24 November 2005
The problems of publishing
But this year should have provided more material than any other. I've been to Argentina, Antarctica, and Uruguay; Hong Kong and China; England; Nova Scotia and Saint-Pierre et Miquelon; the Arctic (yes, top to bottom of the planet in one year, as well as round and round it); Australia; England, Spain, and Gibraltar. Not much material for all that travelling, or not here at least; but plenty in print or on its way.
Next year is a bit of a puzzle. Usually I plan six months to one year ahead, but I've been discussing with various publishers whether they might take over 'China: The Silk Routes', the first guide I ever wrote, and 'Beijing', both of which are being relinquished by Cadogan, which is largely contracting to cover solely Europe.
For years I'd been talking a US publisher, where a senior figure who had taken 'Beijing' to Beijing and raved about it, and we'd been in discussion on-and-off for some time about tackling China, with several expensive long-distance phone calls. Now I learned the rights to 'Beijing' were being returned to me, I hasted to let them know. Exchanges were slow, and replies never came when they were promised, but than that's standard for publishing. Eventually I received the following startling reply:
'I'm sorry to say that, after much discussion, we've concluded that your excellent research and writing and our particular vision and requirements for the XXXX series are not a perfect match, and that we would therefore encourage you to seek a partnership with another publisher.
'I expect you'll want to know more about this decision (or perhaps not), but in any event I really do have to run to catch my plane. I'll be back in the office on Monday the 24th, and would be happy to speak with you by telephone later that week, if you like.'
Oddly enough I feel the publisher to be fully entitled to make its own business decisions. But there was no surprise about the content of the book, which had been to hand for a couple of years. So having had my time wasted I do tend to think that someone ought out of simple courtesy to make the effort to apologise and explain why.
Meanwhile the titles are under consideration by two UK publishers. A two-hour meeting with one seemed promising, as the editor I met stressed the company's keenness to enter the China market, and having two guides brought in that would allow them to do that pretty cheaply and easily to begin with seemed to work well. A swift decision was promised. I ignored this, since no publisher makes swift decisions about anything, and with the deadline given for a response long in the past, I'll wait a few more weeks before enquiring further. But according to other rumours heard, the company has no money and despite the enthusiasm expressed, there's little or no chance of going ahead.
The other, meanwhile, is also weeks late with a response on copies mailed in. This company (whose titles are seen on shelves about as rarely as those of Cadogan) is also a few weeks late with a promised response. It is known for picking up titles abandoned by other imprints, but of course one of the reasons for this is probably that it has very little money either.
I also had a meeting with Cadogan (this is all on my most recent trip to England) since while abandoning Asia, the company had expressed a desire for a different book on China, and I went in to discuss what that might be, with three different kinds of title emerging, all of which I'd be happy to tackle. But once again we seem to be in the kind of black hole that is common with publishers: They express strong interest in a project. All further communication disappears into a black hole. I liked the new Managing Director there, though. So we'll wait and see what happens.
This is Neville-Hadley's law of publishing: A publisher's expressed interest in a project is in inverse proportion to its actual willingness or ability to carry it out.
Dorling Kindersley would be the exception. A meeting there confirmed a request for me to contribute a substantial section of a new family reference work on China, and assistance with other sections. I'd already assisted with a critical look at the contents list, and written sample sections for spreads that were taken to Frankfurt. The result from test-marketing the title with buyers there was positive, so I'm now just waiting for a firm offer with a figure attached, due sometime next month. I've worked on the recently published China guide, and this year (rather more painfully) on an update of the Top Ten Hong Kong guide, and I've found that once DK makes a decision to go with a project there's a very strict and rather frightening short-term timetable. Submission will be by April, it seems, and there'll be a great deal of work to do.
And then there were discussions with the photographer John Ferro Sims, the husband of a friend from my theatre days, who wants to contribute a China title to a series on beautiful villages and towns for a noted art book publisher. He's in negotiations with them; I supply the text and logistical planning. The publisher seems quite enthusiastic, so neither of us expects anything to happen very soon.
So very little is fixed for next year, although I've a series of submission deadlines for articles stretching right through until the autumn. I'm waiting to see which other publishing projects might actually take place. In the meantime I'm working on my own Treaty Ports book, and synopsis of which is now two years late for a New York agent. Damn all the other things that interfere.
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