I had lunch with a friend a couple months back. He is one of the few people who’s read The Wicker Man (the Devil’s Advocate version). Not many reviews appeared and no royalties at all have yet followed its publication. The funny thing is, when I search for reviews I notice that the book is “for sale” on far more websites than copies actually sold (I’m assuming). You see, one of the best-kept secrets in publishing (both trade and academic) is the number of copies sold. Publishers are terrified of poachers after their authors, and don’t advertise actual sales figures. For an author only the royalty statements reveal just how many (or few) copies ever made it to the hands of potential readers. We’re all adults here; we know that not every book purchased is read. I do wonder if there has been any interest in this little book at all.
My friend actually went and watched the movie because of my modest little book. The film The Wicker Man is widely known in certain circles, but it is still a movie with a cult following. Horror fans know it, of course, with some declaring loudly that it’s not horror. It gets referenced all the time in more mainstream media. I occasionally read quirky little books like Your Guide to Not Getting Murdered in a Quaint English Village. I wasn’t surprised to see The Wicker Man (the movie) referenced there. As I discuss in the book, it’s even the subject of a Radiohead video for their song “Burn the Witch.” Beyond a few academics, however, nobody’s really interested.
My friend suggested a topic for a new book for me to write. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that, barring a teaching post coming my way, I’ve given up writing books for academic presses. I’m pleased McFarland accepted Sleepy Hollow as American Myth, but the crude cost-benefit analysis that I do tells me writing books for academic presses, without library access, is always a money-losing venture. Remember those old Guiness Book of World Records paperbacks? I recall seeing, as a child, the least successful author listed. Of course I don’t remember his name. I now know that at least that record hasn’t been broken. Not officially, but when books cost so much to write… Academic publishers are facing hard times but I don’t see the wisdom in pricing your books so that nobody can afford them, just to scrape in a few university library sales. Not to sound as mercenary as a Hessian, but what’s in it for me? Certainly not tenure or groundskeeper Willie’s retirement grease. I’m not paid like a professor. Right now, though, I’m wondering if maybe I’ve broken that record after all.
