魔幻童话的猎人--哈利·波特先生

　　　　The Hunter of the Magic Tales - Mr Harry 1 Potter

      Barry Cunningham still laughs about that moment in 1997，when he told a single mother with a knack 2 for fantasy storytelling to find herself a day job，because writing children's books did not pay．He could not have known then that his decision to publish a book about a boy wizard would start an international publishing phenomenon，or that within six years the first－time children‘s book writer in question would be richer than the Queen of England．The“find a day job”blunder has become part of the legend of Harry Potter，as has Mr Cunningham‘s role in picking up the book on behalf of Bloomsbury，its publisher in the UK，after other，longer－established companies had turned it down．But the cheerful 51-year-old‘s story does not end with the career－making move of signing J．K．Rowling，Harry Potter‘s creator．In fact，the former marketing 3 director left Bloomsbury weeks before the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher‘s Stone，the first instalment of the boy wizard‘s adventures．Today，he is running his own boutique children‘s book publisher-The Chicken House-and，once again，being credited with turning little-known storytellers into bigtime bestsellers．His career began in the late 1970s at Penguin 4 Books．There，Mr Cunningham says，he learnt the importance of promoting authors directly to children．"Children‘s authors have enormous respect for their market-and I understood that they were thinking about children，whereas adult writers are not thinking about the outside world [when they write]；their process is internal，"he says．After being ap pointed 5 marketing director for Penguin Books he was headhunted by Random 6 House，where he became director of sales and marketing for its British operations．But the long-lunch lifestyle took its toll 7 and Mr Cunningham eventually left Random House to do freelance work，before being approached by Nigel Newton，Bloomsbury‘s chief executive，with the idea of creating a children‘s list for the company．"I said to Nigel，‘I can do this for you．I know what children want．‘I had never edited a book or commissioned one．Much to his credit，he said OK，"Mr Cunningham says．It was not long before Christopher Little，J．K．Rowling‘s agent，got in touch with a new find．"I did not see any direct financial benefits [from signing J．K．Rowling] but it has given me a huge reputation—and the intangible thing is the confidence it gave me in my own judgment 8．"Word of mouth about his eye for talent even prompted executives at Scholastic 9，the largest publisher of children‘s books in the world，to approach Mr Cunningham in 2001 after reading in a trade publication that the man who discovered Harry was looking for a distributor for his new publishing company．“We thought greatly of his talent and we knew his taste．We felt he had a sense for looking for new voices [combined with] a commercial sense，”says Barbara Marcus，the president of Scholastic children‘s books and distribution．“It‘s odd to say a 50-year-old man knows what a 13-year-old wants to read，but I do，”says Mr Cunning－ham．Scholastic‘s commitment to distribute in the US every new fiction title Mr Cunning-ham pub lishes gives The Chicken House the force of a worldwide publisher without constraining 10 Mr Cunningham to the sometimes risk－averse culture of big corporations．“I do work on my own terms．It‘s important that I don‘t become part of a corporate 11 synergy”he says．“I do six new fiction titles a year-I want them all to be a masterpiece．In big companies，you can‘t be sure they‘re all a masterpiece．”

Still，competing with the bigger publishing houses can be difficult．Mr Cunningham says there are publishers with deeper pockets who have attempted to poach some of his biggest talents-despite unwritten rules in the publishing industry that say such behaviour is un-acceptable．“So far，for a variety of reasons，they have stayed with me．What I can offer is that thing that publishers used to offer．I‘m their first reader；they can call me ．．．I want them to be successful as much as they do．And if one book doesn‘t work，I‘m not going to drop them，”he says．Mr Cunningham says the extra attention to detail，from editing to marketing，means his small operation is turning out a better product in a market where standards are slipping “I think books are dramatically less well edited．There is a higher percentage of mistakes，there are flabby plots—someone should be saying，‘this shouldn‘t be like this‘，”he says．Another success of Mr Cunningham‘s was a decidedly more personal one：his decision to give up drinking 15 years ago．“One part of my recovery was an important realisation that I could be all the things I was-an extravert，a pursuer of new ideas and a risk－taker—with－out recourse to artificial substances，”he says．“If you force yourself to take a look at yourself and your talents and say，‘these are what I‘m going to go with‘，it is a wonderful thing．”

[参考译文]

提起1997年那件事时，巴里·坎宁安依然觉得好笑。当时，他劝一位一心要写幻想故事的单身母亲找一份工作，因为写儿童书的收入甚微。

那时他并不知道，他决定出版那本关于巫术男孩的书竟会在国际出版界创造一个奇迹。他也没料到，6年时间内，这位首次出儿童书且受争议的作者竟比英国女王还富有。“找份工作”这句蠢话成了《哈利·波特》传奇的一部分。

在一些历史更悠久的出版社拒绝出版该书后，坎宁安先生代表英国出版商布卢姆斯伯里买下该书的出版权，这也成为此传奇的一部分。

对生性开朗、51岁的坎宁安先生而言，签下《哈利·波特》作者J．K．罗琳绝非事业的尾声。事实上，在巫术男孩系列冒险小说第一部《哈利·波特与魔法石》出版前数周，他辞去布卢姆斯伯里营销总监一职，离开了出版社。如今，他经营自己创办的“小鸡书屋”——一间精品儿童书籍出版社。他继续帮助默默无闻的作者成为畅销书作者，广受人们的赞誉。

20世纪70年代后期，他从企鹅出版社起步。坎宁安先生说，那时他认识到向儿童直接介绍作家的重要性。他说：“儿童作家极其尊重他们的读者，我知道他们想的是儿童，而成人作家（在写作时）却不考虑外部世界；他们的创作过程是主观的。”在企鹅出版社任命坎宁安先生担任营销总监后，兰登书屋将他挖走，请他担任出版社英国分部的销售及市场总监。

然而，兰登书屋的午餐时间冗长，这种生活方式让坎宁安先生最终离去，开始从事自由职业。后来，布卢姆斯伯里出版社首席执行官奈杰尔·牛顿找到他，打算为出版社开拓儿童书目。

坎宁安先生说：“我对奈杰尔表示，‘我可以做。我知道儿童想要什么。‘此前我从未编辑过书或约人写书。他同意了，应该说他有眼力。”

不久，作家经纪人克里斯托弗·利特尔来找他，向他推荐J．K．罗琳。

“（签下罗琳）并没有给我带来任何直接的经济利益，但这使我声名大增，并且还有一个无形的益处：我对自己的判断力有了信心。”

坎宁安先生慧眼识才的能力就此传开。甚至在2001年，世界上最大的儿童书出版商学究出版社的高级职员在业界出版物上读到一则消息：发现哈利·波特的人正为自己的新出版社寻找分销商，随即便与他联系。学究出版社儿童出版及分销总裁芭芭拉·马库斯说：“我们看中他的才能，并且了解他的品味。我们觉得，他有发现新人的能力，同时又有商业意识。”

坎宁安先生说：“一个50岁的人竟然知道13岁孩子想要读什么书，这很奇怪，但我确实知道。”

学究出版社承诺，将在美国分销坎宁安先生出版的每一本新小说，这使得小鸡书屋拥有世界级出版商的影响力，而坎宁安先生又不必受制于大出版社有时规避风险的文化。

“我确实按自己的方式行事。有一点很重要，那就是不让自己成为大出版社协作的附庸。”他说：“我每年出版6本新小说，我要它们本本都是杰作。在大出版社，你不能确保只出版杰作。”

不过，与大出版社竞争还是比较困难的。坎宁安先生表示，尽管出版界有些不成文规定，认定某些行为不可取，但一些出版商凭借财力雄厚，试图挖走他手下最出色的作家。

他说：“迄今为止，出于各种原因，这些人仍然和我在一起。我所做的与过去的出版人一样，那就是当这些作家的第一读者，他们可以给我打电话……我希望他们成功的心情与他们自己一样迫切。如果一位作家的一本书没有成功，我不会因此不要他了。”

坎宁安先生表示，自己格外关注从编辑到营销各环节的细节，这意味着，在出版水准日渐下跌的市场，他的小出版社推出了上乘的书。他说：“我认为书籍的编辑工作做得远远不够。错误比例很高、情节松散。有人会说，‘不应该这样啊。‘”

坎宁安先生的另一成功要更个人化一些：15年前，他决定戒酒。

他说：“戒酒其中重要的一点就是意识到，不必借助酒精，我也可以充分展现我自己：性格外向、追求新观点、敢于冒险。如果你迫使自己审视自我和自己的才能，并且说，‘这正是我要的品质‘，这种感觉很棒。”