A note from the editor...

I’ve been Kate Atkinson’s lucky American editor since 1996, when BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE MUSEUM was published.  Its first, Tristram Shandy-esque, line – “I exist!” – promised a novel filled with exuberance and surprise, and indeed that’s what Kate has continued to deliver across the span of three subsequent novels and a book of short stories.  I love her facility with language, her narrative gusto and her eye for detail, and I love her devotion to and practice of the ancient, occasionally overlooked art of storytelling.  As a reader and as an editor, I’m always happy to encounter a gorgeous sentence but I’m happier still to find a novel filled with them when they’re all in the service of that tricky taskmaster: Plot.  I admit it: much as I admire “The Waves,” the book I’ll take on vacation or on the subway is more likely to be “The Great Gatsby.”

That’s why I love CASE HISTORIES: its combination of agile, sharp-witted prose and an equally intelligent, entertaining story.  From its first sentences (Kate has a way with openings!) – “How lucky were they? A heat wave in the middle of the school holidays, exactly where it belonged.” – the book unfolds in a way that is, to me, irresistibly inviting.  It’s no mean feat to weave together three separate stories, not all concurrent, but she’s done it so nimbly, and linked them all so cleverly to the entirely winning Jackson Brodie, that the pace and suspense of the book never flag.

But, as I said in an earlier post when the debate began about whether or not this was exactly the right choice for the first “Read This!” recommendation, I’m hardly an impartial judge of the book’s merits – even if I weren’t its editor, I’m just an unabashed fan of Kate’s writing.  When CASE HISTORIES arrived on my desk, I knew it was a great book that could attract a lot of readers.  Our challenge in-house was to get it read early and convince the sales reps and bookstore buyers that it was an entirely different kettle of fish, sales-wise, from Kate’s previous book, a wonderful and adventurous story collection whose sales matched those of most wonderful and adventurous story collections.  Happily our marketing director fell in love early, and spread the word to her bookstore contacts, who began to respond similarly.  Eventually reviewers weighed in, enthusiastically, and then, at last, readers, so for the first time in Kate’s American publishing life, her book went into six hardcover printings.

So, no, CASE HISTORIES was not lurking shyly in the corner, waiting for someone to notice it – but I can tell you that despite all that good news and good fortune, it has not hit the New York Times bestseller list, and its sales, while certainly respectable, are not so stratospheric that the “Read This!” recommendation is the blog equivalent of sending coals to Newcastle.  I get the sense that some readers are disappointed enough in the book's success and its corporate publisher that they'll give it a miss on principle, and that old maternal stand-by comes to mind: don't cut off your nose to spite your face!  Borrow it from a friend, or the library -- I'm not interested in boosting our sales figures, only, like the estimable folks behind the LitBlog Co-Op, in sharing the rare satisfaction to be found in reading a great book. 

Comments

[TEV]

Reagan, was there the usual lag time in release between the UK and US releases of Case Histories? And if they weren't simultaneous, did that in any way tie your hands as an editor? Novelist David Francis recently spoke to me about changes he had to make to his novel The Great Inland Sea for the US market, and I'm curious to what extent - if any - you had to deal with similar concerns here?

[Reagan Arthur]

We published two months after Transworld, Kate's British publisher, and I'm sure that resulted in some avid American fans buying copies from the UK, but it gave Kate time to tour both there and here, and also got us some early UK reviews to use for publicity (one appears on the back of our edition). We do edit UK authors to varying degrees; in Ian Rankin's books, for example, we change things like a "beaker" of coffee to a "cup," and so on. Kate, like Ian, is a good sport about things like this but also said at one point, quite rightly: "I'm not an American writer, I'm British."

[Dan Wickett]

Reagan,

Do you find yourself having any difficulties editing somebody who you are such an unabashed fan of? Is it harder to suggest changes or offer recommendations to somebody whose work you enjoy so much?

Enjoy,

[Reagan Arthur]

Good question, if hard to answer honestly! Because, yes, I do tend to fall over in a heap at nearly anything Kate sends me. She's a tough self-editor, though -- I saw a few different versions of CASE HISTORIES while she was working on it, and had a few queries, but her primary editor is in England. At the risk of putting myself right out of work, she really does deliver the goods without much help from me. Except, of course, as cheerleader.

[Sarah]

Dan sort of stole my question but I'll ask it nonetheless: when you're not the primary editor, as is the case for both Atkinson and Ian Rankin, how much input do you have into the writing process at various stages, and what's the give and take that you have with the primary editor?

[Dan Wickett]

Going back to Mark's question and the response. Near the end, you note that (as well as Ian Rankin) Kate is not an American writer.

With that in mind, and the fact that her audience is predominantly readers of literary fiction - which has the fact that it is literary, and therefore not mainstream, as an assumed reason for lower sales - why feel the need to change words that are not American in nature, to their closest American counterpoint? Why not just leave them as is, assume that the readers are smart enough to note in the author's notes that Kate is from that side of the Atlantic, and that they'll be able to figure out what she's saying?

Thanks,

[Reagan Arthur]

I'll answer Sarah first: I have friendly relationships with Ian's and Kate's UK editors, but they are the primary editors and unless asked by author or editor, I stay out of the process: too many cooks, etc! And sometimes I do get asked and am all too happy to weigh in.
And as for changing words to accommodate American readers, I agree that for many readers it's unnecessary -- we just don't want people to stumble over a kerb.

[Dan Wickett]

Who decides how long after the book is published in the UK it will be published here in the states? The UK publisher or your publisher? What reasons have been utilized in the past to explain simultaneous releases? How about differences like the two months in this case? Lastly, what about longer differences, say six months or greater?

Thanks again,

[Scott]

Reagan,

Can you speak a little to what it's like trying to get a book read by bookstore buyers and other people who are in the position to make it successful? What's it like with so many other titles competing for attention? Have you noticed that challenge this has gotten harder or easier over time?

[Reagan Arthur]

It's usually a question of publishing schedules -- companies have different lead times, production schedules, competing titles to consider, etc. We generally decide independently of the UK publisher but always with an eye on their plans. Simultaneous releases can be useful to build on each other's momentum, but they can also make publicity -- tours, interviews -- tricky. I think a difference of a couple of months is pretty common -- Ian McEwan's SATURDAY, for example, was published in January in the UK, March in the States. Longer gaps in time are usually a function of publishing schedules -- we like to publish Rankin in Feb or March, while Orion publishes him in September. They have their reasons, and we have ours!

[Dan Wickett]

Six hardcover printings.

Why after say the second or third printing, when there was some sort of seemingly obvious momentum, wasn't there an increase in size of say the third or fourth printing? I'm assuming there's a cost factor in having to go back to the printer, and that it must be weighed in comparison to unsold hardcovers/future remainders and buybacks from the chain stores. But, somewhere in there it seems as if somebody would have decided that the book was doing better than expected and had more printed up at an earlier time. It always amazed me after a few months to pick up a copy of McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses and see 38th printing or some such number. I kept thinking they must be printing 200 copies at a time.

Is the decision based on factors such as costs to print vs. potential unsold copies? Does it ever happen that a later print run is larger than the earlier print runs?

Enjoy,

[Reagan Arthur]

This is in reply to Scott's post above -- getting books read by bookstore buyers and others. As I said in my first post this morning, our marketing director was key in generating early enthusiasm from booksellers, especially targeting mystery stores who might not have read Kate before. It's true, booksellers are inundated with things to read, so as much as I'm tempted to tell the booksellers I know about all the books I love, I try to resist. But they're like everyone else in publishing: it's in their professional and personal best interests to find something to love.

[Dan Wickett]

You mentioned that your marketing director took to this book early and really championed it. I'm assuming you're not the only editor at Little, Brown.

How much jockeying for position with the Marketing Department goes on between editors? Is there a friendly competition/rivalry going on, or can it get cutthroat at times?

Enjoy,

[Reagan Arthur]

The magic and mystery of reprints -- another good question, but not one I'm able to answer very well. The size and timing of reprints are determined by our sales and marketing departments, who watch over the rate of sale and various inventories, our own and those of our accounts. Reprint decisions involve a mix of seasoned experience and gut instinct, production costs and timing considerations...
Here's something I can answer, though: yes, sometimes a reprint is more than the first print.

[Dan Wickett]

Do you edit more than one manuscript at a time? If so (I assume the answer is yes), do you read straight through each manuscript, or bounce back and forth between them while reading them?

Do you read the manuscript through once and then go back and line edit? Or, start line editing from the start? Etc.

Thanks,

[Sam]

Reagan, you raise an interesting point re the role of Kate's UK editors vs. your role. I assume that you are also responsible for some US writers? If so, is there any tension in your own work between the books for which you are the primary editor and books like Kate's, where someone else is more deeply involved in the process. I mean, in terms of where to devote your time, attention, focus, etc. Or perhaps other factors matter more -- the author's reputation, sales history, general likeability ;), etc.?

Thanks!

[Ed]

As an editor, how do you avoid the "editing by committee" approach that often plague other author-editor relationships (and compromise the author's voice in the process)?

Also, given that the sales and critical reception of a book are often unpredictable (for example, despite the current buzz for CASE HISTORIES, who knows HOW well Atkinson's next book will sell in America?), how do you protect an author's voice when top brass expresses financial concerns or demands significant changes to a polished book? (If this hasn't been a problem for you, can you comment on how much of this you have observed in the publishing indusry?)

Thanks so much, Ed

[Reagan Arthur]

Just back from a meeting so I'll answer a few questions at once:
It's true, there are other editors at L,B, but we're a pretty collegial bunch, and the list is fairly small, so we're usually able to get our books the proper care and feeding from other departments without inserting too many knives into shoulder blades.

I don't usually edit more than one manuscript at a time, but I'm often in the midst of editing one while reading a number of other manuscripts on submission.

When I edit, I read through once, then go back and line edit, then read through/edit at least one more time.

As for my other authors, some American, some not, even if I'm not the primary line editor, I hope they feel that they all get the same amount of attention; if I buy a book it's because I love it -- I want to see it well-published and I want to keep the author happy.

And finally, to Ed's question, I've never experienced editing by committee. I've heard stories of editors being asked to cut a finished book by a certain number of pages but I'm happy to say it hasn't happened to me. It's horrifying in the abstract, but in the case of certain kinds of very commercial books in which price and page count are real issues, I can see that pressure being brought to bear.

[Dan Wickett]

At Little, Brown, do you as a Senior Editor make the final decision on acquisitions, or does it go to Marketing or elsewhere before a contract is produced?

Thanks,

[Reagan Arthur]

To buy a book, we bring it to a board meeting that includes the other editors as well as people from the publicity, sub-rights, and sales departments.

[Dan Wickett]

As Editor of the book, you weighed in earlier on in the monster link below debating the merits of this book being selected by the LBC - you were obviously happy that it was, which is to be expected.

When you found out that it was one of the nominees, or that it had been selected, were you at all surprised based on statement in the little box at the top of the website?

Enjoy,

[Dan Wickett]

Wow, that's a lot of people in the "buy" meetings. Does everybody have an equal voice? Is it one no and you're out? How many books are typically being decided upon at one meeting? If multiple, does that mean that besides editing, and reading submission manuscripts that hit your own desk, you have to read, on some sort of a deadline, the manuscripts that the other editors have decided they'd like to submit to the meeting?

Thanks,

[bookdwarf]

If you ever come across a manuscript that you absolutely love, but the author is unknown, what steps do you take to see if published? And what do you do to get it notices? Again, with so many books being published, how do you get yours noticed? My office is innundated with galleys, and often I will bypass one, but have to come back to it after recommendations. As an example, I'll use A Hummingbird's Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea. I'd seen it on the shelf, but it wasn't until I saw the Rake and Daniel Olivas' thumbs up that I went and grabbed it. How do you get distinguish your books from the many?

[bookdwarf]

I meant noticed when I said "And what do you do to get it notices? " Sorry for the repetitive questions. Didn't edit myself very well. :)

[the happy booker]

So many great questions! This has been a real education. Thanks so much, Reagan, for stopping by.

Quick question: how does the publishing house determine "success" for literary fiction--awards? cross-over audiences? critical reception? or is it solely sales, sales, sales? Wendi