A Few Lessons About Editors and Agents

In my career so far, I've published more than forty books, most of which have been financially successful. Yet I still just beginning to understand a few moral lessons about the publishing mentality.

A Mistaken Rejection

One of my biggest successes has been The Psychology of Computer Programming, which has been in print for more than thirty-five years. The publication was delayed more than a year by publishers who couldn't decide what to do with it.

Here's what the publisher of all my previously successful books eventually had to say:

"...it just is not worthwhile pushing this project any further. It may be that the concept is good ... but that the style and breadth of presentation is just not suitable. It could be that a major overhaul and rewrite will result in a marketable project. On the other hand, it may be wiser to forget the book concept entirely ..."

A quarter-million dollars in royalties later, the comment is hard to believe, but they must have believed it back when they took over a year to decide not to publish the book.

Moral: Get a second opinion. And a third. And a fiftieth.

Another Mistaken Rejection

Four years later, I tried to publish An Introduction to General Systems Thinking. Naturally, I sent the manuscript to the perceptive publishers of The Psychology of Computer Programming. Here is what they said:

"...he (the third referee) believes the book is of high scholarly quality, is well written and represents a genuine contribution to the field. However, it is his viewpoint (which has been substantiated by other reviewers ...) that the market for such a volume is limited ... With this in mind, I do not believe it is for us."

This editor, to give him credit, did believe the book should be published, but not as a commercial venture. A few hundred thousand dollars later, you have to wonder.

Moral: Nobody in the publishing world has one-tenth of your own interest in your writing.

What About Agents?

Maybe I should have used an agent, who might have done a better job of recognizing and presenting the commercial possibilities of these two manuscripts. I thought so at the time, so a few years later, I hired a top New York agent to peddle another manuscript, The Secrets of Consulting. She did try, but gave up, saying,

"there just doesn't seem to be a market for this book. I'd suggest you drop it and start another project."

I sold the book myself (after coaxing the publisher). Like the other two, it's still in print, and has earned me another few hundred thousand.

Moral: You are responsible for your own career!

A Mistaken Acceptance

I don't want to give the impression that all my books are this successful. Perhaps the least successful of all was at textbook, Computer Information Systems, I wrote with Dennis Geller. Neither of us was much interested in writing a textbook, but the editor at my publisher, a subsidiary of the giant Prentice-Hall, had urged me for years to write this "sure-fire" text. I finally agreed, feeling I owed him a couple of favors.

The book received a number of favorable reviews and sold perhaps 20,000 copies—a far cry from the millions the editor had predicted. Me, I consider it a flop—and we were never asked to do a second edition, the inevitable mark of a successful textbook. I concluded that editors not only don't know which books will sell, they don't know which books won't sell.

Moral: Just because you have a few victories, don't become arrogant!!

They're All Human

In other words, with a few exceptions, book publishing is a crapshoot. So, why are writers so inhibited by some editor's opinion? Why can one ignorant rejection be so discouraging to young—or old—writers?

Perhaps writers are easily discouraged because they don't see editors and agents as fallible human beings. If so, than keep in mind that there are people behind those mysterious walls and you may be able to avoid some of the most common mistakes that cause your manuscript (not you, remember, but your manuscript) to be rejected.

Moral: Don't be a victim!

Author Websites

Once you remember that editors and agents are human beings, you know other things to do and not to do. For example, editors and agents often check out writers online. What you say and how you say it on your website is part of your public persona:

http://www.themidnighthour.net/11-editors-agents-on-websites-and-public-dissing

Moral: Don't be a jerk!

Proofreading

Regardless of what editors and agents know, you can be sure of the importance of proofreading. If you're not convinced, take a look at this YouTube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjhOBiSk8Gg

If you allow many typos to slip through in your manuscript, editors and agents will laugh at you the way you laughed at this video.

Moral: Don't be a slob!