Know your business

I’ve always been amazed by how many writers view their publisher as nothing more than a necessary evil. OK, you’re not going to become a doormat, but it’s common sense to help them help you. It’s business--and indeed human nature--that they’ll like some of their authors and dislike others. Of course, the official line from publishers is that all authors are equal. But the fact of the matter is that some authors are more equal than others. Publishers want people who return calls, answer emails and meet deadlines.
Besides, why would you want to upset publishers? Apart from the public--and we all know what a fickle and uncooperative lot they are--it’s they who determine whether your book succeeds or fails. Maybe some authors have good reason to dislike their publishers. Maybe--and probably more likely--some publishers have good reason to dislike their authors. After all, the m.d. of a publishing house isn’t usually the one who gets drunk at a launch party and vomits on the floor. It’s one of the authors.
It strikes me that what publishers want most of all are authors who have some appreciation of the commercial realities of their job. While we, as writers, might want this to be an entirely philanthropic enterprise, with editors scanning the country for the greatest works which, with no regard to the cost, they can bring to the public, that simply isn’t the way it works. At heart, it’s a money-making venture. We authors are always going to want better paper to be used, more copies to be printed, extra cash invested in promotion, and more time spent on our books. But complaining about this probably won’t change it. All it does is get you marked out as "difficult".
It’s unfashionable to say so, but we’re working together with broadly the same aim. Fine--if you want to be sensitive, be sensitive. Be moody. Show a singular lack of business-mindedness and commercial nous. You’ll look good in your garret. Your friends might think you’re a proper writer. But remember, the only thing garrets are good for is starving in.
Tim Relf is the author of Home (Piatkus)