Tag: "book publishing"

The Collaboration Equation

I got off the phone the other afternoon with a long-time publishing colleague. We worked together for three years on the cusp of the Random House empire’s creation and years later we continue to compare notes around changes in the industry. We talk about:

• What’s “clicking” and what’s not (for authors, readers, booksellers, the media).
• What we’re trying to make happen for the books and ideas we’re most excited about.
• What our authors and clients are missing…and how they’re going to get it!

It can be a high-wire act to talk about the push-me-pull-me of publishing success. It’s easy to point fingers when things aren’t working as planned. It’s easy to pop open the champagne when they are. It’s easy to “expect” and “assume” that the author does “this” and the publisher does “that.” But it’s not a this-or-that relationship. It’s a COLLABORATION!

Whether you self-publish or traditionally publish, the concept of collaboration is getting lost on the proverbial editing room floor. In my conversations with my friend, we didn’t call it a “collaboration equation,” but that’s what I believe it is. It’s what has worked for me and my authors for my entire career as an acquisitions editor, an imprint director, and as an editorial and publishing strategist today:

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