ATD: "integrated communications strategy"

[The Great Quail]

Doug writes,

> Quail probably knows more about publishing than I do,
> but I suspect that Pynchon may be a special enough
> case that he's either closely involved in the
> marketing, or has approved a specific plan in advance.
>  Either that, or you have to assume he's completely
> hands-off, letting the young screenagers at Penguin
> market Against the Day in cyberspace.

I hate to say it, but they really aren't that clued in. Pynchon's now with
Penguin Press largely on account of its main editor, who enjoys gathering
prestige projects. He has a new editor, he's not had a book in nearly a
decade, and large novels are always dicey. Their main concern is not
drumming up enthusiasm among the already-converted.

So far, there has been surprisingly little interest in the Internet among
large publishing houses -- as a matter of fact, in this case, Penguin Press
feels somewhat wary of the Web. Henry Holt, by comparison, reached out to
the Web for M&D -- and that was in 1997! But so far, Penguin Press has done
very little in way of online targeted marketing. This may change, of course,
as the publication date draws near, but it's important to keep in mind that
most major publishers are not doing so well, and budgets are very tight. In
fact, with "Against the Day," they are printing a very limited run of
galleys. This is because (1) galleys that large are expensive, and (2) they
are afraid of a review copy ending up on eBay. So, they are making only a
few and sending them out to established places.

>From what I understand, their biggest fear right now lies with reviewing the
book -- will establishment reviewers read the novel in time to give it a
fair (and positive) review, or will they not have the time, potentially
writing it off, ala Franzen's notorious piece?

> but I'll be surprised to learn
> the posting and taking down from Amazon of the Book
> Description was not part of the plan.

I am 95% sure it was not part of any plan. It was a usual mistake,
compounded in the limited world of People Who Care Deeply About Pynchon by a
few repeated articles perpetuated by people like us.

And I am not trying to sound super-authoritative here or put on any airs. I
just have a few friends in the biz, particularly involved with Penguin
Putnam. In fact, one of the hardest things for me to do lately was to keep
quiet until the goddamn book was finally announced!

Additionally, I know from personal experience how hard it is for some
publishers to accept Internet resources. For instance, you Google Pynchon,
and the site I help run (Spermatikos Logos, part of The Modern Word) is the
4th hit from the top. Despite being around for 10 years, and receiving
almost a 200,000 visitors each month, The Modern Word still has to struggle
to get review copies from some publishers. Of course, smaller publishers are
generally more hip to the Web; but numerous Big Publishers have even laid
off many of their Web-based staff. It's a sad fact -- publishing is an
industry that is always in trouble.

So to conclude, while it may be tempting to see all of this as part of a
marketing conspiracy, it's simply entropy at work, magnified by our out
hothouse devotions.

Thanks,

--Quail