So I am listening to NPR alot, since I can get all my news in the car during my commute and thereby avoid the annoying CNN and the less than comprehensive local news. I always hear things on there that get me to thinking. Well this week (or was it last week) I heard a story about small publishing company called “Twelve” and a completely different story on multiple academy award winning producer Scott Rudin. Jonathan Karp of Twelve looked around at the industry model of basically throwing the kitchen sink at the public and seeing it anything would hit and thought… there must be a better way. Which all of us readers heartily agree with. (ok, maybe just this reader… you tell me?)
Then they started talking about the almost embarrassingly bad advertising that the big boys get. Just ask copyranter what he thinks… Heck ask anyone who ever had a book published. But even before you get to that what about editors? What editors? Ever wanted to take a red pen to your most recent novel purchase? Well, that is because most publishing houses don’t put books through an extensive editorial process. It is a nice fantasy all us readers have, but the reality is that writers are pretty much left to their own devices when it comes to that. Ironically the experienced writers DO get those types of resources while the younger, greener writers get little support. Twelve turns this on its head. Rather than throw everything at the market, they just publish 12 books a year. BUT they offer the kind of editorial and PR support for these books that other writers just dream about. The result? Successful books. Books people want to read when they hear about them. A good thing when you think about that overwhelmed feeling you get at the book store. Books in their stable include: National Book Award Nominee “God is not Great”, Microtrends, The Book of Aunts, The Fortune Cookie Chronicles, Boomsday, The Geography of Bliss and more. So here is a publishing house that is basically in its infancy and already they have some really great books… and they are selling. Why? Well quality is certainly a big factor. Nothing else is as important as that… and the dedicated attention that each of these authors gets from their publisher means that the final product is worth reading. The other part of that is that the books are giving the advertising and PR support that is needed. It does not matter how good a book is if nobody ever gets a chance to read it. Amazing what a little time and attention can accomplish. Which brings me to producer Scott Rudin… who is says in the interview
“If you have the ability to get good movies made you have the obligation to use it to make sure that good work that might not otherwise get made does get done.”
This from the guy responsible for two of this year’s Oscar nominees: No Country for Old Men and There Will be Blood. He also produced or executive produced Notes on a Scandal, The Queen, I Heart Huckabees, The Village, The Manchurian Candidate, The School of Rock,
The Hours, Orange County, Iris, The Royal Tenenbaums, Zoolander, Rules of Engagement
Wonder Boys, Angela’s Ashes and many more. He also describes his job as creating a safe and creative environment for the director and keep the rest of the noise away. Which means that you nurture the creative talent and allow them to do their thing and then you make sure that it gets done right. Both of these guys are talking about material that matters, that is relevant, that they personally connect with and want to see succeed. The same with the people they work with… they see talent and want to see that talent succeed… and everybody makes some money while they are at it… because the end result is something that we consumers of entertainment want to spend money to experience. There is no amount of marketing spin that can replace having a good product to begin with… and getting that good product means caring about it all the way through. Cool.
