The career novelist

The marketing game-, how I sell novels

What makes a book a candidate for auction? A variety of factors.
First, the novel in question must be one that more than one pub-
lisher wants—badly, if possible. Competitive bidding is fueled not
only by a books commerciality, but by the ego, greed, and drive of
the humans involved.
In publishers, this primitive need to acquire is inspired by the
sure thing: the novel that is guaranteed to make money. Fine writ-
ing? Not enough. Great story? Uh-huh. Author with a track record?
Now you are getting warm. Author who is already a best-seller? Ah,
now you are talking about a hot auction!
I am sure you see the point. The more a novel looks like a sure
thing, the greater the chances that it will inspire acquisitive lust.
Certain factors can enhance that look, for example, a movie sale, a
major prize, advance blurbs, or a ready-made audience.
Talking of advance blurbs, a recent case of auction fever illus-
trates the importance of appearance in these situations. In 1991, a
novel called Just Killing Time was brought to auction by agent Peter
Lampack. With it came glowing endorsements from Clive Cussler,
Joseph Wambaugh, and John Le Carre. Simon & Schuster won the
bidding with an offer of $920,000.
When the news reached Wambaugh and Le Carre, they were not
amused. Both denied that they had read or endorsed the book.
(Cussler, also a client of Peter Lampack's, stood by his recommen-
dation.) Simon & Schuster dropped the book. Most observers saw
this as a cautionary tale, but later on Just Killing Time was picked up
by another publisher for roughly $450,000. Moral: blurbs can more
than double the price of an otherwise risky book.
Good timing is another factor that can drive up prices, although
what makes timing good is sometimes not obvious. For example,
our last recession was in 1990-91, yet some of the highest prices of
the nineties so far were paid during those years, $12.3 million to
Ken Follett for two books, $20 million to Jeffrey Archer for three.
Illogical? Not really. These publishers, although thirsty for sales,
also saw an approaching recovery.
Movie sales can help escalate auction prices, too. That was a big
factor in Dell's $3.15 million acquisition of Nicholas Evans's The
Horse Whisperer in 1994. Movie rights had already sold to Hollywood