Adventures in the book trade

Gerard Vanderleun used to be a medium-to-large-sized wheel in the publishing business. He reminisces about the first book he edited:

As more and more members of Houghton Mifflin read the manuscript on its way to publication, the clearer it became that Shatzkin was ruthlessly eviscerating the Trade Book industry of which Houghton Mifflin was a founding member. Shatzkin had had decades of experience with the ways in which books were sold and was not pleased by the enduring insanity and stupidity that marked the process from acquisition to pulping. It was an industry centered then as now more on personal preening than profits.

As the editing went on, I was approached on more than one occasion by the publisher and the editor in chief of the house to ask Shatzkin if he could, maybe, perhaps, just tone down his criticisms a wee tad here and there. Not to compromise his integrity, to be sure, but just to make it 'more polite.' "A spoonful of sugar" and all that. I'd nod, tug the forelock, and agree to pass these "suggestions" on to Shatzkin when we next met. I would. He'd laugh and then we'd go to lunch at Loch Ober in Boston and have two martinis instead of one, charge it all to the expense account, and thus fortified, come back and make sure we emphasized the passages that most upset our masters.