Yale Bulletin and Calendar

April 28, 2000

Volume 28, Number 30

Author tells of goal to change
'archaic' publishing process

When asked to describe how he got to where he is today, David Eggers, author of the semi-autobiographical book "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius," answered, "A car came to pick me up and dropped me off here. I think we took I-95."

This half-serious reply kicked off the Jonathan Edwards College master's tea on April 19 and set the tone for the rest of Eggers's talk.

Although many in the audience clutched copies of his best-selling and critically acclaimed book about the loss of both his parents to cancer, Eggers avoided speaking about it. "This book is hard to look at right now because it's so far behind me," he explained. Instead, Eggers discussed his work since the publication of his first book.

In addition to founding and editing the quarterly literary journal McSweeney's and working on his second book, tentatively titled "Novel with Female Protagonist," Eggers has been evaluating book proposals from other writers. Hoping to "stick a stake in the heart of mainstream publishing," a system which he describes as "archaic," Eggers will soon begin publishing and distributing books under the new McSweeney's imprint.

True to McSweeney's original aim to publish the work of unknown writers, Eggers has fished for material in the unlikeliest of places. One upcoming McSweeney's book is the result of a contest Eggers held at a book reading in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Because he "couldn't think of anything else to do," Eggers asked attendees to write down book proposals then and there about any topic they wished. The winner would receive $5,000 to write the book and 100% of its profits once published. The winning proposal was a book about the adverse effects of radiator noise -- "the pings and clunks from heating systems," wrote the contestant -- on the sleep patterns of children throughout New England.

In another contest he hosted, Eggers asked entrants to write reviews of "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" on Amazon.com. The winner would receive a lifetime subscription to McSweeney's, but two rules had to be followed. First, the reviewer had to give the book five stars -- "We didn't want to blow the average," joked Eggers -- and second, "the review had to have nothing to do with the book at all and had to make clear that the reader hadn't read it and didn't know anything about it."

The day before this contest was announced, there were 12 reviews of his book on the Amazon site, said Eggers. The day after, there were 77, and the numbers "grew and grew." One of Eggers's favorites described the book as having "just the right thickness" to prop up the reviewer's mini-TV. The reviewer also praised the weight of the book, which was "just enough to drop on someone from a second-story window and stun, but not permanently injure, them." Eggers's fun was cut short, however, when Amazon discovered these nonsensical reviews and deleted them all from their site.

With the success of his book, which is currently being adapted into a Hollywood movie, and his magazine, Eggers has had to contend with accusations of selling out. Since he himself previously worked as a critic writing art reviews for the San Francisco Weekly and book reviews for the San Francisco Chronicle, Eggers understands the compulsion to write someone off as a sell-out, but described the people who do so as "bored and bitter and small."

"I was a critic and I wish I could take it all back," he said. "Because it came from a dark and ignorant place in me and I spoke with a voice that was all rage and envy."

Eggers went on to say that the easiest thing to do is to dismiss. But he urged, "Do not dismiss a book until you have written one. Do not dismiss a movie until you have made one. Do not dismiss a person until you have met them." Eggers's belief that "all criticism is self-criticism" is so strong that he once painted those words on a wall in his apartment.

"If you haven't written a book all the way through, you just have no idea," explained the author. "And once you do, you respect absolutely anybody that gets to the finish line. Everybody. As far as I'm concerned, Danielle Steele is a genius."

-- By JinAh Lee

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