Pageturners: Marketing Pt 2 - Book Publishers
I view all such wining and dining and paternalism with a certain justified suspicion. Let me repeat: There’s no such thing as a free lunch.
Welcome to Pageturners, a book I’m writing in which I share what I’ve learnt – and am still learning – about comic writing, film writing, novel writing and how new writers can sell their stories. I’ll publish a chapter or a section per week, available for free here on Iconoblast. And I welcome your feedback or questions, so do leave a comment below!
Missed the Pageturners intro? Read it here.
BOOK PUBLISHERS
Talking to creators, I’ve noticed time and again they seem to have this mythical image of publishers as benign characters who will take them out to lunch, pay them a big advance, encourage them and heavily promote their book. And then they can sit back, do nothing, and receive their big royalty cheques. Dream on! It’s a nice fantasy, but it’s not true and I doubt it was ever true.
One publisher even said in his introductory text on his website, words to the effect: ‘I don’t want to meet and listen to an author and their personal problems. If you’ve got hang-ups, go get yourself a therapist.’
It may be very different for J.K. Rowling, but for others the truth is often the polar-opposite, to put it diplomatically. Publishers may want you to add to their list, but if you’re a mid-ranger, they’ll do the minimum to promote you.
If you’re not convinced, let me disillusion you further. I’ve done signing tours and have a best-selling series running in France, but don’t recall that any such paternalism I experienced was worth it. There’s no such thing as a free lunch. In fact, my fondest memory on a signing tour of the States (for Marshal Law) was a stretch limousine meeting us at the airport, clearly designed to impress the heck out of us. As our limousine pulled away smoothly from Arrivals, we were suddenly accosted by a foul looking, foul-mouthed, angry vagrant who blocked our path with his supermarket trolley and heckled our driver. He was like Suicida reincarnated! There was something symbolic and uncanny about the encounter. Perhaps a salutatory reminder of my working class roots and to never lose sight of them.
On another occasion, I did have a weekend of being wined and dined in a beautiful and luxurious resort at the publisher’s expense, only to discover later he had pocketed my royalties, amounting to thousands and thousands of pounds.
On a third occasion, a script editor took me out for a celebratory lunch to sign off on a drama I’d written. Only to tell me a couple of months later that he’d changed his mind and my script was cancelled.
On a fourth occasion, a producer invited me to media club Soho House for a social event and introduced me to a fellow writer ‘who just happened to be there’. I quickly realised it was a set-up and he was looking for a way to ease me out of my project and ease her in. Naturally I put a stop to it.
So I view all such wining and dining and paternalism with a certain justified suspicion. Let me repeat: There’s no such thing as a free lunch.
Publisher’s criteria may also be a little odd. Thus, some years ago, an agent was promoting me to write a James Bond comic for Jonathan Cape. We had Simon Bisley lined up to draw it. The publisher asked how many followers I had on social media. Not that many at that time. He compared it unfavourably with another contender for the job who had a huge following on Twitter. It makes a superficial kind of sense, especially if you are not confident of your own judgement as a publisher. But consider the French, by comparison. Artist creator Olivier Ledroit on my Requiem Vampire Knight is a top-selling fantasy artist in France. As far as I’m aware, he only recently started using Facebook!
Based on what I’ve heard and my own experiences, I can’t personally recommend any of the few UK publishers who produce comic books as a possible market. Apart from Rebellion, although they’ve originated very little new material in this sector so far. And Self Made Hero, if you can fit their particular niche. I’ve heard a horror story about one small UK publisher and the poor quality of their printing. There may also be other small UK publishers I’m not aware of who can do better.
There are exceptions elsewhere, of course. Usually because the creator is extremely talented. Thus I endorsed the graphic novel Katusha Girl Soldier of the Great Patriotic War, story and art by Wayne Vansant. Published by Naval Institute Press in the States. Set in Russia in World War Two, it’s the female equivalent of Charley’s War. I can’t praise it highly enough. It’s beautifully illustrated in colour and written with great insight and care; a true labour of love.
I think American book publishers are the place to go if you have specialised knowledge on a subject like this that would make a strong graphic novel. For instance, Chartwell Manor by Eric Reynolds, published by Fantagraphics. It describes his life and fall from grace after attending a posh school run by an abusive Catholic headmaster. Not a million miles away from the school I attended.
Or France. Thus Persepolis is a similar excellent book with a strong female lead, but although it’s reprinted in Britain it actually originated in France. I very much doubt it would have ever been commissioned by a British publisher. They wouldn’t have the courage.
Britain is a depressingly conservative country, especially where publishing is concerned, and it’s worth keeping this in mind.
Europe and The States, in my opinion, really are your best options. Thus the newsstand comic W.I.T.C.H.E.S. originated with Italian Disney. It has a Euro-manga art style and is a female take on a school for magicians. It’s a fantastic girls’ comic series, with accompanying merchandise, and has deservedly sold all over the world – in endless foreign editions – although I don’t think it got much coverage in the UK or the US. It’s well worth studying. They got it dead right. This title tends to confirm my strong feeling that the Anglo-American publishing market is rather negative towards girls’ comics (with the exception of Rebellion). I believe the W.I.T.C.H.E.S. creators then went on to work for France with a new series and that would be my recommendation if you come up with a property that hot. The financial rewards in France are far greater than in Britain, where we still have to sell all our rights.
Because of the poor state of comic publishing, if you’re planning a comic project , in the event of it being rejected, it makes sense for it to be recycled. Either by self-publishing – on which more later – by or adapting as a text novel for the YA market, either self-published or traditionally published. Hunger Games and similar titles show the enormous potential here and prove that a young female readership is out there – it’s the comic publishers and professionals who deserted them, not the other way around.
SOCIAL MEDIA
As you can see from the publisher’s comments above – asking how many followers I had on Twitter – creators today are expected to have a strong presence on social media and to play an important role in promoting their books. That didn’t use to be the case, or not with such intensity. So it raises the question – if you’re doing the publisher’s job for them, why not self-publish? It may be a solution to your marketing problems and this is the subject of Part Four. But – as always – there are traps for the unwary and I’ll try and point out where they are.
I'm told the social media thing is the same in the music industry. Label execs won't listen to you unless you have a certain number of followers on Twitter etc. In fact, your stories about the comics industry often remind me of things I hear from indie musicians of my acquaintance.