August 15th, 2007
I am giving The Reader some love again. I came across this wonderful story in a recent edition:
David Lassman, the director of the Jane Austen festival held in Bath, England decided to see how well the revered author would be received in today’s publishing world. He submitted sample chapters and plot synopses of various Austen novels to 18 of the UK’s biggest publishers, who uniformly responded with polite “no thank yous.” Perhaps most amazingly, Penguin books, who actually publish Austen’s work, wrote, “thank you for your recent letter and chapters of First Impressions [Lassman’s new title for Pride and Prejudice]. It seems like a really original and interesting read.”
Only one publisher caught on to Lassman’s scheme: Alex Bowler at Jonathan Cape. His reply read, “Thank-you for sending us the first two chapters of First Impressions; my first impression on reading these were ones of disbelief and mild annoyance, along, of course, with a moment’s laughter. I suggest you reach for your copy of Pride and Prejudice, which I’d guess lives in close proximity to your typewriter, and make sure that your opening pages don’t too closely mimic that book’s opening.” — Kyle Tonniges
An illuminating story (at least in my opinion) about the myth of "expertise." Too often those that are tasked with identifying "talent" or "innovation" are disconnected by their own so-called expertise.