|
Last
month I complained about corporate publishing and recommended
that we let them flop around like fish rather than try to
work through the maze of D-list celebrity tell-alls and books
by hamsters. Not that I have anything against hamsters. Actually,
if someone published an adult book written by a hamster I
would probably buy it.
The lack
of hamster tell-alls and diet books by cats is a big reason
to celebrate and support independent publishers. Akashic Books
has amazingly talented authors like Joe Meno, Chris Abani,
and Elizabeth Crane; Soft Skull has a list that spans from
the highly acclaimed and award-winning (like Matthew Sharpe's
Jamestown) to quirky hipster classics (like Lisa Crystal
Carver's Drugs Are Nice). And McSweeney's is, well,
McSweeney's. The indie publishers are like my friends: smart,
funny, a little weird, and dedicated to bringing art to the
public's attention.
 But
I started worrying about how the indie publishers planned
to weather the impending doom of economic crisis. Hopefully
it would not be like the corporate publishers have done it—through
massive layoffs. After all, most of the indies run pretty
lean already, and they've been dealing with the vagaries of
the marketplace for years. There's no room for error at publishers
with small staffs and small lists.
Akashic
Books publisher Johnny Temple plans "to be more focused with
our promotion while still being aggressive. Slightly smaller
print runs, too, but not across the board... Given how bad
the situation is, we're actually coping quite well, and I
agree that indie publishers might have an advantage over the
corporate behemoths."
McSweeney's
Books has already had its share of monetary troubles. Last
year, when distributor AMS declared bankruptcy, it was among
the many publishers that were not paid the large amounts owed
to them by AMS. However, McSweeney's is a very innovative
publisher with a strong fan base, and it managed to raise
some money by selling autographed books and other ephemera.
McSweeney's
Books publisher Eli Horowitz says that this year the company
would "just to do everything a little bit better—a little
more efficiently, a little more energetically, a little more
creatively. The world's basically the same place—just
a little tighter for the time being." I'm not surprised, knowing
what I do about McSweeney's culture that Horowitz is an optimist.
But I
still feel this heroic need to save publishing in some way.
I don't want every author to have to self-publish. How would
we ever know what books to read? Publishers definitely serve
a purpose: They filter out the dross. Not every writer writes
well, and not every writer writes something fit to be read.
Readers rely on publishers to sift through the slush pile
for them. If traditional publishing fails and more authors
start self-publishing, it will be difficult for readers to
find quality books among all the static.
 |
| Melville
House author Tao Lin. |
Dennis
Johnson at Melville House believes that word-of-mouth and
guerilla marketing are good ways to get the word out about
books, and the "Britney Spears" campaign orchestrated by Melville
House author/ HBC buddy Tao Lin illustrates that beautifully.
Lin posted stickers up around New York City that simply said
"Britney Spears" in a bold san serif face, black on a white
sticker. Even in New York City, a stickering campaign can
get talked about, especially when one sticker-bombs the front
door of the gawker.com offices.
Although
some find Lin's media presence annoying (especially the staff
at Gawker), it's been an object lesson on how to get book
publicity: Lin is currently Melville House's best-selling
author. Johnson says that as a small publisher, they're always
looking for ploys like Lin's, but a successful one relies
upon the writer having a certain sort of relationship to marketing
and to the publisher. This is something that would never happen
at a corporate publisher. But historically, writers were very
involved with their publishers and printers, and in that way,
indie publishers are carrying on a much older tradition than
the author who lunches with his or her editor once and only
communicates with the marketing department via e-mail.
One of
the absolutely amazing things about indie publishers is the
focus and passion they have for their books and authors. Because
of that focus and passion, it's a good bet that readers will
like many books produced by an indie that published one of
their favorites. I find myself to be philosophically aligned
with Akashic, Soft Skull, Melville House, Disinformation,
and High Risk. I can't say the same about, say, Knopf. Even
though Knopf has published a lot of books I've liked, it publishes
plenty I have no interested in reading. They're not publishing
for me, or even themselves; they're publishing for
the bottom line.
It's
like Knopf (or Little, Brown and Company, or Little Random)
are the good-looking rich guys with the nice sports cars.
Sure, they'll take you out for a fancy dinner, but they're
sending texts to their other girlfriends while you're looking
at the dessert menu. The indies are like that sweet best-friend
guy with the goofy hair and the tattered Dungeons & Dragons
Monster Manual who likes what you like and sticks with
you through thick and thin. You know how this movie ends.
You go with the indie.
(February,
2008)
|
