Competitive Advantage

Barry Eisler here, for my third and last day trying to fill M.J.'s estimable shoes... it's been fun, but after this I think I better get back to the manuscript for the next Rain book.  Otherwise, my editor at Putnam, the talented Dan Conaway, could become irate... (Dan, are you there?  This was just a brief diversion... I swear...)

I wonder from time to time how writers choose publishing houses.  Mostly we think of the choice as running in the opposite direction, but sometimes for a first time novelist there are multiple bids.  Other times a rival house will try to lure an established novelist away from her current publisher.  In those situations, what do publishing houses offer to try to persuade the writer to come on board?

I'm not talking about the size of the advance or the nature of the proposed marketing campaign.  Those items will vary; they're a function of who the author is, what she's written, and how badly the house in question wants her.  I'm talking about items intrinsic to the house itself -- what it's known for, its reputation.

What distinguishes one house from another?  Size?  Number of bestsellers?  Weight in a given genre?  Physical quality (paper, binding, etc) of books?  Others?

I'm still a little new to the business, so I might be missing something, but my sense is that there's not that much to distinguish one house from another.  Which makes me wonder, why don't the houses do more to distinguish themselves?  Wouldn't it be a competitive advantage for X house if an agent could tell a writer, "It's true Y house has offered us a little more money, but I think X house is the better bet because of X house's reputation for _______."

One way I could imagine a house distinguishing itself would be via transparency.  Create password protected computer access so authors could have the same access to their sales data that the publisher has.

Another way a house could distinguish itself might be by garnering a reputation for paying advances and royalties promptly.

I'm sure there areas I'm missing -- what are they?  How many ways are there to fill in the blank here:  "Oh, you're published by X?  You're lucky, because they _______."

Okay, another musical recommendation:  Charles Webster, Born on the 24th of July.

Thanks for sticking around these three days.  I'll be back at some point if MJ will have me; in the meantime, if you get a chance, stop by Heart of the Matter and say hello.

Cheers,
Barry

Comments

[spyscribbler]

Are you telling me that the NY publishers don't pay on time??? Please ... I need to live with my delusions and dreams a little longer.

[David J. Montgomery]

There is one area in which I definitely have opinions on the differences between the houses, and that's when it comes to publicity. I'm not going to name names, but there are some who do it better than others. Were I to be in the position of choosing amongst publishers, that's certainly a factor I would consider.

[Bella Stander]

Absolutely publicity. Also not naming names, but some publishers REALLY have it together; some really don't; others are in between--good for the "big" auhtors, not so for everyone else.

Also the physical books themselves. Some publishers always put out beautifully designed, WELL-EDITED, books on good paper with great jackets. You long to pick them up and keep holding them. Some put out awful-looking books, littered with typos, printed on crap paper with dumb jacket art. Some publishers put out a mix. Sometimes authors & their agents have to fight tooth and nail to get a decent-looking jacket--even for a book that received a decent advance. I know one author who hated her cover art so much that she threatened to take her name off the book if the publisher didn't change it. She meant it too; the publisher backed down. P.S. The book is selling fine.