Funny contrafactual explanation of book publishing
The folks at Macmillan digital in NYC produced this thigh-slapping contrafactual account of the internal workings of book publishing. I especially like the idea that "Second Life and World of Warcraft Avatars" constitute the bulk to digital publicity spending, and result in the majority of book sales.
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It's a real treat to see an IBM Electromatic typewriter in action. They are rather uncommon today, most having been retired as ballast in submarines in the 1950s. IBM sold the rights to this machine to a succession of companies that led to Friden making the Flexowriter computer I/O terminal with the same exotic styling touches. For more information, http://wps.com/projects/LGP-21/
I got to talk to Gore Vidal for about 30 seconds when he was on a book tour. I rattled off about 6 of his earlier titles. He gave me a pained look and said, "They're all out of print."
The worst part is some people might take it literally.
Amusing, but I find this "please fire me" internal video funnier: Click me. Wheeee.. But cartoons is shinier.
As someone who works in publishing, let me assure you: This video represents the only time anybody will listen to anybody in digital marketing.
NixieBunny, that's a truly heartwarming display of typewriter geekery.
Roy, it is the natural fate of books to go out of print. An anomalous few titles will stay in print. Anxious authors should try to focus on the space thus made for their own books to be published, rather than on the bad end they'll come to.
Dr. Arthur, there are plenty of clues that say not to take it literally. Besides, there's no guarantee that any work of art won't be misread by some part of its audience. And even if viewers did take the whole thing as the gospel truth, the stuff it tells them to believe still wouldn't be half as stupid and wrongheaded as much of the "how to be an author" advice being retailed out there right now.
Bemopolis, that's a charming video, but I don't find it nearly as funny. It's not a "please fire me"; it's an official production of Shoebox, which is a division of Hallmark. It's approved. It's irreverent and informal because that's Shoebox's gig. They've always been irreverent and informal. Shoebox is there to catch the customers who are put off by the rest of Hallmark's line.
I don't think anyone who hasn't worked in publishing can appreciate all the ways in which A Publishing Story is funny. I started laughing around "The agent staples it" and "VAMPIRE NOVEL -- HOT!!!", and completely lost it at "These positions are highly coveted in the industry."
By the way, remember that great alternate design for the Little Brother cover that featured business-suited men with CCTV cameras for heads? The guy in the video who sticks the Post-It note that says "SUCKS" on the Macmillan sign is Pablo Defendini, who designed the alternate cover.
Bookguy, my sincere sympathies for your house's policies and behaviors, but I have with my own eyes seen people listening to people in digital marketing. Honest. Promise.
First let me preface this by saying that what I know about publishing could be put in a thimble and still have room left over for my finger. Complete ignorance of a topic hasn't stopped me from commenting before.
Just today Wired had an interesting article about music publishing: Slicethepie Goes Beyond American Idol, Might Save Labels
From the article:
Just wondering: Would the same trick work with literary publishing?
Nearly choked on my e-croissant, I was laughing so hard...
More seriously: Teresa - nice notion. We need to do something. The book world has been able to ignore the digital copyright issues facing music and movies because no one wanted to scan or print out and carry four hundred pages of novel, and reading on-screen was no fun. For all that the Sony Reader and the like are a bit clunky (they give me a really strong 1985 vibe) they work and they'll get better...
I'm not sure it would work for literary publishing - where often the books are spiky and strange and demanding, as they should be - but for more mainstream ones... this is something I've been wondering about. Now I'm going to have to get off my backside and see what's doable...
The only thing that would make this video better is a stronger voice-over talent. He spoke way too quietly. If they got a Troy McClure-esque voice it would kinda be perfect.
@TNHayden: Oh God, please don't be one of those people that makes me put smileys on everything.
Ths s wht thy hv tm fr?? h, hw bt tryng t sll sm BKS nstd f sttng rnd mkng spf vds. N wndr th ndstry s n trbl! Ddn't thy jst fr bnch f ppl t Mcmlln -- gss ths dprtmnt sn't flng th prssr.
BookGuy , your right about that, digital marketing to consumers is frowned up on at the pub house I am at. People seem to forget that if there is no awareness and demand for a product, it doesn't matter how much it's distrubuted and supplied to chains and major outlets. Those books will eventually be sent back towhere they once came.....
@JERRYSMITH: Onoes! You've been disemvoweled!
On the Vance Integral Edition, we really did do multiple independent copy-editing passes, generally between 6 and 10 volunteers per text. (Yes, I'm well aware that volunteer labor is what makes that kind of thoroughness possible.)
The marketing tactics used for "Dead Tree" and "Electrons in Patterns" product need to be vastly different. And to call the disparate realms congruent is a true case of incomparable aspects. The Hows and why's of these seemingly occult by design areas are slippery even to insiders. The saddest fact being a case about TOOL inventories in tax law has caused more book destruction than all other causes combined. Couple that with the "overprint and cover strip" practices skewing costs further astray. So the result ends up as what we have. Not what it could be. And if any of us make bold world changing suggestions? The old world view inertia treats change itself as a threat by default. Were it left to me to get some wish list items in publishing they'd shake up our world.
My short list would be Book On Demand kiosks being widespread and "affordable" to start with. Then a rethinking in that new world. Of what keeps "anyone" from using the touchscreen browser on that kiosk to d/l printable files from any source to print on demand? The "Dead Tree Only" version soon might be over. That sort of publishing industry is soon to be accepted as walking "dead"- but it may re-incarnate for those products that kiosks cannot easily fab.