Brian,
Re your comments below:
> Why defend your business model/publication
choices
> on a literary discussion list?
Because Jeff, who opened the ball on this subject,
specifically suggested that it was wrong for HCC to publish
the two Nolan novels under the HCC logo.
Regardless of Al Collins's literary talent, and apart from
the historical interest his early work might have for
afficianados of HB, he's a popular writer, so publishing
work, even work that isn't on a par with his best stuff,
makes sense from a business viewpoint.
Charles, therefore, had a right to defend his choice, and did
so without trashing Jeff's opinions
> Great, so over the EMWA list, where they
discuss
> stuff like that, it would
> be more appropriate, no?
That may be, but the topic came up. Charles didn't bring it
up. Once it came up, he had a right to defend his editorial
choice. And the popularity of the TWO FOR THE MONEY ominibus
makes it clear that it was a good business decision.
> After all, we don't usually mention what
gets
> published and why it gets
> published here, and when we talk about
Pelecanos'
> work, we don't preface our
> comments by saying, "The million-selling DC
area
> author George P...." We
> talk about what we liked, and what we didn't,
and
> what worked for us, and
> what didn't. And NO ONE here is going to
take
> seriously a response to
> someone's criticism of an author's work that
says
> something along the lines
> of: "Well, he's sold a LOT more books than you
have,
> so shut your
> cake-hole."
Actually, if you search the archives, I think you'll find
that relative popularity and other business-type discussions
do come up, and I think it's legitimate that they do.
Many of the people on this list are not just fans of HB/noir,
they're practitioners. This includes, by the way, both of us.
Rara-Avis, therefore, serves the function of providing a
forum where professionals in the HB/noir sub-genre of mystery
fiction can discuss their craft, or business aspects of their
trade, and that's come up from time to time.
I don't say it should predominate, and discussion of the
works, rather than the business of getting them published,
is, and should continue, the main focus of this list.
But when a business decision, a successful business decision,
of Charles is questioned, he has a right to defend his
decision, and he did so with class and courtesy.
> . . . "popularity" is
> precisely what [Charles]
> referred to, and it's why I said something. This
is
> the Rara Avis list, not
> the Editor and Publisher list.
Popularity is what he referred to because his decision to
publish the two novels was questioned in the post that
started this thread. To defend the quality would be to sound
like he's doing precisely what you rail against, shilling for
his own work, so he defended his decision in a neutral way,
by pointing to the book's popularity, which proved the
soundness of the business decision without necessarily
questioning Jeff's opinions about the quality.
To me it seemed a graceful way of dealing with the issue.
And, despite your misgivings, I still think he had every
right to defend that decision.
JIM DOHERTY
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