Sunday, January 07, 2007
Some Post Title Here
Here's an
interesting post from
Joe Wikert's Publishing 2020 Blog. I'm not sure I agree with everything that's said, but the notion that used book sales on Amazon have hurt publishing is quite an interesting idea. I don't know if that's right, but I know that when I see my January 2007 release on Amazon, practically on the day of release, mind you, with links to used copies at a less-than-new price, I don't feel so good. I need people to buy my book new. Otherwise, my publisher thinks I can't sell books for them.
I disagree that agents and publishers act as a closed door to publishable projects. My own experience with reading MSS by unpublished authors says 99% of the books aren't good and probably 98% are really, really bad. I
know these same people are sending their stuff to agents and editors and getting rejected --- because their books are bad. If the author of a good book doesn't keep revising and submitting, that's not the fault of agents and editors. For proof, I offer up
this post from Marjorie M. Liu in which she talks about her submittal process for her first book, a sale out of slush.
Rejection is typically a sign that there's something wrong with the project. If all you get are terse form rejections then, sorry to say, the problem is almost certainly with the project. But if you get nice rejections, encouraging rejections, referral rejections (and by the way, I've had all kinds) then your project is probably pretty good and you should be reading those rejections closely and re-reading your MS even more closely. And you should continue submitting.
I've read a few POD books by acquaintances who said they were frustrated by their rejections, some even said they thought NY simply wasn't ready for their opus. Without exception they were not good books.
Fellow writers: Rejection is trial by fire. Rejection tells you to keep working at your craft. So far, NY is The Show for writers. If you want to have the public read your book, then a print publisher with a editorial review board is where you need to place your manuscript. The editor's job isn't to reject worthy books. It's to publish books that readers will buy. (New. Not used.)
In my opinion, POD means you're accepting less from yourself. It's the worst thing you can do to yourself as a writer. You can't grow as a writer without rejection. I really wish it were otherwise, but it isn't.
Labels: publishing, slush, writing
