A good book with a bad publisher is like trying to sell Hermès at Target

November 9, 2023 1:41 AM

Guardian Long Reads profiles literary agent Andrew Wylie. "Wylie’s favourite spot is the chain restaurant Joe and the Juice, and he relished his own description of the cardboard bread and desiccated tomatoes in its turkey sandwich. 'You feel right next door to extreme poverty when you eat at Joe and the Juice, which is a comfortable place to be,' he said. First, though, he wanted to smoke, so we strolled through Midtown as he puffed away on one of the Cuban cigars he buys from a shop on St James’s Street in London’s Piccadilly. By habit or design, our walk brought us to the sleek glass exterior of the Penguin Random House headquarters, where we stood for a moment in front of a digital display advertising a novel called Loathe to Love You, the latest instalment of a bestselling series of romances about Silicon Valley types. Wylie was exuberantly disgusted. 'I mean, that speaks for itself,' he exclaimed."
posted by Ballad of Peckham Rye (21 comments total)

"You feel right next door to extreme poverty when you eat at Joe and the Juice"

seven fucking quid for a sandwich. And that's outside London. I've never wanted to punch someone in their rich, privileged face so badly.
posted by Dysk at 1:48 AM on November 9, 2023 [22 favorites]

When Wylie Googled Kissinger’s name in 2008, he was confronted with books attacking his humanitarian record. “Kissinger was depicted as a war criminal who enjoyed killing babies – basically a monster,” Wylie said. “So I went to him and said: ‘Henry, this is not good legacy management.’” Wylie told Kissinger to fire his agent. Then, he added, “You need to get all three volumes of your memoirs back in print, and write a new book, a strong book.” Kissinger quickly became a client of The Wylie Agency.

That's what triggered the first face-punching impulse for me.
posted by sohalt at 2:09 AM on November 9, 2023 [28 favorites]

He has had a number of clients who are working or have worked at the CIA, including the former director Michael Hayden and the current director, Bill Burns. “We have access to projects that come out of the CIA as a first port of call,” Wylie said.

Yeah, I wanted to come in and say something about his baleful influence on publishing, how that 80s outlook wrecked everything, how the bit about the amphetamines was zero surprise at all, how he has no right to look at any popular bestseller and sneer because he made this industry, but...yeah, no, the idea of joining the face-punching mob is the appropriate response to this rich-boy-cum-tough-guy. I can't remember the last time I read a profile so heavy with damning praise.
posted by mittens at 4:14 AM on November 9, 2023 [6 favorites]

For a long time, Wylie was known for his expensive neckties and Savile Row tailoring […] But when I spent time with Wylie over several days in New York and London, he always wore blue jeans and a woollen shirt-jacket. Day after day, the uniform never changed; it suggested that his old suits were props in which he took no intrinsic interest, and that if he no longer had need of them, they could be cast away.

Almost anything pales against taking it upon yourself to rehabilitate Kissinger's image and profit from doing so, and as other comments have noted, that's just the worst thing in a target-rich environment, but as a kind of insult added to many injuries for someone who enjoys tailoring and will almost certainly never be able to afford anything bespoke, this annoyed me. I guess it fits with him "perennially reinvent[ing] himself in ways that reflect the spirit of the age".
posted by Strutter Cane - United Planets Stilt Patrol at 4:39 AM on November 9, 2023 [7 favorites]

...he has no right to look at any popular bestseller and sneer because he made this industry,

I'd argue that Mort Janklow was more to credit, or blame.
posted by BWA at 4:43 AM on November 9, 2023 [2 favorites]

seven fucking quid for a sandwich. And that's outside London. I've never wanted to punch someone in their rich, privileged face so badly.

Asking out of curiosity: is that considered expensive for a sandwich in the UK? In US dollars, that would seem pretty reasonable -- that's about the cost of a so-so sandwich from the deli counter of the nearest grocery store to me.

Sandwiches aside, this guy sounds terrible.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:56 AM on November 9, 2023 [2 favorites]

Dip Flash, it would be at the very upper end of what people would typically pay. You can pick up a decent Pret sandwich for a fiver. Where I live you could get a proper Cornish steak pasty for under a fiver. So basically somewhere that is charging 7 is above what the typical Brit would spend on a sandwich, and clearly beyond what could be considered poverty living.
posted by biffa at 6:17 AM on November 9, 2023 [6 favorites]

Where I live you could get a proper Cornish steak pasty for under a fiver.

Now I'm jealous.

Thanks for the explanation, and I completely agree that the "poverty" claim is ridiculous and insulting.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:26 AM on November 9, 2023 [1 favorite]

What an awful man!
posted by johngoren at 7:12 AM on November 9, 2023 [1 favorite]

Regards London prices from the gov UK website

Quote:

National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates

The hourly rate for the minimum wage depends on your age and whether you’re an apprentice.

This page is also available in Welsh (Cymraeg).

You must be at least:
- school leaving age to get the National Minimum Wage
- aged 23 to get the National Living Wage - the minimum wage will still apply for workers aged 22 and under

Current rates

These rates are for the National Living Wage (for those aged 23 and over) and the National Minimum Wage (for those of at least school leaving age). The rates change on 1 April every year.

23 and over £10.42
21 to 22 £10.18
18 to 20 £7.49
Under 18 £5.28
Apprentice. £5.28


End quote:

So yeah, £7.00 for a sandwich is kinda obscene.
posted by Faintdreams at 7:15 AM on November 9, 2023

(how much does it cost in metric?)
posted by mittens at 7:37 AM on November 9, 2023 [1 favorite]

Historically, that's around $10-$11, though of course it can vary. So, less than a Pret sandwich costs in Manhattan, but Pret is a small step up from "poverty level" fast food.
posted by praemunire at 7:53 AM on November 9, 2023 [1 favorite]

Historically, that's around $10-$11, though of course it can vary. So, less than a Pret sandwich costs in Manhattan, but Pret is a small step up from "poverty level" fast food.

According to their website, the nearest Subway (chain sandwich place) to me sells a foot-long tuna sub for $10.29 plus tax. The non-chain, somewhat better sub shop nearby sells a smaller sandwich (maybe 6-8" long) for about the same, as does my local grocery store. None of those are what I'd call "poverty level" by any means, but also aren't nearly the pinnacle of what you can spend on a sandwich if you go upmarket.

So I found the above explanations of what cost expectations are in the UK really interesting on this.
posted by Dip Flash at 8:11 AM on November 9, 2023 [1 favorite]

Asking out of curiosity: is that considered expensive for a sandwich in the UK?

Pop into a supermarket (pretty much any one) and you can get a "meal deal" consisting of a sandwich, a drink, and a snack (typically bag of crisps or a chocolate bar, some places also have options for fruit or bakery products) for about four quid (under, most often).
posted by Dysk at 8:22 AM on November 9, 2023 [5 favorites]

(...and it should be noted that even that is something you'd consider a rare treat if you were on benefits, which is itself not the most extreme poverty you can end up in in Britain.)
posted by Dysk at 8:36 AM on November 9, 2023 [3 favorites]

Somehow it makes perfect sense that money, Maoism, and speed would be formative experiences for a key figure in the blockbusterization of litfic -- that combination of social and literal capital, limitless energy, and a willingness to stomp all over anything that's in your way.

The phrase "tactical vulgarity" is perfect, as is the idea of this guy declaiming Homer in the original Greek to Ezra Pound in Venice (imagine the sound of two pseuds pseuding!).

Folks who enjoyed the article might also like this old profile of Candida Donadio, another legendary agent.
posted by Gerald Bostock at 9:22 AM on November 9, 2023 [2 favorites]

Wylie, his family money ultimately backstopping his risks, was undeterred.

A+ sentence. That sort of privilege needs to be called out more in profiles like this.
posted by polymath at 12:35 PM on November 9, 2023 [3 favorites]

I love this sandwich derail. What's the going price for the tesco meal deal these days? How about a pie from Gregg's? Oops - 4 pounds, sorry bad reading.
posted by jonbro at 10:42 PM on November 9, 2023

I love this sandwich derail.

I think we Americans are a bit jealous. This was going around on Twitter yesterday.
posted by The_Vegetables at 8:24 AM on November 10, 2023

To continue the sandwich derail, my American experience with Joe and the Juice is their outpost in the lobby of an AWS office building in Seattle. Sandwiches there are $12.50 and you eat surrounded by tech workers who are drinking $7 lattes.

It is near to something quite unpleasant.
posted by whisk(e)y neat at 11:00 AM on November 10, 2023 [1 favorite]

He didn't even actually eat the sandwich:

but the wait for a sandwich was more than a quarter of an hour

I want to live like the common people,
Eat crap turkey like they do,

Wanna live like the common people, never mind, there's a queue
posted by Rat Spatula at 6:28 PM on November 10, 2023 [3 favorites]