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Should authors have to be talkers? Is multimedia a threat at times to the best lit?
September 27, 2009 | 5:41 am
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By David Rothman
Nabokov to the left…a brilliant writer, not the glibbest talker
No longer can typical authors just write well for their books to sell. They must also perform—in newspaper and radio interviews and in readings, and maybe even on net.radio or YouTube.
Zero or little publicity? Then writers might not even get into the local B&N. much less be able to to compete there.
Some authors thrive in such circumstances and actually want to be multimedia performers. I’ve asked one of our favorite contributors, Kat Meyer, to go ahead with a post on transmedia story-telling and share her enthusiasm for Nick Cave. As a literacy advocate, I can see TST as one way to draw reluctant readers into books.
But is this necessarily good for literature? Will literature be like Hollywood, where talkies elbowed aside silent films and squeaky-voiced leading men lost their jobs? In fact, the issues go beyond voices. Might be the writing brain differ from the speaking brain? Definitely. Check out When Writers Speak—by Arthur Krystal—in the New York Times. Would you believe, Vladmir Nabokov actually felt compelled to bring notes along to the interview shown in the video. And then there’s the wonderful anecdote with which Krystal winds down the essay:
“…when the German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt told a friend, a Parisian doctor, that he wanted to meet a certifiable lunatic, he was invited to the doctor’s home for supper. A few days later, Humboldt found himself placed at the dinner table between two men. One was polite, somewhat reserved, and didn’t go in for small talk. The other, dressed in ill-matched clothes, chattered away on every subject under the sun, gesticulating wildly, while making horrible faces. When the meal was over, Humboldt turned to his host. ‘I like your lunatic,’ he whispered, indicating the talkative man. The host frowned. ‘But it’s the other one who’s the lunatic. The man you’re pointing to is Monsieur Honoré de Balzac.’”
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Comments:
Thank you for the Nabokov link; I must be living in a cave because I had no idea he was on YouTube. I thought he spoke quite well about Lolita, even when he wasn’t using notes. (Nabokov is one of my all-time favorite writers and I would love to see ebook releases of his works.)
You gotta love comments like that…
I don’t think the proliferation of media forces authors into roles they don’t want. There are so many choices, leaving an author free to choose whatever they are best at. And if they’re so inclined, they can actually hire actors for some media promotions.
In terms of things like TV and radio (and let’s face it, very few authors will ever have to worry about this!), you can always pick the programs you will be interviewed on based on the way they’ve handled interviews in the past, which should give an indication how you would look. You might even get some good publicity based on the ones you turn down (“Tell Stern he can go #&@! himself!”).
Personally, I’m looking forward to a future appearance on The Daily Show…
Here we go again. “Video Killed the Radio Star” or at least his career.
Take for example, Christopher Cross. He was a brilliant songwriter, and a very good singer. He just happens to be a bit–dumpy loooking. Brilliant work, no MTV play = stalled career. If you want to have a career in popular music today, you’d better film well, in addition to musical talent. Hmmm… Taylor Swift sings well doesn’t she; to bad about the looks, not.
Likewise, if you want to have a career as a popular author today, you’d better be able to speak and write well directly to your audience, to get the press, to get noticed. It’s not random chance that John Scalzi has won two Hugos, to take a small example. The problem in a massive global market is obscurity, not piracy.
Regards,
Jack Tingle
Hey, Jack: You think I should go back to coloring my hair?
Hey, folks, what about this factor? The video and audio outlets today might not even want the next Nabokovs or near-Nabokovs if they aren’t good performers. Alas, it generally isn’t the authors’ choice. I wish writing counted more; interview and performance skills, less.
Room for everyone here! You guys are welcome to your own thoughts, and in fact, as noted, I’ve encouraged Kat to do a post on media-media story telling.
Thanks,
David
Hair’s probably not a factor for the ebook crowd.
Scalzi’s pretty much bald, after all. Keep your internet footprint up and see if more NYT reporters want to interview you some more, though.
Good Luck,
Jack Tingle
There are so very many ways to help your ideal readers find your book that the answer is NO you don’t have to be any particular thing in order to promote your book.
But you DO have to be aware of what you are and are not good at, in order to play to your own strengths or improve upon your weak points.
In short, that old cliched advice, “Know thyself,” applies more than ever.
My dad published over 70 books during his lifetime. And through all that time, he did little to promote those books through radio, TV, or other outlets. A couple of years before he died, we had some interesting conversations about how dramatically publishing had changed, and how so much responsibility had shifted to authors. He told me he was glad he wasn’t just starting out as an author under the present conditions.
For authors who have good marketing skills, this development is a good thing, but I feel sorry for those who don’t. It reminds me of painters, other artists, or musicians who would rather work on their craft and not have to deal with the rest of it.
My…how times have changed.
Max Elliot Anderson
Books For Boys Blog
http://booksandboys.blogspot.com
I recall reading a comment by Nabokov stating that he stopped giving traditional interviews, and this memory is supported by an article in the Times Higher Education:
Even today I do not think that it is mandatory for an author to provide a self-generated self-centered multimedia spectacular to become popular. John Kennedy Toole (no relation) proves that a man dead-for-a-decade can still succeed with his first novel. I expect a Thomas Pynchon-like hidden author will be able to achieve fame based on inverting the publicity machine.
Oh for the good old days when Charles Dickens and Oscar Wilde did not have to go on American speaking tours to promote their books!
Oh for the grand old days when authors did not have to be witty in the salons to impress the aristocrats and upper bourgeoisie to buy their books and back their plays!
In short: there have always been writers who are better ‘salesmen’ of their works than others; there have always been the shy and reclusive writers who can barely stammer out a ‘… my latest …’ to an editor, or who hid completely via correspondence when dealing with editors.
If anything, I would say that today an author can more easily promote himself through writing alone, than ever before. He can blog and establish a website, contribute to online forums and comment on sites like Teleread. He can hide behind one or a dozen noms de plume, and can pretend to be the opposite sex in any of them; adopt a persona older or younger, and in general have a grand old time.
I think Pond is right that a variety of promotional strategies are possible. The ability to extemporaneously entertain with witty remarks while juggling a bowling ball, a tennis ball, and an egg during live streaming video is not yet necessary to succeed as a writer. Here is a description of the carefully cultivated public anti-persona of Vladimir Nabokov recorded in “Strong Opinions”:
FYI: When Vladimir Nabokov died he left an unfinished draft of a new novel, The Original of Laura. He told his wife, Véra, to burn it if he died with the work incomplete; however, she refused to destroy the text. “She was the one, after all, who had saved the manuscript of Lolita (far more complete and polished) from the incinerator when Nabokov wanted to burn that one,” according to Ron Rosenbaum writing in Slate.
On November 17th Knopf will publish the draft which consists of scans of 138 index cards together with transcriptions by Dmitri Nabokov below each card. This is a landmark of literary history, but it reminds me of another interview question and reply from “Strong Opinions”: