If interested. more Reporting from the Field. Where books interact with the world. Chris responded to my email to the List...

[Mark Kohut]

Well,Matthew, thanks for the thanks.

But even from my distant retired Castle Keep,
I can see and point to publishers and editors and companies “making” good
books sell. Still.

Took all of a coordinated RANDom House to make Geo Saunders  a bestseller.


There are others.

On Thu, Oct 16, 2025 at 10:47 AM matthew cissell <mccissell at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Hello Mark,
>
> Thanks for sharing that. It provides a view into the literary field and
> its adjacent field of publishing that rarely gets much attention but it is
> extremely important. After all it was the publishers, agents, editors, and
> lovers of literature that helped so many books come to life in the republic
> of letters. Where is Joyce without Sylvia Beach? Where Faulkner without
> Malcolm Cowley? (For anyone interested, I recommend *The Times of Their
> Lives: The Golden Age of Great American Publishers, Their Editors and
> Authors* by Al Silverman. Also, consider Jason Epstein's *Book Business:
> Publishing Past and Present*. Coincidently (or not?), the latter book has
> a chapter that mentions Norbert Wiener's *Thee Human Use of Human Beings* in
> order to address recent technological advances and the changes to
> publishing.) In other words, a century ago people like Bennett Cerf, Alfred
> Knopf, and Roger Straus loved books.  They wouldn't have laughed at a
> midnight rollout for TP's latest, they would have stood firmly behind it.
> Now the hype is a frenetic flash of the hottest new thing and whoosh off to
> be pulped. And of course no more martini lunches. Probably kale and quinoa
> accompanied by some pumpkin spice bubble tea.
>
> Peace
> mc otis
>
>
>
> On Wed, Oct 15, 2025 at 2:37 PM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> ---------- Forwarded message ---------
>> From: Christopher Kerr <christopherker at gmail.com>
>> Date: Mon, Oct 13, 2025 at 4:23 PM
>> Subject: Re: Hi, It's me again. Mr. Surface State...goes out for Bailey
>> To: Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com>
>>
>>
>> I still sell books to bookstores. Most/many buyers have never read Pynchon
>> and took the book bec the PRH reps told them that they had to. Few made
>> any
>> connection w/ the PT Anderson film. Most do not go to theaters; they don't
>> have the cash for tickets.
>> A bookseller @ Porter Square Books, Cambridge, proposed a Midnight release
>> party, and was laughed out of the room. I bought a copy there as it was
>> being received, late on the release day. There was zero urgency in their
>> minds.
>> It has been a real generational experience.
>>
>>
>> >
>
>
>> --
>> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>>
>