Scan barcode
juliana_aldous's review against another edition
5.0
"The only thing I can imagine worse than the book business today is the book business tomorrow."-Robert Gottlieb
Silverman shares the history and interviews the publishers and editors at many of the biggest publishers of the 20th century. You learn about how each publisher got its start, how they ran their lists and you learn a bit more about the important editors.
Fascinating that there are so many that started--and the majority of them in this book are now part of the Big Five Publishers.
What makes a good publishing plan? How do you make money in publishing? This book contains some good insight on how running a publisher works:
"So let’s figure out how they did make their money. Book publishing is like playing poker. You know how much money you got, and you know you gotta go home. You need gas money or subway money to get home. So you bet what you can bet, always keeping enough. This is the name of the game: You’re in the trade business—you break even, you make, what, two percent? It’s all right. Then you get Gone With the Wind. You don’t build no factories, you don’t hire nobody. You just pick up that telephone and call Margaret Mitchell and say—keep writin’, keep writin’,—and the money just rolls in. And if you’re smart, you don’t go on a binge and spend it. You invest it properly in your business."-Roger Donald
“The gestalt theory is my old favorite phrase. A configuration, pattern, or organized field having specific properties that cannot be derived from the summation of its component parts. It simply means that you do a balanced list, and then you do not have to analyze each title. I always had great pride in publishing a book well written, well produced, and well presented.”-Roger Donald
“Don once explained the job he inherited and handled with verve: 'Judgment in publishing ought to reflect three factors: taste, experience and—intuition.' Emphasizing this last word, he raised a moistened finger to the wind."-on Donald Lamm
"Once she was asked how she could publish for children since she had none of her own. Her answer was that she was a former child, “and I have forgotten nothing.”-on Ursula Nordstrom
Silverman shares the history and interviews the publishers and editors at many of the biggest publishers of the 20th century. You learn about how each publisher got its start, how they ran their lists and you learn a bit more about the important editors.
Fascinating that there are so many that started--and the majority of them in this book are now part of the Big Five Publishers.
What makes a good publishing plan? How do you make money in publishing? This book contains some good insight on how running a publisher works:
"So let’s figure out how they did make their money. Book publishing is like playing poker. You know how much money you got, and you know you gotta go home. You need gas money or subway money to get home. So you bet what you can bet, always keeping enough. This is the name of the game: You’re in the trade business—you break even, you make, what, two percent? It’s all right. Then you get Gone With the Wind. You don’t build no factories, you don’t hire nobody. You just pick up that telephone and call Margaret Mitchell and say—keep writin’, keep writin’,—and the money just rolls in. And if you’re smart, you don’t go on a binge and spend it. You invest it properly in your business."-Roger Donald
“The gestalt theory is my old favorite phrase. A configuration, pattern, or organized field having specific properties that cannot be derived from the summation of its component parts. It simply means that you do a balanced list, and then you do not have to analyze each title. I always had great pride in publishing a book well written, well produced, and well presented.”-Roger Donald
“Don once explained the job he inherited and handled with verve: 'Judgment in publishing ought to reflect three factors: taste, experience and—intuition.' Emphasizing this last word, he raised a moistened finger to the wind."-on Donald Lamm
"Once she was asked how she could publish for children since she had none of her own. Her answer was that she was a former child, “and I have forgotten nothing.”-on Ursula Nordstrom
grldchz's review
4.0
Warm - you can feel the author's love of his profession and colleagues. Exhaustive reference on mainstream American book publishing, editors, and authors from post-Word War Il through the early 1980s. Good reference on literary censorship. Decent reference on gender and racial workplace integration. Admits this wasn't a "Golden Age" for everyone.
This book celebrates the editor...how they can act as talent scout, advocate, or know when to just leave it alone. I'd never thought about it, but authors generally didn't work with editors until the 1940s; books were published as written. It was fun to see now-in/famous writers getting "found" and watch their works and relationships with editors progress, sometimes over decades across multiple publishing houses.
This book celebrates the editor...how they can act as talent scout, advocate, or know when to just leave it alone. I'd never thought about it, but authors generally didn't work with editors until the 1940s; books were published as written. It was fun to see now-in/famous writers getting "found" and watch their works and relationships with editors progress, sometimes over decades across multiple publishing houses.
More...