What do publishers really want from authors in South Africa today?
Steve Connolly, MD of Random House Struik, put this question to a panel consisting of Melinda Ferguson, features editor at True Love and publisher at MFBooks (the Joburg imprint of Jacana); Debra Primo, publisher at UKZN Press; and Ron Irwin, an American literary agent, writer and academic who lectures creative writing at UCT.
Primo explained that UKZN Press, as a scholarly publishing house, has strict requirements for scholarly books, including good scholarship, an awareness of existing literature, and building on that literature by breaking new ground. The writing should in all cases be accessible to most readers. On the fiction side the publishing house looks specifically for the “wow” factor, something that will make people sit up and take note of the author or the script. As Primo puts it, “something that tells me this is an African story, something which resonates with me and in which the reader may recognise something of themselves, [preferably] something which takes them to new insights and is character-driven”.
Melinda Ferguson has no qualms about wanting to publish only bestsellers. Being new to the business and having published only five books, she proudly states that three of them are in the Nielsen’s top 100 and all are in the top 50, with one at No 3.
As the author of Smacked, a book about her heroin and crack addiction and subsequent recovery, she is looking for something which leaves her craving more. She’s brutally honest about chucking a manuscript on to the reject pile if it does not grab her on the first page.
Ferguson admits she wants to publish what she wants to read, and she has no idea what the recipe is for a bestseller, but if it “grabs” her, she wants to publish it. She has no desire to publish “anything that’s not non-fiction” right now; she is on a quest to print things which will make an impact on people’s lives.
Her desire is for people to become obsessed with the way in which they read. Her aim is to create a space for the untapped black market, and she feels there is a need for new types of content. She is looking to publish stories which will shift people to start reading a book and perhaps be shifted, so that they move away from what they were before they started reading it.
Ron Irwin, who admits that his book Flat Water Tuesday was rejected 52 times, advises that if you want to get published “please spell stuff correctly … I’m badly dyslexic and if I see a badly written piece, I chuck it.” The reality is that there are a great many writers looking to be published, and the slush pile of manuscripts in publishers’ offices is already too much to handle.
Publishers don’t have time to read a whole manuscript before making a decision; the decision often comes down to what is on the first half of the first page. Ultimately, the first page has to be gripping, with good spelling and faultless grammar. So, according to Irwin, if you are spelling correctly and using correct grammar, you’re already ahead of the pack; on the strength his own statistics, 50% ahead.
Realistically, if an editor sees a well-prepared manuscript, half the battle’s already won, because the publisher doesn’t have to do all the work. They want to be gripped from that first page, because that is what readers want.
This takes the discussion into self-publishing, and what it actually takes to publish a book. Primo indicates that publishers do much more than simply market: they edit, proofread, design covers and typesetting, and more. A self-publisher is unlikely to have all these skills, whereas a publisher provides an all-inclusive service. Ferguson points out that distribution becomes problematic for self-publishers because of the tight distribution community in South Africa.
On the benefits of having an agent Irwin explains that there are very few agents in South Africa, and they work toward publishing in South Africa and not necessarily abroad; however, there are distinct advantages, as the agent is your link to the publishers, with whom they have an established relationship.
Irwin’s view on the current debate around print as against digital is quite clear: he feels the printed book has existed for centuries and it will exist to infinity, because “[We] buy a book for a better emotional experience.”
This report was written by a member of the Contemporary Literary Practice (English) honours group at Stellenbosch University. The CLP module includes report-writing in the mould of literary journalism, along with other forms of writing and literary practitionership. The report was co-edited by group facilitator Leon de Kock.