My first thought was I wonder how much of editors not getting it is living in New York, which is so unlike most of the country and where people have a totally different relationship to owning a home. It’s such rich emotional territory that is under explored!!
A lot of the smaller presses who might take it on are more regionally dispersed in the US. Somewhere like Belt Publishing might take it, for instance. The longer I spend in this industry on different sides of the process--as an editor, a writer, and a reader--the more I become convinced of the incompatibility of creativity and life under capitalism.
Me too! I found Having and Being Had by Eula Biss fascinating on a number of levels, and though it's not exactly in the same vein, Real Estate by Deborah Levy too...
Ann, I hope you do end up coming back to this project one day, for the weirdos and for yourself <3
As someone who bought a house a couple years ago and was immediately so excited and simultaneously overwhelmed by the “oh wow, all these problems are ours now,” and kind of wishing we hadn’t done it while also feeling like we had to do it or get forever priced out, I want this book. It seems to me kind of like the “Maybe Baby” book, but instead of about having children or not, being about homeownership. You don’t have to be a parenting expert to write about (not) choosing parenthood, so why would you have to be an expert on the house market to write about homeownership?
Wow, this conversation really echoes what I’ve heard from friends with one or two books and who are now struggling to get traction for their next idea. There’s so much risk aversion in publishing right now…I understand it from a market perspective, but I also agree that we’re losing a lot of wonderful books in the process.
I wish I knew of a solution that would work for all parties involved. In the meantime, I’m grateful that indies are around and taking chances!
As a smaller publisher making magazines and art books, this was an interesting read because "will it sell?" is a question constantly on my mind. I feel lucky that I am able to chase editorial whims, but the idea of audience and selling power still factors in to what I decide to publish. It has to! The big difference is that we're not trying to hit a mass audience because we've spent a decade cultivating a strong group of readers and fans who are on the same wavelength and will buy a magazine about the moon or cats or a book about snails going to the carnival. My publishing world is also very visual, and I think there's something there to unpack in terms of how people shop for books. I'd be so curious to see someone talk about the art book equivalent to the big five!
"though I have published nearly 20 books now, not one of them is the book I really wanted to write. I’ve shaped each one to make them more appealing to editors, and have (with deep sighs) set aside ideas and scenes and set-pieces that I knew would provoke editorial skepticism. I have also, as I’ve mentioned before, had a number of proposals turned down flat by multiple editors and my agent. And then there are the books I most wanted to write, which is to say, the ones I never attempted because I knew they would never sell. " -Alan Jacobs
This was a fascinating interview and i especially appreciate Ann’s honesty and insight into the publishing industry. It’s a bummer that it’s basically about what they think will sell. I would love her to self publish this book!
Whew, this brings up so much for me. I have ideas for three possible books, after having published five. Each one has been exponentially harder to get published and to promote, mostly because non-fiction publishing wants you to have a platform centered around a single topic. Like she said, she was “the friendship writer.”
But like her I am not interested in just one topic, so each book is harder to sell and promotion (which is 100% on the writer these days) is starting from scratch every time. So I am genuinely questioning whether I should even bother.
Thank you for this article! It gave me more insight into the publishing industry. I think some of the points the publishers raised about this book proposal were quite valid, rather than simply demanding, "100,000 followers on Instagram." However, I also think publishers need to invest more in the developing process of books instead of outsourcing most of the labor to the authors.
It seems that simply writing a good book is no longer enough. An author must also do market research, build a brand, and PR & marketing in general. This is very frustrating, especially when it comes to big publishers, since they have more resources. Publishers want authors to prove their ability of securing an audience before investing in a book, but helping a book find its audience is supposed to be publisher's job.
Also, I don't believe homeownership is a niche subject. So many people dream of becoming homeowners. Buying a home is a major event in almost any country or culture. I would call it a universal topic, even if the details vary in different places, like finance and legal.
This reminded me of Evicted by Matthew Desmond. The cases in this book about tenants being evicted from their homes and spiraling into poverty in the US were so distant from my own life, but I learned so much from the book about class, society, housing, and welfare. I would definitely like to read more books like that.
I just became a homeowner and am very much thinking (and wanting to write) about the social metaphysics of it all, so yes would have been very interested in that book! Good question about whether we’re “weird” readers in that regard…
As a financial journalist (ie, someone who WOULD have been contracted to write such a book) I can tell you that readers are bored as hell about housing-market statistics and would absolutely have snapped up a personal story if it were well-told. Indeed, stories like that were very popular in the 1950s and the 1980s, when home ownership was increasing. Readers (mostly women) would ESPECIALLY want to know about what it's like to own a house as a woman. So from my perspective as an "expert" on housing as a financial market (no one is truly an expert because the market is too complex and fragmented) I think the publishers whiffed. I also think it could be worth the author writing an essay and placing it at, say, NY Mag or similar. If nothing else, having a popular article would be proof of concept. Why wait for The Atlantic? Make your own virality. IMO.
My first reaction was "I would absolutely read that book!"
But then I thought for another minute, and I think I can see what the publisher is saying? When I was renting my apartment, it felt somewhat "elitist" to hear people complaining about the house that they own. I'm not sure I would have wanted to read an entire book about someone's journey to homeownership while I fought my landlord to get my security deposit back.
And now, as a homeowner, I "know" the struggles of owning a home and the process of buying one. I'm not sure that I'd want to read a book about someone else's experience of that process? It's sort of how I can look at thousands of pictures of my own children, but nobody else wants to see more than 2 or 3 pictures before the boredom sets in.
So I think the "target" is the group considering homeownership or that is in the process of looking. I know that this would have been most interesting to me during that process. But at the same time, I'm not reading that book from a "random" person. So you would need the subset of people that love Ann, are in the homeownership process, and that aren't looking for a purely instructional book.
I don't say this to be pessimistic; I'm almost certain this would have been a great book.
I remember buying Megan Daum's book, Life Would Be Perfect If I Lived in That House, simply for the title. There's a lot to unpack in a house.
To know that this is your job AND your interest is a very disciplined approach. And that quilts are an interest and NOT a job. And that a job is necessary to fund the house. That's some true clarity and discernment going on. I think you gotta find your own way to discern between playing their game and playing your own game.
My first thought was I wonder how much of editors not getting it is living in New York, which is so unlike most of the country and where people have a totally different relationship to owning a home. It’s such rich emotional territory that is under explored!!
A lot of the smaller presses who might take it on are more regionally dispersed in the US. Somewhere like Belt Publishing might take it, for instance. The longer I spend in this industry on different sides of the process--as an editor, a writer, and a reader--the more I become convinced of the incompatibility of creativity and life under capitalism.
I would absolutely have read this book :-(
Me too! I found Having and Being Had by Eula Biss fascinating on a number of levels, and though it's not exactly in the same vein, Real Estate by Deborah Levy too...
Ann, I hope you do end up coming back to this project one day, for the weirdos and for yourself <3
same!
As someone who bought a house a couple years ago and was immediately so excited and simultaneously overwhelmed by the “oh wow, all these problems are ours now,” and kind of wishing we hadn’t done it while also feeling like we had to do it or get forever priced out, I want this book. It seems to me kind of like the “Maybe Baby” book, but instead of about having children or not, being about homeownership. You don’t have to be a parenting expert to write about (not) choosing parenthood, so why would you have to be an expert on the house market to write about homeownership?
Maybe we should collect signatures to prove "there’s an audience" !?
I would read anything Ann wrote, INCLUDING THIS BOOK.
Wow, this conversation really echoes what I’ve heard from friends with one or two books and who are now struggling to get traction for their next idea. There’s so much risk aversion in publishing right now…I understand it from a market perspective, but I also agree that we’re losing a lot of wonderful books in the process.
I wish I knew of a solution that would work for all parties involved. In the meantime, I’m grateful that indies are around and taking chances!
As a smaller publisher making magazines and art books, this was an interesting read because "will it sell?" is a question constantly on my mind. I feel lucky that I am able to chase editorial whims, but the idea of audience and selling power still factors in to what I decide to publish. It has to! The big difference is that we're not trying to hit a mass audience because we've spent a decade cultivating a strong group of readers and fans who are on the same wavelength and will buy a magazine about the moon or cats or a book about snails going to the carnival. My publishing world is also very visual, and I think there's something there to unpack in terms of how people shop for books. I'd be so curious to see someone talk about the art book equivalent to the big five!
fascinating, thanks for sharing!! i do think the mass audience vs. smaller loyal audience is a key factor here
I want to read this book so so much omfg
"though I have published nearly 20 books now, not one of them is the book I really wanted to write. I’ve shaped each one to make them more appealing to editors, and have (with deep sighs) set aside ideas and scenes and set-pieces that I knew would provoke editorial skepticism. I have also, as I’ve mentioned before, had a number of proposals turned down flat by multiple editors and my agent. And then there are the books I most wanted to write, which is to say, the ones I never attempted because I knew they would never sell. " -Alan Jacobs
This was a fascinating interview and i especially appreciate Ann’s honesty and insight into the publishing industry. It’s a bummer that it’s basically about what they think will sell. I would love her to self publish this book!
Whew, this brings up so much for me. I have ideas for three possible books, after having published five. Each one has been exponentially harder to get published and to promote, mostly because non-fiction publishing wants you to have a platform centered around a single topic. Like she said, she was “the friendship writer.”
But like her I am not interested in just one topic, so each book is harder to sell and promotion (which is 100% on the writer these days) is starting from scratch every time. So I am genuinely questioning whether I should even bother.
I really enjoyed this interview - thank you for sharing it!
Adored this. So refreshing to read this perspective on the industry x
Thank you for this article! It gave me more insight into the publishing industry. I think some of the points the publishers raised about this book proposal were quite valid, rather than simply demanding, "100,000 followers on Instagram." However, I also think publishers need to invest more in the developing process of books instead of outsourcing most of the labor to the authors.
It seems that simply writing a good book is no longer enough. An author must also do market research, build a brand, and PR & marketing in general. This is very frustrating, especially when it comes to big publishers, since they have more resources. Publishers want authors to prove their ability of securing an audience before investing in a book, but helping a book find its audience is supposed to be publisher's job.
Also, I don't believe homeownership is a niche subject. So many people dream of becoming homeowners. Buying a home is a major event in almost any country or culture. I would call it a universal topic, even if the details vary in different places, like finance and legal.
This reminded me of Evicted by Matthew Desmond. The cases in this book about tenants being evicted from their homes and spiraling into poverty in the US were so distant from my own life, but I learned so much from the book about class, society, housing, and welfare. I would definitely like to read more books like that.
I just became a homeowner and am very much thinking (and wanting to write) about the social metaphysics of it all, so yes would have been very interested in that book! Good question about whether we’re “weird” readers in that regard…
As a financial journalist (ie, someone who WOULD have been contracted to write such a book) I can tell you that readers are bored as hell about housing-market statistics and would absolutely have snapped up a personal story if it were well-told. Indeed, stories like that were very popular in the 1950s and the 1980s, when home ownership was increasing. Readers (mostly women) would ESPECIALLY want to know about what it's like to own a house as a woman. So from my perspective as an "expert" on housing as a financial market (no one is truly an expert because the market is too complex and fragmented) I think the publishers whiffed. I also think it could be worth the author writing an essay and placing it at, say, NY Mag or similar. If nothing else, having a popular article would be proof of concept. Why wait for The Atlantic? Make your own virality. IMO.
My first reaction was "I would absolutely read that book!"
But then I thought for another minute, and I think I can see what the publisher is saying? When I was renting my apartment, it felt somewhat "elitist" to hear people complaining about the house that they own. I'm not sure I would have wanted to read an entire book about someone's journey to homeownership while I fought my landlord to get my security deposit back.
And now, as a homeowner, I "know" the struggles of owning a home and the process of buying one. I'm not sure that I'd want to read a book about someone else's experience of that process? It's sort of how I can look at thousands of pictures of my own children, but nobody else wants to see more than 2 or 3 pictures before the boredom sets in.
So I think the "target" is the group considering homeownership or that is in the process of looking. I know that this would have been most interesting to me during that process. But at the same time, I'm not reading that book from a "random" person. So you would need the subset of people that love Ann, are in the homeownership process, and that aren't looking for a purely instructional book.
I don't say this to be pessimistic; I'm almost certain this would have been a great book.
I remember buying Megan Daum's book, Life Would Be Perfect If I Lived in That House, simply for the title. There's a lot to unpack in a house.
To know that this is your job AND your interest is a very disciplined approach. And that quilts are an interest and NOT a job. And that a job is necessary to fund the house. That's some true clarity and discernment going on. I think you gotta find your own way to discern between playing their game and playing your own game.