In a decision he described as "semimutual," longtime St. Martin's editor Michael Denneny has left the company and will take up freelance editing.
The move raises the specter of cost cutting at von Holtzbrinck—Holt recently let five employees go—though Denneny also characterizes himself as disenchanted. "I'm half being pushed and half walking, but I think if I wasn't willing to walk, they would have pushed harder," he said.
Denneny said he's dismayed by the administrative and managerial tasks that the editor's life increasingly requires. He called it "a double job, literally," and said if he could get rid of all but the acquiring and the editing, he would. "The whole book development process is being squeezed out of the house."
Known as one of gay publishing's pioneering editors, Denneny will kick off his freelance career with longtime author Ntozake Shange. He'll also continue working with a few other authors he's brought along at SMP, an arrangement for which the house will pay him. "I was kind of surprised they went along with that," he admitted.
This is not the first time Denneny has left SMP. In 1994, he moved to Crown to take a senior editor position there, but returned in 1996. He was discouraged to find the effects of conglomerization also at SMP. "I thought I was returning to a more classical publisher," he said. He had hoped for greater opportunities to work with authors—and on sales reps—to increase print run and marketing dollars. "The first discussion of the book seals its fate. If you work through three drafts of the book and it gets better, it is still treated by everyone the same way."
He said there are too many books for too few reps. For all of Holtzbrinck's decentralization, "we [SMP, FSG, Holt and Tor] are all like feeder publishers. We might as well be [SMP distribution client] Rodale."
