How random is publishing today?

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5 Comments

1. 1.

   Thanks for the mention. I think “Rats” is worth thinking about. For one thing, we all sometimes get frustrated and it is good to remember how difficult the task we’ve set ourselves is. That a writer might not be overnight success doesn’t mean he or she is hopeless and can never succeed. It’s just hard and unlikely to happen right away.

   Comment by Eric Mayer — June 8, 2005 @ 7:25 pm

2. 2.

   Thanks Barbara for posting this and leading us to the sites. This seems to be a hot topic once again, and updates on the publishing market are always-good or bad news, regardless-welcome.

   Comment by susan — June 9, 2005 @ 5:54 am

3. 3.

   This can be a very depressing view to consider. Is it true? Perhaps. It certainly rings true in a lot of ways and coincides with the experiences of many, including yourself. I think it’s also important to consider other reasons the conglomerated publishers, the corporate media, may not wish to pick up on a story. Business, in my experience, is full of hidden agendas.

   Personally, I think it’s best to follow your heart: if you want to write, then write. If you no longer wish to write, that’s also fine. There is always a point at which the love of doing something passes, a point which occurs much sooner with the absence of solid rewards. Your fiction pursuit hasn’t entirely been without rewards, some people who have read Shadows Fall loved it, judging by reviewers you didn’t know; people are voting for Snow Angels; unfortunately, love doesn’t put food on the table. With 20+ years of pursuit under your belt, no one will ever truthfully say you didn’t persevere, certainly not me; neither will anyone be able to claim that you were too selfish, given your generosity to the greater community at large with Snow Angels.

   Given those things, it’s a sad day when one is told that it’s not what you do, or how competently you do it, or how much you know, or how smart you are, but luck that is the sole determinant of which manuscript is picked out of the pile. That is certainly not an encouraging way to motivate one to achieve and learn more, nor is it the public opinion of many who advise others on how to succeed. Whether Rats is the truth, or not, I do not know. I do know that if it is the truth, it’s not at all a system that rewards performance—as our culture has impressed and educated us to believe in perfomance-based equality of opportunity—rather, any rewards generated by such a system would be based solely upon the—sometimes or oftentimes false—perceptions of performance.

   I took some time to read the whole Rats essay. I find several things worth mentioning, and while the beginning and middle speak to the direct experiences of many authors and appear to contain much truth, I find the end quite curious. There, Allen’s essay throws up red flags. A literary agency is mentioned by name, the same one that used to send (targeted?) mass mailings to you for years, one which back then was fee-based. Allen states that a course of action to improve the slush problem is for agents to start charging writers fees. He states, in so many words, that the writer isn’t the customer, the publisher is, and that the writer has no right to expect anything in return for this fee. Now, that is certainly not all that he suggests, and for his complete viewpoint, you’ll have to read the book. Nevertheless, these items in his list of corrections to fix the perceived slush pile issue seem quite out of sync with well-worn advice given to writers for many years by respected organizations: “never pay a reading fee to an agent or publisher.”

   I cannot help but wonder if there isn’t an anti-labor agenda at work here, or if the agenda is as simple as steering money to a particular agent. I also have to wonder if the author has a personal, cultural, or class bias:

   “. . . compare writing with other potential careers, even those of a modest kind which might be thought to be below the dignity of someone capable of writing a novel. Consider, if you will, a possible career in the motor trade for a young man; and, for a young woman, a career in hairdressing. For either of these two forms of employment, it is easy to obtain suitable training at modest cost. The job can be done by anyone with average intelligence.”

   Anyway, much of Micheal Allen’s work is based upon the ideas of a person named Taleb. Here are his easy-to-find public works on black swans:

   http://www.fooledbyrandomness.com/blackswan.pdf
   http://www.fooledbyrandomness.com/ARTE.pdf

   While I haven’t finished the longer one of those two, they do require a somewhat higher level of abstraction to understand.

   You might do well to read them instead, if it is your intent to continue to finish then attempt to sell your current work in progress.

   Comment by Ken — June 10, 2005 @ 1:25 pm

4. 4.

   Wow! Go Ken go! Whata guy!

   I started to read the essay and found it depressing. And I don’t know if I really buy into it, though it’s tempting. I am a novice, a hayseed, a nobody plugger. I finished my first book several months ago and had two agents request a partial of my manuscript, which they later rejected. Last week I had two more agents ask for my manuscript, decisions still pending. So somebody is out there reading the millions of queries sloshing around.

   It’s a difficult journey at times. I know of a person who has sent out over 250 queries and recieved nothing but rejection. I’ve sent out 20 and had four agents ask to see more. If luck is a factor, then I must be very, very lucky. Getting published will require even more luck?

   Comment by Reenie — June 10, 2005 @ 4:31 pm

5. 5.

   Readers might want to consider an alternative viewpoint and more insight into U.S. publishing from a veteran agent, Richard Curtis, in his three-part essay at Backspace (http://www.bksp.org/RichardCurtis3 links to the third part, scroll down for links to the other two).

   I didn’t think book publishers even have “slush piles” any more, which is a term I know from magazine publishing, being the place for mss. that arrive O.T. (over the transom, or without being requested). I can’t imagine anyone nowadays sending off material willy-nilly without querying first, or trying to sell fiction without an agent. I mean, why waste your time, energy, and $$?

   Comment by Georganna Hancock — June 12, 2005 @ 4:17 pm

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