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01
The writer who observes the
battlefi eld before entering the
fray will be better equipped to
plan strategy and tactics.
War, according to Sun Tzu, is about adaptability and the
taking advantage of opportunities.
That’s where reconnaissance comes in. Reconnais-
sance is the gathering of information, based on observa-
tions behind enemy lines, for military purposes.
Reconnaissance lets you know what you’re up against.
It enables you to work smart.
To begin our own reconnoitering, let’s get an aerial view
of the publishing business. What do we see down there?
A great big dollar sign, that’s what we see.
Write this down: It’s about money.
The publishing business is a business, and businesses
need to make a profi t.
“Wait,” comes the protest. “You mean to tell me it’s not
about passion for great writing? Not about agents and edi-
tors and publishers who truly care about good books?”
Yes, these people do exist. Without them, publishing
would have no heart. But they are constrained in their ef-
forts by that ubiquitous arbiter of all things corporate and
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commercial, the bottom line. If they can merge art and
commerce, happy day! But commerce eventually controls.
Do you seek a career as a novelist? Then you need to
know that it comes down to a simple query: Will you be
of value to a publisher?
The publishing business has always been undergirded
by monetary calculation. Even when Maxwell Perkins was
snifting brandy and wading through a trunk of Thomas
Wolfe pages. Even when Bennett Cerf was plucking his
tie nervously because Ayn Rand refused to allow Atlas
Shrugged to be cut.
Yes, even when Fitzgerald was boozing and Heming-
way was running from the bulls, it’s always been about
the money because no business can continue to run un-
less it turns a profi t.
If anything has changed, it’s that this calculus has
picked up speed. In the “old days,” a publishing house
might have carried promising talent along for a number
of books, hoping they’d catch on.
Not so today. Corporate consolidations demand
quarterly profi ts, so money has to be made, and fast.
As the legendary ad man David Ogilvy once put it,
“In the modern world of business, it is useless to be a cre-
ative original unless you can also sell what you create.”
So, as one who wants to make a career out of fi ction
writing, you simply must show the publisher your value,
now and in the future.
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Publishers are not interested in publishing a novel.
They want to publish novelists, writers who can build
readerships and make money for the company over the
long term. You need to position yourself as someone who
can deliver the goods.
Does this mean not writing what you love?
No. But write what you love with eyes wide open.
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