BESTSELLERS & BEST FRIENDS
My book publishing blog, with murder mysteries woven through it.
If this is your first visit, be sure to start with “1. Let’s do it!”
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Book editor Gene Young died in 2020. But because of the pandemic, news of her death was slow to emerge.
It turns out that dying was the only thing Gene every did quietly.
Last evening, I attended a small memorial service for her.
I had the good fortune of working with Gene at Little Brown. (We irritated the hell out of each other within the classic marketing vs editorial dynamic.)
Gene was smart, classy, and what an amazing life — from her father’s killing, to her marriage with photographer Gordon Parks, to her great publishing successes.
Those successes, in those days, were especially remarkable for an industry not quick to welcome Asian women.
Her Washington Post obituary recalls Gene’s success with Erich Segal’s Love Story, published by Harper.
What has never been written of, is the marketing guy behind that book, Stuart Harris. Stuart was also my first boss.
In book publishing, there once were “galleys” — not fully-proofed, cheaply-bound pages of a book’s initial pass. Galleys were made so that book reviewers could do their thing before the actual book was published. Maybe 20 to 40 galleys of a book were made, depending upon the book.
Gordon Parks and Gene
There once was also the ABA (American Booksellers Association) convention every May. Where the country’s booksellers gathered for an annual meeting. The meeting was underwritten by book publishers who bought booths to show off their upcoming books. But more than anything, it was an annual celebration of book publishing. And we all needed that.
Meanwhile, in 1970, at Harper & Row (as it was then called) Stuart noticed remarkable in-house enthusiasm for Love Story. Gene’s assistant had read the manuscript and shared copies of it with a few in-house colleagues. They all loved it. Soon, those copies were being fought over. Some being secretly read at desks (the crying was a give-away) and/or taken home for stay-up-all-night readings.
The passion was nearly tangible. Stuart was convinced that if he could get 1,000 booksellers across the country to read Love Story, it would take off, just as it had done in the offices of Harper & Row. But how to do that?
Bingo! Stuart had an idea. He’d not make 20 or 40 galleys for Love Story. He’d make 1,000 and give them away at the ABA.
Give away a book?! Nobody had ever done that. Wouldn’t a thousand galleys cost a small fortune?
The finance guys complained, “That’s not in the budget!”
“Hold on!” said Stuart, “that’s the TOTAL marketing plan. Nothing else, no New York Times adv, no author tour, just 1,000 galleys into the hands of booksellers. Absolutely affordable.”
The complaining continued:
“Nobody does that!”
“If it was a good idea, some other publisher would already be doing it.”
“The agent is going to want a New York Times ad. You deal with him!”
Gene had Stuart’s back. She would deal with Erich and his agent. The never-before-done book promotion proceeded.
By noon the first day of the three-day ABA convention, the 1,000 galleys of Love Story were gone. Booksellers skipped dinner and drinks and went to their hotel rooms to read it. There was buzz on the convention floor by day two. The lucky 1,000 booksellers were selling their free galleys for up to $30, The book rocketed out of the ABA and never stopped.
It was a huge bestseller and a game changer. The next year, of course, scores of publishers showed up at the ABA with galleys to give away.
The ABA then evolved into BookExpo; and the galley evolved into the ARC (Advanced Reading Copy) which is a flashy, well-produced promotional version of the book.
Publishers now distribute thousands of ARCs, of multiple titles, at BookExpo. All thanks to Harris.
Harris went on to become good friend with Bob Evans who produced the Love Story film (another huge goose to book sales). Evans was big time Hollywood, also producing “Rosemary’s Baby,” “The Godfather,” and “Chinatown.”
One day when I worked with Stuart at what was then Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (HBJ), Stuart was expecting a call from Evans. But Stuart was stuck in an important meeting with HBJ’s executive team, including William Jovanovich, a brilliant but cranky guy. The plan was if Evans called, I’d run down the hall, slip in the important meeting, and let Stuart know the call from Evans had come through.
The call came through, I told Evans to hold for just a minute, I ran down the hall, I opened up the door the executive inner sanctum, and said, “Stuart, it’s Bo Bevans.”
Shit! My brain/tongue messed up. I put the last B in Bob at the front of Evans.
I tried again, “Bo Bevans is—”
Bob Evans (aka “Bo Bevans”)
“I’ll take care of this,” Stuart quickly said, looking about at the confused executive team.
He rushed me out of there.
Anyway, editors like Gene deserve credit for their passion and brilliance. But so too do marketing folks like Stuart.
Sadly, Stuart died a couple of years later from AIDS. That damn curse that wiped out so many good men across book publishing.
I like to imagine Stuart recently welcoming Gene to some sort of book publishing heaven. Drinks would be a must! He or she would have a great idea, and the other would enthusiastically “get” it.
They were a hell of a team.
Tomorrow: drinks with a favorite agent