It’s a quote I come back to, often, in my creative and innovation practice. The famous Henry Ford quote, “If I asked people what they wanted, they would’ve said a faster horse.” It’s meant to be an explanation for creative genius, that you can’t research your way to innovation because most people, on the whole, cannot imagine a future that leapfrogs our current tools or culture.
Publishers are, generally, pretty risk-averse. In every book or artist they choose to publish, there’s an element of gambling. If we ‘invest’ in this book, what will it return? Will it pay for itself? Will it produce a profit?
And, like in horse-racing, there are safer bets than others. In an objective, increasingly commercial world, books authored by celebrities will have a higher chance of a good commercial return than a story by someone no one has ever heard of. Why? Well, celebrities have their own reach (thousands or millions of social media followers), and also ‘brand recognition’. The theory goes that if someone likes a well-known comedian’s comedy, and they see a book by that comedian, even if that comedian has not track record of writing good books, they’re more likely to purchase it because they believe they’ll be more likely to enjoy it.
In many ways, the de-risking of book publishing works similarly to the sentiment that Henry Ford tried to express. True originality scares people. Publishers, on the whole, know what works. Whether it’s the percentage of celebrities v new authors, or certain subject matter over another, there are safe bets. But, every now and then, a publisher takes a ‘big risk’. They publish something that’s outside of the normal, safe, cultural evolution. Sometimes they lose, but sometimes they win, big. There are millions of kids books about poo, farts, bums, and mums. There are far fewer kids books about death, disability, racism, or grief. But when books from that second group come along, they blow us out of the water. Yes, they need to be done ‘well’, but they often are. I love Enchanted Lion Books and Gecko Press for this reason.
As an artist, and one who wants to remain published, it’s safe for me to pitch books and stories to publishers that I know are in their ‘safe-zone’. Need another bunny story? I got one. How about one about love? Yep, here you go. But, the power and beauty in books for children is that they are one of our last spaces where inter-generational conversation is possible. It’s one of our final ‘public squares’ where true conversation and exploration can still happen. If there was ever a place to influence our world, this place is it. It’s partly why it’s such an honour and pleasure to be working in it. But, to change things, things need to change. And so while what publishers will tell us is that they want a ‘faster horse’, it’s our responsibility, as artists, to show them that what they really want is to get to their destination – a better, more inclusive world – to be part of the change for good.