Wake Up and Touch the Screen

Another year, another decade, another chance to sing the blues about the publishing industry--especially if you are in the publishing industry. No make that, a captain of the publishing industry, as in say, president of Farrar, Straus & Giroux. In last Sunday's New York Times, said president moaned and groaned about the fact that the heirs of William Styron (author of Sophie's Choice) had licensed the rights to some of his books, previously published by Random House, to an electronic publisher called Open Road Integrated Media.

The nerve of these heirs, according to Mr. President, who did maintain that they are acting within their legal rights (since they hold the copyrights) to publish or republish these books with whatever publisher they choose. It is not the re-publication of the books to which Mr. President objects. He objects to the fact that the heirs went elsewhere in order to do so.

And so begins the tale of what they gave up--all of the careful attention that Styron's words received when they were originally edited by the best of the best at Random House. Those who culled them, promoted them, chose the artwork for the hardcover edition of them, selected the typeface for them, in fact, according to Mr. President, made them the works of art they are today.

"Mr. Styron's books took the form they have, are what they are today, not only because of his remarkable genius but also, as he himself acknowledged, because of the dedicated work of those at Random House," he writes.

I am not about to quibble with the role that Styron's editors took in creating or sustaining his canon. But I am going to point out that the era of coddling, shaping, promoting and perhaps even caring about the authors that carry your imprint is long gone. Publishers do not care about you until you prove that they should--and that means long after they agree to publish and edit your book.

So wake up Mr. President and feel the pulse of e-books, which is, I might point out the perfect medium for books that have already been edited. If Random House wanted to make more money off of Styron, they should have been the ones to offer to re-issue his books electronically instead of letting someone else cash in on their work. Or perhaps they did and crafted a deal that put too much in their pockets, once again.

The era of publishing as an art form is dead and it is not the electronic reader or publisher who killed it. It is the presidents of industry giants who never let anyone else in.