Neil Nyren is the Executive VP, associate publisher and editor in chief of G.P. Putnam’s Sons,  a division of Penguin Random House. He has been at Putnam for over 32 years, and before that, at E.P. Dutton, Little Brown, Random House, Arbor House, and Atheneum.

Among his current authors of crime and suspense are Clive Cussler, Ken Follett, C.J. Box, John Sandford, Robert Crais, Jack Higgins, W.E.B. Griffin, Frederick Forsyth, Randy Wayne White, Alex Berenson, Ace Atkins, Alex Grecian, Carol O’Connell, Owen Laukkanen, Michael Sears, and Todd Moss. He has also worked with such writers as Tom Clancy, Patricia Cornwell, Daniel Silva, Martha Grimes, Ed McBain, Thomas H. Cook, and Thomas Perry, and he was the first to publish books by Carl Hiaasen, Jonathan Kellerman, Gerald Seymour, Garrison Keillor, and Ian McEwan.

Among his nonfiction authors: A. Scott Berg, Maureen Dowd, James A. Baker III, Dave Barry, Joe McGinniss, Charles Kuralt, Andy Rooney, Jeff Greenfield, Senator Harry Reid, General Tony Zinni, Abba Eban, John McEnroe, Pat Riley, Bobby Orr, and Wayne Gretzky.

JB: I want to congratulate you for winning the 2017 Ellery Queen Award for outstanding people in the mystery publishing industry. That’s very exciting.

Mr. NN: Thank you. I love the mystery and suspense genre. I always have.

JB: Thank you for sharing your time with the Tuesday Writers. It’s an honor to have you as guest on our blog. What’s your routine in the acquisition process? Where do you start?

Mr. NN: The manuscript comes in attachment form, no one sends paper any more. Either I read it or my assistant does. There are some that I take immediately myself, but most everything she reviews for me. If the manuscript is something I really like, I take it to my boss. We discuss it, do profit and loss projections and figure out what we should pay for it. We talk to the agent, try to figure out whether or not to get a pre-empt or go to auction, then whether to buy or not to buy it.

JB: Would you explain to our readers what a pre-empt is?

Mr. NN: When we talk about pre-empt it means we go to the agent and say we want the book. That’s because we don’t want it to go to auction.  When we do that, we need to make an offer that’s good enough for them to take without the book going to auction. I ask the agent’s permission to talk directly to the author.

I once had a book sent in that was about a gang of criminals but there were a couple of law enforcement characters that I really liked in it. With permission, I asked  if the author would consider doing a series about those characters.  He said he hadn’t thought about it, but yes he would. From that conversation came a series that has proceeded nicely ever since.  I find you get a lot of information and intangibles from that kind of one on one conversation. You can assess if the author is serious and willing to be helpful.

JB: How do you feel about some of the short books in the 30,000 – 40,000 word range that are coming on the market?

Mr. NN: I don’t feel like it’s a trend. I know there are James Patterson’s bookshots and some others, but by and large there aren’t a lot of those. Most books are average size.

JB: What are your criteria for having a book made into an audio book?

Mr. NN: Penguin Random House, as a total entity, has its own audio department. They pick and choose from all of the of imprints to make their audio books. The ones they decide not to do, we try to sell to other audio publishers.

JB: Books that are favorites of yours?

Mr. NN: We go with the more tried and true authors. We do try some new authors, but generally stick to those we know well.

We buy a book because we like that book. Other things can be shaped or tweaked afterwards.

JB: How important is social media presence to a publishing house? Do publishing houses check an author’s social media presence?

Mr. NN: Yes we do keep up with the social media relationships authors have. Social media presence is very important for an author. It’s the way that an author connects to the outside world and to his or her fans. It’s the way authors get information out to them about an event or a new book coming out. Through social media, they can engage their fans and form allegiances through blogging, Facebook or Twitter creating an attachment to that author. When we sign a book, our promotional department reviews an author’s website and other social media connections then makes recommendations to the author. Essentially, we are buying a book because we like that book. The other things can be shaped and tweaked afterwards.

JB: What do you find is the most successful marketing for debut authors?

Mr. NN: It’s a combination of things. We want to make sure we get enough readers copies out there. We want them sent out with enough time to get into the stores, especially to the mystery book stores. A lot of people like to review first novels and feature debut novels. They don’t necessarily do as much for second, third or fourth books. As a publishing house we want to make sure the book is out there with the people that count.  We want to make sure reviewers have copies and the right bloggers have a copy. We like to have lots of people review a book in advance because good reviews are really important for word of mouth. And, we ensure the author has their social media factors as well-honed as possible. At times, with some authors, we pre-plan a book tour. It depends on the book.

JB: How about for mid-list authors?

Mr. NN: It depends on their sales trajectory and whether it’s going up, staying flat or declining. A mid-list author has already established themselves and you can’t really change that.  I’ve had many wonderful writers who for some reason don’t get traction with readers. It’s just breaks your heart. Everything has been done right, but for some reason, they don’t catch on immediately. It depends on the alchemy going on in the market at the time.

With each successive book, we reassess the plan. We figure out what needs to be done for that book, what extra things could be done, or what we don’t need to be doing anymore. We review all of the social media things we just discussed.  We look at whether we should be spending money on Facebook ads or time with Goodreads.  It will vary. The more familiar we are with the author, we can better assess what we should be doing.

JB: Thank you very much, Neil for spending time with the Tuesday Writers and for your dedication to mystery and suspense writers as well as the organizations that support our craft. 

Mr. NN: It’s been my pleasure. Crime and suspense is what I like to read and what I like to publish.