Nesbit: Publishers May Transform Into Distributors

If the Portfolio interview with Andrew Wylie earlier this week held your attention, you’ll also want to check out Lynn Nesbit telling all to Poets & Writers. The online version of the interview is even longer than the one that runs in the magazine. Most of the early exchange is of the “tell us how you met that famous writer” variety, but then they get down to some big-picture analysis. “The role of the agent is more important today than it was when I was starting out,” Nesbit reflects. “Because the publishing world is so corporate, and editors move around so much, you are increasingly the only fixed point for the writer.”

Also worth noting: Agents today spend more time editing their clients’ work, “especially on proposals,” because “editors need to see something very polished because everyone is so nervous… An editor wants to see something that’s more near completion, that the idea or the thrust behind a novel is more fully realized. Twenty-five years ago an editor would say, ‘Oh, this has promise,’ and sign it up. Today, editors want to say no rather than yes. Unless they see it as a big book.”

And what’s the root cause of that, the underlying problem the industry faces?

“Distribution. Especially for smaller books. Because the bookstores won’t take a chance. And if a writer has a not-so-rosy track record, then they won’t order more and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Then, if the book happens to get good reviews, you’re caught out of print and have to reprint and maybe the books don’t get to the stores fast enough. And distribution is a problem on the other end, too, with books that are overprinted, books that may get on the best-seller list. It may look good to the outside world, but the returns may negate the rosy picture.”

Interestingly, Nesbit seems guardedly optimistic about print-on-demand solutions like Jason Epstein‘s Espresso resolving this issue…

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