mark Doty and Thomas Lux will be among the poets reading while the walk commences, and Naomi Shihab Nye will be honoured with the Elizabeth Kray Award for dedicated service to poetry. Dinner will be provided in DUMBO. All proceeds from the event will help support Poets House’s free programming. Tickets begin at $250 and can be purchased at the Poets House website.
Foyles Grand Opening Festival
Foyles Bookshop, London foyles.co.uk/festival To celebrate the opening of their new flagship store on Charing Cross Road, Foyles is holding a star-studded three-week event. The Grand Opening Festival will include activities for all ages, from book signings to jazz concerts, film screenings to creative workshops. On Sunday June 15, the London Centre for Book Arts will be holding a Printing and Book Binding workshop for kids. Join Twitter cofounder Biz Stone on Thursday June 19 for the opening of Foyles’ business department. And don’t miss Simon Armitage, Gillian Clarke and Daljit Nagra’s Remembering Poets of the First World War on Wednesday June 25. Tickets to each event are available separately through the Foyles website. Many of the events are free, though some require reservations made through the website.
American Library Association Annual Conference & Exhibition
Las Vegas, NV ala14.ala.org The ALA’s Annual Conference may sound like it’s only for librarians, but they invite all “librarians, authors,publishers, business professionals, educators and students — anyone who is passionate about books, libraries, and eager to learn and shape the future of the industry” to join them in Las Vegas this year for a week full of exhibits, seminars and products related to reading, writing and book lending. Featured speakers include BJ Novak, Jane Fonda and Stan Lee. Registration is available through the ALA website.
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Head to Head
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Early last month, the New York Times reported that Amazon was purposefully delaying the shipping of Hachette titles to customers, stating on their website that certain books would take three to five weeks to arrive while titles from other publishers were available with next-day shipping. Amazon and Hachette are currently in negotiations that most presume to be about eBook pricing, though neither party is able to comment due to confidentiality agreements. Hachette is the first of the Big Five publishers to have its eBook contracts with Amazon expire and, as such, the outcome of these negotiations will set the tone for Amazon’s relationship with the publishing industry as a whole. In what most assume is an effort to strong-arm Hachette into agreeing to Amazon’s terms, the e-tailer is displaying much longer shipping times for the publisher’s titles, though Hachette claims that it has fulfilled all of Amazon’s orders on time. Amazon is also discounting Hachette titles at lower rates than competitors – sometimes only ten per cent below list price, while the same titles are available on Barnes & Noble’s website for several dollars cheaper. Perhaps the most upsetting scenario to publishers and readers alike is the banner at the top of all of the pages displaying Hachette’s titles that urges customers to buy similar but cheaper books published by other houses. While the negotiations are certainly two-sided, Amazon, unsurprisingly, seems to be losing in the court of public opinion. After the New York Times reported the story, publishing beat reporter David Streitfeld tweeted, ‘Nearly 8000 tweets of our story on Amazon/Hachette. Still looking for one that takes Amazon’s side’. Many take the view that being propublishing necessarily means being anti-Amazon, though this isn’t really the case. Looking to capitalise on consumer distrust, Walmart ran a ‘40% off selected books’ deal on its website. Though they didn’t specifically mention Hachette, the banner ad featured James Patterson, David Baldacci and Nicholas Sparks, all Hachette authors.
As the e-tailing behemoth with a huge share of the book selling market faces off against one of the biggest publishers in the world, Jordan Koluch investigates what the conflict means for the industry as a whole.
The part of the story that media outlets are just starting to report is that of the effect on authors. While readers will likely go elsewhere for JK Rowling’s new Robert Galbraith novel The Silkworm when it’s published on June 19, debut and midlist authors will suffer from the lack of access readers have to their work. A literary agent took to Facebook after her author’s books were made unavailable through Amazon: ‘This is really not awesome. My client’s book is one of the books being held hostage (not available for preorder). This isn’t about a company. These are authors. Real people’s careers. Buy your books somewhere else. You can order just about everything just about anywhere else online.’ This also isn’t the first time Amazon has made it difficult to find a publisher’s books during a negotiation. During a 2010 eBook pricing dispute, the e-tailer removed all of the ‘Buy’ buttons from Macmillan’s eBooks. In that case, the negotiations only lasted through the weekend. “This one goes along with the pulling of the Buy buttons as the most daunting exercise of brute market power,” said Scott Turow, a Hachette author and former president of the Authors Guild. “I regard the tactics as incomprehensible, and they are extremely unfair to readers and to authors.” The dispute brings to light the very real issue of distribution in the industry; retailers, publishers and authors alike need to continue exploring faster, cheaper and more innovative ways to get books to readers. The face-off between Amazon and Hachette will set the precedent for the publishing industry’s future negotiations with the e-tailer.
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Editor Extraordinaire All good books start with good editing. Even self publishing authors laud the expertise of their editors in making their books the best that they can be. Hayley Radford talks to one of Authoright’s favourite editors, Ben Seales, about life in literary development.
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How did you get into editing and development work in the first place?
After my degree I did work experience for Bloomsbury for a couple of weeks; during that time an editorial assistant job came up and getting that role was my lucky break. I’ve worked in publishing as an editor ever since. Every editor seems to have their own unique style in terms of how they approach a manuscript and work with an author. How would you define yours?
I try to be like a disciplinarian parent, a mixture of affection and being a task master. I have so much respect for anyone who sits down and writes 80,000 or however many words, regardless of how well written I think it is, so that’s where the affection part comes in. But your job [as an editor] is to be as incisively critical as possible, especially if you see any part of the book limiting the reader experience. You have to do this in an encouraging way. It’s a tricky balance to get right, but I’ve been doing this a long time now, I’m getting better at it! One of the key things is knowing when to push and when to hold back. I once edited a four book series for young readers by a very talented author. In books 1 to 3 the author changed about a dozen sentences per title after my comments, so that was three highly polished original scripts. But the fourth script just didn’t come alive, and the author had trouble rewriting it. In the end she rewrote it three times. I was not popular during those weeks, but it was very nice to get the email on publication, several months later, thanking me and saying I had been right to push for each redraft. I know what a perfectionist you are Ben! So it must be a tricky balance for you to strike – creatively, ethically and with an eye for excellence – knowing how far you can push a writer to take on board your own suggestions for their work… So what makes a good editor?
Many things, but the primary requirement, a very
basic thing really, is an ear for good storytelling, and that applies equally to non-fiction. Having a ‘good ear’ is, of course, quite an evanescent concept. A good editor constantly uses the instinctive grasp of the magic of story and knows how to achieve that with all the technical elements of dialogue, pacing, plot, tone and characterisation. Having said that, I was interested to read Hanif Kureishi’s recent comments about how useless creative writing courses are – despite the fact that he is a creative writing tutor! He was making the point that people can absorb huge amounts of technical and inspirational information about the constituent parts of writing a book, but there’s always that magical other part, and no one knows the formula, where the story comes alive, and this can’t really be taught. Margaret Atwood speaks about this too, in her brilliant Negotiating with the Dead. A good editor should understand the author’s voice and the author’s particular vision for their book, whatever genre it is. You have to really tune in to the voice and only then can you hope to understand and comment. I’ve edited books in many different genres and I look to encourage that magical part of the story, using the aforementioned building blocks. I often get raised eyebrows when I say I’m a fan of the Fifty Shades trilogy. There’s so much in them I would have edited differently, but there’s something about those books – the way love and sex is blurred – that resonates and makes you remember them. A good editor is also steeped in story and has read widely in all sorts of genres. (I threw my television out in 2007 when I calculated how many books I might hope to read before I die – it wasn’t enough and it upset me! I know that television can be a great medium for storytelling too – but I prefer word narrative every time.) What do you love about the editing process? And in turn, what frustrates you the most?
The excitement that you can help contribute to a brilliant book is extremely rewarding. Every week I get to enter a complete new world, there are very few jobs where you get to do that. I have only two frustrations, when a script feels rushed and not thought out
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I threw my television out in 2007 when I calculated how many books I might hope to read before I die – it wasn’t enough and it upset me! I know that television can be a great medium for storytelling too – but I prefer word narrative every time.
enough, and when a fairly basic grammatical error is repeated endlessly. But it’s what I’m paid to do so I shouldn’t be complaining! It’s a terrible cliché that authors think they can edit their own work, but really can’t. What makes selfediting nigh on impossible?
It’s a good question; some authors can do it, but very few in my experience. The necessary intimacy and discipline an author has to give to produce a book means they become so immersed in the project they simply can’t have the objective critical eye to read their manuscript afresh; the brain subconsciously remembers all the rewriting that happened, rather than reading the prose as clean, fresh and new. One solution to this is to put the novel in a drawer for six or twelve months and then you can read it with nearly fresh eyes, but by then of course, characters and events aren’t ‘living’ in the author’s mind as vividly as they once were, it’s far harder to pick up the strands of the living, fluid characters again, in order to rewrite. So that’s not really a viable solution. Many authors are wary of editorial advice because you are kind of giving your baby to a complete stranger, but you have to take a deep breath and go through the process. An author should always go with gut instinct, you can pick and choose the editorial comments you decide to work on, it isn’t an
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all-or-nothing scenario. With this question I also often think of another cliché – that everybody hates to hear a sound recording of their own voice – when we hear our own voices it sounds like we’ve just taken a large gulp of helium. You can’t hear yourself as you truly are. Are there particular tips you’d give to writers, or a process you’d advise them to follow, in order to develop their own writing more successfully before they bring it to you, to edit?
Don’t be tempted to rush, and know your competition. Readers really appreciate a book that is well crafted, whether it’s non-fiction or fiction. Because we can now publish a book at the same speed we can publish a tweet, this can lead to a feeling of panic, that if you aren’t publishing a book every four months, as some authors do, then you might be missing something. I come across a fair few manuscripts that seemed rushed. Every reader can sense this very quickly, so that speed will be a false economy as potential readership will be lost. Put it away for one to two weeks between each redraft and only submit for editing when you think it is as good as it can be. Also, study the section of the market you are publishing in and try to read at least a half dozen of the bestselling titles in the category. There are so many
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good online resources for budding writers too. You and I have discussed the value of the editor – and how to contextualise it – before. It’s very difficult, isn’t it, when a book becomes a bestseller, to quantify the extent to which the editor’s work has transformed it, or elevated it, or perhaps brought out the magic in it…
Script to script, even with those from the same author, editorial input can vary wildly. So a great editor can have zero impact on a script because the author wrote it so perfectly. Apparently Nabokov’s editor changed one word in the structural edit of Pale Fire. The history of the industry, and I’m going back a while here, is that there’s an unspoken agreement between editor and author not to discuss specific changes made via the editor, and that still largely remains, out of respect for the fact the author did all the work in creating the world in the first place and for the purity of the reader experience. But this also means there’s a lack of a body of evidence about changes at the edit stage of many titles. When I do my author fair and writers’ group talks I always mention The Great Gatsby, because Fitzgerald published the first draft of that book as Trimalchio. The difference between the two was largely one comment from the editor, that Fitzgerald should scale back all the heavy details of Gatsby himself and make him more mysterious, with characterisation built on hints. That comment was absolutely integral to Gatsby becoming the classic it has. But those kind of things only become apparent when previous drafts are available, which they so rarely are. At least there are a few good examples around that can demystify for authors the potential process their script might be put through. If it were up to you, would you alter the way in which the editor is remunerated for their work, especially where deep structural work has been done?
How about a gold plated yacht for every typo spotted? Hmm, interesting one, yes if you had done something as key as the Gatsby example above, you might be slightly annoyed you didn’t get some get credit, financial or otherwise. But editors mustn’t get
too full of themselves and remember their place in the literary food chain. If the world were full of editors only and no authors, there would be no books! How do you feel that the rise of self publishing has changed the way in which editors are viewed and valued? Is the editor becoming more remote on the traditional side of the industry, and yet more accessible within self publishing?
Possibly not that much in terms of value, but definitely an increase in accessibility. I still think there’s a lot of mystery surrounding the editorial process and that is as true now as before the digital revolution. The mystery remains, as I said before, because it’s important for the editor to be invisible – the reader is entering an author’s complete world – knowing bits and bobs about the editor’s changes doesn’t help that. It’s good to hear self publishing stars like Hugh Howey, EL James and many others commenting frequently that editors are a vital part of the process. What do you feel has been the high point of your career so far? A particular author, or story, you helped bring to life that you’re very proud of?
Cathy Hopkins and I conceived the Zodiac Girls series concept together; it was great to be a part of that and edit the whole series. Terry Deary and I had a brain storming lunch that led to his Fire Thief trilogy. I mentioned I was working on a book about Greek myth and he went very quiet and I could see in his face his brain was whirring frantically. Ten seconds later he had the whole idea for the trilogy. More recently I got to work on an amazing autobiography, the story of a lady who gone through unimaginable hardship in her life. It was an honour to edit her manuscript, and afterwards I met her and her son; it was great. The same strong spirit in her book shone through in person. I won’t ever forget that, and of course that’s [the] power of good storytelling – it gives you that amazing intimacy. Ben Seales is an editor and owner of editorial consultancy Ebook Editorial. Find him online at ebookeditorial.com and on Twitter @ebookeditorial
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NEW EDITION, JUNE 2014 Betty Who propelled herself to stardom by managing her music like a business. Photo courtesy of Billboard.com.
CAN’T WE ALL BE
ROCK STARS? Both books and music are industries where indie stars can make it big. Chris Sansom examines the overlap between the two to see what the similarities can teach us.
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For authors and artists alike, the prospect of standing out from the vast crowd is more than daunting, and in a world of endless talent shows and packaged pop stars, it’s becoming downright impossible for even the best talent to gain recognition. But with young intelligentsia voraciously leading the charge in startup business venture successes, it was only a matter of time before the model was appropriated as a means of securing success elsewhere, and it’s now bleeding into music and book publishing. Plucky young Australian songstress Betty Who is a perfect example of this shift toward entrepreneurialism outside of the bounds of normal business, and has been the architect of her own success through a proprietary mix
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of precocious raw talent and relentless self-promotion. With a small team comprising just Betty and her manager, fellow Berklee School of Music alum Ethan Schiff, she put her innate entrepreneurial spirit to work from the outset of her career, shying away from the traditional commercial route to success. At just twenty-two, her brief, aggressive rise toward stardom has already been chronicled in Time magazine, hailing her as a ‘grassroots diva treating pop stardom like a startup’. Buoyed by a wedding proposal video gone viral on which her song ‘Somebody Loves You’ featured, precocious Betty closed a huge deal with RCA Records. For Who, social media and YouTube had played the role of an A&R officer, and the twelve million views garnered by the video drove fans directly to her door, so to speak. But musicians aren’t the only ones exploiting the efficacy of the entrepreneur model, and authors like Amanda Hocking are fast proving that treating your book as a startup business can make waves in the literary world. Hocking’s rise to prominence reads more like a publishing fairytale than a story of grit and determination, but her commitment to success is undeniable. Observing the rapid proliferation of eBooks in 2009, Hocking made a conscious effort to approach her writing as a full time job rather than a hobby, writing daily and creating a website to share drafts of content for her titles. Though still submitting her manuscripts for consideration at traditional publishers throughout New York, she opted to digitalise My Blood Approves, and moved in with an aggressive low-end price to attract interest. Within weeks she was selling eBooks in the tens of thousands, and twelve months down the line her book was selling in almost the same amount daily, as she joined the likes of Stieg Larsson and James Patterson at the top of bestseller lists. Not bad for a young unknown author from Austin, Minnesota. Certainly Hocking’s runaway success came with the same pinch of luck that saw Betty Who emerge from the maelstrom of obscurity; but without the decidedly business approach to her book as a product, she would likely have remained unknown. So what, if anything, can the publishing industry learn from the successes of the music industry?
As the way we consume content is changing through technology, both books and music are benefiting increasingly from advances here, with mainstay music streaming services like Spotify leading the charge. In a recent Guardian article, Spotify’s ex Vice President Faisal Galaria discussed the importance of a similar subscribe and stream model in the publishing sphere. Scribd and Oyster are among the early adopters with this approach, albeit years after it became popular in music, but if they’re capable of garnering even a small amount of Spotify’s success, they could be key players in an increasingly diversifying industry. Oyster for instance offers services at a comparable price to its music based forbear, with a monthly subscription of $9.99 for US subscribers, and they’ve even teamed up with the recently hyped Spritz speed-reading application, further evidencing their commitment to pushing the industry envelope through tech. Galaria goes on to outline that “[t]here are parallels with the music industry, where a similar argument was made for vinyl rather than the compact discs which followed in the 1980s. And it could actually be argued that the critics had more of a point – vinyl was widely accepted to be of much better quality than
After taking her publishing destiny into her own hands, Amanda Hocking sold tens of thousands of copies of her self published ebook. Photo courtesy of USA Today.
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Subscribe! Subscription services seem to be the new vogue in both the music and book publishing industries. Users pay a monthly fee for unlimited access to the service’s extensive library. See which companies are making waves.
Spotify: Music
Oyster: Books
Scribd: Books
Spotify allows users to choose from millions of songs online via computers, phones and tablets, as well as to download songs and listen without an internet connection. Users can also view friend and celebrity playlists, making listening a social activity. £9.99 / $9.99 per month. spotify.com
Oyster’s e-reading app allows users to access thousands of bestsellers and over 500,000 eBook titles on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. Users can read any title from Oyster’s library while connected to the internet, and can access the last ten titles they’ve opened while offline. Only available in the USA. $9.95 per month. oysterbooks.com
Partnerships with over 900 publishers allow Scribd users access to 300,000 traditionally published books, as well as millions of useruploaded works. Scribd’s Apple, Android and Kindle apps allow users to access their eBooks from any device. Readers can also download eBooks to be read while offline. $8.99 per month. scribd.com
its successors.” And this certainly rings true when looking back at the doomsayers of print books, whose argument has abated thanks to the slowing upward trajectory of eBook consumption of late. But the question of cannibalisation is not necessarily an unfounded one. The emergence of iTunes caused CD sales to steadily decrease; while musicians still make money from selling their music in the form of 99 cent digital downloads, there has also been more interest in diversifying. Ticket revenue from live events and brand extensions like licensing, book deals and ‘Beats by Dre’-style product lines are increasingly being added to artists’ repertoires. If the eBook becomes the next 99-cent download (as it is already in some cases), authors may need to find their own ancillary sources of revenue. Penguin Random House’s UK chief told an audience at the London Book Fair this year that PRH is increasingly exploring merchandising options for a plethora of the intellectual property the publisher holds claim to. However, music is also seeing a resurgence of vinyl sales, which are easily attributed to the interests of niche buyers—enthusiasts, if you will—who value not only the music, but the physical object, however arcane. Books may see this trend in the coming years as well; even if eBooks are the preferred reading medium, print books will exist for a small sect of the bookbuying public to enjoy as art pieces and collectables.
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It’s clear, then, that for talent of any kind to stand the best chance for exposure out of the darkness of obscurity, they must be far more than simply talented, but studious and relentless businessmen too. It’s also clear that both books and music live on, regardless of the format either takes. Those who proselytise the end of the book will be left just like those who decried the end of music fifteen years ago – sorely mistaken.
DECODED Just starting out in the publishing industry but want to act like you’re already a pro? Katy Garland defines some popular publishing jargon for you to get your head around!
Advance reading copy (ARC)
Royalty
n. \ ˈrȯi(-ə)l-tē \
n. \ əd-ˈvan(t)s ˈrēdiŋ ˈkä-pē \ Also known as a galley. A version of the book that, while not final, you or your publicist will send out to journalists, bloggers and reviewers for them to read and review. Increasingly, PDFs are used for this, though ARCs are often still printed. An essential piece of marketing material.
n. \ ˈȯf-ˌset ˈprin-tiŋ \ The typical process for large volume printing, in which paper is passed through a series of inked rollers that deposit ink on the paper in layers. Large print runs are required to offset the high costs of running the massive printers. Not recommended for self publishing authors who would be stuck with hundreds of books at once.
Front matter
Print-on-demand (POD)
n. \ ˈfrənt ˈma-tər \ All of the elements of a book that come before the first chapter. This includes the title page, copyright page, table of contents, acknowledgements or prologue. Exact front matter varies widely based on the need of the specific book. Dazzle your friends, family and typesetter with your knowledge of front matter elements!
n. \ ˈprint ˈȯn di-ˈmand \ A printing process that allows you to print one book at a time in minutes, using a high-quality digital printer. It’s the most economical method for self publishing because you don’t need to store large numbers of yet-unsold books.
Wait, not that kind! A percentage of profit from the sale of each book that is paid to the author. While traditional publishers usually stick to pretty similar International standard royalty rates, self publishing book number (ISBN) imprints vary greatly. n. \ ˌin-tər-ˈnash-nəl ˈstan-dərd
Perfect bound adj. \ ˈpər-fikt ˈbaund \ The typical binding method for paperback books, where the pages and cover are glued together at the spine with a strong yet flexible thermal glue. The primary benefits of perfect bound books are that they look professional and stack well, offering visual appeal to your bookshelf.
Offset printing
Trim size
n. \ ˈtrim ˈsīz \ The specific dimensions of the book. When choosing a trim size, it’s important to consider the readability and portability of the specific title. No one wants a guide ˈbuk ˈnəm-bər \ to London that won’t fit in their The number that uniquely identifies pocket or bag! each published book and the publisher (or self publisher) who Typesetting owns it. A title can have multiple ISBNs if it is printed in different n. \ ˈtīp ˌse-tiŋ \ editions or formats (print book, The process of flowing edited text eBook, etc.). An essential piece of into an interior book design. It’s the marketing material. magic that happens between Word document and printed book.
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The Story of Art As the industry debates the virtues of print versus digital, the Center for Book Arts is putting the physical book centre-stage, while also challenging perceptions about what a book can be. Jordan Koluch pays the Center a visit.
Andrew Norman Wilson Cottonseed Meal— 8, 2013 Archival pigment print, painted frame, aluminum composite material.
The first thing you notice about the Center for Book Arts when you come off the elevator into the third-storey Manhattan space is that it’s not what you thought it would be. There are no ancient tomes (perhaps bound in human skin à la the Harvard Law Library collection) housed in climate-controlled glass cases. There are no books that have pages cut away to create a landscape or diorama. There are, however, embroidered poems and book pages in petri dishes. And videos. Sarah Nicholls, Programs & Marketing Manager at the Center, says that this diversity is at the core of the Center’s mission. “The Center has a very open-ended approach to books, and to book arts, partly because the field is so vast, and partly because we’re living in a time when the definition of the book is changing rapidly. But many of the works in our exhibitions are not necessarily books, or even book arts. Part of our goal with our exhibitions is to situate books made by artists within an art world where artists use multiple mediums and formats, so one artist might be
making books, and videos, and sculptures, and performance, all to tell different facets of a story. So we try to draw the connections between mediums: what do books as an art medium have in common with video? With performance? With installation?” The things you’ll recognise in the space are book pages set in the bottom of petri dishes, individual words (and sometimes an errant fly) stuck through with pins. The shopping lists of Soviet women letterpressed in rich black on dark, creamy paper. What may surprise you is the number of iPads, including one looping a display of performance poetry next to printed versions of the poems. But the Center for Book Arts isn’t just an exhibition space. When I visited, they were setting up one of their many public programmes – this time their Exhibition Opening Reception, which featured artist Diane Stemper (creator of the petri dishes) and a performance by Sara Shaoul. Upcoming programming includes an Artist
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Ellen Harvey Looking-Glass iPad, Kindle & Nook, 2014 Three laser-etched Plexiglas mirrors mounted on Lumisheets and Plexiglas frames, Plexiglas shelf.
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Talk with the Center’s artists-in-residence in June and an opening of their new exhibits in July. According to Nicholls, there is still a broad community interested in discussions of books and book art. “Our talks and panels range in audience; this past winter we hosted a series of three panels on the history and future of book design that were phenomenally popular, really quite successful programmes, really engaging. I think that people are very much interested in thinking about the new possibilities for the book, and in hearing about all the various kinds of past roles and forms that books have taken over the years. I think if I were to generalise about our programs overall I would say that we explore the rich history and traditions of the book in order to inspire and invent new iterations of the book in the future. And talks with writers, historians, collectors, librarians, curators and artists are essential to help put those ideas in context.” The collection of printing equipment
hints at the other reason people gather at the Center for Book Arts – an extensive course listing of classes on printing and binding. Whether you’re brand new to the trade or a seasoned expert, Nicholls says the Center has something for you. “Our courses attract a range of students from different backgrounds. I think that beginning classes tend to attract the largest audience in terms of numbers, but the students who have taken many classes before, who want to hone their craft, tend to take many more classes and to spend more time here than the beginner, and we build programmes specifically for that group of people as well. “Bookbinding I and Letterpress I are two core courses that are very popular with beginners. Classes like Paper Marbling and Calligraphy have an avid following, and students tend to take those classes over and over again to practise their skills.” Other offerings include Protect and Cover: An Introduction to Boxmaking and Natural Dyeing for Book Artists. Taught by visiting
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experts and Center staff, classes are open to both members and non-members at various days and times. After more than a decade at the Center, Nicholls has many memories of the people who come through and the different ways they embrace the art of the book. “I’ve been here twelve years now; there’s a lot of memorable moments. It’s a very strong community of people who’ve kept this place going over the years, and I have too many memories to count. We’ve hosted ritual book burnings to rid yourself of bad juju, taught workshops on wearable books, made animated book videos, eaten books, performed books, you name it. Maybe the
memorial service for our mascot, Lizzie the Cat…that was pretty memorable.” She’s optimistic about the future of the book, maybe because the Center attracts the type of people who will always love books in one way or another. “The future for the printed book is bright; it won’t be the only kind of book around, that’s all. Books of the future will have many different kinds of roles and purposes and forms.” And if anyone is pushing the envelope of what the book can be, it’s definitely the Center for Book Arts. Find out more about the Center for Book Arts at centerforbookarts.org and on Twitter @center4bookarts
Jenifer Wightman Tree, 2014 Assymetric signature bookbinding.
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CONTEMPORARY PUBLISHING MAGAZINE
DIG IT Just in time for the release the release of his third book, The Dead Travel Fast, Chris Sansom spoke to an author who’s a veteran of do-ityourself publishing. Nick Brown OBE talks about bringing his love of archaeology to life in the second novel of his series. Nick Brown’s journey was one you might say typifies many modern authors. His early career saw him specialise in archaeology, which would prove to form the bedrock of his varied storytelling style. “Archaeology was good and I enjoyed research but it was very difficult to earn a living.” Having taught in the discipline, and writing for the Archaeological Press, he sought a new challenge. Brown first tried his hand at fiction with his novel Luck Bringer, a fictionalised account of the events leading up to the Battle of Marathon. The story focuses on the historical figure Miltiades, a character who drew Brown’s interest during his time teaching ancient history. Brown had always had the itch to write. “I had a collapsed lung and double pneumonia when I was little, spending a lot of time in hospital and off school. I read about the ancient past and lived in my head.” But he also learned fast that the type of writing he’d already done didn’t necessarily translate into narrative success. “I sent an early draft of my first effort to a friend who is a writer: it was shredded and I realised that just because you’ve been good at some things you still have to start from the bottom with new ventures. It galvanised me and writing with the experience of several challenging life experiences to call upon certainly helped.” Brown’s next foray into writing was with his ‘Ancient Gramarye’ series, which follows archaeologist Steve Watkins. In Skendleby, the first novel of the series, a historical site in a Northern village holds secrets that haunt the town for centuries. In the newly published The Dead Travel Fast, Watkins flees that town and its
ghosts for the beauty of Greece, but is soon followed by the same horror that drove him from his home in the first place. Brown’s knowledge of archaeology, history and ancient legend served him well through the crafting of the series. Brown is familiar with these subjects not just as a student, but also as a teacher. He was part of the senior management team at Burnage High School in Manchester where a high profile, racially motivated murder took place in the schoolyard. “I was with the boy as he was dying. I was left with the feeling that everyone involved from staff to emergency services could have done better. There was a violent aftermath.” Following this he left teaching to build a working reconstruction of a Romano British Villa for Oldham Council: but fate played a hand. Breeze Hill School in Oldham was experiencing similar problems to Burnage and he was installed as Head thanks to his extensive experience. Tragically, a similarly shocking murder took place at Breeze Hill, but he says that his past experience had helped immensely in steering the school through. Over the next two decades, Brown headed up Oldham Sixth Form College, purposefully built to be racially inclusive, in the centre of Oldham, and, during the fateful Oldham Riots, hailed as a ‘haven of peace’ in the press, for which he received an OBE. Then he decided to move on once again. The allure of writing finally became too much, and several years ago he began work on one of two series of books he’d been thinking about for a long time, starting him on a journey that many other authors are becoming acquainted with. A big part of the changing role of authors comes
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Nick Brown’s Ancient Gramarye series includes the novels Skendleby and The Dead Travel Fast.
with the intensifying need to approach their craft from a business-like perspective, and when asked how he viewed his journey, he suggested that “It has been more entrepreneurial than I would have liked. On the other hand I’ve learned things I wouldn’t have otherwise, e.g. social media, hustling for reviews, getting the books into shops. But it gets in the way of the writing.” Brown’s experience is indicative of the challenging juggling act many of today’s self published authors must adopt. Having three sons, and with a decorated career in teaching, Brown is uniquely placed to weigh in on the recent controversy about children’s literacy statistics in the UK and the accusation that publishers are doing little to attract young male readers. “At Oldham Sixth Form College we put a lot of resources into the library to try and encourage individual reading, but killing people and stealing cars on a games console is a powerful rival to reading. “Using literature as a building block for establishing a sense of identity in a fractured town was crucial to the success of the college. Short story competitions where young people credit their literary influences worked as well. On the other hand the attempt to make everything relevant in a type of patronising ‘down with the kids’ culture is counterproductive. Imagination is key, and though people may sneer at JK Rowling, she’s probably had more impact on getting young people to read than anyone else.” In his words, there are steps that the publishing industry should aim to take. “Feed the imagination, don’t patronise, stereotype or treat this as a limited market.” He goes on to say that “Society should put more time into reading for pleasure; have that on the school timetable in good surroundings and comfy chairs. Let them have drinks etc. I think particularly for young adolescent boys there is pressure to grow up too quickly, and reading can give them space. But they are probably not going to do it if it is competing with more immediate pleasures.” While Brown may have left teaching behind, he will continue to inform and inspire his readers by making archaeology a suspenseful, horror-filled good read. Nick Brown OBE is married and lives with three sons and a ghost on the borders of Skendleby, where the first of his haunting ‘Ancient Gramarye’ series was set. He’s bowled for a variety of league cricket teams for about 25 years, and until 2013 was Chair of The Oldham Partnership. The Dead Travel Fast was published 2nd June. Find him online at nickbrownbooks.com and on Twitter @ NickBrownAuthor
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CONTEMPORARY PUBLISHING MAGAZINE
MAKING IT PERSONAL Small presses have a long tradition of making publishing personal – acquiring books they fall in love with and shepherding them through every stage of the process. Jordan Koluch talks to Yasmin Standen, literary-agent-turned-cofounder of Three Hares Publishing, about being hands-on from acquisition to publication. Yasmin Standen is no stranger to the publishing industry. As owner of the Standen Literary Agency, she’s represented a diverse list of author-clients for almost a decade. But sensing the industry’s need for a new ethos in terms of how readers find books, she decided to expand her horizons and founded Three Hares Publishing with Helen Bryant of Cornerstones Literary Consultancy. Their goal was “to publish great books and to make publishing more consumer-led. This is why we have done away with genres and have a mood bar instead. ‘What do you feel like reading today?’” Indeed, on the Three Hares website, the publisher’s titles are sorted by headings such as ‘Make me laugh’ and ‘Rainy day reads’. This approach is informed by the personal relationships Standen forms with each author, getting to the heart of what the author hopes to portray through his or her book. Starting out as an agent helped Standen form these relationships with her authors. “I try to take my agent’s hat off and put on my publishing hat whilst at Three Hares; however, there is always crossover. And as an agent, I feel you are more sympathetic and in tune to the author’s needs; you see beyond them being a writer. As an agent I have close working relationships with my authors. The relationship between authors and publishers is usually a little more removed, since an agent deals with the publisher. At Three Hares, we deal directly with most of our authors. The skill set of an agent is easily transferable to that of a publisher: discovering new voices, nurturing and guiding, except you are now also responsible for the book and not just the author!” Removing the barrier between author and publisher means that Three Hares accepts unsolicited submissions, and Standen personally reads from the slush pile. She’s always looking for “a manuscript you cannot put down – characters which engage and a story which flows. This comes after many years of writing, and the technical skill of great writing should be implemented seamlessly, and the reader should only be concerned with the story.” Acquisitions at a small press like Three Hares are incredibly personal,
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and Standen says she is looking for “more literary fiction, women’s fiction and general commercial fiction” though the press is “open-minded and open to all submissions”. She cautions authors to carefully follow the submission requirements, noting deal-breakers like “not using double line spacing. And I’m a bit old-fashioned and appreciate a cover letter. I love to know how the story came to be.” Standen’s emphasis on the author’s story hints at a fundamental shift in the publishing industry toward the growing role of the writer in the publishing process. According to Standen, “The author’s role has changed from just writing a book to creating and maintaining a platform and viewing themselves as a brand. Most publishers expect writers to have a platform now. Social media is definitely an active part of a writer’s life.” And while Three Hares adheres to some industry norms, like
seeking authors with platforms, they also embrace the freedom that comes with being a small press. “Independent publishers, by virtue of their size and the manner in which they operate, have more autonomy and flexibility. They are able to take more risks and publish books they really believe in and love.” Standen also hopes that the Three Hares brand will draw readers to read many of the publisher’s titles and encourage writers to submit their work. She sees Three Hares’ mission as a collaborative process between writer, reader and publisher. “We see ourselves as championing new voices and love receiving work from debut authors. We also want readers to choose books according to their mood; after all, this is how most people choose to read. The three hares [of the logo] symbolise the writer, the reader and the publisher.” Since its launch in May, Three
Hares has published five titles it loves: Best Wishes, Sister B by Fran Smith; A Bird in the House by Bronwen Griffiths; Zero Alternative by Luca Pesaro; Minty by Christina Banach and Cloud Riders by Nick Cook. All five titles are available in paperback and eBook format in both the UK and the USA. Up next for Three Hares is “acquiring more fantastic titles” to add to the mood meter. Find out more about Three Hares Publishing at threeharespublishing. com. Follow Three Hares on Twitter @threeharesbooks and Yasmin Standen @YasminStanden
I love to know how the story came to be.
Three Hares Publishing has released five titles since the press’s official launch in May. Previous page: Yasmin Standen founded Three Hares with Helen Bryant of Cornerstones after almost ten years as a literary agent.
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# CONTEMPORARY PUBLISHING MAGAZINE
Trending:
Books for Boys
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With boys in the UK reading with less proficiency than girls, parents, educators and publishers are looking for solutions. Jordan Koluch explores whether we need more books for boys or whether gendering books is detrimental to all young readers. Jonathan Emmett’s son didn’t like to read. This was troubling for Emmett, given that he is an author of children’s books. Why did his son, who was exposed to books at the earliest age, prefer video games, TV and ‘Star Wars’ movies? While his anecdote is personal, Emmett hit on a problem that exists in the larger reading and educational communities. A study by the National Literacy Trust indicates that in the UK 80% of boys are reading at the appropriate level for their year by the age of 11, while for girls the number is 88%. The disparity grows at secondary school. Emmett suggests that this disparity exists because boys feel underrepresented in the content of books published for young readers. According to Emmett, books published ‘for boys’ – that is, ideas developed by adult publishing professionals to appeal to a young male audience – don’t actually reflect what young boys like. In his independent report on the subject, entitled COOL not CUTE! Emmett mentions that children’s publishing is dominated by women who shy away from topics like technology and violence in children’s books, even though they are subjects tackled by other media young children are exposed to. Amanda Craig, novelist and former children’s book reviewer of The Times, agrees: “By and large, a lot of people writing with boys in mind aim too low. They sometimes think it’s enough to have a few jokes and a bit of adventure rather than writing the best book possible. More care is needed and both writers and publishers should take responsibility for that.” Emmett’s books for boys feature robots, rockets and monsters, and he says that these titles are best received at readings he does at schools, though his titles about ducklings are consistently better sellers. The reason for this, he assumes, is that while children react
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well to the ‘more mature’ themes, adults who buy books are more familiar and comfortable with fluffy animals. “So let me make this clear,” writes Emmett in his report. “If one demographic group is chiefly to blame for the state of affairs I’ve outlined, it is adult men, for failing to take sufficient interest in what young children are reading.” What he blatantly ignores is that he – an adult male – is very concerned about what his child is reading. There are also innumerable male teachers, librarians and children’s publishing professionals who make it their life’s work to be concerned about what young children are reading. We also don’t know how many children’s books are purchased by adult males; to assume it’s not many seems unfair to fathers, brothers and uncles everywhere. Barry Cunningham, a man who not only works for but runs children’s publisher Chicken House, weighed in on the argument: “Modern editors have a very good knowledge of varied voices and gender doesn’t dictate what stories you gravitate towards. Anyway, most of the main themes in children’s books are universal, dealing with bullying, for example.” Paul Moreton, one of the founding partners of The Bell Lomax Moreton Literary Agency and another man in children’s publishing, suggested, “Let’s stop overanalysing and do an even better job of getting more books into more kids’ hands. As an industry we should be selling the good stories rather than dealing with distractions all of the time.” I’m most inclined to agree with Moreton. Tens of thousands of children’s books are published every year; at least a few of them will appeal to each child. It would be naïve to say that publishers don’t discuss their target audiences and break them down by gender every time they publish a title. But to
CONTEMPORARY PUBLISHING MAGAZINE
Right: Children’s book author Jonathan Emmett wrote COOL not CUTE, a report that details possible reasons for boys being less compelled to read at a young age. Photo courtesy of Walker Books. Below: The Let Books Be Books campaign against gendered titles for children’s books uses these colouring books as an example of publishers unfairly categorising different subject matter for specific genders. Photo courtesy of Let Toys Be Toys.
say that a title will appeal only to boys or to girls underestimates children’s interests and intelligence. To that end, the recent popularity of the ‘Let Books Be Books’ campaign in the UK suggests that what the children’s book industry needs is less, not more, segmentation. The campaign began as a change.org petition to boycott books with ‘for Boys’ or ‘for Girls’ in the title. Kerry Mason, co-director of literacy foundation Letterbox Library, said, “This campaign is testament to a growing voice of dissent. We have a very proud and rich tradition of children’s publishing in the UK. But increasingly, parents and teachers feel that children’s own book choices are being limited by publishers’ gendered marketing campaigns.” So what, exactly, is the publishing industry’s problem? Do we not have enough books for boys, or do we have too many books ‘for Boys’? Which is more detrimental to our youth? “I’m against anything, from age-ranging to pinking and blueing, whose effect is to shut the door in the face of children who might enjoy coming in. No publisher should announce on the cover of any book the sort of readers the book would prefer. Let the readers decide for themselves,” said Philip Pullman, author of the trilogy ‘His Dark Materials’. Therein, I think, lies the issue that the children’s publishing industry faces. Books
for young children are enjoyed – or not – by young children, but they’re selected by adults. We would ideally love each reader to decide for him- or herself whether he or she would rather read about rockets or ducklings. But five-yearolds don’t have wallets, so publishers have to market to parents. And speaking as an adult who has had to purchase a gift for a child, we have no earthly idea of what they’ll like today, and whether it will be the same tomorrow. Catherine Bell, co-group managing director, Scholastic UK, said, “Scholastic believes in publishing for every child and devotes a great deal of time to finding out what boys and girls of all ages are really interested in reading. Also, we agree that it would be brilliant to see equality at every level, and in every industry. We always seek the most qualified candidate for any position regardless of gender.” This is the best we can hope to do – have smart, talented, qualified people producing the most interesting, highest quality books they can. The discussion we should be having around these statistics isn’t about why kids can’t read – 12% of girls who can’t read at their year level is as much of a problem as the 20% of boys – but how we can help them learn. And that’s not a discussion about rockets and ducklings.
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No Place Like Home There’s nothing like coming back to a place that feels so familiar. No matter where we’ve been or where we’re going, we keep returning to these literary places that feel like home.
Diana I was born in New York City, so this is an easy one! My favourite literary part of New York City is the Playwrights’ Sidewalk on Christopher Street. It’s similar to the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Each beloved and legendary playwright has their own star on the sidewalk. There are many blank stars, and I always look at them when I go to the Lucille Lortel Theatre (which is right by the walk). I like to imagine my own name going into one of those stars one day! My all-time favourite playwright is the late Wendy Wasserstein. I always touch her star and ask her for guidance as I keep on going in this challenging and competitive field!
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Jordan Arizona is a state better known for its cacti than its literary community. But the greater Phoenix area is actually home to a major university, a burgeoning hipster culture and Changing Hands Bookstore. Renowned for its used book collection (and amazing buy-back rates), Changing Hands is as literary as it gets in the desert. They also sell new books and knick-knacks, have a beautiful kids’ section and host numerous monthly events. The crowning jewel, however, is the seamless flow (not even a door of separation) between Changing Hands and Wildflower Bread Company, a delicious cafe that resides next door to the Tempe location. Changing Hands just opened their second location in the heart of Phoenix, which boasts a wine, beer and coffee bar. I guess you know where I’ll be next time I’m home. Emma My town? It has to be Paris. And it has to be a bookshop called Shakespeare and Company. It is slightly ironic that though the masses flock to the French capital for croissants, culture and champagne, they still want a bit of the old Bard and his mother tongue. I used to work for the British Tourist Office in Paris, and we often had callers wanting to get hold of English language books. This is one place that you can absolutely get hold of plenty of those. But perhaps one of the main reasons that it is so successful and has withstood the test of time, having been set up in the 1950s to welcome aspiring readers and writers, is because it has become a home for them. In the past, if you did a couple of hours’ work for the owner and read a book a day, you could actually sleep there. Now, there is only room for six to stay the night. The owner says that there are very few French who sleep there, but mostly those travellers a long way from home. There is possibly a little lesson for other bookshops here. Not that I am suggesting for a moment that they all become Holiday Inns with a bookshop in the foyer, but rather become places where people feel comfortable and have the time to make the purchases they really want. The sign on the wall says ‘Be Not Inhospitable To Strangers Lest They Be Angels In Disguise’. All authors are angels, right?!
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in NEW EDITION The Ideas Issue Ethics in publishing How to be a media-savvy author And more!
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