A Conversation with Nan A. Talese,
Publisher and Editorial Director of Nan A. Talese/Doubleday Books

by Laurel Touby

MB: With the consolidation of the publishing industry in general, do you feel pressured to create instant best-sellers?

Talese: Not instant best-sellers. Take Margaret Atwood, who is now a best-selling author: when I published her 25 years ago, she sold about 5,000 copies at best, as did Joan Didion and John Irving. Very few writers suddenly sell 100,000 copies. Careers are built gradually, although. I think corporations have less patience than they used to.

One often hears about MBAs who come newly into the world of publishing, who look at the best-sellers and say, Why don't you only do best-sellers? They suggest we mustn't contract for books that we're going to publish fewer than 15,000 copies of. But the fact is, many of those best-sellers come from those low numbers. If anyone could predict what it is that makes a book a best-seller, we'd have fewer publishers. We never can tell what new book is going to suddenly appeal to readers and have marvelous reviews -- and even marvelous reviews cannot guarantee sales. It's not predictable.

Reading is the most personal of all the arts. A reader reads alone and has only the voice of the author. So, unlike a film, or where you have a shared experience, books are a one-on-one experience. And it does take longer to build an audience.

MB: Are there enough readers out there to make literary fiction into bestselling fiction?

Talese: It depends. Literary essentially means a book that is well-written, that has an intelligent mind behind it. Now, inevitably, there are fewer intelligent minds than unintelligent minds, so you have a smaller audience to start out with. Also, in this country we're very brand-conscious. When writers begin, they are relatively unknown.

MB: Can you create a bigger audience for literary fiction?

Talese: I think a good deal of patience is required on the part of both authors and publishers. For example, for one of the books I published recently -- How the Irish Saved Civilization, by Thomas Cahill -- it was thought that we shouldn't publish more than 6,000 copies of this book. But by getting some of our sales reps to read it we built enthusiasm for the book and printed 15,000 copies. The book has now sold over a million copies. I do a lot of guerilla marketing. And as the author pointed out to me, "There are 40 million Irish Americans out there." We haven't gotten to all of them yet.

MB: Do you feel that the Internet has had any effect on literary fiction?

Talese: At one time, a book that sold 15,000 copies would be considered a best-seller. Americans weren't reading as much. Today, the bar is much higher. Contrary to what people may think, computers and the Internet have had a lot to do with an increase in interest in literary works. Your generation is more comfortable with writing than the previous generation.

MB: You've had a very successful publishing career. How does someone in the publishing business get his/her own imprint?

Talese:The first step is to gain credibility by publishing fine writers whose work finds readers. And that takes reading a lot -- not only the books that are submitted to you by agents, but also general reading -- and you really have to enjoy it. When you take a writer on, you should understand who the potential readers could be, and have strong ideas about how you can reach that readership. That takes experience. In order to have credibility, you have to put in the years. One of the things that trips up every creative industry is hype. A lot of money is spent on hyping films that, in the end, don't speak to the public. The only thing to be secure in is your own belief in an author's talent. What happens once the book is in the bookstores doesn't have much to do with you or the author. It doesn't mean you should lose faith in that author if you really think the author is good.

MB: What do you think is the job of an editor today?

Talese: The job of an editor is to help the writer produce the best book he or she possibly can; you are the person that the writer trusts to be a sounding board, knowing that you share the writer's vision. A writer trusts that when a manuscript is submitted, you respond productively, intelligently and in a spirit of goodwill. But what's important is to point out what does really work. What I find is the most valuable when I'm working with a writer is saying, "I don't understand why this happened this way. You don't explain this enough." An editor is a sounding board for the author.

MB: What is your daily job? What does your job really entail? I know you oversee marketing, you oversee editing, you edit.

Talese: Well, today I'm writing notes to booksellers. I have a list of around 1,100 booksellers who really are interested in hand-selling the books to the public. I am sending them a book and reminding them why I wanted to publish it and why I think it will do well for them.

MB: You have 40 authors -- do you read every single one of their manuscripts?

Talese: Absolutely. But they're not all turning them in at the same time and I also have a wonderful assistant editor who is a superb reader and has a good sense of both literary quality and the marketplace.

MB: Is there anything in particular that you look for in nonfiction?

Talese: For all the books we publish, the three things are: a good use of language, passion about the subject, and storytelling -- a compelling narrative.

MB: When you started in publishing, what kind of editing jobs were women able to take on?

Talese: Women essentially worked with children's books, cookbooks and mysteries, period. I began by proofreading mysteries and books that I couldn't do any serious damage to.

MB: What was your career track like?

Talese: In the 60's we worked very closely with the senior editors and their writers. I really learned publishing through working with Philip Roth and Robert Penn Warren and other superb writers. It was an amazing apprenticeship with brilliant editors and brilliant writers. But I spent almost 3 to 5 years in each position before I was promoted. Each time I went from assistant editor to associate editor, to full editor and finally to executive editor and editor-in-chief and publisher, I had the experience and really knew all the aspects of working with authors.

I did not assume positions I wasn't prepared for. I think that's very different from today -- people are very title-conscious, rather than being most concerned about the work that's given them to do. There's no way to become a good editor without being an apprentice, and learning the writer's point of view -- the craft -- as well as having a sense of the marketplace. I think the reason I have the imprint is that I had a very long apprenticeship...I never had any idea of this as a career. I did what I loved. Whenever I reached the next level, it was because I enjoyed what I was doing. If you do what you do well and are very conscientious, then success will follow.

MB: It seems like today you're almost required to have ambition to get to the top.

Talese: Some ambition, yes. But you know, in a funny way, I'm not at the top. Random House is like a huge aircraft carrier, and I think of myself more as a small dinghy. But the imprint is a fine dinghy.

MB: You're an artist in a lot of ways. That is what an artist is. You focus on what you love doing, and what resonates with you.

Talese: Exactly. Although I cannot say I am an artist, my work is to promote the work of the artist.

MB: And it's not about getting somewhere, it's about loving where you are.

Talese: You've summed it up exactly. That truly is success.