Publishing

November 24, 2014
Novelist Godwin (Flora) traces the trajectory of her career in this memoir, revealing the personal and professional stamina it takes to succeed as a writer in the modern publishing industry. Godwin begins with her college days and retells the story of her first (rejected) submission to Knopf. She goes on to recount her tumultuous experiences with publishers, such as being forced to cut 10,000 words or realizing that the novel she just wrote is unpublishable. Bibliophiles will be delighted to hear about her education with Kurt Vonnegut and Robert Coover, both teachers of hers at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, as well as her friendship with novelist John Irving and, most endearing, her 50-year working relationship with John Hawkins, her literary agent. Godwin’s chronicle is often informative but can at times feel self-indulgent–the result of a surfeit of anecdotes. Still, this book succeeds at giving an eye-opening look at the reality of what it takes to publish just one novel–or, in Godwin’s case, 14.

November 1, 2014
The evolving nature of the book business over the past half-century, as experienced in one up-and-down career.When Harper & Row published Godwin's (Flora, 2013, etc.) first novel in 1970, publishing houses were still relatively genteel places. The author had a personal relationship with her editor there and a long-term one with Knopf's Bob Gottlieb, who published her next four books but lost her to Viking when he didn't offer enough money for A Mother and Two Daughters, which proved to be her breakout best-seller. Godwin has nothing against commerce, which makes her a measured observer of the "next era of publishing," which began for her when she lunched with Penguin CEO Peter Mayer four days after he fired the president of Penguin subsidiary Viking. In the increasingly corporate publishing world, she writes, "I was one of the many authors to be caught in the tumult while it thrashed about in search of a new business model." Despite A Southern Family's success for Morrow-Avon, she found "the new publishing ethos was firmly in place" when she submitted Father Melancholy's Daughter in 1990. The text and title were both judged too long; Carolyn Reidy (Avon's president) said it wouldn't earn out its advance. Reidy was right, and when The Good Husband also failed to earn out for Random House, Godwin returned part of the advance to pay for ads and hired her own publicist for Evensong and several subsequent books. And so it has gone for writers in the 21st century, when, fellow novelist Caroline Leavitt told Godwin, "an author has to brand herself." The author is more bemused than outraged by these developments; her engaging memoir, similarly, is interesting primarily for its mildly gossipy anecdotes about various publishing executives and glimpses of stories begun and abandoned or morphing into other novels. No blindingly brilliant insights into the seismic changes that have transformed publishing but an agreeable memoir that captures its pleasures and pitfalls.

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January 1, 2015

As a successful novelist with 45 years of experience, Godwin (Flora; The Good Husband) offers readers an up-close view of the publishing world and its changes over the years. In this unusual memoir, the author weaves events in her personal and writing life among accounts of her interactions with publishers. These include classes with Kurt Vonnegut and John Irving, meeting with Knopf scouts when she was a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and dealing with the various mergers and buyouts that often left her negotiating with new editors. Though the corporatization of publishing must have frustrated Godwin, she seems to accept the changes with little angst. Of particular interest is how she arrived at her story ideas and their connection with events in her life. While she mentions her long-term relationship with Robert Starer and their house in Woodstock, one wishes she had said more about their artistic collaborations. VERDICT Memoir enthusiasts, writers working to get published, and readers interested in a gossipy look into the publishing world will enjoy this book. [See Prepub Alert, 7/7/14.]--Nancy R. Ives, SUNY at Geneseo

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