The Biggest Book of the Year Publishes Today, a Documentary about Editing, and No New Bestsellers to Talk About
Read to the end for a great sentence
“Biggest” News in Books: A Documentary About Editing & A Book about a Prince
Legendary Author, Legendary Editor
Turn Every Page is a new documentary about the relationship between editor Robert Gottlieb and author of The Power Broker Robert Caro. Gottlieb is as close as it gets to a celebrity editor in publishing, and he has continued to rise in public view over the past few years: he published Avid Reader, his memoir, in 2016, and a publishing imprint at a major house was started with the same name as his book in homage to Gottlieb two years later. This movie is a rare glimpse into the author and editor relationship and work (directly quoting a quote from the movie’s trailer here, but it’s true!). The most consistent representation of editors in film is in romantic comedies, which has single handedly kept the publishing world glamorous in the public imagination for the past twenty years. Before this, the only true film about editors and authors is a narrative film about famous Fitzgerald-editor Maxwell Perkins that looks somehow to me like it will be just as insightful about the actual work of editing as romantic comedies are without being anywhere near as fun to watch.
It's often said that one learns to be an editor by apprenticeship, assisting a seasoned editor like one would a mason or an electrician. There are very few resources on offer if you try to learn the job by, say, reading about it. A small irony for an industry that likes to publish books about books. While there are a thousand and one books on how to write—my theory has always been that writing about writing is a writer’s primary tool of procrastination (in fairness this has produced some truly great books)—there are very few about how to edit a book. After six years editing books, I’ve found only three worthwhile titles. What Editor’s Do collects comments from editors throughout the business, but is mostly focused on the business rather than the editing. Then there are the letters of the aforementioned Maxwell Perkins to his authors (speaking to the popularity, or lack thereof, of these kinds of books, you can now only buy my favorite version used). Finally, the greatest publicly available case study in the editing relationship, Raymond Carver and infamous bully, hacksaw-editor Gordon Lish: there is both the excellent New Yorker piece, and one of the rare instances of having the exact same book published in both its edited form and unedited form so that you can compare the stories side-by-side yourself (much easier here than to compare stories to stories than the 800 page edited The Stand by Stephen King to King’s own 1200 page one). Whereas two of these three books are about editors firmly planted in the early 20th century, this new Gottlieb documentary will get us a little closer to the 21st (while Gottlieb is still working, the main subject of the film is a book published in 1974). I’m excited to see it.
Reading about editing is boring
Why are there no books on editing? I have a theory. The other day at the book store I opened a beautifully made 100th anniversary, facsimile edition of T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land containing his edited drafts of the manuscript and got dizzy instantly trying to decipher it. Looking at someone else’s edits if you’re not entrenched in the book as the writer or a second editor—sometimes we work in teams, or the literary agent is involved as an additional editor—is frankly an assault to the brain. Editing already takes two to three times the amount of mental effort as regular reading, because you simultaneously read with a few different perspectives: that of the potential reader/customer, of the writer (to figure out what they’re trying to do), and of yourself to figure out what you think and why. Then you have to think about what changes should be made, and how. An editor’s job is time consuming enough without writing down their thinking on all four of these steps and explaining to a third party why you phrased your notes to the writer a certain way—editing your editing, if you will. The only option that’s left is studying what actual editing on the page is out there, which is the equivalent of translating a dead language so that you can learn what was on someone else’s grocery list.
Are you ready to read 200 pages of this, be honest.
Prince Harry
Likely the biggest book of the year is coming out today, after a series of highly publicized leaks, which, even for someone who cares very little about the royals, are admittedly pretty shocking and revelatory for a famous person’s memoir (and much more interesting than the recent six hours of Netflix documentary). Will it affect book sales, to give all the twists away before the book is available? History says the leaks will actually help. Spoilers in the book world remind me of movies in the days before streaming—stay with me—when theatrical releases were still how studios made money. During these heydays, comedy trailers would use every great joke in the film, and action movies, hilariously, used to wrap up the whole plot—beginning, middle, and end—in the three minute trailer, so that the preview told you exactly what you were going to get.
Celebrity books are a similarly front-loaded affair: typically, the majority of a celebrity book’s lifetime sales occur in the first 3-6 months it is on-sale. The leaks might have been a disaster if they came six months before the publication date if people can’t order a book immediately, they might not every try again, or the news cycle might dampen the peak interest over time when the book is finally ready for purchase — but the days and weeks just before book publication is the best possible timing for leaks to happen. Celebrity book are like old comedy trailers: use all the good material to get the customer in the door. By the time you realize the only three good jokes in the entire two-hour movie were the ones you saw in the trailer, it is already too late, you’ve already bought the ticket.
Judging a Book by its Cover: The New Life by Tom Crewe
A reoccurring bit on Dear Head of Mine, where I take a random new release that I’ve never seen before, by an author I’m not familiar with, and try to guess what the book is about by only its cover art. First, I’ll guess the genre, plot, setting, tone, and cast of characters. Then, I’ll read the description online, the first five pages, and critic reviews, to grade my predictions. Each category will be worth 2 points for a maximum score of 10 points.
The Cover
The Guesses:
o Genre: Literary Fiction. Three biggest clues: 1) black and white picture 2) two guys contemplating life by a still body of water 3) a reflection of the two guys adding some existential bonafides.
o Plot: Two guys become friends via chance encounter as they feed the swans on a stroll through the park. Both love birds and know all the scientific names and migratory patterns. This is how they strike up an instant friendship and end up revealing to each other their deep, dark, personal secrets. They are both in London for the first time, it’s the 1950s, having taken positions in foreign offices. They decide that since they hate their respective lives and since they happen to be wearing the same exact suit and hat, that they will swap lives and change identities. After they swap lives, personal discovery ensues. The nature of identity is explored. Until one of the guys commits a financial crime and the other is arrested and jailed unable to prove that he agreed to swap identities with someone else in the park while breaking bread with swans. Framed Guy’s life gets steadily worse from there, while the other guy is basically fine. Forty years later they both return to the same park, the water is just as beautiful and still as it was before, and they have a manly reckoning and the jailed guy forgives the crime guy because sometimes that’s just how life is.
o Setting: London with some flashbacks to USA, and one trip to Switzerland when the framed guy has to get out of dodge for a while.
o Tone: Heavily interior, no humor, only sad stuff, grey skies, and human emotions.
o Cast of Characters: The two guys plus a couple of love interests who make them understand themselves better, plus the work guys who they have to fool, but basically just the two guys.
The Grading
o Genre: BOOM, the Washington Post calls this novel “lyrically piercing” and it’s in the tradition of Colm Tóibín. Literary fiction, certified. Score: 2/2
o Plot: The book is an “unforgettable portrait of two men.” If only the description stopped and started there. The novel is about two men in the late 19th century London who are secretly working on a book together arguing that homosexuality is natural, which is very subversive and dangerous for them at the time. They both have wives and kids, they’re both risking social ostracism and imprisonment to do this, and in each couple one of the members is living a secret and/or sanctioned double gay life. But no one is questioning identity they’re probably just terrified of it as they try to make the world a better place for people to live and be as they want to, no identity swap or financial crime, or, regrettably, it seems, the feeding of swans. That leaves a quarter point each for two men, the gloomy backdrop of London, and the looming threat of imprisonment. Score .75/2
o Setting: London is the primary setting. But with zero Americans, the wrong century, and no fun trips to Europe I might have been too ambitious in my globetrotting estimation for these two sad suited guys. Score ½
o Tone: This was almost too easy: interior, emotional, and the battle for rights in the 19th century is not going to be your summer beach read. Points docked for my close-mindedness about London weather (the third chapter starts “It was a bright, warm day”). Score 1.25/2
o Cast of Characters: No work guys, but “two guys plus a couple of love interests who make them understand themselves better” was, if I do say so myself, a masterpiece of cheating by way of vagueness. Score 1.5
Final Score: 6.5/10
A Great Sentence
New Hardcover Bestsellers This Week
People refuse to buy anything new for a 2nd straight week.
Back Matter: Links and other Happenings
Metal credit cards took off because of their plunk factor (as a story person, I love that the urban legend gave birth to the metal black Amex card and not the other way around). Iggy Pop gives an honest interview. Talent agency UTA expands its book department through acquisition. M3GAN, a killer doll movie, exceeds expectations by a marketing orchestrated viral Tik-Tok dance. A famed restaurant shuts down to work on food innovation, the art of pickling is about to see changes we never could have imagined.
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