Disqus - Latest Comments for TylerHewson

Re: Do Men Read Books Written By Females?: INFOGRAPHIC

TylerHewson — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 21:07:12 -0000

"Do Men Read Books by Women?"
"Do Men Read Books by Female Authors?"

There, fixed that for you.
(Not all females are women, after all.)

Re: Ayn Rand Stars in World's Largest Fan-Made Ad - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

TylerHewson — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:30:31 -0000

Someone in Canada needs to use their GPS tracking device and give us a big DON'T.

Re: Lit Agent James Fitzgerald Not Looking for “Books for Skinny Girls” - GalleyCat

TylerHewson — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 15:27:20 -0000

"As far as dislikes, authors who doesn't tell you everything (their book has been all over town and it is more familiar to everyone than Perez Hilton's scuttlebutt on Lindsay Lohan's recent polyp removals), or authors who come roaring in on a Clydesdale with a 500 page manuscript written in script with pre-orders in position, an Oprah in the offing and author photos shot and stylized by Francesco Scavullo. Little steps, get to know the work little by little; get to know each other little by little. Develop it so it sticks to the wall. Because if this does consummate into a book contract, guess what? You have a new roommate for a few years pal."

BLOCK THAT METAPHOR!

Re: GQ Urges Publishers to Stop Tumblr-to-Book Deals - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

TylerHewson — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 08:26:17 -0000

Like it or not, Tumblr and the books its spawned are getting a hell of a lot more pageviews than GQ these days.

Sounds like sour grapes to me....old media bashing the new.

Re: GalleyCat Readers Debate Controversial Book Club Bud Light Super Bowl Ad - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

TylerHewson — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:57:46 -0000

I think CJ West must be very selective about his book clubs, or not get around much in the book club world. I have been to several,--in cities all over the US--that include men. I've also been to a few men-only ones.

Re: Do Publishers Ignore Flyover States? - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

TylerHewson — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 17:07:36 -0000

It's a common misperception that the majority of people in publishing are New Yorkers.

I am a senior executive at a major NY house. I was born and raised south of the Mason-Dixon and went to a southern state university. Out of the 20 people in the two departments I work with--marketing and editorial--only two are from the NY area (from Manhattan and Long Island). Only two have Ivy League degrees. Everyone else is from some other part of the US and half are not from the East Coast at all.

The same was also true of the last house I worked at (I've been in the business 15 years). The majority of people were not New Yorkers or Ivy League elites. You may encounter plenty of elitism in New York, but I can tell you for a fact that most of us who work in publishing have roots elsewhere--and are proud of them.

Re: Do Publishers Ignore Flyover States? - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

TylerHewson — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 10:28:06 -0000

Your comment is misogynist, hateful and guilty of exactly the same insulting prejudices you accuse publishers of holding.

Re: Do Publishers Ignore Flyover States? - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

TylerHewson — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:00:06 -0000

This is surprising, because any author with a top-notch book tour will stop in cities like Denver, Milwaukee, Chicago, Kansas City and Nashville, all of which have outstanding independent bookstores that are "must haves" on a national tour.

Perhaps the issue is that Reding's publisher didn't budget for a large national tour and focused instead on national media (which are nearly always out of NY and LA?) That's pretty standard these days.

Regardless, he isn't doing himself any favors by referring to his publicist/publisher as a "dumb fuck" in an interview.

Re: Sara Nelson Blames Journalists and Publishers for High Advances - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

TylerHewson — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 11:23:56 -0000

Bitter much?

Re: Sara Nelson Blames Journalists and Publishers for High Advances - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

TylerHewson — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 10:48:32 -0000

True. Now is she going to blame the agents who made unsustainably high advances the cost of doing business? Because it wasn't like the publishers were arbitrarily handing out million-dollar advances for no good reason.

Agents have consistently driven up the level of advances over the past 10 years, and made fortunes for themselves by doing so. I once went to a writer's conference where an agent bragged that he'd never cashed a royalty check because he always got huge advances for his clients. Agents like him have always taken advantage of the competition and instability of publishing houses in order to make a killing--regardless of whether the book earns out or the client gets another deal.

Problem is, if the parasite kills the host, it ain't exactly good for the parasite. As many of them are now finding out.

Re: Kiss Me, Kill Me by Lauren Henderson - GalleyCat

TylerHewson — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:24:08 -0000

Lauren Henderson's absolutely fantastic, but she's white and English. How'd she qualify for a "people of color" tag?

Re: Declining Book Sales? - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

TylerHewson — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:06:24 -0000

The problem isn't that people in publishing are all from New York, as you suggest in the last line. The vast majority of us were not born and raised in Manhattan, and plenty of us did not attend Ivy League schools. That's a very common misperception, and it's discouraging to see it repeated here.

The problem is one of culture. Publishing is homogenously white. I wouldn't argue that we should start recruiting people without college educations--no white collar industry would, particularly a media one--but yes, we should be recruiting more minority employees.

But will publishers up the pay for entry-level positions so that students (of any color) with loan debt or no parental subsidies can afford a reasonable lifestyle? No chance. They can barely afford to pay the employees they have now.

Re: East Coast Agents Versus West Coast Agents - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

TylerHewson — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 10:28:15 -0000

Volleyball in the Hamptons? Most editors/publishers can barely afford a ticket on the Jitney.

Re: Trident Media Group C.E.O. Responds To Advance Backlash - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

TylerHewson — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 18:30:52 -0000

Would these agents and their clients be willing to do a profit-sharing deal where they forgo a multi-million advance in favor of a bigger split of the sales? I doubt it.

Some agents should stop to consider what might happen if the parasite ultimately kills the host...

Re: Esther Margolis Looks Back at Publishing's Feminist Transformation - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

TylerHewson — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 10:24:06 -0000

Ms. Margolis should check her facts: the CEO of Pearson--the parent company of Penguin--is a woman, Marjorie Scardino. And the CEO of NewsCorp--Harper's parent company--was for many years a woman, Anthea Disney.

Re: The Scariest Books - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

TylerHewson — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 17:05:43 -0000

HEART SHAPED BOX by Joe Hill.

As scary as his old man's books, and you can't beat Nirvana when it comes to titles.

Re: Judge for Yourself: <i>Jewel of Medina</i> in U.S. Bookstores - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

TylerHewson — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 12:06:53 -0000

Denise Spellberg should be ashamed of herself, and she certainly owes Sherry Jones an apology.

I have read this novel and there's absolutely nothing in it that even resembles "soft-core pornography." Even the sex scenes in JEWEL OF MEDINA are downright tame compared to what's in similar historical fiction by authors like Philippa Gregory or Margaret George. I can only conclude that Spellberg must be exceptionally conservative in her personal tastes or actively looking to stir up trouble for Jones.

Re: Stuff White People Get - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

TylerHewson — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 18:32:34 -0000

Um, DUH. Have you been to a publishing house lately? As one of my non-white publishing friends said, "it's like a pet store full of purebreds in there."

That doesn't mean that mainstream publishers don't do a good job publishing non-white authors. But non-white employees? That's a rhetorical question, right?

Re: Who Should Be Slashed? - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

TylerHewson — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 11:16:00 -0000

Every single character in THE EMPEROR'S CHILDREN.

Re: What's An Aspiring Writer To Do? - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

TylerHewson — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 10:47:49 -0000

@Girl Arsonist.

Hey, king crab for everyone!

Yeah, you're definitely right that there are editors who lack talent, and just get by on buzz. I think all professions have those duds whose meteoric rise leaves their colleagues scratching their heads. Although having worked for/with a couple editors like that, I can tell you that eventually all of them either got fired or took their buzz to another business that pays better. And yes, some of us do get six-figure salaries, but if you're getting that kind of money, you need to be bringing in a LOT of money, and when you stop bringing in that money by publishing lousy books, well, you'll be moving on too.

I completely agree with you about the energy and creativeness and tough exterior will often get you far in the self-publishing world. There are some great success stories from that corner. But a lot of writers--even the very good ones--don't have that entrepreneurial fire, so it's not the right solution for everyone.

Re: What's An Aspiring Writer To Do? - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

TylerHewson — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 09:54:32 -0000

@GirlArsonist

"As long as publishers/editors bring home fat paychecks..."

This just caused belly laughs when read at an editorial meeting at a major publishing house this morning. You obviously don't work in the publishing industry or you would know there is no such thing as a "fat paycheck" for editors.

Most of us have BAs and many have MAs from top schools. Most of us have the debt that goes along with those degrees. The starting salary at the house I work for is less than $30,000 a year. Most wannabe editors remain at that level for a couple of years. Try living in NYC, paying down your student loans on that (hint: most of us get second jobs). A senior editor--someone who's usually been in the business around 10 years--makes on average about $75k-100k. By that point many of us are trying to raise families on that salary (still in the NYC area and still paying down our student loans).

I'm not complaining. I love my job as an editor. I knew I'd get a skinny paycheck. when I got into this business But when someone says "oh, editors do a crap job AND they're getting fat paychecks?" That's just ignorant bullshit.

Also, GirlArsonist, if you think we do such a dreadful job, feel free to come work for a publishing house. Editorial departements are always hiring. I'm sure you can do better.

And you'll enjoy your "fat paycheck."

Re: Sarah Palin, Book Banner? - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

TylerHewson — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 09:11:58 -0000

@GirlArsonist:

Adding apostrophes does not make things plural. Kthx.