Bruce Feiler - Where God Was Born, Abraham, Walking The Bible

No Editing at the New York Times?
Tuesday, May 15, 2007

The NYT ran a long, long piece this weekend (now on top of the most e-mailed list) that basically makes a simple, timeless point: Nobody in the book business knows why some books sell and others don't.

“It’s an accidental profession, most of the time,” said William Strachan, editor in chief at Carroll & Graf Publishers. “If you had the key, you’d be very wealthy. Nobody has the key.”
The hunt for the key has been much more extensive in other industries, which have made a point of using new technology to gain a better understanding of their customers. Television stations have created online forums for viewers and may use the information there to make programming decisions. Game developers solicit input from users through virtual communities over the Internet. Airlines and hotels have developed increasingly sophisticated databases of customers.

Publishers, by contrast, put up Web sites where, in some cases, readers can sign up for announcements of new titles. But information rarely flows the other way — from readers back to the editors.

“We need much more of a direct relationship with our readers,” said Susan Rabiner, an agent and a former editorial director. Bloggers have a much more interactive relationship with their readers than publishers do, she said. “Before Amazon, we didn’t even know what people thought of the books,” she said.

All true, all true. Fine. Even if the NYT and others have printing the same article since Guttenberg. But my favorite part of the article was this note attached to the end:

Editors’ note: The editor of the Sunday Business section is under contract to Random House and did not edit this article.

So, did anyone edit the article?

Labels: Books

Posted by B Feiler at 7:01 AM
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