http://publishingperspectives.com/2010/01/inside-the-secret-world-of-literary-scouts-part-iii/ International publishing news and opinion Tue, 22 May 2012 04:55:48 +0000 hourly 1 http://publishingperspectives.com/2010/01/inside-the-secret-world-of-literary-scouts-part-iii/comment-page-1/#comment-3854 linda clark Mon, 04 Jan 2010 17:43:04 +0000 http://publishingperspectives.com/?p=9897#comment-3854 As we are well aware sometimes book publishers ,whether large or small cannot process all the information that scouts send and would rather deal with fewer books submitted to them directly from agents in their own country. The results of the cost of scouting are sometimes seen as intangible and publishers, especially these days would prefer to put their money on something with more immediate and visible results such as hiring an additional editor. There is so much information on books being sent that this service can become overwhelming to editors who have to respond. A sad but true fact of book publishing today is that the profits are coming from a smaller more concentrated number of books and that publishers dont feel they can diversify so much to include smaller first novels without any track record. However as the marketplace becomes more diffifult then a scout becomes more important than ever.If publishers are buying only a limited number of books in translation then a scout can help to cut thru the hype to see the value-both commercial and literary in those books which might have a chance.Without a scout the competetion will snag the gems ,leaving the publisher without the scout lost and floundering. As we are well aware sometimes book publishers ,whether large or small cannot process all the information that scouts send and would rather deal with fewer books submitted to them directly from agents in their own country.
The results of the cost of scouting are sometimes seen as intangible and publishers, especially these days would prefer to put their money on something with more immediate and visible results such as hiring an additional editor.
There is so much information on books being sent that this service can become overwhelming to editors who have to respond. A sad but true fact of book publishing today is that the profits are coming from a smaller more concentrated number of books and that publishers dont feel they can diversify so much to include smaller first novels without any track record. However as the marketplace becomes more diffifult then a scout becomes more important than ever.If publishers are buying only a limited number of books in translation then a scout can help to cut thru the hype to see the value-both commercial and literary in those books which might have a chance.Without a scout the competetion will snag the gems ,leaving the publisher without the scout lost and floundering.

]]> http://publishingperspectives.com/2010/01/inside-the-secret-world-of-literary-scouts-part-iii/comment-page-1/#comment-3838 Does Book Scouting Have a Future? Mon, 04 Jan 2010 08:01:21 +0000 http://publishingperspectives.com/?p=9897#comment-3838 [...] Today’s piece by Emily Williams quotes a number of respected publishing figures as saying that scouting has a future, provided scouts can continue to remain in a position to garner information and act on it faster than their constituent publishers. This may be so, but scouting also depends to some extent on the deep pockets of large conglomerate publishers who can afford their not-insignificant fees, as is made clear by Publishing Trends annual list of who’s scouting whom. And the bottom-line expense for scouting is something that may or may not survive the belt tightening that continues at the big houses. [...] [...] Today’s piece by Emily Williams quotes a number of respected publishing figures as saying that scouting has a future, provided scouts can continue to remain in a position to garner information and act on it faster than their constituent publishers. This may be so, but scouting also depends to some extent on the deep pockets of large conglomerate publishers who can afford their not-insignificant fees, as is made clear by Publishing Trends annual list of who’s scouting whom. And the bottom-line expense for scouting is something that may or may not survive the belt tightening that continues at the big houses. [...]

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