Jonathan Galassi
Jonathan Galassi
Jonathan Galassi born 1949 in Seattle, Washington, is the President and Publisher of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, one of the eight major publishers in New York. He began his publishing career at Houghton Mifflin in Boston, moved to Random House in New York, and finally, to Farrar, Straus & Giroux. He joined FSG as executive editor in 1985, after being fired from Random House. Two years later, he was named editor-in-chief, and is now President and Publisher...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPublisher
CountryUnited States of America
actual continue continuity delivery editor exactly
I think that the continuity of what I do as an editor with what I did when I started out 40 years ago is very direct. The delivery system is changing and will continue to, but the actual interaction between publisher and author is exactly the same.
agent agents amount best determine figured good money rather
I think that a really good agent should be able to get the right publisher, which the agent has already figured out, get as much money as she can from that publisher, and make a deal, rather than have the amount of money determine the sale. That's what the best agents do.
casually forefront good throes
When you're in the throes of writing, I find, the lessons you've casually imparted to others are not in the forefront of your mind. Which may be good or bad. Probably both.
published
John Updike's first published book was a collection of poems.
acts authors biggest concern force market
My biggest concern about the market is the force that acts to drive down price, because I think that's destructive to authors as well as publishers. Our biggest battle is to underline the value of intellectual property.
deal poetry
I think poetry was always where I went to deal with my deepest feelings.
except poetry
I think poetry should be read very much like prose, except that the line breaks should be acknowledged somehow.
books finding helping publishers work writers
I think publishers need to be the ones that publish the books and control that process: finding writers, helping them with their work, finding readers. I think writers need that.
business courses mechanics
There are courses you can take to learn the mechanics of the business, like the Radcliffe course, but I don't think they teach you how to edit.
begin discover enormous involves oneself permission
Giving oneself permission to write to begin with is the first enormous challenge. But you discover that this permission involves a requirement: To write about things that are difficult because they are, in fact, your subject.
endlessly
I feel that there is not an endlessly expandable universe of fiction readers.
authors books both bounce deal dealing foreign foreigners people talking time visit work
I deal with the authors I work with, agents, and other departments of the company, talking about both the books that I'm working on and everyone else's. Then there's dealing with foreign publishers: foreigners visit all the time. People want to bounce things off the publisher, and a lot of it is encouragement.
afraid faith hard listen work
Be patient, work hard and consistently, have faith in your writing, and don't be afraid to listen to constructive criticism.
background convincing form history interests needs reads terms
A translation needs to read convincingly. There's no limit to what can go into it in terms of background research, feeling, or your own interests in form and history. But what should come out is something that reads as convincing English-language text.