Sylvia Plath's roman-à-clef 'The Bell Jar' (1963)

[DuckRabbit]

They have no “vision” only old sales figures, which are gamed for profit; for instance, in the US, right wing “thinkers” churn out books which conservative money buys in bulk to make them look popular. Months later there are cardboard bins of them in discount places. No one reads them, but these clowns are “best-selling authors.

Great to have these practices exposed. Don't always believe bestseller figures!
Through the letterbox: the secret life of an Amazon reviewer
Inside the world of Amazon Vine book reviewers: how I ended up with a mailbox full of dog poo
Amazon sues 1,000 'fake reviewers'

 

[WereBear]

It seems the collective unconscious has rhythms, values, tastes and timings of its own.

I'm fascinated by the phenomenon of weak/inept creative work being singled out for mass distribution, while so much good work doesn't get picked.

Because the collective unconscience is not about finely crafted work. Movies are the same way; huge hits often don’t age well. They are so much of their time. Look at the tremendous failure of the recent remake of Ben Hur, while the 1959 version was a giant success.

Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ is a novel by Lew Wallace published by Harper and Brothers on November 12, 1880, and considered "the most influential Christian book of the nineteenth century."​

Who reads it now? Who has even heard of it now, if not for the movie?

 

[WereBear]

Case in point:

Report: Church spent $200K to put pastor's book on bestseller list

Pastor Mark Driscoll, leader of Mars Hill Church, reportedly used more than $200,000 to land his book on the New York Timesbestseller list. The book, "Real Marriage: The Truth About Sex, Friendship, and Life Together," appeared on the list for one week in January 2012 and then fell off the list, but Driscoll paid the six-figure sum to a California-based company to climb the charts, according to documents obtained by WORLD Magazine, a publication that covers religion.​

At this point, it’s just guaranteed “marketing expenses.”

 

[DuckRabbit]

Case in point:

Report: Church spent $200K to put pastor's book on bestseller list

Pastor Mark Driscoll, leader of Mars Hill Church, reportedly used more than $200,000 to land his book on the New York Timesbestseller list. The book, "Real Marriage: The Truth About Sex, Friendship, and Life Together," appeared on the list for one week in January 2012 and then fell off the list, but Driscoll paid the six-figure sum to a California-based company to climb the charts, according to documents obtained by WORLD Magazine, a publication that covers religion.​

At this point, it’s just guaranteed “marketing expenses.”

Talk about a big ego! I thought clergymen were supposed to be humble and self-abnegating.

What did the company do with the money? Buy all the copies printed or blackmail others into buying it?! Maybe bribe the people at the New York Times?

"appeared on the list for one week in January 2012" - that's all that's required to put "New York Times bestseller" at the top of the book - almost as compulsory these days, it would seem, as a barcode.

Reminds me of people who buy titles of nobility (baron, viscount, earl, marquess, duke etc) to try to elevate themselves socially. You'd have to have serious holes in your self-worth to do that .

 

[DuckRabbit]

Another great exposé of the foibles of the publishing world:

The author and the Austen plot that exposed publishers' pride and prejudice
Using the pseudonym ‘Alison Laydee’ - a play on Austen’s original nom de plume “A Lady” - Lassman sent out the opening chapters of Pride and Prejudice, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion to several major publishers and literary agents, with different titles but only minor changes to the text, such as character names and locations. The resultant article chronicles the fact that all but one of the publishers and agents failed to recognise her works, including Penguin Books and J. K. Rowling’s publisher Bloomsbury, with the vast majority rejecting out of hand this apparent attempt by one of the world’s greatest known authors to gain a publishing deal. This despite the fact that one of the most famous opening lines in English literature, Pride and Prejudice’s “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife” was left intact.

 

[WereBear]

Oh, it gets worse, @DuckRabbit

I just found this blogger, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, who has opened my eyes to the scams in publishing, which have ramped up to incredible levels over the last couple of decades. Makes me feel even more vindicated that I am "going indie" with my books.

Business Musings: What It Feels Like To Have An Agent

My heart is breaking.

Michael Peck sent me a link to an article in The Guardian about Chuck Palahniuk. Palahniuk is one of the clients of Donadio & Olson, the agency that had a bookkeeper embezzle a minimum of $3.4 million from writers over the past seven years. Palahniuk is one of those writers.

I blogged about this agency and the embezzlement in last week’s post. Unfortunately, as I have been telling you all for years now, embezzlement and financial negligence is rampant at big name agencies. Almost none have systems set up to prevent it. Of the four agencies I worked with over the decades, two actively embezzled from me. I was anal with the latter two by constantly monitoring money, so I know they didn’t embezzle. They didn’t have the chance.​

The literary agency who was embezzling from Palahniuk (the author of Fight Club, made into a popular film, so we are talking real money here) was in turn embezzled by their own bookkeeper, because they, being thieves, didn't monitor the thief in their own midst. So there's not even the awful option of suing to get the money back.

When Dean and I hired the big agency that embezzled from us, we demanded that our money come to us the moment it cleared the agency’s account, no more than ten days after it arrived. Then we monitored. Those were expected funds—advances, timely royalty payments. So, the agency got creative. When it stole from us, it did so with things we had no way of knowing about, payments that were actual surprises—something selling better than expected in, say, Germany, for example, so that a company that had paid no royalties in the past (but sent statements) suddenly paid thousands. And we were told that “this year, they forgot” to send royalty statements, but there was no payment just like previous years.

See how easy that is? Even when someone is monitoring the agent?
​

I have signed up to follow her on Patreon and she has many timely and interesting blog posts. This is vital for all creative work now, because she says:

I’ve been accused of having a “bad breakup.” I’ve been accused of “being crazy about agents.” I’ve been accused of lying about this.

Sorry, folks. I’m not crazy. I didn’t have a bad break-up. This type of financial mismanagement, the kind that led to the embezzlement, is common in these agencies. It’s becoming visible now, because traditional book sales have declined, and so it’s harder for an agency to pay one complaining client with another (non-complaining) client’s advance.

But here’s what I want you to see. I want you to look again at Palahniuk’s apology.

I apologize for cursing my publishers. And I apologize for any rants about piracy. My publishers had paid the royalties. Piracy, when it existed, was small scale.

Now, I want you to think about how many big-name writers you’ve seen railing against piracy and how it’s cutting into their book sales. I want you to think about how many big-name writers blame Amazon (!) for ruining the book business and causing book sales to decline.

I want you to think about how many big-name writers who have said there’s no money in writing, not like there used to be.

All of those writers have agents. All of them.

All of those agents pay New York rents. All of those agents have lifestyles to maintain. All of those agents have unfettered access to millions of dollars.

​

She states that going indie with Amazon or Barnes & Noble is safer because they are publicly traded companies and have auditing rules they must follow. But literary agencies are completely unregulated and don't even have licenses to practice.

 

[DuckRabbit]

Oh, it gets worse, @DuckRabbit

I just found this blogger, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, who has opened my eyes to the scams in publishing, which have ramped up to incredible levels over the last couple of decades. Makes me feel even more vindicated that I am "going indie" with my books.

Business Musings: What It Feels Like To Have An Agent

My heart is breaking.

Michael Peck sent me a link to an article in The Guardian about Chuck Palahniuk. Palahniuk is one of the clients of Donadio & Olson, the agency that had a bookkeeper embezzle a minimum of $3.4 million from writers over the past seven years. Palahniuk is one of those writers.

I blogged about this agency and the embezzlement in last week’s post. Unfortunately, as I have been telling you all for years now, embezzlement and financial negligence is rampant at big name agencies. Almost none have systems set up to prevent it. Of the four agencies I worked with over the decades, two actively embezzled from me. I was anal with the latter two by constantly monitoring money, so I know they didn’t embezzle. They didn’t have the chance.​

The literary agency who was embezzling from Palahniuk (the author of Fight Club, made into a popular film, so we are talking real money here) was in turn embezzled by their own bookkeeper, because they, being thieves, didn't monitor the thief in their own midst. So there's not even the awful option of suing to get the money back.

When Dean and I hired the big agency that embezzled from us, we demanded that our money come to us the moment it cleared the agency’s account, no more than ten days after it arrived. Then we monitored. Those were expected funds—advances, timely royalty payments. So, the agency got creative. When it stole from us, it did so with things we had no way of knowing about, payments that were actual surprises—something selling better than expected in, say, Germany, for example, so that a company that had paid no royalties in the past (but sent statements) suddenly paid thousands. And we were told that “this year, they forgot” to send royalty statements, but there was no payment just like previous years.

See how easy that is? Even when someone is monitoring the agent?
​

I have signed up to follow her on Patreon and she has many timely and interesting blog posts. This is vital for all creative work now, because she says:

I’ve been accused of having a “bad breakup.” I’ve been accused of “being crazy about agents.” I’ve been accused of lying about this.

Sorry, folks. I’m not crazy. I didn’t have a bad break-up. This type of financial mismanagement, the kind that led to the embezzlement, is common in these agencies. It’s becoming visible now, because traditional book sales have declined, and so it’s harder for an agency to pay one complaining client with another (non-complaining) client’s advance.

But here’s what I want you to see. I want you to look again at Palahniuk’s apology.

I apologize for cursing my publishers. And I apologize for any rants about piracy. My publishers had paid the royalties. Piracy, when it existed, was small scale.

Now, I want you to think about how many big-name writers you’ve seen railing against piracy and how it’s cutting into their book sales. I want you to think about how many big-name writers blame Amazon (!) for ruining the book business and causing book sales to decline.

I want you to think about how many big-name writers who have said there’s no money in writing, not like there used to be.

All of those writers have agents. All of them.

All of those agents pay New York rents. All of those agents have lifestyles to maintain. All of those agents have unfettered access to millions of dollars.

​

She states that going indie with Amazon or Barnes & Noble is safer because they are publicly traded companies and have auditing rules they must follow. But literary agencies are completely unregulated and don't even have licenses to practice.

Wonderful affirmation that self-publishing has significant advantages.

Update: Am being drawn into the Kristine Kathryn Rusch blog. Thanks for telling me about it!

 

[DuckRabbit]

A publishing scandal of a different nature - the whole genre of faked memoirs:

Among a number of other false elements in Rosenblat's story, he claimed that he was scheduled to be gassed at 10am on May 10, 1945, and that the liberation saved him by just two hours. The war ended officially on May 8, and the entire camp had been handed over to the International Red Cross a week earlier. Theresienstadt had no gas chambers and, as noted by Deborah Lipstadt, Holocaust historian: "Jewish prisoners were not told ahead of time that they were going to be gassed

According to Fitzpatrick, one of Waltzer's collaborators, such hoaxes could be avoided if the publishers spent a few thousand dollars in early fact-checking with historians and genealogists, before deciding to spend huge sums of money for the story.​

In 2008, several scholars and family members published multiple critical articles in The New Republic, the first article using Waltzer's research, and the second adding their own research on top of Waltzer's.
The Greatest Love Story Ever Sold

Full title: “Angel At the Fence: The True Story of a Love that Survived”. Herman Rosenblat, a Holocaust Survivor, wrote his memoir recounting his time at Schlieben camp, Buchenwald. In his book, Rosenblat claimed that a girl had passed him food through the fence of the concentration camp. One day in 1945 he had told her that he would not be able to take her apple the next day because he was scheduled to be gassed to death. Against all odds, he survived and this same girl was the one he met on a blind date in 1957 and who later became his wife. Wow, Oprah enthused, this “is the single greatest love story, in 22 years of doing this show, we’ve ever told on air.” The problem? The entire central premise of the book was a complete fabrication. As Deborah Lipstadt, a Holocaust scholar and activist against anti-Semitism pointed out, Buchenwald had no gas chambers and, even if it did, there is no way the author would have had his impending gassing announced to him. She further argued for the importance of pursuing historical truth, especially in the face of Holocaust deniers, who love exploiting inconsistencies. Furthermore, researchers found that Rosenblat’s wife was, in fact, hidden over three hundred kilometers away during the war. Not only that, but there would have been absolutely no way for a civilian to approach the fence and pass food to a prisoner, as the only accessible point was immediately beside the SS Barracks. Rosenblat initially defended his memoir before admitting that it had been embellished and that he had never met his wife at Schlieben. The book’s publisher, Berkley Books, withdrew it from publication, but not before the film rights were bought by Atlantic Overseas Pictures for $25 million. The movie, which was set to star Richard Dreyfuss, appears to have been cancelled. Still, its producer, Harry Saloman, defended it by claiming that Rosenblat’s story has been censored by an overzealous publishing industry and that “Rosenblat’s story of survival, and its message of love and hope will not be silenced.”​

Source: http://listverse.com/2010/03/06/top-10-infamous-fake-memoirs/

 

[Kalinychta]

It frightens me to think of how many publishers have rejected novels that could have become history-altering masterpiece classics. Such as The Bell Jar. Thank god it was even published back in the early 1960s. I’ve always seen it as the “female version” of Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye.

Anyway, I think literary “fate” is in the hands of publishing houses. They decide what is published and what is rejected. I also think that female authors writing about female characters have always had their work cut out for them.

 

[DuckRabbit]

It frightens me to think of how many publishers have rejected novels that could have become history-altering masterpiece classics. Such as The Bell Jar. Thank god it was even published back in the early 1960s. I’ve always seen it as the “female version” of Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye.

Anyway, I think literary “fate” is in the hands of publishing houses. They decide what is published and what is rejected. I also think that female authors writing about female characters have always had their work cut out for them.

The “female version” of Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye is a good way of putting it. I felt when I read 'The Bell Jar' that it was a pastiche of Holden Caulfield's voice. It's a faux naive, 'simpleton' persona the main character adopts in order to snidely and astutely flag up hypocrisies and nonsensicalness in a society they feel apart from and rejected by. Nicholson Baker uses this same voice for the protagonist in his novel 'The Anthologist', and it's also used in the Adrian Mole diaries. Although that one book took him 10 years to write, Salinger broke open a new way of viewing the world and managing oneself in it. (Apparently his subsequent books were rubbish, but what he achieved with 'The Catcher in the Rye' was probably enough for one lifetime!).

I agree literary fate is often in the hand of the publishing houses - but even then they don't necessarily know what's going to do well and what's going to tank. It's as much a gamble for them as for the author. As one literary agent says:
"Often, it is the unexpected, the quirky and the unpredictable which rises above the mass and becomes successful. Publishers are frequently surprised at what fails and what succeeds. Without the element of surprise, it would all be a very dull business indeed! So don’t worry if your book doesn’t fit a particular niche or look like the latest blockbuster. But you do need to be professional in your attitude and approach."

Often it's only the passage of time that can properly judge a creative work - which is why critics can say such silly things immediately after a work comes out, and you get better commentaries on a work years later in a youtube comment, for example. Also, I think the self-publishing industry is giving the traditional publishing industry a run for its money - e.g., 'Fifty Shades of Grey' was originally self-published as an ebook and print-on-demand.

Don't you feel the autobiographical literature on autism has gone some way towards re-balancing attention on female authors writing about female characters? Donna Williams, Liane Holliday-Willey, Sarah Hendrickx, Samantha Craft...

 

[Kalinychta]

The “female version” of Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye is a good way of putting it. I felt when I read 'The Bell Jar' that it was a pastiche of Holden Caulfield's voice. It's a faux naive, 'simpleton' persona the main character adopts in order to snidely and astutely flag up hypocrisies and nonsensicalness in a society they feel apart from and rejected by. Nicholson Baker uses this same voice for the protagonist in his novel 'The Anthologist', and it's also used in the Adrian Mole diaries. Although that one book took him 10 years to write, Salinger broke open a new way of viewing the world and managing oneself in it. (Apparently his subsequent books were rubbish, but what he achieved with 'The Catcher in the Rye' was probably enough for one lifetime!).

I agree literary fate is often in the hand of the publishing houses - but even then they don't necessarily know what's going to do well and what's going to tank. It's as much a gamble for them as for the author. As one literary agent says:
"Often, it is the unexpected, the quirky and the unpredictable which rises above the mass and becomes successful. Publishers are frequently surprised at what fails and what succeeds. Without the element of surprise, it would all be a very dull business indeed! So don’t worry if your book doesn’t fit a particular niche or look like the latest blockbuster. But you do need to be professional in your attitude and approach."

Often it's only the passage of time that can properly judge a creative work - which is why critics can say such silly things immediately after a work comes out, and you get better commentaries on a work years later in a youtube comment, for example. Also, I think the self-publishing industry is giving the traditional publishing industry a run for its money - e.g., 'Fifty Shades of Grey' was originally self-published as an ebook and print-on-demand.

Don't you feel the autobiographical literature on autism has gone some way towards re-balancing attention on female authors writing about female characters? Donna Williams, Liane Holliday-Willey, Sarah Hendrickx, Samantha Craft...

I just bought the two Nicholas Baker and Sue Townsend books you recommended from Powell’s. I hadn’t heard of either of them before. Before I forget to recommend it, check out a book called The New Me by Halle Butler, just published back in 2019. Truly The Catcher in the Rye of the 21st Century. You’ll love it. Sylvia would be proud.

If I recall correctly, The Catcher in the Rye was the most banned book in the United States when it was published. And had it been let loose in the United States sooner than it was, I’m sure The Bell Jar would have been just as shunned, possibly more so since the world wouldn’t have wanted women getting any radical ideas about freedom, as such.

It’s actually so true, as you said, that publishers shoulder a profound responsibility re: what they choose to publish and what they don’t choose to publish... How are they supposed to know what’s brilliant/history-altering and what’s not? James Joyce and William S. Burroughs come to mind. I mean heck, even George Orwell and the likes of Georges Bataille and Èmile Zola for that matter. An endless list.

I was actually only diagnosed with autism two years ago, so I’m new to memoirs written by autistic people. But the majority of memoirs I’ve come across have been written by female autists. Probably because we’re so underdiagnosed and thus the “black sheep” of the autism community, prompting us to feel the emotional need to share our stories?

 

[DuckRabbit]

I just bought the two Nicholas Baker and Sue Townsend books you recommended from Powell’s. I hadn’t heard of either of them before. Before I forget to recommend it, check out a book called The New Me by Halle Butler, just published back in 2019. Truly The Catcher in the Rye of the 21st Century. You’ll love it. Sylvia would be proud.

If I recall correctly, The Catcher in the Rye was the most banned book in the United States when it was published. And had it been let loose in the United States sooner than it was, I’m sure The Bell Jar would have been just as shunned, possibly more so since the world wouldn’t have wanted women getting any radical ideas about freedom, as such.

It’s actually so true, as you said, that publishers shoulder a profound responsibility re: what they choose to publish and what they don’t choose to publish... How are they supposed to know what’s brilliant/history-altering and what’s not? James Joyce and William S. Burroughs come to mind. I mean heck, even George Orwell and the likes of Georges Bataille and Èmile Zola for that matter. An endless list.

I was actually only diagnosed with autism two years ago, so I’m new to memoirs written by autistic people. But the majority of memoirs I’ve come across have been written by female autists. Probably because we’re so underdiagnosed and thus the “black sheep” of the autism community, prompting us to feel the emotional need to share our stories?

Great that you bought 'The Anthologist' and 'The Diary of Adrian Mole'! I hope you enjoy them. Another good book - also about an outsider - is Philip Larkin's 'Jill'.

I'll be sure to check out The New Me by Halle Butler. Thanks!

There is definitely a need for ASC women to share their stories. But also men - the last one I read was Nick Dubin's harrowing story.

 

[Kalinychta]

I added Phillip Larkin’s Jill to my Powell’s Books cart, but re: Nick Dubin are you referring to Asperger Syndrome and Anxiety?

 

[Kalinychta]

This is a Plath-specific thread, but may I ask how you feel about the other “founding” confessional poets, namely Anne Sexton, Robert Lowell, and W.D. Snodgrass?

 

[DuckRabbit]

I added Phillip Larkin’s Jill to my Powell’s Books cart, but re: Nick Dubin are you referring to Asperger Syndrome and Anxiety?

Sorry, I've only seen your post now. The Nick Dubin book I was referring to is:

The Autism Spectrum, Sexuality and the Law: What every parent and professional needs to know Paperback – 21 Aug. 2014
by Isabelle Hénault and Nick Dubin Tony Attwood (Author)

 

[DuckRabbit]

This is a Plath-specific thread, but may I ask how you feel about the other “founding” confessional poets, namely Anne Sexton, Robert Lowell, and W.D. Snodgrass?

I only know of Anne Sexton and Robert Lowell through reading so many Plath biographies, although I think I read Anne Sexton's biography years ago. Appparently she claimed Plath had 'beaten her to it'.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on them - you are obviously more knowledgeable about them than me. Do you read their work? Could you recommend anything that stands out?