We confess to being slightly underwhelmed by yesterday’s NY Times story about publishing types being forced to spend less on meals, in part because the Observer filled us in over a month ago—and even then it was been-there-heard-that—but also because, as Robert Gottlieb pointed out to the Times, fancy lunches and off-site sales conferences aren’t exactly the publishing industry’s biggest problem… and certainly not something with which writers especially need to concern themselves. (Unless you were counting on coming to New York and getting at least one free meal out of your publisher.)
What caught our attention was M.J. Rose‘s assertion that “many publishers are cutting marketing budgets” on select 2009 titles but not telling their authors that those books will receive less support than they were originally led to believe (which could possibly be tied to a passing reference in the Times article to a reevaluation of how advance copies are distributed). “This is the very worst time to pull budgets and let books sink or swim on their own,” Rose warns. “A publisher has hundreds if not thousands of titles a year but an author has one. No one can afford a failure, but the author least of all.”
By now, of course, most authors know they’ll need to do some self-promotion if they expect to break out of the pack, but as Rose points out, it’s important to know how much will be required of them going in. She recommends that publishers start opening up with authors and developing more actively collaborative marketing plans. We’re all for that, but we’re curious to hear what you think: Has Rose put her finger on this year’s publishing crisis?