“Subject: Our marketing plan”

I had mixed feelings about this one.

My first reaction was disappointment that Ellis Weiner, the author of the great book, Decade of the Year, is reduced to writing one-page bits where he’s flopping around like a seal on a beach trying to squeeze a few laughs out of . . . whatever. You get the idea.

My second reaction, after reading the piece–I never read this sort of thing but I was curious what Weiner’s been up to lately–was how scarily accurate his description was of the book-marketing process, the way they basically want you, the author, to do all the promotion, and also the bit where the publicist says, “I sort of have my hands full, promoting twenty-three new releases this fall, but I’m really excited about working on your book…”

My third reaction was: hey, this story really wasn’t very good at all. Basically, he was taking a so-so idea (I mean, really, how many readers can really relate to complaints about book publicity) and then not taking it enough over the top. How did this end up getting published in the New Yorker, a place where I assume the best humor writers in America would kill to be in? Personal connections are part of the story, possibly. Beyond this, I suppose that magazine editors are the sort of people who would be particularly amused by a joke about the publishing industry. It’s a real step down from the days of Veronica Geng, that’s for sure.

P.S. I hate to be so negative, but I’m pretty sure that New Yorker writers don’t spend their time reading statistics blogs. So I think I’m safe in writing this without worrying that I’ve hurt his feelings.

12 thoughts on ““Subject: Our marketing plan”

  1. "How did this end up getting published in the New Yorker, a place where I assume the best humor writers in America would kill to be in?"

    The New Yorker is far and away the best magazine in the country — its profiles, political commentary, and investigative reporting are incredible, and it's one of the top venues for the best fiction writers in America to showcase their short stories. That said, *Shouts and Murmurs* is never very good — never in the past 10 years or so, about how long I've been reading the New Yorker. (Wikipedia tells me that Geng's last article was in 1992). It's rare to find one that's clever or funny.

  2. Damn. And when they accepted the piece I thought, "Finally I'll have something to show the guys at Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science."

    Veronica was my editor. Blame her for my access. And thanks for the nice word about Decade. I was always very proud of it.

    E.W.

  3. I liked it. It's vicarious experience for me. I've never written a book. Maybe this avoids proactive interference.

    While we're in the neighborhood, one of the New Yorker Fiction Podcasts is Jonathan Franzen reading Veronica Geng’s “Love Trouble Is My Business” and Ian Frazier’s “Coyote v. Acme.”

    This recording (and the series of free podcasts in general) is highly recommended.

    http://www.newyorker.com/online/podcasts/fiction

  4. Seth: Definitely, Geng was the best. Even when her stuff was hard to read, I always left with the feeling that I should be understanding her obscure allusions.

    Here's an interesting connection, though: Geng's first book was OK, but I much preferred her second book, I think because she took the trouble to write an explanatory essay for each story. Similarly, I really liked Decade of the Year (not so much the title story but rather the whole book), really because of the "Noah Vale" stuff between the stories. (Not that the Noah Vale bits would've stood up on their own–and Weiner didn't claim that they did–but they made it all work for me.)

    Alex: Yes, I guess we just hold the New Yorker up to high standards. They do have a lot great stuff. But i agree with Daniel Radosh that the cartoon contest can be an embarrassment all around.

    Ellis: If that's actually you and not just someone being silly, then I apologize. And I do realy like Decade of the Year, and I hope you get the opportunity to do more great things.

    Also, since I've got you on the line for a second, could I ask you for a favor? If you happen to run into David Sedaris, could you please suggest to him in a gentle yet persuasive way that his recent stuff is below his usual standards, for the obvious (or so I think) reason that he's running out of material by mining his own life stories. I have what I think is a great suggestion for him, which is that he go around the world interviewing quirky people and then writing their stories. This would allow him to engage his imaginative writing talent while getting a lot of good material. Sure, he might have to interview a lot of people before getting Santaland-quality stories, but that's what work is all about: it's work. And, of course, with his fame, it shouldn't be hard for Sederis to get to talk with lots of interesting people. I'm not talking about celebrities, just people who have good stories to tell (and, more to the point, for Sedaris to retell).

    Thanks! If you can tell that to Sedaris, I'd much appreciate it. And I'd hope he would too.

  5. Hey Andrew,

    enough people follow your blog for word to get around on whom you're hurting. So either don't write it, or don't apologize. My 2 cents would be to write casually and whats on your hart once in a while, and leave it at that. (Responding to modest replies is a good thing.)

  6. Andrew–

    It is me, and apology not necessary. The piece actually got a ton of raves from strangers as well as friends, but especially those in the publishing biz, as you might expect.

    I'm glad you liked Decade, as I said. At the time (1987) every humorist in the country was publishing collections, so I tried to come up with something a little different. I thought of the humor pieces within the Vale narrative as being like the songs in a musical comedy. And I flatter myself that Veronica was influenced by it when she wrote her second book.

    I've never met Sedaris. I've liked his work, but didn't someone recently suggest (persuasively) that it's presented as non-fiction but is at least partly made up? That's a drag, if true.

    BTW, if you want to know what I've been up to, look up my name on Amazon. I recommend Drop Dead, My Lovely and its sequel, The Big Boat to Bye-Bye.

    E.W.

  7. Ellis: I've always assumed that much of Sedaris's stories were made up. But that doesn't diminish them for me (at least not much). Still, he needed the kernel of a story to get started, as well as all those little details that he put in here and there. (I've always assumed that the best fiction writers are also reporters, in that they work into their stories lots of experiences they've had or heard about in real life.)

    I'll read Drop Dead, My Lovely, and let you know (via blog) what I think about it. (At this point, nothing's lost by giving an honest unvarnished opinion.) I'm curious how your book compares with those of the notorious comic-caper novelist Westlake. I find Westlake's overtly "comic" novels of the Dortmunder variety to be just irritating, but I was much amused by his outwardly-serious-but-funny-inside books such as The Ax and, earlier, Killing Time, which I think actually made the private-eye novel obsolete, back in 1961.

  8. Ellis-

    I'm glad you're targeting your work towards the Stat Modeling blog guys. I read this blog religiously. I'd never heard of you. I did enjoy the piece and now I'll check out some of your books.

  9. William: I don't think it's that so many people follow the blog. My guess is Google Alert or something similar. It's easy enough to track where you've been mentioned, even on blogs and in newspapers you never would've heard of. (Unless, of course, you share a name with a famous person.)

  10. Andrew, I thought Weiner's piece was hilarious. Painfully so, because I hear tales like this from my clients all the time.

    By the way, I found this thread through a Google Alert for "book publicity."

    Cheers,
    Bella

  11. Bella: I thought it was very accurate. I just didn't find it funny. It wasn't a bad idea, but I felt he was trying to hard to milk it.

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