Funny, because Jetsgo was more what we had in mind here

MacMillan has long been one of the UK’s big publishers; from a crime fiction standpoint, they used to have a healthy imprint until cutbacks and editors jumping ship decimated things considerably. But I suspect this news ain’t going to help their reputation much:

One writer is calling

Macmillan’s scheme a “scam”; another thinks it is “atrocious and

wrong”. Hari Kunzru, author of The Impressionist, has described the

initiative, in which writers receive no advance and may have to bear

editing costs, as “the Ryanair of publishing; it’s like having to pay

for your own uniforms”. Natasha Fairweather, an agent, calls it “an

exercise in futility”.

Macmillan,

by contrast, describes its newly launched New Writing fiction list as

offering a lifeline to thousands of writers who struggle to get their

work seen by an agent, let alone an editor. According to Michael

Barnard, Macmillan executive director, it is a way of giving “a voice

to talented new authors”.

“I find it strange that

established authors don’t want new books to be published,” he said. “I

find that position very hard to defend.”

The
initiative is a departure for mainstream publishing. For this so-called
Ryanair equivalent, Macmillan has developed what it calls a
“streamlined, cost-effective model”.

If
it decides to accept a novel for the list, terms are unnegotiable; no
advance will be paid, though writers will receive 20% of royalties from
sales. Macmillan will copy edit books, but if manuscripts need more
detailed work, it will suggest that writers employ freelance editors.
According to notes sent to authors, such editors “will charge realistic
fees and this will not in itself guarantee publication”.

But the best part might be the next two paragraphs:

 

“This
is about Macmillan finding new authors,” Barnard said. “Like a lot of
mainstream publishers we haven’t in recent years been accepting
unsolicited manuscripts, but only ones sent through agents. And we are
not discovering as many authors as we need.

“There
are literally tens of thousands of writers out there – and we have a
responsibility to help them. We can’t do that by paying a half million
advance to every author.”

Uh…er….let me count the number of ways this statement is wrongheaded. Actually, the lovely Booksquare did the same already:

Let’s see…is there another way? Can anyone think of a solution that

might fall somewhere in the middle, halfway between 500,000 and zero?

We don’t have a calculator handy, but imagine how many authors could

receive an advance, professional editing, and whatnot if each of them

received 50,000. Same pool of advance money simply divided up in a

slightly different manner.

The no advance/increased royalty thing makes some sort of sense from a small publisher standpoint, especially as many instead funnel the money normally earmarked for advances into a promotion budget. In other words, small presses actually make a point of helping the author out in getting the word out. But what MacMillan wants to do smacks of passive-aggressiveness of the highest order. Sure, they say, you can be published by a major player like us, but we call the shots and oh yeah, you want real editing? Pay for it yourself by going to outside sources.

That’s really going to attract authors — established or newbie — to sign on with them.