The REAL Publishing History
If you’ve ever wondered, “How did publishing get this way?” – and let’s face it, who hasn’t? — take a look at publishing history.We have Johann Guttenberg (c. 1400-1468), the German inventor, to thank for the proliferation of books, thanks to his invention of printing from movable metal type.And it’s been uphill, as well as downhill, ever since.
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Much Ado About Publishing
Waxing Historic & Historic Waxing
Historical figures go on modern book tours. Scary thought, huh?They deal with agents, editors, and marketing departments. They give in to or fend off crazy promotional ideas from publicists. They enjoy or endure interviews. They hawk their books or hide in their rooms.
Adam and Eve publish Fine Eatin’ in the Garden of Eden, and People magazine hypes them as the world’s first hot celebrity couple.
The marketing department hates the author’s title: The Five Books of Moses.
“Not edgy enough,” they tell Mr. Moses.
But since Moses’s agent is omnipotent, the author gets to keep his title.
In a one-hour exclusive with Barbara Walters, Moses does not cry, but in a tender moment, they do trade chicken soup recipes.
His book becomes a worldwide bestseller, surprising his publishers, who believe, like all publishers, regardless of proof otherwise, that “collections don’t sell.”
Impressed by such success, his publisher suggests an immediate follow-up. And, since publishers just can’t resist slipping a self-help angle into just about everything, Moses is asked to write How to Part Your Own Red Sea.
Thankfully, he declines.
At long last, The Disciples have finished writing. They’ll be published together in one large volume, and the marketing department wants to promote it as “The tell-all book by those who knew Him best!”
Move over Donald Trump…Genghis Khan tops the bestseller list with The Art of the Bloody Rampage. Gossip columnists have dubbed him “The Genghis,” he’s a regular on the Aspen slopes, and he’s been linked with a series of supermodels. He turns down an offer to appear on “The Bachelor,” but agrees to star in the reality show “My Big, Fat, Obnoxious Warrior.”
The promotion folks worry that Abe Lincoln isn’t telegenic enough. “Will someone feed that man!” his publicist screams. Lincoln agrees to go on the All Carb Diet.
Emily Dickinson is a real problem. She’s on anti-depressants. She won’t do booksignings. She won’t do any promotion or publicity that requires her to leave her room or even talk on the phone. But her publisher denies that she’s a recluse: “She wasn’t in seclusion in her room. She was chatting online!”
RandomSimonHarperPenguin makes publishing history when they give the elusive Bigfoot a record-breaking $30 million advance for his memoirs. To launch the book, he appears on “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” so the Fab Five can give him the makeover to end all makeovers.
Man, that’s a whole lotta waxing.
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Nina L. Diamond is a journalist, essayist, and the author of Voices of Truth: Conversations with Scientists, Thinkers & Healers. Her work has appeared in numerous publications, including Omni, The Los Angeles Times Magazine, The Chicago Tribune, and The Miami Herald.
Ms. Diamond was a writer and performer on Pandemonium, the National Public Radio (NPR) satirical humor program, for its entire run in Miami and select markets nationwide from 1984-1998. As an editor, she works frequently with other authors and journalists on both fiction and non-fiction.