That paper mill job is behind him now

By the mid-00s, the boys became as monotonous as snowflakes. It became a harder task for marketers to sell and resell these increasingly similar semi-sensations. Ben Kunkel (graduate of Deep Springs College and Harvard); Dana Vachon (a banker); Joshua Ferris (once worked at an ad agency!); Jeff Hobbs (Yale '02); and now, Charles Bock (child of Vegas pawnbrokers -- but a graduate of Bennington College).

With the rise of the memoir and the roman a clef over the last decade, publishers learned that the best character to sell is the author.

"Everybody, you know, mentions I worked in a factory for 32 years," Pollock said. "But I don't think they really dwell on it. And it seems like with the reviews, they had been focusing on the book. Which, you know, is a good thing."

He did not end up feeling like a freak in a cage. "Sort of like the elephant man or something?" he said. "But fortunately they all turned to look at the book when it came time to review."

He's not a guy who really feels comfortable being talked about. (And getting photographed is not a blast for him.)

"I'm not really sure about all that stuff," Pollock said. "I guess it's like if you've got a gimmick, and that's, you know, what they try to use to get some attention or whatever. But I dunno. One of my biggest inspirations was William Gay; he's a Southern writer. And I remember back before I started writing, when his first book came out" -- the 1999 novel "The Long Home" -- I read about this guy who's in his early 50s and was a carpenter and hung drywall all his life. And I thought, wow. There I was, working at the paper mill, and it hadn't really occurred to me that maybe it's not too late yet. And so, you know, I'm OK with them using it. It does feel a little weird at times. Well, it's almost like the focus is a little more on maybe how I got here than it is on the book. But then at the same time, maybe there'll be some people out there who'll think the same things I thought when I read about William Gay: 'Maybe it's not too late for me to do the same thing.' "

"Three-point-five million people would be tempted to buy Cormac McCarthy or Richard Price, the big new literary novel," Pitts said. "And that's the universe and it's our job to make the most of books like 'Knockemstiff.' Clearly we're not going to get to that point. But people always talk about the decline of American publishing. I feel like we have a very vital buzz going on here. Compared to French publishing, or the U.K., I feel we publish a lot of extraordinary writers. And if a guy like Don Pollock can get published, and with decent numbers, I feel like that's a positive thing."

Pollock went out West before publication. He met Amazon.com book-buyers in Seattle. He had lunch with Powell's book buyers in Portland.

"I don't think I'd make a very good businessman," Pollock said. "I was thinking, 'Well, you just write the book, then that's it.' " His agent even got him to start a (rarely updated) blog, even though he isn't good with computers.

He will join Chuck Palahniuk for a tour this spring. Palahniuk, with his big cult following, has also blurbed the book, done interviews with the author, and sent e-mails to his fan list.

"It does help that Gerry edits both gentlemen," said Pitts.

Paluhniak's readings are legendary. "I believe he's handing out blowup dolls this time around," Pitts said.

"A lot of it is word of mouth. It has to catch fire. No amount of marketing can really guarantee that. Thank God too, right?"