Las Vegas Editions inaugurates our section of: Publishers Next Door.
When I started writing on the blog, I thought it was interesting to tell the world of publishing at 360 degrees.
I only know my reality and instead confronting myself with the other “figures” of this crazy old world has opened my eyes to dynamics previously unknown to me.
How do the books arrive on the shelf? How do you choose what to publish? How do you try to sell a book?
So, in parallel with the booksellers, I also sent the e-mails to the publishers to make known the realities of those who publish the books that may now be on the shelves of your home libraries.
You will have read the book and also the story of who made this book so you could choose it.
Publisher name : Las Vegas editions
Foundation year : 2007
Headquarters : Via Genova, 208 – Turin
Number of employees : We do everything in the family.
Genre of publications : Narrative
How many titles published per year?
Few but good.
In this column, I will not always be able to interview the founders of the publishing house, so let’s start with:
Who are you and what role do you play within the publishing house?
My name is Andrea Malabaila and I am the founder and editorial director. That said it sounds cool, but then it also means filling out a lot of paperwork and moving boxes full of books.
Would you like to introduce us to the other figures who work with you?
Basically, my wife Carlotta and I do almost everything. Then there are Chiara who helps us with the graphics of the covers, Marica and Alessio who do the illustrations of the “las cerezitas” and “i jolly” series respectively, and my mom who is the official seller at the fairs.
Why an independent publishing house?
Independent from large groups because no large group has yet thought of taking over us. But above all independent towards the authors, because we choose according to our taste and not in exchange for money. We have always fought against the idea of paid publishing.
What does it mean to be a publisher today?
Being crazy. Dreamers and madmen. And in fact, to survive, unfortunately, we must also do other things.
When did you realize that “finding” and publishing good stories would become your job?
I had already known the publishing world as an author, but from the beginning – unlike many other authors who feel in competition with all those who write – I felt that I would have liked to do like Tondelli and dedicate myself to others, to find new stories and new scriptures, which surely would have enriched me too. In a way, it was like that.
I have a bookshop, and although I don’t publish books, I receive daily emails from people who want to propose their manuscript. How many do you get a day?
At least one per day, and we only accept paper mailings. When we accepted manuscripts by e-mail, a dozen or so a day arrived. An absolutely impossible number for a publishing house with a structure like ours: five lives would not have been enough for me to read everything!
The craziest email you ever received?
We receive many, demonstrating that the publishing world remains a mystery to many, despite the internet and the information available to everyone. The funniest was an email in which there was the sum of everything that should never be written to a publisher, including the threat to come to us to read the whole novel, but in the end it was a joke. person who has never revealed himself …
Give advice to those who would like to propose their manuscript. Absolutely what to do and what not to do.
Reread it thoroughly, so that it is as close to perfection as possible (or at least as close as possible to the author). Send it to the right publishing houses and not by chance (so have a pretty good idea of what publishes the publisher you would like to be published by). Send it following the instructions on the site. Things not to do: be duped by paid publishers, register the text at SIAE, be in a hurry, fear that publishers will steal other people’s masterpieces.
Often the readers are not aware of it and just as frequently the authors, I am about to touch a sore point: what do you think of paid publishing? Although from some of your answers I have already understood how you stand.
As I said before, we are against it because paid publishing ruins the perception of the value of books, especially those of small publishing houses. On the internet there are some very popular videos of a meeting a few years ago at the Turin Book Fair on this very issue, in which I clashed with the representative of a well-known paid “publishing house”.
Thanks to social media and a new way of communicating, publishers and booksellers are able to interact directly, do you think it is possible for independent realities to be able to collaborate directly without any intermediary?
It is possible but not always easy. We collaborate with a few and selected booksellers, but for us it is much easier to work through the intermediary of the distributor, who takes care of the physical transport of the books and payments, which often turn out to be very mangy.
A book that is published and after a thousand difficulties arrives on the shelves already seems to have an expiration date, to be consumed preferably by …: why do you think?
Partly because too many books are published and partly because most of the space in the bookstore is occupied by a few books present in many copies. In both cases, it is essentially a problem of space. But that’s a big shame, because there are a lot of good books that don’t even have time to make themselves known that are already gone. It would be nice to be able to re-propose them after some time, but often the books are considered “old” a few months after their release, even if they were perishable material.
What does it mean for an independent publisher to be able to be present also in chain bookstores?
It is a very important thing, because – even if you cannot compete with the publishing giants – being as present and “alive” as possible is the only way to be known, bought and read. This is true for bookstores, but it is also true for trade fairs and social networks.
Can you still read “please”?
Of course. I imposed this on myself from the start. Also because otherwise you lose the measure of what is publishable and what is not.
Are there more writers than readers in Italy?
Judging by the amount of manuscripts that come to us and the ratio of proposals to sales, I’d like to say yes. Of course I have nothing against writers, but I have a lot against non-reading writers. And at the fairs we see that the figure of the non-reader writer is unfortunately very widespread.
I know it’s like asking your kids who is your favorite, but what if I ask you to recommend a title from your catalog? Indeed, given the difficulty we make 3 …
This is tough, and it will antagonize the other authors! Then I will give a diplomatic answer: the book that has given us the most satisfaction in the last year and not only is “I romagnoli kill on Wednesdays” by Davide Bacchilega
The book from which I hope they will soon get a film (it is optional) is Giorgio Pirazzini’s “The night I collect flowers of flesh” .
And Carlotta’s favorite book (so she antagonizes them) is “Alex takes two steps” by Christian Mascheroni.
A title from another publisher that you would have wanted in your catalog instead?
I followed ZeroCalcare on the internet and one day I wrote to him telling him that we did not deal with graphic novels but for him we would have made a tear. He replied that he had just signed with another publisher. Here, every now and then I think about it and wonder if the history of Las Vegas would not have taken another turn …
Could you recommend a publisher next door that you think we should contact?
So instead you want to antagonize the publishers! Oh well, I say Fernandel’s Giorgio Pozzi not only because he published my latest novel but because he certainly has so many interesting things to say.
Thank you very much for your availability Andrea.
Here you can find the site: http://www.lasvegasedizioni.com/
Dear readers, try to take a tour of the bookstore and let yourself be “chosen” by a Las Vegas book and then you will tell me the effect it has.
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