Today I'm meeting an old friend. He looked after me when I was down. Our personalities have grown entwined over many years. We've always shared a sense that we've never felt what we're supposed to feel. When we were in our late teens we tried to define ourselves by what we wouldn't do. For instance, we wouldn't wear watches, carry umbrellas, drive cars - or adopt any of the badges of a maturity we didn't subscribe to. Our tastes in books and music were deliberately unfashionable.
He's funnier than most of the professional humourists I know, but never sought the bigger stage. He's never had any 'career'. He's kept to our opting-out ethos much more strictly than I have.
We have to tell the truth. If he asks me if I've enjoyed being published, what will I say? The truth is I've found it pretty painful. If you work in publishing and so see behind the scenes, the process is not a glamorous one for you. You know how much shit gets published, how much good stuff doesn't make it. You know how unfair it all is, what a political process it is, how often the wrong books get the the marketing spend, the publicity, the sales. You know how partisan reviewers are, how much log-rolling goes on, how many enmities are worked out, how obliquely reviews generally deal with the content and style of a book - and how little reviews affect sales anyway.
And you have a heightened awareness of how many things can go wrong. I was, on the whole, lucky, but my book did have a disastrous copy edit that added more errors than it spotted - though these have, for the most part at least, i imagine - I daren't look - been caught in the paperback edition. I've had wonderful publicity way beyond what I might have expected, and sales have been very good on both sides of the Atlantic. Foreign language editions are appearing in just about every territory I might've wished for..
...and yet I'm too much my father's son. After some early buffetings by fate I think my father perhaps decided to keep his head down and hope fate wouldn't notice him. He wasn't a big risk taker. But more important, perhaps, was his nonconformist background and a sense - a moral sense, I think - that any form of self-assertion, any showing off, any pride would bring with it its own punishment.
To be good at publishing is to be self-effacing, to be a good listener face to face, on the phone and on the page. You're helping other people to fulfill themselves. But if I hadn't tried to be the bride - rather than always the bridesmaid - just once, I think I would've died wondering.
For the most part I find the hustling that being an author today involves agony, and can't wait to put away my cap and bells.
So what have i enjoyed? I enjoyed the writing and I'm proud that I succeeded in writing the book I set out to write. (A book from my father's shelves, Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet, inspired what i believe to be the original part of my own book.) I think that, particularly towards the end, as the deadline approached, I had 'help' and my writing moved up to another level. That was a fulfilling process.
Beyond that it makes me happy when I hear from people who've never felt what they were supposed to feel, and 'recognize' the world I am describing. I think I may have met a few more friends, some of whom will be close.
Not only recognize the world your describing, but see the world with a different set of eyes.
Posted by: Al | June 18, 2008 at 03:38 PM
Mr. Black,
When i looked for your book on Amazon.com (in US) it came up with the exact same title, exact same cover but with 112 fewer pages and by someone named "Mark Booth"?
http://www.amazon.com/Secret-History-World-Laid-Societies/dp/1590200314
I'm not sure if you're already aware of this. I just thought you should know. Since i found your book on Graham Hancock's website i assumed that Mr. Hancock felt you to be the actual author of this book. I've been a fan of his works for years, and want to explore yours.
Can you tell me why two different books, or at least two books with the exact same titles and covers, but different authors, page counts, and publishers?
I'm sorry to put all this in a comment, but i was unable to locate a "Contact" point on your blogsite.
Sincerely-
T
Posted by: T | June 19, 2008 at 07:54 AM
Thanks, T. Mark Booth is my real name. I've used Jonathan Black in the UK partly because I'm a working editor/publisher here, and I want my authors to know that when I'm working on their books, I'm giving them undivided attention. It's worked to the extent that most of my authors have no idea that I've published a book!
Hope you enjoy.
Posted by: jonathan black | June 26, 2008 at 11:29 AM
Hallo T
'Jonathan Black' is my pen name in the UK and foreign language territories. Should be the same book! I recommend the Quercus paperback edition, which is the most up to date, including some new material.
Posted by: jonathanblack | July 06, 2008 at 12:38 PM