08 Oct 2010 03:15:31
Seven Stories publisher Dan Simon had wanted Nader to shorten the book for hardcover, but the author-activist resisted. For the paperback, out next spring, Simon told Nader that foreign publishers wanted cuts to reduce the price of translation.
"Colleagues of ours in Japan and many other countries were saying, `I would love to publish this book, but I cannot do it at 700 pages,'" Simon explained. "When I came back, Ralph was moved by these stories and he agreed to let us take a whack at a shorter version. He agreed to do it, finally, reluctantly."
"I didn't resist too much," says the 76-year-old Nader, "because I had the last word on the abridgment."
There are circumstances when shortened versions of books have been released in the United States — for example, when a work of history is condensed for the education market. And foreign language books have been cut for the English market, including the novels of the acclaimed Japanese author, Haruki Murakami. Chad Post, whose Open Letter Books publishes numerous works in translation, said many novels get reduced in English, "sometimes for cost reasons, sometimes for editorial reasons."
But Penguin Group (USA) CEO David Shanks and several other publishers said they had never heard of an English-language book being cut at the request of a foreign publisher. Random House Inc. spokesman Stuart Applebaum said he was "sure it had happened," but not often enough to recall any examples.
"We're always amenable to what the overseas publishers say, but I don't think this is exactly a once a week occurrence," Applebaum says.
"Foreign publishers often complain when books in English are too long because of the costs and time in translation," says Peter Osnos, publisher of PublicAffairs books, which specializes in topical nonfiction. "Sometimes, books are trimmed to enable the translations to be more manageable, but it is very unusually."
Nader, known for his advocacy for auto safety, health care and campaign finance reform, and for his third-party presidential candidacies, has said his decision to write a novel was in part a response to the nonfiction bookshe had read in recent years. The corruption of politicians and financial institutions is diligently investigated and revealed. But only the problems are addressed; solutions either are not provided or are too dull to inspire.
For the paperback, Simon and Nader both say that Seven Stories initially made revisions Nader found too severe. He offered his own version, which ended about 50 pages longer than the Seven Stories edition, but still more than 200 pages shorter than the hardcover. The plot was kept intact, with cuts made in the numerous policy proposals outlined.
"The book has been accused of having too much detail," Nader says. "But I find it amazing that people would be reluctant to read a book of that size (700 pages), when you have political novels and historical novels that are much longer. Look at (Ayn Rand's) `Atlas Shrugged.' It's more than a thousand pages and it's still popular."
"It was a collaborative process," Simon said of the paperback. "I was always looking forward to doing a shorter version, because it's a very long book of ideas and I believe the emotion the reader feels will be very different in 450 pages than in 750 pages. As publishers, we just wanted to do more for Ralph than he was letting us do."
"Colleagues of ours in Japan and many other countries were saying, `I would love to publish this book, but I cannot do it at 700 pages,'" Simon explained. "When I came back, Ralph was moved by these stories and he agreed to let us take a whack at a shorter version. He agreed to do it, finally, reluctantly."
"I didn't resist too much," says the 76-year-old Nader, "because I had the last word on the abridgment."
There are circumstances when shortened versions of books have been released in the United States — for example, when a work of history is condensed for the education market. And foreign language books have been cut for the English market, including the novels of the acclaimed Japanese author, Haruki Murakami. Chad Post, whose Open Letter Books publishes numerous works in translation, said many novels get reduced in English, "sometimes for cost reasons, sometimes for editorial reasons."
But Penguin Group (USA) CEO David Shanks and several other publishers said they had never heard of an English-language book being cut at the request of a foreign publisher. Random House Inc. spokesman Stuart Applebaum said he was "sure it had happened," but not often enough to recall any examples.
"We're always amenable to what the overseas publishers say, but I don't think this is exactly a once a week occurrence," Applebaum says.
"Foreign publishers often complain when books in English are too long because of the costs and time in translation," says Peter Osnos, publisher of PublicAffairs books, which specializes in topical nonfiction. "Sometimes, books are trimmed to enable the translations to be more manageable, but it is very unusually."
Nader, known for his advocacy for auto safety, health care and campaign finance reform, and for his third-party presidential candidacies, has said his decision to write a novel was in part a response to the nonfiction bookshe had read in recent years. The corruption of politicians and financial institutions is diligently investigated and revealed. But only the problems are addressed; solutions either are not provided or are too dull to inspire.
For the paperback, Simon and Nader both say that Seven Stories initially made revisions Nader found too severe. He offered his own version, which ended about 50 pages longer than the Seven Stories edition, but still more than 200 pages shorter than the hardcover. The plot was kept intact, with cuts made in the numerous policy proposals outlined.
"The book has been accused of having too much detail," Nader says. "But I find it amazing that people would be reluctant to read a book of that size (700 pages), when you have political novels and historical novels that are much longer. Look at (Ayn Rand's) `Atlas Shrugged.' It's more than a thousand pages and it's still popular."
"It was a collaborative process," Simon said of the paperback. "I was always looking forward to doing a shorter version, because it's a very long book of ideas and I believe the emotion the reader feels will be very different in 450 pages than in 750 pages. As publishers, we just wanted to do more for Ralph than he was letting us do."
