17 replies to this topic

[Qwerty]

Now on the CBn main page...

Classified Dossier: James Bond's (literary) agent

James Bond continuation author Raymond Benson interviews Ian Flemings literary agent Peter Janson-Smith.

[zencat]

Really fascinating stuff here. I finally understand the whole Booker/Glidrose/IFP structure. Interesting also that Fleming represented himself in the UK. Also, once again, we have more evidence that Ann Fleming was...well...Ann Fleming.

I also found this particularly interesting re the Gardner books. I know we've had conversations about the strong promotion of the early books in the US. Makes sense now.

We got a perfectly satisfactory but not brilliant contract with Cape, but we got a marvelous contract with Putnam, and that happened because I was talking to Peter Israel in Frankfurt. He said he’d just lost a big name author from one imprint in their group and said he had a hunch that the right author to replace him is whoever it is that’s writing Bond. ‘Well, it will cost you, Peter,’ I said. We worked out a very unusual contract which had very low royalties on the hardcover provided that they put X thousand dollars in publicity, and that if it sold more than X, then they would pay an exceptionally high royalty on the paperback. And it worked. They had that promotion guarantee in the contract for the first four books, which of course were the ones that made the New York Times best-seller lists.

Fabulous article. Like to get the issue of CRIMESPREE for a hardcopy.

[Trident]

Really a most interesting piece, recommended reading for all fans of lit Bond. What I missed was going a little deeper as to why the massive promotion wasn't kept up beyond the first entries. Somehow I always felt we might have gotten an entirely different series of continuations if the Gardners had been firmly kept on the public radar. And who knows what this could have meant for Gardner's successor?

[zencat]

Well I think it's implied that the massive promotion didn't continue because they were only contractually obligated to do so with the first 4 books. I know it's silly that they cut off spending money on promotion to save money -- but in doing that lost sales and lost money. But that's the brilliance of business.

[Trident]

By cutting back on the promotion they (Glidrose) actively cut down their own market. Gardner's later books (and Benson's) weren't even very well known on the thriller market, let alone on a wider scale. Of course, neither Gardner nor Benson would have become a different writer with more promotion on the publisher's part for the continuations. But I feel with a greater audience the entire venture might have seen a different course, the greater audience in turn leading to focus less on quantity, which I feel didn't help the series very much.

[stromberg]

Loads of interesting tidbits in there, very interesting.

Two years ago, PJS did an interview with German Bond expert Siegfried Tesche for 'Die Welt', which is also quite interesting: http://www.welt.de/w...u_Weltruhm.html

Unfortunately, it's in German, but those of you who are familiar with the language... (currently have neither time nor nerve to make a translation, sorry)

[Jim]

Fascinating stuff; a real insight into the business practice of generating and promoting the literary Bond and where it found itself as a result.

[Trident]

Oh, thanks for pointing to this, Stromberg! Also most interesting! If there is demand I could do a rough translation of the article, might just take one or two days.

[David Schofield]

Tellingly. Janson-Smith admits Glidrose had no influence on the classic Christopher Wood books.... but that they gave us John Gardner and Raymond Benson - having already kiboshed "Per Fine Ounce".

So, ultimately, the Bond literary rights holders had less understanding of Ian Fleming's James Bond than a scriptwriter who, after all, could have given us Roger Moore-Bond in lit form.

Tends to confirm the suspicions us older folk hold about Glidrose....

[zencat]

I like that Janson-Smith acknowledges how good Person's biography is - that it's underrated. Interesting that Person's original concept was that Bond would be dead. Never heard that before.

[Trident]

I like that Janson-Smith acknowledges how good Person's biography is - that it's underrated. Interesting that Person's original concept was that Bond would be dead. Never heard that before.

I actually think a dead Bond would also have been an interesting concept for Pearson's biography, maybe tailoring it with Bond missing, presumed dead, in YOLT.

[spynovelfan]

Fascinating article. Great stuff.

[Trident]

Ok, here is the translation of the Welt interview from 2008 with PJS. Any faults are mine, of course. Several interesting bits there. Won't go into them now, am a bit out of breath.

Die Welt:
On April the 13th 1953 Fleming's first Bond novel 'Casino Royale' was published in an edition of only 4750 copies. The next books 'Live And Let Die' and 'Moonraker' also weren't very good sellers. When did Fleming finally realise that he needed help with the marketing?

PJS:
I think it was 1956. 'Diamonds Are Forever' has been published, 'From Russia With Love' was finished already, but sales continued to stay below par. Fleming already was a little fed up with his character and [he] let him pass out on the floor at the end of that one.

Die Welt:
How exactly did you get to know Fleming?

PJS:
On the 1st of September 1956 I opened up my own literary agency. I didn't have many clients, but Eric Ambler was amongst them. In October we both went to a dinner party where he introduced me to Fleming and recommended me to him. Shortly afterwards, he called me and lamented about his misery.

Die Welt
How exactly?

PJS
He told me his publisher had all his publishing rights but didn't concern itself much with translations into foreign languages. I offered my help. He invited me over to Kemsley Newspapers where he was currently working at the foreign desk. We had a cup of tea in his office at the Sunday Times. He offered me all the rights in his books except for the UK and the USA. I accepted and started work right at the next morning.

Die Welt:
How quickly could you sell those rights?

PJS:
I contacted a Dutch publisher named Bruno who was interested, and I asked Fleming how much he wanted as lump sum. Fleming answered 'Nothing in advance. Main thing is, the royalties are good!' So Bruno ended up buying all the books, also because he trusted me. By the way, they are still in print there today. Then I telephoned some more and sold his books in the whole world and saw to it they were serialised in the Daily Express.

Die Welt:
What kind of relationship did Fleming have to his character? Did he like him, or hate him?

PJS:
He always was very proud of his creation. But in the beginning he often didn't get the kind of money he deserved. That only changed in 1961, when John F. Kennedy
in an article for Life-magazine, which was published March the 17th, mentioned a list of his favourite books. Amongst them was 'From Russia With Love'. Eric Ambler by the way introduced me on another party to Prof. Cyril Parkinson, who became then one of my clients, too. Ambler always used to have damn good connections.

Die Welt
Can you think why the books sold so bad in the beginning?

PJS:
They never were marketed the right way [before]. Fleming used to write letters to colleagues such as Somerset Maugham, Eric Ambler and Georges Simenon, in the hope to get a favourable statement from them he could use to quote on the back-covers. His publisher was Jonathan Cape, whom he knew personally and who also was taking pains, but who didn't have thrillers in his catalogue. He and his son were the directors of the publishing house, who treated Fleming somewhat stepmotherly. In the US, his books even saw print retitled. 'Casino Royale' became 'You Asked For It' and 'Moonraker' was 'Too Hot To Handle'. [There] Fleming's books only became successful with the first paperback editions from Pan, when the flims hit the screen. Back then you got a 'Golden Pan' for every single million copies sold. Fleming got eight of them, more than any author before.

Die Welt:
You knew Fleming from from 1956 until his death on August the 12th 1964. How would you describe him?

PJS:
He always used to be very shy and quiet. His wife Ann constantly organised parties, which he hated. He liked his peace, Golf, the outdoors and fast cars. But we almost exclusively talked about Bond and business. During the first years he only wanted to know about news and apart from that let me handle things. Our meetings were mostly just 10 to 15 minutes. There he talked a lot about his book collection as he was collecting rare first editions. He raved about his magazine The Book Collector, which he published himself. He never talked about films, always about 'shop'. Also taboo was his private life. In later years his health was ailing.

Die Welt:
The films series continues even today. The films have managed to hold a certain standard. Did you notice some of that professionalism [back then]?

PJS:
The meetings with the producers Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli always were purest comedy. I remember one particular meeting during [the production of] 'From Russia with Love' with attorneys and people from merchandising. Everyone had a chair, table, telephone. Everywhere there was ringing, everybody bellowed. Salzman was bilingual and he talked French into one receiver, English into another. Then a guy came into the room, reporting all the hotels in Venice were booked now, but that they had forgotten about booking flights. Then Broccoli bellowed he should charter a private jet. Then the guy produced the promised newspaper, which was completely soaked. Then Salzman screamed at him. Broccoli went to the toilet, a guy from merchandising followed him, then his attorney, who cried in the hallway 'Don't sign anything!'. Purest Sitcom. In the end, things used to work out fine and they made great films, but behind the scenes there used to be complete chaos. I always wondered how they managed so well. May have been due to some very good people on the working level. They did the job in the end. They generally didn't attend these meetings.

Die Welt:
What did Ian Fleming make of the films and Connery?

PJS:
Connery, Fleming and I met at the set of 'Dr No'. Fleming liked how Connery depicted Bond, although he initially was reserved to him. Then Connery was so good that all who came after him had difficulty to take over the role. It was astonishing how much he had learned between 'Dr No' and 'From Russia With Love'. As if he had played Bond for years. Fleming was surprised and happy that the producers kept so close to his books.

Die Welt:
And what did you make of Connery?

PJS:
For me he was the best. I've never met Lazenby, but all of the others. 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' surely is one of the best. Ian also liked it very much. Moore was always charming and witty, but he was in the role too long. Dalton knew a lot about the books. Brosnan I've met many times. He was very good. He's a completely different person, once there is no press around.

Die Welt:
How did it come to the continuations after Fleming's death?

PJS:
Kingsley Amis got the job because of his 'James Bond Dossier'. He had analysed Fleming's books and knew them very well. He was the first to predict Fleming's success once he'd read 'Casino Royale'. I think two thirds of his 'Colonel Sun' were really quite excellent.

Die Welt:
You also opted for John Gardner and Raymond Benson as continuation authors?

PJS:
Yes, both knew Fleming's books very well, but sometimes I had to intervene. Gardner wanted to make Bond a fan of Gustav Mahler because he was himself. I rejected that idea. At first, his books sold fine, but then sales figures declined. He was far too long at the desk. He always wanted to write as many books as Fleming himself had. Benson I hired [sic!] because of his fact book about Fleming's novels. His first books had a good structure, but many textual errors, but he [also] learned quickly. Fleming's heirs didn't like Benson's books. Sales figures also declined rapidly. Let's see what that book from Faulks will bring.

Die Welt:
While Fleming was still alive, there were some parodies of his novels. What did he make of them?

PJS:
Yes, there was this 'Oy, Oy, Seven' series by Sol Weinstein and a short story by critic Cyril Conolly, 'Bond Strikes Camp', where 007 dresses up as a woman and has a homosexual relationship with M. Fleming was tremendously amused. He liked that. Also when he met with Kingsley Amis to talk about some passages of his 'James Bond Dossier' he didn't mind critique. Only the facts were important to him. No good author is angry about parody, if it's done well.

Die Welt:
Have you been able to sell Fleming's books also to Germany back then?

PJS:
I made the contract with Ullstein at the Frankfurt book fair, in 'Jimmy's Bar' at the hotel 'Hessischer Hof'. After that, the rights went to Scherz-Verlag because Ullstein wasn't satisfied with sales figures. I still remember, there was a Herr Hausen who wanted to translate the books into Armenian because the kids there had asked for them. He didn't have a lot of money and said the language was dying out and wanted to buy three-book-packages for 50,- Deutsche Mark, each. Ian was delighted. We made the deal and so the books became printed in Armenian. Ian also spoke German, but not when I was around. I made many deals in Frankfurt.

Die Welt:
Surely you were drowned in ideas for further Bond novels after Fleming's death?

PJS:
Yes, that happened every day. There came ideas, chapters, whole books. Usually, we sent them all back. Once I looked at a story about Bond in Berlin. He sat the bar of his hotel, ordered 'half a bitter' and asked when the bus for the airport was leaving...

Die Welt:
There were a couple of film-tie-ins you licenced after the scripts.

PJS:
The producers thought they could make some more [money] when doing that and saw it as part of the merchandising package. But it was extremely difficult for every author to take the script and forge it into a gripping novel. Apart from that, they saw very early versions of the scripts and during shooting and production there are generally a large number of alterations. An American critic once counted 120 errors in one such film-tie-in, but nobody minded much. It was all about the money.

Die Welt:
Is that also true for that new series? There are now four 'Young Bond' novels out of a planned six-part series about a teenage-007.

PJS:
The first teenage-Bond dates back to 1967. it was Harry Salzman's idea to create some 003-and-a-half. It wasn't a success. Charlie Higson's books at first were very long-winding and they had to cut a lot. I once gave the grandson of my wife a copy and he found 'Young Bond' great.

Die Welt:
How famous and influential is the name Bond still today?

PJS:
Fleming's books are classics and English readers seem to acknowledge this. They are published today as 'Penguin Classics' and sell quite fine. I don't think that Heyne in Germany is the right publishing house for these books. They're selling weakly for years now. Same in French, where Gallimard withdrew them from their catalogue. But one mustn't forget that Bond is still a very good and famous name. One shouldn't underestimate him. It's astounding what Fleming created. The films will go on forever anyway. I just hope the plots get better.

[Trident]

Some things that were new to me:
Janson-Smith mentioned he was the one who had hired Raymond Benson. The way he formulates to me suggests he was in command on this matter and didn't have to convince any other directors of the Glidrose/IFP board.

Next, it's the first time I hear anything about cuttings in Higson's books. Janson-Smith apparently wasn't involved in IFP business any more, yet he apparently was in a position to hear about the edition process of the Young Bonds.

Another interesting anecdote are the Armenian editions. Although we're talking mid-60's here, and a dwindling language in the bargain, 50,- DM for 3 books still would seem to me to have been spectacularly cheap, bordering for free rights actually. Even if the royalties for these editions were above average (we don't learn from the interview), it still would have been a most handsome deal for this Mr Hausen.

Also new to me: the Gustav Mahler idea. Frankly, a very unlikely idea in my opinion and I can see why Janson-Smith objected. Don't exactly know what made Gardner suggest this, as, if something, Bond's musical tastes would have seemed to run for more popular material.

One thing I missed here, (and especially so as this interview was done by Tesche, THE German expert on Bond, for a German newspaper and explicitly covering the German editions) was the frankly abysmal quality of the German editions. For the best part of the last 50 years Germany has only ever seen heavily cut down and censored (euphemistically called 'edited') versions of the Bond novels, practically Readers Digest editions that lacked all chapter titles, many brand names, most mentions of GESTAPO and Nazi-Germany and at times whole chapters, essentially cutting down the books to a standard page count of about 190 pages.

This practice of effectively cannibalising Fleming's work has been subject to severe criticism among fans here as early back as 1977, when I became a fan (and was a reason for me to learn English as fast as possible to read the originals), and it was often speculated what Fleming would have made of his books being bastardised by German publishers.

Had I been in Tesche's shoes, I would have felt compelled to ask Janson-Smith about this practice and why he didn't prevent the worst of these crimes. I understand that primary concern were royalties in this business, but I doubt Fleming ever got a decent edition around these parts. His contemporaries, Ambler, Chandler, Hammet, Simenon, Highsmith, Francis all have found renowned publishers and for the most part also adequate translations of their works. Fleming would certainly have belonged to that set and could have done far better in the long run, had the rights been granted to another publisher. I find it strange this topic apparently wasn't touched upon, all the more so as Janson-Smith feels Heyne, the current German publisher, wouldn't be fitting to Fleming's works.

[stromberg]

One thing I missed here, (and especially so as this interview was done by Tesche, THE German expert on Bond, for a German newspaper and explicitly covering the German editions) was the frankly abysmal quality of the German editions. For the best part of the last 50 years Germany has only ever seen heavily cut down and censored (euphemistically called 'edited') versions of the Bond novels, practically Readers Digest editions that lacked all chapter titles, many brand names, most mentions of GESTAPO and Nazi-Germany and at times whole chapters, essentially cutting down the books to a standard page count of about 190 pages.

This practice of effectively cannibalising Fleming's work has been subject to severe criticism among fans here as early back as 1977, when I became a fan (and was a reason for me to learn English as fast as possible to read the originals), and it was often speculated what Fleming would have made of his books being bastardised by German publishers.

Had I been in Tesche's shoes, I would have felt compelled to ask Janson-Smith about this practice and why he didn't prevent the worst of these crimes. I understand that primary concern were royalties in this business, but I doubt Fleming ever got a decent edition around these parts. His contemporaries, Ambler, Chandler, Hammet, Simenon, Highsmith, Francis all have found renowned publishers and for the most part also adequate translations of their works. Fleming would certainly have belonged to that set and could have done far better in the long run, had the rights been granted to another publisher. I find it strange this topic apparently wasn't touched upon, all the more so as Janson-Smith feels Heyne, the current German publisher, wouldn't be fitting to Fleming's works.

Thanks for taking the time, Trident.

I've been moaning about this for years, and I said most of the following rant many times before. The latest edition (the one that was discontinued after six books a few years ago because it didn't sell) was said to be 'revised', but all I could find was a very slight update of language in few places, and a few PC corrections in LALD. The "Phoenix im Scherz Verlag" hardcover editions are a bit longer than the usual ones, but not much (most of them at least have the chapter titles). I made a direct comparsion of translation and original with Moonraker. The regular German version is missing about 20% (the whole story with the moustaches just doesn't happen, for example). I've been stuck for a while now somewhere in On Her Majesty's Secret Service with the same project, but from what I can tell so far, the figures are even worse. It's plain horrible. They meant to sell it as 'thrillers in die-hard American style' (says a blurb), and nixed most of what [i/]makes[/i] Fleming's writing. This went horribly wrong. The only existing alternat translation is an early version of From Russia, With Love, but that one's even worse.

I wish the did what Haffmans did with Sherlock Holmes in the 80s. New faithfull translations, done by good and interested people. Done in a nice edition, hardcovers, linen or cardboard bound, with a bit of glossary and editorial notes. Has helped a lot to re-boost Holmes' popularity in Germany. I'd pay good money just to have a single complete German Fleming edition. Alas, it doesn't exist, because the rights were always in different hands for years. Now that Heyne owns them all, they do nothing with it. Well, here's still dreaming...

[Trident]

The more I think about it, the surer I get the topic of the translations' quality, respectively lack thereof, would have been touched by Tesche in some form. The fact we don't read anything about it in his interview with PJS suggests to me PJS's answer was either 'off the record', or that he turned the topic down right from the start.

Given the volume of the German market (you could get the Flemings at nearly every store and railway station in the 70's and early 80's), the translations were really beyond even the lowest standards as publishing in those years went. Even Raymond Chandler wasn't butchered in the same way Fleming had to suffer. I suspect Fleming never learned about the distortion of his work (only 4 of his books had been published prior to his death) and his heirs apparently didn't bother to insist on a faithful edition in German.

Personally I always thought Fleming should have gone to Diogenes, the German publisher of Ambler and later Chandler. Their distribution area wasn't as wide as Scherz and Ullstein, lacking train station newsagents for decades. But in their catalogue Fleming would feature prominently through the decades until today, while Scherz and Heyne haven't sold very well since the 90's.

[stromberg]

Personally I always thought Fleming should have gone to Diogenes, the German publisher of Ambler and later Chandler. Their distribution area wasn't as wide as Scherz and Ullstein, lacking train station newsagents for decades. But in their catalogue Fleming would feature prominently through the decades until today, while Scherz and Heyne haven't sold very well since the 90's.

...and also Hammet, Highsmith, Simenon and others. Diogenes would have been a great choice. Alas, they were a rather small and relatively new (founded in 1952) publisher in the late 50s, compared to the big and established Ullstein (who were aiming at mass market and were certainly able to offer a bit more money), and and maybe Fleming just wasn't artsy enough for Diogenes back then. PJS, being a good agent, was certainly looking for the best deal and not so much for the most faithful translation.

To be fair, Heyne has always been the publisher for the Gardner and Benson books (Amis was Scherz, and Wood was Goldmann - which now belongs to Random House as does Heyne), which were - to my knowledge - never abridged and received an overall proper treatment (but they still didn't sell, as a result of which not all of them were published). But their one and only shot at the Flemings was that aborted 2003/04 edition. And they did at least a new typesetting, which has never happened before. If you take a 1960 Ullstein CR first and compare it to Scherz' last edition from 1992, they're absolutely identical inside. Page 112 in one is the same as page 112 in the other, literally to the T. They're all nothing but reprints. But the big mistakes were made by other people, long ago. It's just the fact that they repeated them (even though they meant to avoid that).

I was hoping for the movie tie-in edition of CR, to be a new one (Hello? What better opportunity did they need?), as it would have been a signal that they're working on it, but it was identical to the 2003 edition.

As to why they didn't dig much deeper into topic of the German editions' shortcomings...
Well, I'm certain they did 'off the record' as you said, but if you are a freelance journalist in Germany with a focus on movies, you don't exactly go chasing Heyne (=Random House=Bertelsmann) with forks and torches

[glidrose]

Fantastic PJS interview, read it if you haven't already.

Though I wish he'd finally cough up who those other five names on the 1979/1980 shortlist were, dammit!
 

PJS:
Yes, both knew Fleming's books very well, but sometimes I had to intervene. Gardner wanted to make Bond a fan of Gustav Mahler because he was himself. I rejected that idea. At first, his books sold fine, but then sales figures declined. He was far too long at the desk. He always wanted to write as many books as Fleming himself had. Benson I hired [sic!] because of his fact book about Fleming's novels. His first books had a good structure, but many textual errors, but he [also] learned quickly. Fleming's heirs didn't like Benson's books.

re: Gardner and Mahler. I knew about this. Gardner mentioned it in a Sunday Times piece he wrote back in 1981.

Interesting that even PJS thinks Gardner outstayed his welcome.

Didn't know Gardner wanted to write as many books as Fleming. Still remember Gardner telling Starlog he intended to quit after his sixth book.

Also interesting that the Fleming heirs didn't like RB's books. Doesn't surprise me. PJS admits RB's books had many "textual errors". I assume he means problems with the prose.

Circa 1994, I believe that Nichol Fleming (Peter's son) was the Fleming spokesperson on the board of directors. His sisters Kate & Lucy joined in 1993, but didn't take an active interest in the estate's affairs until circa 2000, long after Nichol's death of a heart attack at age 56 in 1995.
 

PJS:
Yes, that happened every day. There came ideas, chapters, whole books. Usually, we sent them all back. Once I looked at a story about Bond in Berlin. He sat the bar of his hotel, ordered 'half a bitter' and asked when the bus for the airport was leaving...

Sounds like a Gardner Bond novel!
 

PJS:
The first teenage-Bond dates back to 1967. it was Harry Salzman's idea to create some 003-and-a-half. It wasn't a success. Charlie Higson's books at first were very long-winding and they had to cut a lot. I once gave the grandson of my wife a copy and he found 'Young Bond' great.

re: Triton's comment above, even though PJS was no longer in charge of IFP, they still consulted him and gave him a copy of the Silverfin manuscript to read and comment on.