Rick Simonson

On and Off Those Grids
December 12, 2007

For those who do it - bookstore people who devise and schedule author readings and events - it's a thrice-yearly rite: wrangling with electronically-transmitted spreadsheets and going about the business of requesting and proposing appearances for authors of a coming season's books. Presently, it is only the two largest houses that do this particular method; most others have processes and systems in place.

With Harper and Random House (blue and green), it is a sequence of catalogs newly-arrived and these grids. Did we mention deadlines? Yes, those are in there, too. It's all a lot of fun as these have all just come through and we're at mid-December. Just the time for sitting still enough for the time it takes to do these, yes? (For that matter, is it the time to be sitting still long enough to write this ...?).

Doing these requests means entering a particular language - proposalese - language laced in projectings and foreseeings, much anticipatings, too.  The grids, if one has never seen them, are tabbed for all the different imprints or distribution lines - which take keeping track of. Then basic information - title, author, print-run, author's hometown and/or proposed tour cities, with comments variously left to be filled in in the nature of saying yay or nay, giving added useful information, and projecting possible audience size and supporting orders.

There can be a rhythm to it, both the mechanics of working the spreadsheets (not daily ground for this tiptoe-r) and the use of language.

But there are also all sorts of challenges. All of this generally comes before one has heard peep about any of these books, unless one's read trade news on this title or that, or has happened to have some conversation with someone in the publishing house in question (rep doing advance reading, a publicist or editor come upon some way or another). With those relatively unknown writers - first novels, memoirs with interesting premises but without much else to go on - one's left to intuition, often, giving cerain benefits of doubt - or not. It's still problematic to project - how many for this? So many variables - very early, it may be few know about this author or book. Yet the publicity generated from that visit helps build needed awareness. It can also be some big-name author, who one knows, from earlier visits, can be (profitably) shared by different stores - but in different ways. Lots of 'on the one hand and on the other' sentences get ventured.

Then, local authors, especially those with auspicious prospects. Take Garth Stein. In the new summer Harper catalog, one sees a very nice, large two-page spread for him and his forthcoming novel, The Art of Racing in the Rain. It would seem, remarkably, to have lead title status for the list, running ahead of Simon Winchester and Louise Erdrich in the catalog placement for the release month. Indeed, looking on the spreadsheet at projected print runs, it has quite a number going for it -well above what Soho Press printed and sold of his previous book, the successful enough by most standards, How Evan Broke His Head and Other Secrets. As readers of trade journals know, and as word got out here and there locally, Harper paid quite, quite handsomely for this new novel.

We'll leave speculations as to prospects and possible reviews to another day (and/or other eyes), but for reading request purposes (this spreadsheet), what to do? He lives here (Seattle). He is totally reader and bookstore-friendly, will likely read everywhere in town, sooner or later - it appears he'll have quite a few other cities to visit this time. If one's store is the first, one might project x number of people; if one's store is the fifth, well it could be another. Though even with someone somewhat known as Garth Stein is, locally, how and what kind of publicity will break when? He's as likely to get press for his big book deal when the press comes as he is to the merits of the book (this has been seen before). And a 200,000 print run ... how many should one 'project' ordering for an initial buy and appearance, especially when one has the numbers from the previous time at hand?

So that fun game of questions and answers, playing with and trying to supply both.

Then there's the surprises that close catalog perusing yields. Look in Hyperion - which some of us have some trouble yet linking into Harper and Harper processes. The grid shows so-and-so and so-and-so - at quick glance, for Seattle. Ok. We'll get there as we turn the pages. There's Amy and David Goodman, yes, yes. There's ... well, not so many others, yet. But wait - who? what? Very quietly there, a one-page spot, an old black-and-white photo ... could it be ... ? An author I remember as one of the very first I remember the whole Hyperion imprint for: it's Fae Myenne Ng, she who wrote the precise, taut, beautiful first novel that was Bone. Who came and read here way back whenever (Hyperion is also doing the reissue of Bone, which Harper had done in paper, and it says there that it was 1993 that Bone appeared.) Fifteen years. And now, here is Steer Toward Rock. Heavenly day. The last time I remember exclaiming or hearing someone else exclaim about the long-awaited next book (and the wondering if it would ever come) was at the 2003 BEA when I handed Sherman Alexie an advance copy of Edward P. Jones' The Known World, ready to do a spiel on who he was and what he'd done, and Sherman was clutching the copy, saying 'He's alive! He's alive!" Yes, Sherman had known of his amazing book of stories from a decade before ... with nothing evident since. That is about how I was, and am, with nothing yet seen, for this word of what's to come.

Back to the gridwork: what, no Seattle projected for Fae Ng? What? But, but ... That will be worked on, as will other matters now ... back onto the feet and into the fray we go ...

Posted by Rick Simonson on December 12, 2007 | Comments (0)