This is truthfully a hard thing to know. I interned for a literary agent in 2013 and learned a ton from the inside. I’m also a published writer and developmental book editor. The truth is: So much of the pub biz has to do with luck, connections, friends in the industry. Your work needs to be strong, edited, and have all the major story e…
This is truthfully a hard thing to know. I interned for a literary agent in 2013 and learned a ton from the inside. I’m also a published writer and developmental book editor. The truth is: So much of the pub biz has to do with luck, connections, friends in the industry. Your work needs to be strong, edited, and have all the major story elements, sure, but even if they do there’re a thousand reasons why you might get rejected: the 21-year-old intern is hungover and doesn’t like your first sentence; the idea you have has ‘already been done recently’; your material is too dark, too raw, not ideologically on the ‘right’ page; it’s not a marginalized writer’s story; etc etc etc. The myth that it’s all about quality is just that...a myth. There are some incredible trad pubbed books out there...and there are some god-awful trad pubbed books. Ditto self-pubbed and indie books. In the eve I think the right path is different for every individual writer. It depends on your goals. What you want. How free you want to be with your idea/language/marketing. Ad Infinitum.
Amen. Thanks, Michael, and Kate. I knew too much about publishing to even want to deal with it, and went straight to self-publishing in 2007. I don't advise or recommend the "right" course to others for all the usual reasons. There's hassle and humiliation either way. But at least I could make my case directly to readers, and I'm told I've done far better than most conventionally published authors. As a reader, though, I do give a damn about quality. I can't say it has made me happy to know *why* US publishing is in such dire straits.
Thanks, Michael, and thank you for articulating the problem so well. What a cruel and colossal con it is for people in publishing to even pretend the game isn't rigged. BTW, reading Bennett Cerf's At Random let me know this isn't a new problem, but it has certainly worsened.
Let's try not to forget there are hundreds of publishing professionals out there who are not trying to rig anything or con anyone, but can't possibly work on all the books that deserve to be published. I know the spirit in which these comments in this thread are made, and I am only taking this with your best of intensions but keep in mind a lot of us are doing our best, too.
I did belatedly realize my comments are tactless, Kate, so thank you for your kind tolerance. I even count a few people in the industry as friends! Much of this comes from my being approached by countless people who want my advice--which I have no desire to give, since I feel incredibly unqualified, and try to point them toward Writers' Market. Even when I am blunt (but kind!) in telling them the truth, they don't want to hear it. And then I think of NaNoWriMo, and wonder why anyone would encourage even more people to try to publish? When I speak in schools, kids (as young as nine) often ask how they can get published. I emphasize the joys of writing for themselves, friends, and classmates. It's advice I followed myself. (And thanks for all you do here. It is interesting, and it is appreciated)
This is truthfully a hard thing to know. I interned for a literary agent in 2013 and learned a ton from the inside. I’m also a published writer and developmental book editor. The truth is: So much of the pub biz has to do with luck, connections, friends in the industry. Your work needs to be strong, edited, and have all the major story elements, sure, but even if they do there’re a thousand reasons why you might get rejected: the 21-year-old intern is hungover and doesn’t like your first sentence; the idea you have has ‘already been done recently’; your material is too dark, too raw, not ideologically on the ‘right’ page; it’s not a marginalized writer’s story; etc etc etc. The myth that it’s all about quality is just that...a myth. There are some incredible trad pubbed books out there...and there are some god-awful trad pubbed books. Ditto self-pubbed and indie books. In the eve I think the right path is different for every individual writer. It depends on your goals. What you want. How free you want to be with your idea/language/marketing. Ad Infinitum.
Amen. Thanks, Michael, and Kate. I knew too much about publishing to even want to deal with it, and went straight to self-publishing in 2007. I don't advise or recommend the "right" course to others for all the usual reasons. There's hassle and humiliation either way. But at least I could make my case directly to readers, and I'm told I've done far better than most conventionally published authors. As a reader, though, I do give a damn about quality. I can't say it has made me happy to know *why* US publishing is in such dire straits.
Amen 🙏. Well said 🔥
Thanks, Michael, and thank you for articulating the problem so well. What a cruel and colossal con it is for people in publishing to even pretend the game isn't rigged. BTW, reading Bennett Cerf's At Random let me know this isn't a new problem, but it has certainly worsened.
Let's try not to forget there are hundreds of publishing professionals out there who are not trying to rig anything or con anyone, but can't possibly work on all the books that deserve to be published. I know the spirit in which these comments in this thread are made, and I am only taking this with your best of intensions but keep in mind a lot of us are doing our best, too.
I did belatedly realize my comments are tactless, Kate, so thank you for your kind tolerance. I even count a few people in the industry as friends! Much of this comes from my being approached by countless people who want my advice--which I have no desire to give, since I feel incredibly unqualified, and try to point them toward Writers' Market. Even when I am blunt (but kind!) in telling them the truth, they don't want to hear it. And then I think of NaNoWriMo, and wonder why anyone would encourage even more people to try to publish? When I speak in schools, kids (as young as nine) often ask how they can get published. I emphasize the joys of writing for themselves, friends, and classmates. It's advice I followed myself. (And thanks for all you do here. It is interesting, and it is appreciated)