Thursday, April 4, 2013

Lord of Publishing by Sterling Lord

I freely admit that I know nothing about the publishing world, and of course, nothing of the role of an agent. But that didn't get in the way of enjoying this humorous auto-biography.

Lord of Publishing talks of Sterling Lord's career as an agent. It starts with him talking about Jack Kerouc, one of his most famous authors. After that (in chapter two), is the story-telling of how he got into the author-agent business. The first two chapter arrangements felt a bit strange to me (The starting was a bit abrupt at first), but I can see that if the two chapters were switched around, it wouldn't have as much of a hook.

The rest of the book talks about the different types of books and authors that he has worked with, including the time where he declined a former American president's offer to be his representative. Even though I don't read quite some of these genres, they're still fascinating, and offer a glimpse into the world of publishing.

Plus, Mr Lord sounds like a nice guy, with a sense of humour.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It was entertaining and educational (well, educational if you want to learn about the publishing industry). In fact, I have a lot more authors that I want to look up now, his passion for the authors he represents is so strong that it made me want to read their works! (Which is probably the best explanation of how he sold their books).

My favourite quote from the book would be this:

"What you should do as early in life as you can is find an occupation or line of work in a field that really interests you. If you get involved and become committed and stay with it, you can live a long time and enjoy it, and have a rich life."

He was talking about his own career, but I think this applies to everyone across all field.

An awesome book, I highly recommend it.

Disclaimer: I got a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a free and honest review.

No comments :

Post a Comment

I really do appreciate all comments, and I'll try my best to reply within 24 hours!

^_^