By Rudy Wilson

Over the years since the Knopf published The Red Truck, two other books have come out, with smaller book publishers, never with the clout of Knopf, and never seen by Gordon Lish as he had left Knopf by then.

Gordon continued to be magnanimous. He wrote, “”Excellent Rudy What a dear heart you are to write. I am so glad you are of high heart and I am always happy to read anything you wish me to – for Q or for Knopf… All yours, signed GL.”  He said more than once, “We write for God and art.” I brought up Bret Easton Ellis’s success, and he said, “Well, maybe, but once you get dirt on the floor, you will never get it clean.”

Some years later The Red Truck was published by a second press, which was inept and sold maybe fifty books in a year. Gordon sent condolences and suggested I read his most recent book, Zimzum.  I asked him advice on how to run a Writers’ Workshop and humbly, he laughed and said, “You’re asking me?”

His latest, probably last note to me, last summer was so perplexing. It concerned the third, out-of-mothballs publication of the battered  Red Truck, with Ravenna Press. I sent him a copy, as well as a second book they printed, a collection of short fiction I had published over many years, Sonja’s Blue.

His note read, oddly, surprisingly: “Thanks for the book! Curious – that you did not like Knopf, especially given the citations (from reviews) on the back cover, too, that your kindness nowhere mentions the distance and manner of The Red Truck’s travel from original ms. to finished ms. Do you remember? Are you aware? Are you willing to give credit? Explain, please.” No signature.

I felt confused, even sad. I had no control over the new issue’s cover art or jacket information. Perhaps I should have dedicated the book to Gordon or put his name on the cover. I recalled, thinly, “I wish I could put my name on it…” Maybe I’d hurt or not credited the man enough, somehow.

There was always a sense of isolation about Gordon Lish. He presided in a position of personal power, a master in his world, well-respected, with strong opinions, and a history of making and breaking of authors. And yet, his notes to me over the many years and the most recent one indicate and inform me that he is a man of heart and sensitivity, humor, even with a certain fragility after all this time of infamy in the business. He was my friend. And I give him all the credit he deserves.

I’ve pretty much ridden the Red Truck into the ground. It sits outside in my tall-grassed, back yard, silently, a faded, now red-orangish, 1950 pickup, cracked windshield, birds’ nests in the front seat with wild flowers and weeds in the back truck-bed. A sentimental icon of the years: there’s the worn steering wheel, having been to NYC many times. Somewhere, in the glove compartment would be a black and white picture, twenty or more years old of myself and Mr. Lish, Capt. Fiction, standing close to me on a Manhattan sidewalk, uptown – one of us smiling.

By Rudy Wilson

In the summer of 2010, I got a disturbing note from a very tough guy: Gordon Lish, the infamous, New York genius of the literary world– top Knopf editor, prolific author of over fifteen books, editor at Esquire, with his own top literary quarterly that catered to the best writers, especially new ones, ‘Lish’s discoveries,’ of which there were many. He taught, and still does, the most prestigious Writing Worskhop in New York, according to many.

He hung out with Ken Kesey and The Merry Pranksters, in the 60’s, Neal Cassady, and maybe even Kerouac, was often in the news, and is again lately. His note took me back over many years to the communications and connection we once had.

In another summer — 1986, Gordon Lish pursued me. He saved my life: my literary life. I was living in a small, one room house, writing, writing and writing, living obscurely, hiding out in the cornfields of an Iowa town, south of Iowa City, realm of so many well known authors. Saul Bellow, and Dylan Thomas read there: Flannery O’Connor went through the program, among so many ‘well-knowns.’ At that time, I’d never heard of Mr. Lish.

Now, I’m pursuing Mr. Lish, and must simply say: Dear Mr. Lish, it ain’t over yet…

It started in a little pizza parlor in a small, Iowa community, with a phone call.
I had no phone then and lived in a quiet hell.
“A guy named Gordon Leish called you this morning,” I was told, checking my messages. I’d published one story, in The Paris Review in 1984, receiving an award for it, so maybe that was the bait.

I was interested in NYC, so I took the message and called back.

The man who answered informed me he was a senior editor at Alfred Knopf and his name was Gordon Lish. I still didn’t know who he was. I was pretty well read, had my hopeful MFA in hand from Iowa, but I wasn’t too aware of editors, although Mr. Lish was also well known for his books, Peru just coming out that summer.

“Knopf likes your novel. I like it, and can offer you $6,000 as an advance against royalties to publish it.”
I didn’t hesitate. Best book publishers, best editor, well known personality. And I read that he loved Salinger’s For Esme- With Love and Squalor. “Yes,” I told him. “Sounds great.”
“Well, I think it will be a fine novel…after it’s edited.”
“I see,” I said. The book was titled, Samskara and was a 440 page manuscript, submitted to him by my newly acquired NY agent. “Edited?”
“Yes, of course. It’s obvious there’s much here but I will have a real job to carve it out –“
“Oh…sure.”
Who would say no, fumbling, from the pizza parlor? It was the first book I’d written, and Alfred Knopf calling…
“What needs to be done first is to cut out all explanations and apologies. That should reduce it significantly, and the perplexing scenes can be cut, the ones no one will understand, and then I believe we will have a fine book. As it is now, only the lunatic fringe will read and it will get very little, if any notice. Leave it to me and it will receive excellent reviews. Not too sure of sales, as it is an odd book, but we will win every award we can.” I was sold.

Most of my communications from Gordon Lish were through notes, and phone calls, and looking back reveal his style, his stand on art and what writing is about.

Without Gordon Lish, I’d have been digging ditches in those years and the many that followed, as Knopf opened doors for me, two more books published with other presses and some awards. The book he edited is The Red Truck, and was published three times, the third in 2010 with Ravenna Press. I sent Gordon a copy, as we have remained in touch over the years, and he had also printed a story of mine in The Quarterly, his NY literary magazine.

He never liked the original title, Samskara and I see why, of course: it’s eclectic and few know what it means, even myself. ‘Scars on the soul,” I explained to him. “Nonsense,” he said. “Make a list of possible alternative titles and get them to me.” He laughed most of them off but found The Red Truck suitable. “Ah, what a swell title,” he said.

Pay-to-Publish companies can have an array of contracts and services.  They all require money from the writer to print the book, but they often do some marketing, retain rights to the book, and take a percentage of proceeds.  They may give the writer a few complimentary copies and sell books to the writer at a discount. In some cases, you pay at the front end to be published and marketed, and you pay again to get copies of your book.

Print-On-Demand companies are pay-to-publish companies who are set up to do very small runs of a book.  This means that the initial total cost can be much lower, but the price per book is much higher. This usually means that the selling price of the book needs to be much higher to cover the printing cost.

My research for this project will yield a self-publisher comparison chart that I’m looking forward to sharing on the site.

I’m about to embark on a project, and I’d like to invite you to share the journey with me.  I’m going to go through the process of “self-publishing” a book. Although I’ve heard dozens of stories from authors we’ve interviewed on Writers’ Voices, I’ve never personally gone through the process of publishing a book.  Hopefully my “beginner’s mind” perspective will make my journal a useful tutorial for others.

The book I’m working on publishing is a young adult fantasy novel called Color Changer.  It was written by Monica Hadley, President and Founder of Writers’ Voices.