Writing Magazine April 2020

10 APRIL 2020

O

ne of the first things I do when a client of mine gets their first

book deal is, once the champagne corks have landed, give them

The Talk about how to manage their new relationship with

their publisher.

A key part of this is to say as unambiguously as possible that

there will be times when they will be unbelievably angry with their

publisher. Which is why it’s good to do it at the moment when the

author is most inclined to believe that their publisher farts rainbows and

can in general do no wrong: it means there’s no chance I’m going to be

responsible for souring relations.

Of course not everyone does get angry with their publisher, but most

authors at one point or another do. It’s natural – author and publisher

interests align, but not perfectly and that can be very stressful – after all

for the author this will be the culmination of possibly a lifetime of hopes

and ambition.

But the fact is that only 10% of books really succeed – there’s a very

large number of books which fall into a middling category of neither

making much, nor losing too much and the authors who tend to get

their contracts renewed are the ones who re good at getting on with the

people who work at the publishers.

Part of that process is about allowing the agent to be the person

who has the rows – you don’t buy a dog so you can bark yourself –

but also it’s about understanding the lie of the land. Publishing is a

badly paid industry and by and large the best people in publishing

are the dittos: they are doing what they love. The people in other

departments may not have that passion and because of the pay

scales may not be the very best at their jobs. Not getting too cross

when that particular penny drops and in particular never, ever

letting them know that is extraordinarily important.

All of this is a roundabout way of getting to the purpose of this

column. One of the most frequent causes of frustration is that publishers

can seem to do very little to publicise their books. As an agent one can

(quite cautiously) ask what’s been done and I am generally met with the

reply that press releases and book proofs have been sent out.

This is where I grit my teeth: I have a few high profile authors and

there are publicity departments who regularly send me books and

proofs they think those authors will be interested in. That means I get

a jiffy bag – which is seemingly designed to make it impossible to open

without almost destroying, so that before I even have the book out of

the bag I feel guilty at the waste.

Inside there will be the book and a press release – and maybe a letter

from the editor about why they loved this book. I – and remember this

is happening in agencies across London every day: for some agents with

really grand client lists half a dozen times a day – am then supposed to

find a jiffy bag that I haven’t destroyed, dig out my client’s postal address

and write out a new label to take down to the post room so that the

agency can then pay to post it on.

I hope I don’t need to spell out what is wrong with that scenario – or

explain why it is that all those authors who the book has been ‘sent’ to

never get back with that wonderful quote for the jacket.

So, here’s what I’ve started asking: when publicists send out a proof,

can they do with it the book already inside another jiffy bag, which has

pre-paid postage and a label on it with the author’s name, so all I have to

do is write out an address.

It isn’t only about meanness – casting your bread upon the waters is

an okay strategy, but I’m often rather busy, sometimes a bit tired and

cross. Goodwill runs out and it is pointless to presume upon it when

there is such an easy strategy to hand to resolve it.

Small, specific things can make a difference,

says Piers Blofeld, wishing publishers would

consider making agents’ lives (just a little bit)

easier when it comes to publicity

From the

OTHE RSIDE

OF THE DESK

in a jiffy

With you