|
|
,
Add to My Group(s)
Permalink
View Article Stats
Add to My Group(s)
View Article Stats
Award Winning author, journalist and humorist, Burton H. Wolfe is Interviewed
By Bookpleasures (about the author)
Become a Fan -- Page 5 of 5 page(s)
There are more and more mergers among the major houses, and more and more concentration of promotion on select books that are designated in advance to be the moneymakers, leaving the authors of the "lesser" books to do more and more of their promoting.
More and more the sales department of a publishing house is determining what will and will not be accepted for publication - with what seems to be a standard test: if the sales department does not envision sales of at least 30,000 copies of a book, forget it. More and more it becomes harder to find a major house that will look at a manuscript not submitted by an established literary agent. Fortunately, there are many small press publishers still available for non-agent submissions. When one of those publishers has some success, a major house has occasionally offered to make it a subdivision of its operation and help with distribution and promotion.
More and more the big discount distributors and sellers - Barnes and Noble is the major example - are taking the bulk of the market by offering discounts based on volume, and lesser distributors and booksellers cannot compete with that. More and more books are being remanded quickly and sold off at prices far less than the original cover price.
There is too much competition. An individual author has a dismally poor chance of making money on a given book. You have to be lucky as well as persistent with self-promotion. There is also an increasing trend for publishing houses to operate in the same way as vanity publishers: the author has to pay for printing and publicity. Prestigious publishing houses, especially those that produce books by scholars, are resorting to that method of operation out of financial necessity.
Norm:
Although you are not leaving us just yet, how do you want us to remember Burton h. Wolfe?
Burton:
As somebody who told the truth at all costs, bearing in mind my favorite quotation from George Orwell (Eric Blair): "There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad." 1984
Norm:
Is there anything else you wish to add that we have not covered and in particular to Lucifer's Dictionary of the American Language?
Burton:
GET THE BOOK AND READ IT!
Thanks Burton once again for participating in our interview.
Become a Fan -- Page 5 of 5 page(s)
More and more the sales department of a publishing house is determining what will and will not be accepted for publication - with what seems to be a standard test: if the sales department does not envision sales of at least 30,000 copies of a book, forget it. More and more it becomes harder to find a major house that will look at a manuscript not submitted by an established literary agent. Fortunately, there are many small press publishers still available for non-agent submissions. When one of those publishers has some success, a major house has occasionally offered to make it a subdivision of its operation and help with distribution and promotion.
More and more the big discount distributors and sellers - Barnes and Noble is the major example - are taking the bulk of the market by offering discounts based on volume, and lesser distributors and booksellers cannot compete with that. More and more books are being remanded quickly and sold off at prices far less than the original cover price.
There is too much competition. An individual author has a dismally poor chance of making money on a given book. You have to be lucky as well as persistent with self-promotion. There is also an increasing trend for publishing houses to operate in the same way as vanity publishers: the author has to pay for printing and publicity. Prestigious publishing houses, especially those that produce books by scholars, are resorting to that method of operation out of financial necessity.
Norm:
Although you are not leaving us just yet, how do you want us to remember Burton h. Wolfe?
Burton:
As somebody who told the truth at all costs, bearing in mind my favorite quotation from George Orwell (Eric Blair): "There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad." 1984
Norm:
Is there anything else you wish to add that we have not covered and in particular to Lucifer's Dictionary of the American Language?
Burton:
GET THE BOOK AND READ IT!
Thanks Burton once again for participating in our interview.
http://www.bookpleasures.com
Norm Goldman is the Editor of the book reviewing and author interviewing site, bookpleasures.com. He is also the Editor of the travel site, sketchandtravel.com, where his artist wife, Lily and Norm meld words with art focusing on romantic (more...)
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author
and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
 Contact Author |
Contact Editor |
 View Authors' Articles |
Comments
The time limit for entering new comments on this article has expired.
This limit can be removed. Our paid membership program is designed to give you many benefits, such as removing this time limit. To learn more, please click here.
| No comments |