THE ART OF MAKING A LIVING

Blackstone Audio, operating out of Ashland, Oregon, was started in 1987, and Haila Williams has been there for the past 16 years, opening a New York branch office in 2010.  Ten years ago she took Chris Knopf’s first thriller, The Last Refuge (which went on to be a PW Best Book of 2006), and has been generous with taking innumerable titles from us ever since, increasing the audience for these artists’ works.  Once she arrived in New York we’ve seen her there, and out in Sag Harbor as well. She has a special sensitivity for quality fiction and, having seen some of her paintings, a special quality as an artist plus a good sense of humor in describing her journey. We both wanted to be visual artists: Haila studying at Indiana University and elsewhere, my being an art major at Manhattan’s High School of Music & Art. Instead, our most significant careers are in the book business—Haila in audio, myself in book publishing—and we have much in common. With this, let me turn you over to my friend Haila, who has this to add:  “I’d say we have a mutual admiration for each other,” to which I say “Amen!”

I wanted to be an artist. I was a Fine Arts major at Indiana University, Ringling School of Art, and Harrington Institute of Design in Chicago. I graduated fairly well versed in the arts, with the exception of one—the art of making a living.

Because I couldn’t support myself as an artist, I chose creative jobs—interior designer, caterer, restaurant cook, astrologer, general contractor, and marketing consultant.  So when I answered an ad in the paper to be a part-time copywriter for Blackstone Audio, it was just to have a paycheck so I could continue to be a member of an art gallery.

I learned the business as assistant to Craig Black, the founder of Blackstone Audio. There were only about thirty people there then and many of them were related to Craig. It was the direct opposite of the corporate environment—everybody wore jeans or shorts, there were a couple of cats that lounged on the desk, and a dog that may or may not have been part wolf. Craig’s kids sometimes visited and placed stickers on everyone. Over time the company grew to be the largest independently owned audio publisher in the US, with Craig’s nephew Josh Stanton as CEO.

I’m now one of three full-time acquisition editors. I license all genres based on submittals from agents or publishers. The great advantage of being an audio editor is  that anything I review has already been deemed publishable. We publish over a hundred books per month so I get several submissions on a daily basis. For nonfiction, I look for a new perspective, a lively writing style, clarity, and solid author credentials.  When it comes to fiction, I want to have a sense of trust in the writer’s observations and command of style so I can relax and go on the ride, as opposed to being a distant observer, noting plot devices. I look for an authentic voice and originality —something that makes a particular manuscript stand out among the hundred other ones on my desk. If I can describe a book in one sentence and make you want to read it, then there’s likely a great hook.

The only downside to this job is walking into a bookstore and feeling the pang of remorse for missing a good one or wanting to read books off my list without feeling guilty. One day I will return to reading without caring whether the audio will sell or not.
I’m extremely grateful for my life in audio publishing. It’s a little ironic that someone who wanted to be a visual artist ended up in an area of publishing that was started for the blind, but what I learned is that it’s all art.  Life is art. I love the relationships I’ve made with my co-workers, the narrators, the rights agents, the publishers, the studio engineers, the sales people, and of course, the authors. All of us working to bring the work to the art and art to the work.

COMING UP: Chris Knopf, who has spent decades in advertising and promotion. will address the issues of how to call attention to  books.

Do sign on as a follower of these weekly blogs—which started on April 2—in order to be alerted when each new one is posted.

Marty

HOW I BECAME A BOOK CRITIC

Most everybody in the book business is a critic, from bloggers to agents to scouts, to audiobook editors, to writers, to judges for various literary and mystery awards, to publishers and even to independent bookstores who, at the ground level, have the opportunity to hand sell titles they are impressed by. Then, of course, there are professional book critics who are salaried and whose reviews invariably appear in newspapers and magazines.

As publishers, we receive about 5,000 queries and submissions a year, and doing 16 titles annually, have to say “No” 4,984 times. This is relatively easy to do, for our critical judgments are private, whereas professional book critics have to contend with authors, publishers, and publicists whose books are unfavorably reviewed or ignored. That can be a negative side, of course, but there are also gratifications.

With that, Ron Charles, Editor of The Washington Post Book World, was kind enough to discuss his work. I was impressed with his opening remark even before he responded to some questions I posed.

I’m flattered that you think anyone would care about my responses to these questions, and I think you’re wrong. But what the hell.

How did you get started as a book critic?

Out of graduate school, I started working as an English professor in one of those idyllic liberal arts colleges you’ve heard are dying across the country. I taught American lit and critical theory (the Women’s Studies Department even wheeled me out once a year to teach feminist criticism: “See? Men can do this, too.”). It was a lovely place—Principia College, high on the Mississippi River bluffs—but I began to grow restless and so switched for a few years to teaching at a ritzy private school in .St. Louis (The John Burroughs School; Jon Hamm and I were always carousing around town together. Not entirely true, but he really was in the Drama dept. during my time there). That school was pretty much the kingdom of heaven, but the paper grading wore me down, and when an old student’s mom told me I should try writing book reviews, I went to Library Ltd. — now, alas, gone—bought a book off the New Fiction shelf, read it, reviewed it and sent it off to the Christian Science Monitor. Lo and behold, they bought it and asked for more.

What attracted you to it? And what motivates you now?

Book reviewing was not so far from what I was already doing—explaining how good books work—so it was a chance to try something new that still fell within my limited skill set.

Now, almost 20 years in, it’s still a great pleasure to read such fine books—or, sometimes, not so fine—and write about them for interesting, interested people.

What are your thoughts about the role of the critic in general, and your own philosophical beliefs?

Oh, those questions make me tired. . . . It’s such an invitation to climb up into the attic and bring down some brittle Christmas tree decorated with profound thoughts.

But…. I do, honestly, think that insightful, respectful and elegant book reviewers can encourage talented writers and draw a few good readers to them. Such critics can also serve as a (very weak) brake on a culture careening through inanity and dullness.

My philosophy of reviewing is nothing particularly original: Try to judge a book according to how successfully it accomplishes what the author seems to have intended.  

What do you look for in choosing a book to read?

First, I always hope I’ll enjoy the books I choose. Beyond that, a number of considerations come into play: I’m always trying (not always succeeding) to review a variety of books in hopes of reflecting the wide interests of The Post’s readers. Some giant authors (Morrison, Franzen, etc.) are unavoidable, but I’m also on the lookout for debut writers that sound promising.

Does being a critic have a downside as well as an upside?

The upside is obvious: I get paid to read great books and talk about them. The downside is shallow: I’m always, always, always behind. Every minute—even asleep—I know exactly where I am in a book and how many pages I’ve still got to finish that day. Sometimes, when conversations run long, I catch myself thinking, “That’s nine pages right there I could have read.”

How that’s for a start? Anything else?

This concludes Ron’s comments, But in a postscript, he added these words, as refreshing as his opening remarks: “Feel free to quote any of this so long as you correct my notoriously bad spelling and brush up my grammar.”

I invite any of you to ask Ron “Anything else” you cared to know. Send me your questions by email or post your remarks on this blog and I shall send them on to him.

Next week Haila Williams, Acquisitions Editor at Blackstone Audio, will take a well-deserved turn in these weekly “Publishing: The Inside Story” discussions.

Marty

AN AGENT SPEAKS

The Sandra Dijkstra Agency is the most powerful literary agency on the West Coast and represents major international writers. Jill Marr is one of the agents that works there. Back in December 2010, she sent us Racing the Devil a first mystery from Jaden Terrell, which launched a very successful Jared McKean Mystery private eye series. Two months later Jill sent us a manuscript for David Freed’s first novel, Flat Spin, which turned into a very popular Cordell Logan Mystery series. Six months later I met Jill at a mystery convention, Killer Nashville, where we were both invited down as panelists. I remember that August well, both for the pleasure of meeting and spending time with Jill and because there was a hurricane here in Sag Harbor while I was away, leaving Judy, my 
5-foot-2-inch wife and co-publisher to batten down the hatches and cope with a lack of electricity for days.

In all, by the time 2016 ends, we will have published ten titles from three different writers she sent us. How can one not love somebody whose taste is so compatible with ours?

Though Jill doesn’t mention it in her comments, a good agent is really the author’s first editor, often turning a manuscript that needs work into something that sparkles when it is submitted to a publisher.  With that I turn this space over to Jill who headlined her piece Falling in love...with my job.

“Being a life-long Southern California resident, I was very lucky to "fall into" the publishing industry. I didn't even know what a literary agent did, or that there was such a job out there. It was the week after 9/11 and I had recently left the local news station where I had been working in the Creative Service Department for the previous 5 years. I answered an ad in the paper and after a lengthy and somewhat painful interview process I was hired by the legendary agent Sandra Dijkstra, as her assistant. I had no idea what I'd gotten myself into. 

“The very first week I was at the Dijkstra Agency I witnessed the other assistant in the office accidentally hang up on Oliver Stone. The horror! It was an all-around frightening experience. This was just books, right? It shouldn't be scary, but it was--the amount of work that went into each book, from soup to nuts. The trust that the authors had for us. However, I was learning from a true master in so many ways. I watched Sandy pluck projects out of the slush pile, witnessed her editorial process and then marveled as she negotiated the very best deals for her authors. We were helping to create books out of ideas and we were shaping careers. 

“That is what attracted me to the agenting business then and what keeps me going now—14 years later. I love the entire creative process and the magic that we make happen—the fact that on any given day, we can have a sale that changes an author's life. I remember exactly where I was five years ago when I read the first chapter in a submission I received from one of my authors, Robert Pobi. I recall laughing out loud as I read, thinking "This guy has so much talent, I can sell this!" And then praying that the book held up (it did!). And every time I open a new submission I hope that I'll have that same reaction—a visceral kind of thing that is, unfortunately, all too rare.  And speaking of rare, once we take on an author, it's harder than ever to make a sale to a publisher. The industry is shrinking and expectations are growing. The competition is fierce. And a big part of my job is, sadly, managing expectations. Bad reviews happen. Small sales numbers are a reality. Every day is not a great day.

“But it's that magic that still motivates me. And I continue to look for books that surprise and inspire me. I'm always attracted to voice-driven books like David Freed's series that features a snarky and unapologetic want-to-be Buddhist, ex-special operative Cordell Logan, and character-driven books like Jaden Terrell's series starring Nashville private detective and all-around good guy Marlboro Man, Jared Mckean. I love the art of good story telling and the fact that I even get to play a small part in getting those stories out to the world. The thrill of all that is possible, that's what really keeps me going.”

You can get in touch with Jill at jill@dijkstraagency.com. Coming up next week: Ron Charles, the editor of The Washington Post's Book World, will be talking about his work.

If you want to be assured of receiving these weekly blogs concerning the book world, join the site and become a member. Up until now I’ve been alerting a few hundred people in the book business by email that a new blog is currently posted. But I look forward to ending these alerts as soon as I can. 

As always I welcome your comments, posted on the blog (www.blogger.com), by email (shepard@thepermanentpress.com) or telephone 631-725-1101, as well as any suggestions of what you’d like addressed, who you’d like to hear from, or anything you might want to offer. Other forthcoming postings are scheduled from a publicist, from a scout, and from a director of an important book fair.

Marty

FROM BLOGGERS TO WRITERS

When I started my Cockeyed Pessimist blog at the end of 2008 with two postings, my intentions were to do a posting each month. This worked out well for two years with 13 postings in 2009 and 11 more in 2010. But the numbers kept sliding down: seven in 2011, six in 2012, and seven more for each of the following two years. 62 postings in all with 95,000 overall viewers.

So why the slow-down? Too many other things to attend to as a publisher, not wanting to duplicate issues I addressed before, and tired of getting involved in partisan conflicts pro-or-con about Amazon, the five huge conglomerates (I think we’re down to four now) who dominate the industry, and some subtle and not so subtle belly-aching about falling print coverage in magazines and newspapers in general, and inadequate review coverage for our prize-winning authors.

But immediately after my April 2^nd blog about Sheila Deeth and on-line bloggers in general, a new door opened, and it started with the comments of Eleanor Lerman, whose novel Radiomen we published in January. Why not change the tenor of the cockeyedpessimist and open a door for others in the industry to discuss the challenges they face, be they writers, editors, publicists, agents, scouts or professional critics, and share their predilections and passions with one another? As a publisher, a major concern of ours is our writers, but it is also exciting to introduce all concerned to one another. We've already been in touch with an exceptional agent, Jill Marr of the Sandra Dijkstra Agency, and Iris Hsieh, another excellent person, who is a scout at Aram Fox. Both will be contributing to the next few blogs. This cross-fertilization will, hopefully, benefit many, and make it possible to provide something new on a weekly (or at the latest bi-weekly) basis.

So without further delay, here is the email I received from Eleanor, who expressed feelings of injustice that I too have shared along the way. And just as I learned more about Sheila and her thinking, I've learned more about Eleanor and how her mind works.

Dear Marty:

Thanks for sharing your April 2 column. It is critical to realize how important online blogs and publishing venues have become. Of course, the underlying issue here is that writers, critics, bloggers, etc.—as well as publishers, of course—all have to deal with the difficulty of earning a living doing the work they love.  I know that what I viewed as a terrible injustice when I was young (oh, poor me, I used to think!)—that I had to have a job while I did my writing at night—is now something I am lucky to understand without any kind of pain: it is just unlikely that anyone except the top tier of commercial writers are going to be able to support themselves with their art. But that's fine for me since I've long made peace with that idea and since I ended up going my own way, anyway. I write what interests me and when things don't get published, I just go on to the next project. This is especially true of my short fiction, which I always have trouble finding venues for except that suddenly, I am getting published a lot, and with ease, in online zines where no one is making a penny, not even the editors.  I guess it depends on what one wants out of their work. As I've mentioned to you before, I am ambitious and black-hearted when it comes to trying to gain recognition and all that kind of thing but I also know when to be grateful. And I am grateful when anyone, such as you and Judy, take the chance to showcase my work.

So, you've hit on a very important subject in your column and one that deserves much further conversation in the writing community. Poets, in particular, know how important online sources for publishing and review have become.  I am reading a book right now called "My Life in Ruins," which is about archeologists, and it seems they are in the same boat—most of them can't get jobs, can't pursue a career that they've invested years and money in preparing themselves for in terms of education and getting advanced degrees. They, however, don't have the advantage of the kind of robust online community that exists for writers so it has been interesting to read about another profession where effort and passion can go commercially unrewarded so you have to find ways to reward yourself.

Eleanor  www.eleanorlerman.com


IN CLOSING: If you are part of the book business mentioned above and want to participate in this planned on-going weekly blog, do let me hear from you and what you’d like to contribute to the discussion. I also hope you will sign up to join this site (easy to do if you have a google account) as a follower, so that you will automatically receive the new blogs as they are posted.

Marty

IN PRAISE OF SHEILA DEETH AND OTHER ONLINE BLOGGERS

It’s time to sing the praises of those dedicated on-line bloggers who publish book reviews for the love of it and don’t have to constrict their reviews to best-sellers or titles that are trendy. These bloggers are especially helpful when magazine and newspaper review-space is continually declining, and when relatively unknown novelists or better known writers published by an independent press need a helping hand. Over the years, certain bloggers have been invaluable:  Marc Schuster, a teacher and novelist has such a site, Small Press Reviews, while another novelist/university teacher, Charles Holdefer offers occasional posts, as do various individual critics at Luxury Reading.

But Sheila Deeth (a published writer and teacher) is in a class by herself since she started her blog in 2008 and blogs two or three times a week. It consists of personal and philosophical messages and book reviews. In 2014 she reviewed 272 books on Goodreads alone and at least 20 more that were not on Goodreads. Before she started blogging she had never acted as a critic, but soon realized that “It’s all about writing, which is fun.” She is also prolific in posting her reviews elsewhere as well, from Amazon to Shelfari, LibraryThing, Barnes & Noble, Powells.com, and Lunch, among other sites.

I asked her how she chooses books.

“I try to review everything I read. I make a point of reading at least one book "just for me" each month (though quite often it will be one a friend has loaned me). Other than that, if I'm asked to review something I'll look for it first on Amazon. I use the ‘look inside’ feature to read the first few pages; if it catches my interest, and I can fit the book into my schedule in time to satisfy the author, I'll agree to read and review it. Of course, there are a few publishers who I will always review for—The Permanent Press, Second Wind Publishing, and Wisdom Tales among them—for I've enjoyed all the books I've read of theirs, so I know their tastes and mine are fairly well aligned.” This has been a great blessing for both us and our authors.

I posed a second question: How do you see your role as a critic?

“There have been times when I've been asked to review a trilogy and I've stopped after the first book. But I will always finish reading a book once I've started it, even if I'm not enjoying the read, for there's still the puzzle to be solved. If there are things I didn't enjoy in a book, I'll try to phrase my review so that readers can choose for themselves whether they'll have a problem with it. For example, I get really frustrated when people misuse statistics or misinterpret science (my background also includes being a mathematician), but that doesn't mean the plot wasn't fun or exciting.

“The majority of the submissions I receive are eBooks, presumably because it's easier and cheaper for the author to request reviews that way. Some arrive unsolicited through email. Many arrive in the form of review requests from publishers, publicists, blog tour organizers, or other bloggers. Even if I can't or don't want to review a book I will usually offer a spot on my blog to the author—I love to host authors and read their different points of view. I get lots of review requests directly from them, and I have some favorites to whom I will always say yes.

“And then there are real printed books. I look on them as a treat after reading electronically. Wisdom Tales send me the most beautiful illustrated children's books. I always tear the packaging apart and start reading straight away because they're short of course. The Permanent Press sends me gorgeous galleys that are always beautifully presented and nicely described, like Christmas presents arriving throughout the year. They're longer so I can't read them straight away, but I look at the release dates and make sure to add them to my list in time to review before release.

“Finally, I really do buy books as well, and get them as gifts, and borrow them from friends. My sons will drag me across the street to avoid letting me loose in a bookstore. And my friends, most of whom are also avid readers, will always pick out coffee shops near bookstores when we arrange to meet.”

Enough praise from me regarding Sheila. To better appreciate her gifts as a critic, her recent reviews of our 2015 novels speak for themselves and demonstrate her considerable abilities.

Sheila's Reviews for:

Lincoln’s Billy  

The Debtor Class

After Byron

The Mysteries of Soldiers Grove

There’s a Man With A Gun Over There

Radiomen

Should you wish to contact Sheila, here is a link to her blog: http://sheiladeeth.blogspot.com/

As a subscriber to The New York Times there are excellent professional critics who I read and enjoy, Janet Maslin and Dwight Garner among them. They are household names. But word-for-word, would you not think that Sheila ranks among them?

I look forward to your responses.