77 POETS & WRITERS^work it takes to bring a writer to that
level.
What’s your perspective on the plight
of midlist writers generally? Are they
being—or have they already been—driven
out of the mainstream publishing world?
New York publishers are first and
foremost a business, and there’s pres-
sure to sell a certain number of copies.
It’s not only about not losing money
on an advance. It’s that you can pub-
lish only so many books a year, so you
want each book to have a shot at be-
coming really profitable. We owe our
shareholders a certain return on the
i nve st ment t he y m a ke. Pa r t of t he is s ue
with the midlist is what a writer needs
financially, because there are times
when a publishing house wants to re-
main loyal and continue publishing
a writer, but the advance is not what
that writer feels he needs to sustain his
career—and then the writer feels it’s
time to start over with someone else.
So you’re saying writers want to move
around laterally sometimes and that
complicates our picture of what’s hap-
pening with the midlist?
That complicates it, yes. It’s also com-
plicated because sometimes a writer is
really believed in and supported by an
editor and maybe a bit less so by the
house, so if the editor leaves, there is less
reason to continue publishing. Some-
times too you may have an exceed-
ingly good novel on submission, but
the author’s sales history makes it hard
to change her trajectory, if the novel is
much like her previous books. This is a
reality that publishers face with book-
sellers. The booksellers see what the
last book, or books, sold. And unless
you can persuade them that this novel
has a different pitch or a more com-
mercial hook, then they will base their
orders on that history. So the feeling is
not that the book doesn’t deserve to be
published, but a poor sales track is a big
hurdle for the publisher to overcome.
Now, there are exceptions. When we
feel a book is going to completely alter
the writer’s career, then we’ll make a big
investment. That happened with Emma
Donoghue, who had a declining sales
history at the time she came to Little,
Brown. Judy Clain, now our editor in
chief, got Emma’s novel Room on sub-
mission. This was before my time, but
the lore is that the whole company was
blown away by Room and felt this was
the kind of book that Little, Brown ex-
ists to publish and to make a big hit. It
was acquired expensively, in a preempt,
despite the author’s sales history, was
published boldly, and has sold more
than two million copies.So a lackluster sales history can defi-
nitely be a roadblock, and yet an author
can still break through at any point, if the
publisher feels passionately.
Absolutely. Look, every day we hope
to read an amazing novel. Editors are
first and foremost just readers who
are moved and delighted by books.
And the editor’s greatest desire is to
bring an exquisite book to readers. It’s
an unmatched thrill. So despite the
impediments, and the unavoidable fact
that most books don’t find the reader-
ship you hope they will, we still can’t
wait to read something astonishing.
We all want instant success, of course.
But my own deeply nourished hope
is that I’ll get to work on books that,
through whatever alchemy, will endure
and that people not yet born may one
day pick up and read and be moved by.
Little, Brown has existed since 1837
and has published many books like
that: Catcher in the Rye, Revolutionary
Road, you name it, all the way back to
Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. It’s
a great privilege to edit and publish a
book that you dream may eventually
leave that kind of indelible mark in
the imaginations of readers. Nothing
excites me more.PW.ORG
Read an expanded version of this
interview and the previous twenty-five
installments of Agents & Editors.AGENTS & EDITORS BEN GEORGE