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Questions and Answers

Q: What advice do you have for aspiring writers?

A: After working in publishing for a couple years (I spent two years at Doubleday/Broadway, which is part of Random House before recently moving to middle-of-nowhere Indiana), I would say that if you really want to be published you have two choices: (1) Write so well that it is physically impossible to put the book down. In today's publishing universe, unpublished writers are having a tougher time than ever. Your words must demand to be heard. (2) Failing that, become famous in some other area and then write non-fiction. It sounds silly, but if I had to honestly tell someone the 'easiest' route to becoming a published author, this might be it. Publishing houses have more of a formula for nonfiction than they do for fiction so that they're more comfortable going with a famous person's memoir than an interesting first novel--even if the same person wrote both. Does that make sense?

Q: Sure. You mentioned that you worked in publishing: what was it like, and why did you leave?

A: It was interesting. I worked in the marketing department and also reviewed agented manuscripts for one of the editors there, so I had kind of an overview of the industry. And it is an industry; publishing is a business, and in order to do it well, publishing houses have to make money. In other words, while many of the people in publishing might have gotten into it for the love of books, etc., at the end of the day, it doesn't matter how good an editor thinks a book is and so on--it has to make money. If they aren't going to make money, they aren't going to publish it.

One of the things that surprised me a bit was how much say marketing and publicity and sales departments have in the acquisition of books. A lot of writers and people on the outside still have this old-time, early 20th century view of publishing. A writer writes, an editor buys it, and then he writes another book, etc. Editors jump publishing houses constantly, which means that quite often the same editor who bought a book won't be there to see it all the way through to publication a year and a half later. And, like I said, it happens at times that an editor might be very impressed with a book, but that people in the sales department don't think the bookstore chains will buy enough copies to warrant buying it. So they don't. The editor gets shot down by people working at Barnes and Noble. It was amazing to me just how much influence the chains have these days.

If there are major changes in publishing to come, this is the direction they'll come from. In a certain sense, the chains are becoming so powerful that they need traditional publishing houses less and less. Why deal with Random House on a title if Barnes and Noble press can publish that same title in a different edition and make more money, for instance? I think the rise of chain presses is one of the single worst developments in publishing history. But that's just me.

Ouch, that's quite an indictment.

At a certain point, I think you have to just say, "Stop it, there are creative forces, etc. at work that are important, and you need to recognize that selling a book is different than selling a pair of shoes or a bar of soap. It's about more than the brand of the author, I mean.

But how is it different? In a sense, I don't have time to read an entire book in a bookstore, so I have to trust that the author is going to tell a good story and keep me reading. How is that different than trusting Nike to make a good shoe or Toyota to make a reliable car?

In a strictly mercantile sense it isn't different, which is why publishers can plug bestselling author X's new novel into a formula and predict how many copies they'll sell. And I understand, I get it--they have to do that in order to run their business. But at a certain point, you need to have respect for what you're doing. And don't get me wrong, most people in publishing do. My problem is with the basic structure that reduces books to widgets and ignores the fact that a Nike shoe or a Toyota car isn't going to change the course of history. Books do that. Books are valuable (ideally) as works of art, and while you can buy and sell art, you have to recognize that it has a totally separate, cultural value.

So, I don't know, I guess what I'm advocating is more government support for the arts. Maybe government subsidies for publishing houses so that they don't have to merge and consolidate and eliminate their midlist. Literature is valuable for civilization, not just because it generates trade, but because it can threaten and improve civilization itself.

Q: Government subsidies for the publishing industry? Hasn't Dan Brown sold enough copies on his own?

Sure he has, but the point is to push the industry away from the Dan Brown brand idea. It's gotten to the point that nine times out of ten, a publisher will go with another Dan Brown book rather than publish one-hundred unknown authors. And before you say it's just giving the market what it wants, I would argue that 'yes, there might be some truth to that', but if the average shelf life of a book is one month (it is), then how is that fair to the consumer? Because publishers have to pay for placement and for big floor displays, they are only going to spend the money on those authors who are already household names, which just increases the trend.

Q: And yet 50,000 books are published in the United States every year. If you're right, why are new authors published at all?

Two reasons: (1) Publishers are afraid. They're in a dangerous business with a fickle marketplace and a product that is not reliable. Because they aren't make widgets, they're selling art, personal tastes in the society will largely govern which books succeed and which die. In other words, while Dan Brown might be selling millions of copies now, what happens if he decides he has enough money and stops writing or somesuch? They need to find the next Dan Brown.

(2) The second reason is that the people who work in publishing love books. There are lots of genuinely good people in the halls of publishing who believe in the intrinsic value of literature and would probably agree with everything I've just said. They're trying to make the situation better.

Q: Okay, so publishing is going to hell--

I didn't say that.

Q: Let's talk about your experience for a minute. Why did you leave New York City for rural Indiana?

I need time to write. New York is great, but it's a very expensive, difficult place to raise children, and though I love the city, I don't get off on real estate like many people living in Manhattan do. I'm just not captivated by constant discussions of two bedroom apartments selling for millions of dollars. So what? My daughter needs to go to pre-school, and how in God's name am I going to afford to send her to the best possible school when it costs $30,000/year?

Wait, a pre-school costs $30,000/year? That's more than most colleges?

Yep. People who have never tried to raise a child in Manhattan should look at it to appreciate how cost-effective their own locales are. But the cost of childcare isn't the only reason I moved to middle America. I reached a point and I saw my professional course in publishing: you do X and then Y and then Z to climb the corporate ladder, and you can have a good life and do something pretty creative that lots of people would kill to do--

So why did you leave?

Because when I saw this, I realized that I wouldn't be able to write. Sure, I would try to keep working on books and so forth, but really, that would have been the beginning of Stephen-the-editor and the end of Stephen-the-Writer. As you've probably noticed from this website, it's been a few years since I've had a book published as it is. That has as much to do with my busy recent life as it does with my age. Generally, with a two year old and a career, you just don't have time to write. I might have kept at it, but I know it would have diminished as time went by. I saw it happening while I saw there, and when my wife didn't get into Columbia's Religious Studies program (which would have kept us in the city probably permanently), I realized that I was relieved. After a few years in a place, I'm still ready to move on.

Why Indiana?

It's about an hour from Louisville, Kentucky, where I grew up, and where my parents live, and I think it's good for my daughter to be close to them now. Especially since we are (yes, again) planning to move in another year and some change. This is kind of an interlude. A chance for me to return to my writing and concentrate on my work and family and see what happens.

This conversation will continue...stay tuned.

Stephen will answer questions here, so if you have any, send an e-mail.

Hope's End available for order on Amazon.com and elsewhere.

Email: schambers@sff.net