The new Simon & Schuster imprint continues to get lots of ink everywhere (so much so that it was Publishers Marketplace’s “deal of the day” for a solid week, which has to be a record of some sort) but the most puzzling had to be Gawker’s item yesterday afternoon about the agent of record, Marc Gerald. They noted the similarities between G-Unit and the Syndicate, an imprint he spearheaded while still an editor at Norton that partnered with Def Jam and Wesley Snipes to produce gangsta-lit novellas, while making some accusations about potentially shady dealings and the “blackening” of certain books.
Oddly, it never occurred to Gawker to ask Gerald for comment, so I got in touch with him by phone to get his side of the story. “I modelled the Syndicate after the pulp factories of the 1940s and 50s, where the editors would come up with the story ideas and find writers to produce short novels based on those ideas,” he said, adding that this was the way noted noir writers like Jim Thompson began or sustained their careers. It was a “market-driven” approach not unlike what Alloy Entertainment does with its Gossip Girl and A-List series (both published by Little, Brown) or what other book packagers do. But it’s not a work-for-hire approach; writers got royalties and ancillary rights, and any requested changes were spelled out in the contracts given to them.
Gerald says that the Syndicate was a way for writers to break into the business, writing novels with specific guidelines and learning the trade. “I got to know a lot of really good writers as a result, and I was able to represent them after I became an agent.” And while the Syndicate has obvious parallels to G-Unit books, there’s one major difference: the growth of street lit as a viable genre means that there are more talented writers to choose from. “Nikki Turner’s one of the first writers on board for this — and it’s not like she needs to d it. But her publisher (Random House) felt that it was a good idea because this gets her name out there and increases name recognition.”
But if there’s one point Gerald stresses, it is this: that the Syndicate was “no more ‘minstrel-y'” than the kind of records selling millions, then and now.
(Update: Max Chafkin at the Book Standard has additional info from Gerald.)