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Will do, Colby. I'll wait till tomorrow...er, later today.
Jo, it's interesting. I spent most of my so-called career in one of those "different" businesses -- the film/TV industry. I guess there's a wider latitude for acceptable behavior there, in some ways, though the increasing corporatization has changed that some. Not that making things more corporate necessarily improved the product, mind you. It probably made it worse. As for improving business practices? In some ways, but not in others. The conclusion that I came to is that there is a ton of incompetence, arrogance and favoritism in whatever field of business you care to look at, and that a lot of "good practice" is basically about funneling money up to a few guys on the top. A lot of modern US business doesn't give a crap about real productivity; it's more about stripping away assets and generating short-term gains to reward shareholders and again, the guys at the top. Vulture capitalism. I think there is an awful lot of mythology when it comes to the efficacy of much of modern US business. Not all of it, certainly. But a lot of it.
But I digress.
What I've noticed about publishing is that it really is a small town, even more so than film/TV. Everyone knows everyone, and people do favors for each other. Or they don't. There are inefficiencies and bad managers and bad business practices and stuff that makes my head spin. Worse than most other industries? I don't know. I also think there are a lot of high-quality people working in the business and that there's a huge problem with top-down, fear-based corporate decision-making that is stifling risk and endangering houses' futures by constantly making what are supposedly "safe" choices that in the long run, really aren't. It's that same, next quarter profit driven strategy that doesn't permit much investment in long-term growth and the future.
Re: agents, yeah. There are a lot of jobs where good communication isn't quite so integral as it is for agents. With SP and small presses shaking up the Club, personal connections that agents cultivate aren't as vital as they once were (though they are still pretty damn important). I wonder if there comes a point where the spaghetti agent model ceases to be profitable, because it's gotten so much harder to sell books and to sell books for decent advances. Or maybe that's the only way that some of them stay in business: take on a ton of clients, throw the work against the wall and enough stuff sticks to get by. I hate to think that model works, but it must, for some.
I feel very fortunate every day for the great good luck I've had with both my agents. I'm not writing books that are getting the crazy, lottery-like advances, but I've worked with agents who have been real advocates for me and who take the long view of things, and I've never had any of this bullshit with poor communication. I don't understand why that experience isn't closer to the universal than it is.
Jo, it's interesting. I spent most of my so-called career in one of those "different" businesses -- the film/TV industry. I guess there's a wider latitude for acceptable behavior there, in some ways, though the increasing corporatization has changed that some. Not that making things more corporate necessarily improved the product, mind you. It probably made it worse. As for improving business practices? In some ways, but not in others. The conclusion that I came to is that there is a ton of incompetence, arrogance and favoritism in whatever field of business you care to look at, and that a lot of "good practice" is basically about funneling money up to a few guys on the top. A lot of modern US business doesn't give a crap about real productivity; it's more about stripping away assets and generating short-term gains to reward shareholders and again, the guys at the top. Vulture capitalism. I think there is an awful lot of mythology when it comes to the efficacy of much of modern US business. Not all of it, certainly. But a lot of it.
But I digress.
What I've noticed about publishing is that it really is a small town, even more so than film/TV. Everyone knows everyone, and people do favors for each other. Or they don't. There are inefficiencies and bad managers and bad business practices and stuff that makes my head spin. Worse than most other industries? I don't know. I also think there are a lot of high-quality people working in the business and that there's a huge problem with top-down, fear-based corporate decision-making that is stifling risk and endangering houses' futures by constantly making what are supposedly "safe" choices that in the long run, really aren't. It's that same, next quarter profit driven strategy that doesn't permit much investment in long-term growth and the future.
Re: agents, yeah. There are a lot of jobs where good communication isn't quite so integral as it is for agents. With SP and small presses shaking up the Club, personal connections that agents cultivate aren't as vital as they once were (though they are still pretty damn important). I wonder if there comes a point where the spaghetti agent model ceases to be profitable, because it's gotten so much harder to sell books and to sell books for decent advances. Or maybe that's the only way that some of them stay in business: take on a ton of clients, throw the work against the wall and enough stuff sticks to get by. I hate to think that model works, but it must, for some.
I feel very fortunate every day for the great good luck I've had with both my agents. I'm not writing books that are getting the crazy, lottery-like advances, but I've worked with agents who have been real advocates for me and who take the long view of things, and I've never had any of this bullshit with poor communication. I don't understand why that experience isn't closer to the universal than it is.