Karping.

In Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg's recent article in the THE WALL STREET JOURNAL about Jonathan Karp leaving Random House, this graph stood out for me:

Mr. Karp wanted more autonomy from executives above him, according to people inside Random House Inc., a unit of Bertelsmann AG. He also wanted the Random House imprint to spend more money on advertising to support his fall list of forthcoming books.

"We're living in an attention economy," said Mr. Karp, in an interview. "To get books to stand out, you have to go to extraordinary efforts."

Damn straight.

If it's true isn't it outrageous? That this is one of the things a top editor quit over? That so little is being done for so many books that it's making people like Karp quit?

Aren't you mad that for the last oh so many years the numbers keep showing the same things but no one does anything?

Where is the new thinking?

Is there a task force at work to examine the issue and try to figure out how to get the publishing industry out of the middle ages when it comes to marketing?

Is someone doing crazy, zany things?

Anyone who sees any extraordinary effort for any book, please let me know about it. I'd like to regularly celebrate any and all creativity in marketing books.

Am I the only one who thinks that every other form of entertainment is presented in a more exciting, vital, up to date, sexy, competitive, seductive way.

For the most part, nothing has changed in how we present books to the public in years and years and years.

And having a website for the book isn't what I mean by new thinking. Neither is the author having a blog. Neither is sending out 5000 ARCs.

While I'm on the blog thing. There are currently 11 million blogs growing by about a million every two weeks. I've said this before but every author should not have a blog. More than that. Most blogs will never get seen or noticed. But no one is telling them that and right now there are thousands and thousands of authors thinking they should have blogs.

I'm on quite a few listserv's, where I lurk, but do read about what authors are doing, desperate to get their books out there and I'm astounded by how many of them are on their own trying any damn thing to get press.

Often making bad mistakes, which can seriously backfire with readers.

Authors aren't getting advice from anyone about what to do when their book is coming out. Why can't we figure out a way to educate authors so they can do the most for their books?

Anyone have a good joke? This is getting really depressing. Sorry, I'll try to be more upbeat tomorrow.

Comments

[JJ MacMillan]

Remember when the laser printer and then the e-book and then the internet were going to revolutionize the industry? It seems like what's going to happen eventually with the democratization of publishing is that readers will be able to more finely tune their choices, but I don't know how that will happen. All we have now is so many books being published that the choices literally become static.

[Lynn]

Not to pat myself on the back, but I'm looking into working with the Red Hat Society, a social organization for women over 50 (most of the Baby Boomers are now over 50.) If you've seen the red hat/purple scarf ladies in your town, you know who I'm talking about.

According to their web site, the society presently has more than 41,000 chapters with about one million members in more than 30 countries. Their weekly e-mail newsletter goes out to 90K+ members.

Women over 50 tend to read a great deal, in my experience, and are always on the look out for great new fiction.

[Jessica]

MJ, I love your idea of sharing successful marketing stories. Put those working, financially successful models out there. And tell them over and over and over again. (This is a form of visualization. If you can start to visualize how something can work, if you can IMAGINE IT, then that’s the beginning of making it work.)Success stories bear infinite repeating. That way, editors and publishers might be willing to break the mold and take a few chances, well, let’s not call it CHANCE, let’s just call it: following a proven method that has resulted in financial success for everyone involved. Also, in following a strategy that has made a profit, editors and publishers will be able to point to the success and say—“hey, it worked for so and so and such and such. It made them money. Let’s give it a try.” Bosses who tend to nix this risk-taking impulse won’t be able to say "no." Are they going to say "no" to something that has proven itself financially? That’s not taking a risk, right? The herding instinct will take over and, soon, more publishers will follow. Successful i.e. profitable marketing methods will become the norm. A shift will occur. Publishers will look back on old strategies and say, what were we thinking? That’s the dream, right?

[Richard]

I don't have a good joke, but there's always this Karp-related one from The Random House Book of Jokes and Anecdotes, Second Edition (1996: barely sold any copies):

One day God calls down to Noah and says "Noah, I want you to make me a new Ark."

Noah replies, "No problem, God."

But God interrupts, "Ah but there's a catch this time, Noah. I want not just a couple of decks. I want ten decks one on top of the other."

"Ten decks?!" says Noah. "Well, all right, whatever you say. Should I fill it up with all the animals just like last time?"

"Yes, but this time I want you to fill it up with fish," says God.

"Fish?" Noah says.

"Yes, fish. Actually, to make it more specific, I want only carp. Lots of carp."

Noah looks to the skies. "Okay, God, let me get this right, you want a new ark?"

"Right."

"With ten decks, one on top of the other?"

"Right."

"And you want it full of carp?"

"Correct."

"But why?" asks Noah.

"Well," God says, "I just thought it would be nice to have a multi-story carp ark."

Note: This may not be funny, but it's how decisions are made at the top echelons of New York publishing.

[kitty]

Here's a good "joke" (pardon the language:):

An executive was pondering over a hard decision. He had to get rid of one of his staff. He had narrowed it down to one of two people, Debra or Jack.

It would be a hard decision to make, as they were both equally qualified and both did excellent work. He finally decided that in the morning whichever one used the water cooler first would have to go.

Debra came in the next morning, hugely hung over after partying all night. She went to the cooler to get some water to take an aspirin and the executive approached her and said, 'Debra, I've never done this before, but I have to lay you or Jack off.'

Debra replied, 'Could you j**k off? I feel like s**t.'

[patricia]

M.J., I'm not very good at telling jokes, so instead I drew you a cartoon. Hope it makes you smile!

Cheers,
patricia

http://storms.typepad.com/booklust/2005/06/art_imitating_l.html