You most certainly have heard the following two phrases: "It's good to be king!" and "It's tough to be a dog." Well, I think sometimes that publishers are probably treated more like the second category than the first. You know. Lumped in with drilling dentists and criminal defense lawyers!
Well, Richard Charkin is a blogger that works for McMillan in the publishing industry. And he's putting a human face on the industry for us. He realizes there is an image problem... "I wouldn't say we get a completely bum rap ( I suspect arms dealers, drug runners, secret policemen, dictators do worse) but I (and I hope it's not just me) get a fair amount of flak essentially pointing out the general inanity or foolishness of the industry."
But in his post,
Another reason to be cheerful, he shares what happened when he visited the doctor the other day. Always expecting the worst when people find out he's a publisher, he tells us that when the topic came up, this doctor said "'Aha[,] you must work for Macmillan. The medical profession was concerned when you launched that series. The worry was that you were simply using the Nature brand to con us into buying a bunch of new journals. We were wrong. I subscribe to Cardiovascular Medicine and it's absolutely terrific. The articles are excellent, the editor is the best possible person in the world, production is excellent, pricing is fair. I'm also a contributor and the in-house team have been complete professionals in every way.'
I guess that reminds us that publishers really do some good. Here and there. On occassion. Sometimes even with regard to e-books!
And his reaction to the praise? -- "You could have knocked me down with a feather or a myocardial infarction."