SHALLA CHATS with Bob Mayer

 

“The Current State and Future of the Publishing Business”

by Shalla DeGuzman

 

First of all, who ’s Bob?

NY Times Bestselling author Bob Mayer has thirty-three books published under his own name and the pen name Robert Doherty. Bob graduated from West Point and served in the military as a Special Forces A-Team leader and a teacher at the JFK Special Warfare Center & School, experiences he drew on to write Who Dares Wins: Special Operations Tactics for Success. He also teaches novel writing for colleges, workshops and conferences based on his Novel Writer’s Toolkit, published by Writer’s Digest. He has over two million books in print including his latest novel, Don’t Look Down, co-authored with Jennifer Crusie.

He lives on a barrier island off the coast of South Carolina. For more information see www.bobmayer.org or www.crusiemayer.com for the infamous He Wrote/She Wrote blog.

 

Shalla: Hello Bob, we’re glad you can join us.

Bob: Thanks for having me. I think the Internet is a valuable resource for information such as we’re covering in this interview.

Shalla: You offer many workshops for writers, one of them about the state of the publishing business. So, I’d like to ask you, what is the state of the publishing business? Especially for new authors?

Bob: I’ve been in publishing since my first book came out in 1991 and it seems every year it’s all gloom and doom, but I think that while the business has trends, it’s doing well and many books are still getting published.

A big trend that isn’t good is the shrinking of the mass market paperback market for everyone but the top tier of authors. Outside of bookstores, most venues are only racking known bestselling authors and cutting back on new or midlist authors.
However, nature abhors a vacuum and the trade paperback market is expanding.

Also, print on demand—which people confuse with self-publishing—heralds important changes for the future of publishing in my opinion. POD is a technology. As it becomes more cost-efficient, I foresee the day when books will be printed on-site in the bookstores, eliminating shipping costs and greatly cutting down on returns and waste. This will allow stores to ‘rack’ more titles in that the book will be in the computer and if someone asks for it, they can print it out in a few minutes and hand it to the customer.

There are six major publishing companies in New York, but each one has numerous houses in them and imprints inside those houses. So it’s not as consolidated as many people think. And inside each house there are so many different editors with so many different tastes.

 

Shalla: Does every writer need a literary agent to succeed? Why/Why not?

Bob: It’s real hard to succeed without one. Most New York publishers won’t deal with anyone but agents now. I think you really need one, but not just any agent. You need a good agent. So what makes a good agent? It’s hard to define. I’ve gone through quite a few. Business-wise, I think they were all good, competent and understood the business. An agent can’t survive long if they aren’t. They all gave me pretty much the same advice.

So what makes the difference? Several factors.

Is the agent part of a larger agency? If so, does the agency work as a team or just a letterhead? An agency that works as a team gives you more input and flexibility.
Is the agent looking to develop a small stable of successful writers or one that wants a lot of ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ writers that are interchangeable parts? I think there are what I would call old school agents who had 50-100 or more midlist writers, none of whom were individually that important to the agent. I also call this the “sell the next book” agent, whose focus is more immediate than long term. This is why a younger agent, while less experienced, might be better in some cases. They’re hungrier and they’re more aware of current trends sometimes.

Here’s a key intangible: how do you feel after talking with an agent? Every time I talk to my current agent, even if it’s bad news, I feel positive. My previous agents, every time I talked to them, I felt negative. I think it’s a question of energy level and also personality. If you watched last season’s ENTOURAGE, I think it did an interesting job of showing the intangibles in the agent-client relationship, even though it was the movie business, not publishing.

I think a person that is often forgotten is the editor. The acquiring editor is actually more important than the agent in determining the fate of a book. So you need a strong team of three: yourself, your agent, your editor. I learned all this the hard way. Jenny Crusie introduced me to the team that handles our collaboration books and they are wonderful.

Shalla: When should an author learn about the publishing business? Before or after signing with a publishing house?

Bob: Before. It’s too late after you’ve signed on with an agent and publisher. The problem is there aren’t many places to learn what you need to know. Even then, every author’s experience is different, so their outlook is a little different. Still, if you go to enough conferences and listen to enough people speak and read about the business, you will see certain patterns. I look at the business differently now than I did ten years ago. I actually used to boast I never meet my agent or my editors face to face. Now I make it a point to go to NYC at least twice a year. The strange thing is, you feel like you never really accomplish much solid in those meetings, but they are critical.

At conferences, too many people focus on agent/editor panels and not enough about authors talking about the business. Some of that is because a lot of authors don’t talk about the business. But remember, an agent and editor has a different perspective on the business than an author does. One thing I hate is panels where agents and editors tell you what they don’t want and what will make their job easier. That’s their issue. Not an author’s.

Even with the best agent in the world, it pays to stay on top of the business. Today I’ve been emailing my agent discussing editors at a certain publishing house. A friend of mine sent me the list of editors at the house and I checked them and the books they publish. We’re trying to find the right ‘fit’ for my manuscript.
No matter how much you learn, every decision you make about your career is going to have good sides and bad sides to it. There are no black or white rules. It can get very complicated, very quickly. This is where it also helps to have author friends who you can bounce things off of.

I was sitting at lunch during the Maui Writer’s Conference with several authors and we actually started talking about the business and money. One of the authors exclaimed that she’d been in the business ten years and this was the first time she’d ever heard authors talking about the nuts and bolts of the business, especially money.

An author is self-employed in the world of publishing. So you are your own boss and responsible for your career.

Shalla: Lastly, any books on the publishing business you would recommend reading?

Bob: Don Maass’s How To Write The Breakout Novel is a good book. I’ve read it a couple of times over the years and I pick up different things each time, because my situation is different.

My Novel Writer’s Toolkit has a large section on the business. Jenny and I will be covering the business in our year long blog He Wrote/She Wrote How To Write. We’re doing the business part late in the summer. www.crusiemayer.com/workshop
There are other blogs out there that discuss the business. It’s good sometimes to read what the ‘real’ story is behind the business and the success and failure of various books.

Shalla: Thank you Bob, I will surely get a copy of A Novel Writer’s Toolkit.

For more on Bob Mayer, please visit http://www.bobmayer.org.

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Shalla DeGuzman's short stories have appeared in Poetic Diversity, the Mad Hatters Review, etc.; her articles in The Scriptorium and L.A. Freepress; her skits at the Stella Adler Theatre. Shalla, a former writer and producer of a health and fitness cable show, is currently writing a novel. She is President of The ShallaDeGuzman Writers Group where she interviews literary agents, publishers, editors, etc. News! Shalla DeGuzman gets nominated for the prestigious Pushcart Prize! Plus! SHALLA Magazine, which features short stories, poetry and more, is here! For more on Shalla: www.shalladeguzman.com

 

 

 

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