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RE: A Thought
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From: Jeanne Devlin <jmdevlin7_at_hotmail.com>
Date: Sat, 01 Mar 2014 18:02:17 -0600
Of course, many many terrific children's books are published every year ... and as a small press we aspire to do what the big houses often make look so easy to do. And, as you state, my assumption has always been that there were plenty of NYC editors fighting the good fight. Did not mean to overstate. This was one seminar. One day. One standing-room-only auditorium at Scholastic filled with editors young and old... 200 to 300 of them. Maybe some were cowed ... or so well mannered they did not want to contradict the theme of the day. Again, it seemed one of those cautionary tale days. But I must say the other woman asking questions is a major long-term presence in NYC publishing, and she certainly felt it was a problem. And I don't know about you, but we hear all the time from editors and authors who have been told by their editors, This is a great book. It will never get by the sales team. Would love to know that trend has been stopped. JeanneThe RoadRunner Press
Subject: Re: [ccbc-net] A Thought From: nsawicki_at_nyc.rr.com Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2014 18:01:16 -0500 CC: ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu To: jmdevlin7_at_hotmail.com
Hundreds, if not a few thousand, terrific children's books are published every year….acquired by editors whose taste is supported by the firms for which they work….I know many of them, they are happy and do not feel beaten down by sales/marketing….In a very large publishing house, there are multiple imprints/divisions…one group may publish only commercial properties…other group may focus on nonfiction, another …and to use a word I hate…books of a "literary" nature…or quality books, or whatever one wants to call terrific books, etc…. Don't know who was on the panel….or, if it was balanced….Norma Jean
On Mar 1, 2014, at 5:34 PM, Jeanne Devlin wrote:B.A.You have shone a light on a very true trend: about a year ago I attended a big publishing seminar in NYC at Scholastic ... it was focused on finding the Next Big Thing. I had thought surely the consensus would be that books like Harry Potter or Hunger Games or even 50 Shades of Gray (which I haven't read) were one-offs. Like winning the lottery, they were rare and unpredictable. Chasing such books was a fool's game. Instead, it became clear the presenters were completely serious. A room of NYC's best editors and the like wondering aloud whether it would be mermaids or two-headed children or alien princesses ... Both myself and another publishing exec raised the question about what was being written for boys -- or kids west of the Mississippi or from places like the Taos Pueblo. Our questions fell on deaf ears, as they say. We also raised the question as to how much of any editors/pub house's time should be spent looking for the next Harry Potter? Wasn't our time better used throwing our heart and passion and skills behind the stories that touched our heart? The voices that too often went unheard? The stories that would go untold if not for the championing of an editor. I went home for that seminar more sadden for my peers than any time I could remember. But I also returned to Oklahoma glad I lived and worked far from the maddening crowd ... far from the echo chamber that would encourage such fool's games. Know that the stories you care about matter to small presses. And, and I do still believe this, they matter to that quiet, hard-working group of NYC editors that continue to press on even when the sales staff would prefer them to stand down. JeanneThe RoadRunner Press
Date: Sat, 01 Mar 2014 18:02:17 -0600
Of course, many many terrific children's books are published every year ... and as a small press we aspire to do what the big houses often make look so easy to do. And, as you state, my assumption has always been that there were plenty of NYC editors fighting the good fight. Did not mean to overstate. This was one seminar. One day. One standing-room-only auditorium at Scholastic filled with editors young and old... 200 to 300 of them. Maybe some were cowed ... or so well mannered they did not want to contradict the theme of the day. Again, it seemed one of those cautionary tale days. But I must say the other woman asking questions is a major long-term presence in NYC publishing, and she certainly felt it was a problem. And I don't know about you, but we hear all the time from editors and authors who have been told by their editors, This is a great book. It will never get by the sales team. Would love to know that trend has been stopped. JeanneThe RoadRunner Press
Subject: Re: [ccbc-net] A Thought From: nsawicki_at_nyc.rr.com Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2014 18:01:16 -0500 CC: ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu To: jmdevlin7_at_hotmail.com
Hundreds, if not a few thousand, terrific children's books are published every year….acquired by editors whose taste is supported by the firms for which they work….I know many of them, they are happy and do not feel beaten down by sales/marketing….In a very large publishing house, there are multiple imprints/divisions…one group may publish only commercial properties…other group may focus on nonfiction, another …and to use a word I hate…books of a "literary" nature…or quality books, or whatever one wants to call terrific books, etc…. Don't know who was on the panel….or, if it was balanced….Norma Jean
On Mar 1, 2014, at 5:34 PM, Jeanne Devlin wrote:B.A.You have shone a light on a very true trend: about a year ago I attended a big publishing seminar in NYC at Scholastic ... it was focused on finding the Next Big Thing. I had thought surely the consensus would be that books like Harry Potter or Hunger Games or even 50 Shades of Gray (which I haven't read) were one-offs. Like winning the lottery, they were rare and unpredictable. Chasing such books was a fool's game. Instead, it became clear the presenters were completely serious. A room of NYC's best editors and the like wondering aloud whether it would be mermaids or two-headed children or alien princesses ... Both myself and another publishing exec raised the question about what was being written for boys -- or kids west of the Mississippi or from places like the Taos Pueblo. Our questions fell on deaf ears, as they say. We also raised the question as to how much of any editors/pub house's time should be spent looking for the next Harry Potter? Wasn't our time better used throwing our heart and passion and skills behind the stories that touched our heart? The voices that too often went unheard? The stories that would go untold if not for the championing of an editor. I went home for that seminar more sadden for my peers than any time I could remember. But I also returned to Oklahoma glad I lived and worked far from the maddening crowd ... far from the echo chamber that would encourage such fool's games. Know that the stories you care about matter to small presses. And, and I do still believe this, they matter to that quiet, hard-working group of NYC editors that continue to press on even when the sales staff would prefer them to stand down. JeanneThe RoadRunner Press
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Received on Sat 01 Mar 2014 06:02:38 PM CST
