A Publisher Takes His Colleagues to the Woodshed

Jonathan Karp is the distinguished publisher of an Hachette imprint called "Twelve", the name derived from its mission to publish no more than one book per month. Drawing on his "less is more" philosophy, Karp has written a piece for Publishers Weekly distilling what he calls 12 Steps to Better Book Publishing. In fact the innocuous title disguises a manifesto that should be nailed to the door of every publishing company large or small that cherishes a prayer of surviving in the next few years. But one of his twelve harbors a potentially toxic prescription.

Before listing his 12 Commandments, Karp heaps some well deserved abuse on many publisher excesses that exemplify the practices he condemns.

On sale now: A History of Cannibalism. Illustrated! A gift book! The subtitle is stupendously, kaleidoscopically all-encompassing: From Ancient Cultures to Survival Stories and Modern Psychopaths.

Just a few shelves away: Jesus, Life Coach, with the subtitle: Learn from the Best, a companion to the bestselling Jesus CEO, not to be confused with Jesus, Entrepreneur; Jesus on Leadership; or Jesus in Blue Jeans.

Then there are the arcane books, the ones that dare to be obscure on the assumption that if people will read about cod, or oranges, anything is possible. Who could resist a history of the potato, titled, of course, Potato. Amazingly, this wasn't the only work available on the subject. There's also The Potato: How the Humble Spud Rescued the Western World. Wasn't it intellectually responsible of the publisher to limit the scope of the subtitle to the Western world?

The best-packaged sex book portrayed a scantily clad woman perched on a saddle—Ride 'Em Cowgirl: Sex Position Secrets for Better Bucking. The most unusual was Vibrators, featuring 100 of the best devices in the world, all artily photographed. I had assumed this was published by some outré left coast indie house, but when I looked on the spine, I found the HarperCollins logo. My wish for this book is that Oprah will name it one of her favorite things, and NewsCorp will be compelled to print illustrations of vibrators in its next annual report.

Karp then shifts focus to his package of reforms. Among them:

End Kabuki publishing. "I am amazed by how much of publishing today is a Kabuki of ritualized and empty artifice," Karp writes, spewing venom on such choreographed silliness as launch meetings and sales conferences.

"Stop the copycat books. "They are the equivalent of pack journalism, and most of the time, we wind up looking like a bunch of rats chasing a chunk of stale cheese."

Be loyal to the book, not the ego. "Today, the only loyalty that makes sense is a commitment to the specific book...When I review catalogues, it seems as if more than a third of the titles on any given list are being published out of obligation rather than enthusiasm."

And here's one that may not win Karp a lot of points in the author community:

Pay authors to market their work. "Publishers should contractually require that a part of the advance be allocated to marketing and promotional efforts supervised by the author."

Eleven of Karp's twelve steps to better book publishing are cogent and wise, and publishers should take them to heart. But the twelfth has mischief written all over it:

"If a title falls short of the house's standards, don't market it. Don't even distribute it to bookstores. Publish those titles as e-books and print-on-demand only. Don't waste trees, warehouse and energy costs on them."

Karp assumes that a Harper or Simon & Schuster or Hachette has the option to release, as originally published e-books or PODs, books that they feel are potentially unprofitable or simply not up to snuff. Here is yet another sign that publishers are growing all too comfortable with the idea of issuing works as e-book originals without first publishing them in traditional print formats. I for one am very ill at ease with the concept. As I recently wrote,

"Original e-book publication by traditional publishers places their feet on a slippery slope. For one thing, there may be no legal basis for it; that is, no contractual provision sanctioning it. For another, authors who bargain for print publication and end up with e-book release may feel they have not been dealt with in good faith. For yet another, the current state of the e-book business is such that e-book publication does not earn a fraction of the revenue that print does, either for publisher or author."

A baseball player would be thrilled to boast a .917 batting average, so Karp can rest easy that eleven out of his twelve remedies for what ails publishing will help to cure the patient. But that twelfth one bears some serious rethinking. If you don't think a book is worth printing, don't buy it. If you buy it, make it worth printing. Major publishers resorting to original e-book release are not only abandoning their mission, they may also be forsaking their identity.

Richard Curtis