By Richard E. Ralston
Ayn Rand was more than a brilliant novelist, playwright and philosopher. She was a vigorous and imaginative manager of publishing. She never left pitching her work to publishers in the hands of her agents. She never left the marketing, advertising and publicizing of her works in the hands of her publishers. She involved herself in every detail of these activities. She was always a "hands-on" manager of the business of publishing her works.
This lecture reviews Ayn Rand's methodology of explaining the unique characteristics of her work to publishers in terms of essentials, and encouraging marketing and advertising efforts founded on the same essentials. It also summarizes how she acquired, managed and fired her agents. In addition, Mr. Ralston reviews examples of her promotion of "Red Pawn," Night of January 16th, We the Living, Anthem, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged.
This lecture shows how; as a new arrival in America; Ayn Rand quickly became a knowledgeable practitioner in the "real world" of book publishing. She did not expect book publishers to beat a path to her door. She vigorously struggled to ensure her works, once published, would come to the attention of anyone she considered to be "my kind of reader."
This lecture was recorded at the 2008 Objectivist Summer Conference in Newport Beach, CA.
(MP3 download; 87 min., with Q & A, 62.42 MB)
