By Paul
Collins
I speak from
both being an author of around 150 books and a publisher of a similar number.
There are a great many things that can annoy publishers. Phone calls or emails
asking why the author hasn’t heard back and they’ve only recently submitted
their MS; authors who query every page of a contract — nothing wrong with
questioning agreements, but mostly they’re “wasting time questions” obviously
given to the author (usually an unpublished author — established authors know
better) by an agent (paid to look as though they’re working for their fee), a
well-meaning friend who once studied law, the ASA, the Fellowship of (whoever)
Writers Association. (I made that mistake with my first contract from Penguin.
It came back from the FAW so full of queries and penned-out clauses I tossed it
in the bin and signed the original contract. The sky didn’t fall in. I wasn’t
ripped off by Penguin. Everything was well in the world and I didn’t have to
annoy anyone.)
What annoys
me as a publisher is authors who argue the toss with editors (if it’s a good
editor, take their advice); authors who won’t promote their books (I realise
some are introverted — I was too, so did something about it and went to
Toastmasters for two years to get over it) and lastly, authors who demand things
from a small press because their major press did for them. Always bear in mind
a small press is usually one person who simply isn’t making money.
Submitting
books to every award in the country is really, really expensive and very
time-consuming; sending out review books to a hundred reviewers is also
expensive and not very productive (at the end of the day as only a handful of
reviews will appear) and asking your publisher to go into the interstate
warehouse (impossible!) and put a sticker on every book there because it’s
become a Notable Book, or been short-listed for a little-known award. No one at
a warehouse is going to open dozens of boxes and put stickers on books. And I
very much doubt a busy warehouse with ten thousand boxes is going to let a publisher
do it, either (you need to wait for a reprint). Yet these are just some of the
things authors and illustrators have asked me to do.
Paul
Collins is publisher of Ford Street Publishing www.fordstreetpublishing.com and
a highly successful children’s and YA author.
