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Publishing

A Writer's Memoir

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available
From three-time National Book Award finalist and New York Times bestselling author Gail Godwin, a vibrant portrait of her writing and publishing life.

'You don't have to be a hungry writer or an aspiring editor to appreciate Publishing' New York Times Book Review
'This is delightful reading' Boston Globe

Publishing
is a personal story of a writer's hunger to be published, the pursuit of that goal, and then the long haul—for Gail Godwin, forty-five years of being a published writer and all that goes with it.
A student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1958, Godwin met with Knopf scouts who came to campus every spring in search of new talent. Though her five pages of Windy Peaks were turned down and the novel never completed, she would go on to publish two story collections and fourteen novels, three of which were National Book Award finalists, five of which were New York Times bestsellers.

Publishing reflects on the influence of her mother's writing hopes and accomplishments, and recalls Godwin's experiences with teachers Kurt Vonnegut and Robert Coover at the Iowa Writers' Workshop; with John Hawkins, her literary agent for five decades; with John Irving and other luminaries; and with her editors and publishers. Recollecting her long and storied career, Godwin maps the publishing industry over the last fifty years, a time of great upheaval and ingenuity.
Her eloquent memoir is illuminated by Frances Halsband's evocative black-and-white line drawings throughout. There have been memoirs about writing and memoirs about being an editor, but there is no other book quite like Publishing for aspiring writers and book lovers everywhere.
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    • Publisher's Weekly

      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.

    • Kirkus

      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.

      COPYRIGHT(2014) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • Library Journal

      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

      Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Booklist

      December 1, 2014
      Godwin, whose most recent novel is the exquisite Flora (2013), shared her journals from 1961 to 1969 in a two-volume set, The Making of a Writer (2006, 2011). In this writer's memoir, she focuses on her adventures seeking and achieving publication and then figuring out how to survive as a writer. Godwin began writing very young, at her writer mother's side, and even attended her mother's alma mater, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where, in 1958, a scout working for publisher Alfred A. Knopf briskly turned down Godwin's novel-in-progress. Godwin recounts, with no small satisfaction, that Knopf ended up publishing four of her novels. As she chronicles her struggles to get each of her books into print in a time of constant turmoil in the book world, she candidly shares details regarding her contracts, relationships with agents and editors, and promotional efforts. Godwin also reveals the poignant inspirations for her novels. Avid readers and aspiring writers will find Godwin's generous and spirited meditation on publishing illuminating and affecting.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)

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