Boy, that’s a shocker.

Observe the mass confusion here.

Some lovely quotes, and my commentary (It gets kind of snarky, but this is one of those articles I read that made me do this: O.o ) :

“It’s an accidental profession, most of the time,” said William Strachan, editor in chief at Carroll & Graf Publishers. “If you had the key, you’d be very wealthy. Nobody has the key.”

How about asking readers? Do opinion polls. Do demographics studies. Find out exactly what it is that readers want and are looking for. “accidental profession” isn’t how you run a business.

What if brain surgeons operated this way? “Well, we aren’t exactly sure what happens when we jab the scalpel in this way, but sometimes it works out wonderfully.”

Then they say:

Publishers, by contrast, put up Web sites where, in some cases, readers can sign up for announcements of new titles. But information rarely flows the other way — from readers back to the editors.

Hmmmm. Well why the hell not? Why act like it’s such a stumper if you haven’t even tried this method? I mean isn’t now, in the midst of an economic downturn and book sales dropping, wouldn’t now be a good time to ask the readers what they want?

We already know the publishing industry is interested in a “commercially viable product.” So they aren’t all like Maxwell Perkins just out to publish what’s in the highest literary taste. Since they are interested in being commercial, then maybe they should operate according to the same principles as everybody else with that end goal.

Just the zany perspective of a reader (and writer) here.

Holy crap on a cracker. This is the industry writers are pinning all their hopes and dreams on? As well as their external validation? Seriously? Pfffffft. *wipes the spittle off the monitor from the pfffft*

“The people who go into it don’t do it for the money, which might explain why it’s such a bad business,” Mr. Strachan said.

Self. Fulfilling. Prophecy. Hire some people in business school. Or who have read a single business book, or have taken a single business class.

Holy God. I mean, I knew this, but to have people in the industry just admitting it without any hemming and hawing. It’s just. Yeah.

Calculating the advance accurately would be a prized skill, but no editors claim to have a scientific handle on how a book will sell. Instead, they emphasize the role of intuition and say that while big unexpected losses and gains do happen, somehow it all works out.

Come into Madame Z’s tent and let me read your fortune. I’ve got some tea leaves. And then we can chant for awhile. Maybe read bird entrails. What do ya think?

And while we’re at it, let’s hire that freaky brain surgeon with the scalpel issues. Somehow it’ll all work out. You’ll see.

It’S the way this business has run since 1640,” he says. That is when 1,700 copies of the Bay Psalm Book were published in the colonies. “It was a gamble, and they guessed right because it sold out of the print run. And ever since then, it has been a crap shoot,” Professor Greco said

Well if it was good enough for the Bay Psalm Book, it’s good enough for everybody else, dammit!

It’s the horse races, or the stock market. It’s gambling. This is a business about gambling. Buy low, hope to sell high. Stay addicted to it instead of figuring out if there is actually a sustainable business model in there.

Ms. Curr estimated that the planned book could sell a million copies. Based on what? “Just a feeling,” she said. She described it as a tingling that went up her spine.

I’m sorry, but I’m not pinning my hopes and dreams on whether or not your spine tingles. See a Chiropractor and read a business book. And people wonder why every other business has this face: O.o

This would be borderline “cute” if so many writers weren’t setting up their dreams based on the spine tingly system of book aquisition working in their favor.

“That’s often when the business model of this industry falls to pieces,” Mr. DeFiore, the agent, says. “Because publishing houses are paying high six and even seven figures in hopes those books will turn into the megahits they need, but some will and some won’t, so those big bets are dangerous.”

Okay seriously WHAT business model? Where? How is this not a gambling addiction? Anyone who did this who wasn’t in the publishing industry would be sent for treatment.

Apparently the only group (as per the article) who is doing any real demographics study is ROMANCE. Yep, those fake books. Apparently they have more business sense than most of the publishing industry. Maybe Romance should run publishing. (actually, based on book sales, they kind of already do.) Though it should be noted this study has been done by RWA, which is the Romance WRITERS of America. And this info is used by authors and publicists.

Well brava, but where are the demographic studies done by publishers? You know, the peeps with the money? When all you have to offer is money, you are a financial backer, not a business. When your authors are becoming more marketing and focus group savvy than your publishers, and the barriers have started to come down, one wonders, why exactly we think the gatekeepers are the ones who have the authorization to make business decisions about a book.

Ms. Sittenfeld says she is reminded of something she heard from an editor: “People think publishing is a business, but it’s a casino.”

Finally. Someone came out and said it. I was having a mini-breakdown here.

Also, whoever mentioned me on Stumbleupon, thank you, I got a huge traffic surge, you rock!