How Greg Mortenson outsmarted his publishers
(Read article summary)"Three Cups of Tea" author Greg Mortenson explains how the wording he wanted for his book finally prevailed.
If you've read Greg Mortenson's "Three Cups of Tea," then you understand that Mortenson knows a thing or two about how to handle himself in a tribal jirga. So it should come as no particular surprise to watch this video clip in which he explains how he finally prevailed in a dispute with his publishers over the words to be used on the jacket of his runaway bestseller.
At the moment of the negotiations, however, "Three Cups of Tea" wasn't yet a bestseller, and, Mortenson tells a crowd at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, he was just "this little guy from Montana." His publishers were quick to explain to him that only 1 nonfiction book in 8 makes a profit. In other words, Mortenson had no particular clout.
But he did have a strong feeling about the yet-to-be-published true story about his quest to build schools throughout Afghanistan. He wanted its subtitle to read "One Man's Mission to Promote Peace ... One School at a Time."
What his publishers preferred, however, was, "One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations ... One School at a Time."
To Mortenson, there was a significant difference between the two. "If we fight terrorism," he says, "that's based in hate. But if we can promote peace, that's based in hope."
