And so they reject it.”Ĭertainly, The Last Kabbalist is not easily pigeonholed for chainstore marketing. “When a book comes along that doesn’t fit a formula, the publishing people simply don’t know what to do with it. “I do think that what happened with my book highlights some weaknesses in American publishing,” says Zimler, MA ’82. By then, it was a bestseller in Brazil and Italy. Finally, five years after New York literati had first rejected the manuscript, Overlook Press released The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon in May. On the strength of this success, Zimler signed with a new American agent. Flammarion won and, like a row of dominoes, Zimler soon secured contracts with publishers in Germany (Rowohlt), Italy (Mondadori), Brazil (Companhia das Letras), Spain (Edhasa) and England (Arcadia). The French editors loved the book, and a small bidding war ensued. He went to Paris, caught editors on the fly and left the manuscript with receptionists. So Zimler decided to approach other foreign publishers himself. Even after the book was translated and published in Portugal - and jumped to the top of the bestseller list within a month - he couldn’t get his New York agent to return phone calls. editors thought the murder mystery set in 16th-century Lisbon was interesting and well-written, they concluded that it wouldn’t sell. One American publisher after another rejected his manuscript. Like the proverbial prophet, writer Richard Zimler found a warm reception everywhere except in his own country.
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