The career novelist

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The

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APTER

Reality

THE BAD NEWS ABOUT BOOK PUBLISHING
MOST WRITERS TODAY ARE AWARE THAT BOOK PUBLISHING HAS
become a big business. Some can even tell you the names of the
large conglomerates that own publishers such as Simon & Schuster,
Penguin, and Little, Brown. (Answer: Viacom, Pearson, and Time
Warner.)
Nevertheless, there is a persistent belief among writers that book
publishing contains pockets of resistance to the corporate trend.
Sure, the "suits" may run much of the game, but if one digs hard
enough one can still unearth independent imprints and dedicated
editors who will publish a book just because it is good, and damn-
all if the thing never earns out.
Indeed, the thinking goes, publishing books is not a science but
an art. Intuition must have some play. If every idea, every story, were
subjected to a profit-and-loss estimate, would that not ultimately
defeat the very purpose of publishing? Isn't it, finally, unprofitable
to quantify culture instead of create it?

That is true, but it is terribly naive to believe that somewhere in

the book business one can still find the profit-blind attitude associ-

ated with tweed jackets and gin and tonics at the Algonquin Hotel.

If it ever really existed at all, that mentality is long gone. Editors

today do care about good books, but they care even more about the

bottom line. They have no choice. In the nineties, their destiny is no

longer their own. 15