Editors on Editing: What Writers Need to Know About What Editors Do (65 page)

A second example of an editor combining marketing and editorial approaches involves looking for fresh means to address established markets. Let’s consider frontier fiction. For a number of years, I have edited category westerns, which can to a degree be fixed comfortably within the present context of men’s-interest mass-market fiction.

In examining the frontier fiction marketplace—what was working for my house, what others were publishing, what categories and subcategories were not working—I determined that there was room for a quality category-level series of “mountain man” tales. One of the greatest novels in frontier fiction is Vardis Fisher’s
Mountain Man
(from which the movie
Jeremiah Johnson
was made). And in the last decade a number of authors have written modern classics on the life of the hunters, trappers, and fur traders of the very early nineteenth century, the rugged individuals we know as the mountain men.

I also became aware of a very sizable community of readers who were (and still are) very passionate about these books and about re-creating the “black powder” lifestyle of the old-time mountain men. It’s a world of muzzle-loading shooting competitions and primitive rendezvous where entire families camp the way they did in the mountain man and “buckskinner” era. Though there already were a couple of mountain man series being published as original paperbacks by smaller houses, I suggested my company produce a new original series—publishing possibly as many as three titles per year—in this category.

I discreetly queried an agent or two, then one day decided to spill the entire idea to one agent friend, who responded warmly but did not have an available client whom we both thought qualified to take on this project. He very much wanted to participate in this project, however, and we both agreed to keep it foremost in our minds.

Shortly thereafter, at a luncheon meeting with another agent (whom I did not know as well as the first fellow), I learned that
he
represented a versatile and prolific writer whom I had long respected. I blurted out the thought that perhaps this writer would be appropriate for the mountain man project.

Now there were two interested agents and one potential author involved. More than I had bargained for, but we negotiated an arrangement that satisfied all parties. Agent No. 1, with whom I had agreed to work in the first place, became the packager (also called book producer), whose job it was to guarantee delivery of an acceptable manuscript. Agent No. 2, representing the writer, participated with a standard commission. The author has written three books to date.

Both true-life stories show how I prefer to mine the fields of men’s-interest mass-market fiction: by generating ideas and seeking authors myself, and by keeping an ear to the rails for the rumbling of that approaching Main Chance Express. I am not untypical, I think, among the editorial community in this.

I tend to listen to myself, to follow my own tastes, and to seek out books and authors who are in the slipstream rather than the mainstream, so to speak. When mega-authors such as Louis L’Amour, Tom Clancy, and Stephen King began to pull
men
into bookstores (where traditionally, and still today, women are the primary customers and actual purchasers of books), we in the book-publishing business became much more open to new forms of men’s entertainment and new genres of fiction. My heavy involvement in military fiction (as well as nonfiction) stems directly from my responsibility to cover this market for my house. I have begun to develop much more of an affinity with and personal interest in military history because of this professional involvement. Much the same happened for me with westerns and frontier fiction, in which I continue to specialize.

…

With the male reader primarily (but not exclusively) in mind, what do I look for in a given manuscript or proposal? There are two
a
’s for me:
a
ction and
a
uthenticity. These apply in all the men’s-interest categories. Let’s take military fiction as an example.

Today’s reader of a novel about the air war in Vietnam wants and needs to escape from his present situation and to
be there
, to experience as
intimately as possible the thoughts and feelings of the characters flying the planes and dodging enemy SAMs. In a manuscript that came to me from a first-rate young agent a couple of years ago, I was drawn from page 1 into such a story. It was a first novel, written by a decorated veteran of the war, and the manuscript possessed an immediacy of storytelling and depth of technical detail that I had not seen (especially in such a felicitous combination) in a very long time. The story moved, the characters
did things
(a simple achievement, perhaps, but too often I see static, uninteresting characters who think a lot but don’t
do
very much at all), and the level of technical detail was just right: it didn’t interfere with the storytelling and gave the reader the correct amount of information at the correct time. Wow! A natural!

We made a two-book deal with the agent and have since signed up another novel by this author.

In frontier fiction, from category westerns to epic novels of North American history, always I seek to learn something from my reading: perhaps about the culture of a particular Native American people who have not been written about much in popular fiction; perhaps about a particular weapon that was, in its time, revolutionary; perhaps about how the land itself was and still is today (in conflicts about water rights and logging, for example) a primary cause of events and not just a pretty backdrop. The day of the old shoot-’em-up is, I believe, past. The day of action-driven novels with real characters in authentic situations—yes, published as upscale, distinguished-looking paperback originals—is upon us. Action and authenticity are the rules to live (and publish) by.

Series publishing is another essential of mass-market publishing, one that is very important in men’s-interest escapist fiction. It is also a vital factor in the decision making of marketing-oriented editors.

Look at any drugstore or supermarket paperback rack and count the number of series in any and all categories. Depending on the total amount of rack space, I wager you’ll find a minimum of four and often up to a dozen different series. Why is this? Because a mass-market publisher looks for the largest possible audience for a book or category of books, and if that market has been identified, it profits (and pleases) both publisher and author to keep “feeding” it. No greater satisfaction exists for any editor than having an author who is happy and prosperous and a publisher whose bottom line is drawn in black ink.

Series publishing also gives the as-yet-unestablished author (such as the author of my trucker action-adventure books) a shot in a crowded world of best-selling “brand names.” Brand X offers good quality at a low price. But there are tremendous roadblocks to getting Brand X onto the shelves in the first place. (One formidable roadblock in publishing original paperbacks is
the lack of any book reviews.) Series support from a publisher and series identity in the racks help immeasurably.

The big if, of course, is:
if
it works. At what point does the publisher take the more fiscally prudent approach and discontinue the series? Usually this occurs when the initial distribution decreases to a point of unprofitability for a given title; most often, category series do not have any backlist life (though there are rare exceptions).

Currently I am editing three series in the frontier category that are well beyond the twenty-title mark and each with between four million and twenty-six million copies in print. We’re not going to abandon any of those very soon. But for the less successful author? You can always sign him to write a
new
series….

The adventure for me has been in discovering these “principles,” if you will, and in modifying, adapting, and molding them to help my authors succeed in an increasingly hostile economic environment. The challenge has been in learning to discipline (and to be disciplined by) the marketplace, and always to be loyal to the ultimate decision maker on any book: the
reader
. He’s the guy who counts the most. Without
his
loyalty, I’d be out of a job.

Jean-Louis Brindamour and Joseph M. Lubow

J
EAN
-L
OUIS
B
RINDAMOUR
joined Columbia University Press in 1960; since then he has worked in virtually every facet of the business, and in every type of publishing. He founded Strawberry Hill Press in San Francisco in 1973 and moved it to Portland, Oregon, at the end of 1990.

J
OSEPH
M. L
UBOW
, a noted researcher, is senior editor of Strawberry Hill Press. He is the author of
Reaching for Answers: Bill Belton’s Story,
published by Strawberry Hill Press in 1993
.

Divided into two sections—“The World of Publishing” and “The Editing Process”—and comprising over ninety titles, the following annotated bibliography is derived from a much larger document created by Messrs. Brindamour and Lubow and used in the Certificate of Publishing Program, University of California Extension, Berkeley, California, where Dr. Brindamour taught for fourteen years
.

An indispensible guide for editors and writers to further essential readings in the art and craft of editing and the world of publishing, the bibliography cites, describes, and critically comments on the most important general trade books and reference works on these subjects. It has been revised and updated especially for this edition of
Editors on Editing.

Publishing is a vast topic, covering all aspects from the original idea to the sale of the printed work. It would be nearly impossible, and probably very unwise, to compile a complete list of writings in the field. Instead, a
sampling
of works is listed and annotated. Some of the works are currently out-of-print (indicated by “o.p.” after the entry), but lack of availability does not make them unimportant in the world of editors. For works that are reissued frequently, and for “annuals,” no year of publication is given. And because editors, as is so with authors, are always “growing,” several examples of books dealing with “genre writing” are included.

A
PPELBAUM
, J
UDITH
.
How to Get Happily Published: A Complete and Candid Guide
.
4th ed. New York: HarperCollins, 1992. A down-to-earth, practical approach, especially for authors, concerning what one really
must
know to get the most out of the publishing process.

B
AILEY
, H
ERBERT
S., J
R
.
The Art and Science of Book Publishing
.
Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 1990. An analysis of the problems of management in publishing, written by the former director of Princeton University Press. It discusses the economics, organization, planning process, and environments affecting publishing.

B
ALKIN
, R
ICHARD
.
A Writer’s Guide to Book Publishing
.
2d ed. New York: Hawthorn/Dutton, 1981. A textbook-like discussion of the machinations of the general trade book industry, it gives the writer a picture of what to expect once a publisher has been approached, (o.p.)

B
ERNSTEIN
, L
EONARD
S.
Getting Published: The Writer in the Combat Zone
.
New York: William Morrow, 1986. A highly personal, quite entertaining view of “getting published.”

B
ROOKS
, P
AUL
.
Two Park Street: A Publishing Memoir
.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1986. History of a major publishing house, and of a publishing career.

B
ROWNSTONE
, D
AVID
M., and I
RENE
M. F
RANCK
.
The Dictionary of Publishing
.
New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1982. A dictionary of terms covering all aspects of the publishing process including printing, journalism, art, photography, computer science, sales, marketing, and bookselling. (o.p.)

B
USCH
, F
REDERICK
.
When People Publish: Essays on Writers and Writing
.
Iowa City, I A: University of Iowa Press, 1986. His reflections on becoming an author give a sense of the thinking, motives, working conditions, and frustrations of authors.

A Checklist of American Imprints, 1801–1819
.
Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1982. One of a series of important historical reference works constituting the most complete list of American publications from the first third of the nineteenth century.

D
ELLIVEAU
, F
RED
, ed.
One Hundred and Fifty Years of Publishing: 1837–1987
.
Boston: Little, Brown, 1987. Another history of a major contributor to the American publishing scene.

D
ESSAUER
, J
OHN
B.
Book Publishing: A Basic Introduction
.
Rev. ed. New York: Continuum (Harper), 1989. An overall view of the publishing industry and profession, this text looks at the history and environments of publishing and takes us through its processes, products, and markets. An excellent survey of publishing.