The Year of Prime and the Gatekeepers to the World of Publishing
Doom, fangs, bloodsuckers that seep the life out of our words and dreams ... all in greedy hands. This isn't a paranormal, fantasy, dystopian world, this is publishing. Right?
I often hear remarks about how agents and editors don't take risks; publishing houses only want hack writing; and they're all money-hungry ogres ready to dash our words aside, chewing the quality prose to spit it back out. That, and, of course, they'll steal our original, one-of-a-kind idea, make millions, and leave us living lives of bitter misery, writing in a closet on a manual typewriter (since we can't afford a computer). (Unless we're willing to sell our souls for cash and a commercial project. Nothing of quality ever gets published, right?)I also hear that there's no book that's "right" for kids, teens, pre-teens -- nothing suitable. And writers ... sheesh, we're pigeon-holed into being either dupes, drunks, game-players, or just plain lucky. It makes for a great soapbox. It makes for even more interesting movie characters. The sleezebucket agent, drunk, half-crazy, soul-selling writer, gold-digging publisher, and desperate editor make for a pretty cliche cast. Think: Adaptation, Barfly, Deconstructing Harry, Barton Fink. Hell, I'll even throw Misery in there. See what happens when you write what you've dreamed of writing? You get kidnapped by a crazy fan and get your legs chopped off. That'll show you.I hate to be a downer, but the world of publishing from the perspective of a writer through that of an editor, marketing director, library team, design team, illustrator, agent and publisher is WAY LESS DRAMATIC. (I know. Can't make a cool movie out of that, can we?) This is WAY closer to my reality ...
(Okay, okay, I have my occasional glass of wine or beer, and copious amounts of coffee ... that cliche probably holds true for most in this business.)
The thing is, everybody who works in this business does so because they love words. Yep. They love great books, great words, great perspectives, a new take on an old idea (all ideas are old, just the perspective changes). And, at the end of the day, these horrible, awful people spend most of their time making sure great words get out there. Sure, some slip through the cracks -- "bad" writing is published (Ahem, I won't name those.) and great writing isn't guaranteed to get published. I get that. But it's not as big as a crap shoot as we'd like to think.Those "crack-slippers" probably sell a load so that other books can be out there, on the shelves -- a book one editor fought for at acquisitions and publishing house backed; a book an agent knew would sell, even after double-digit rejections; a book an author put everything into, not because she wanted to sell her soul, but because she had a story to tell. And to get these books out on the shelves, lots and lots of people work really hard doing something they love -- reading, writing, and weeding through slush -- they read it all -- because in slush, they'll find gems like: SPEAK and A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES. (The editor actually read the latter because the mother begged him to after her son killed himself. Then it won the Pulitzer.)
So these gatekeepers are actually the ones with open doors -- ready to find their next favorite author, work with someone they know has potential, someone they know will get there. And that person might as well be you, right? (Just lay off the whiskey ... And don't drive on curvy roads during winter in remote areas, either.) We might not LIVE those movie characters, but we sure can learn from them.
I often hear remarks about how agents and editors don't take risks; publishing houses only want hack writing; and they're all money-hungry ogres ready to dash our words aside, chewing the quality prose to spit it back out. That, and, of course, they'll steal our original, one-of-a-kind idea, make millions, and leave us living lives of bitter misery, writing in a closet on a manual typewriter (since we can't afford a computer). (Unless we're willing to sell our souls for cash and a commercial project. Nothing of quality ever gets published, right?)I also hear that there's no book that's "right" for kids, teens, pre-teens -- nothing suitable. And writers ... sheesh, we're pigeon-holed into being either dupes, drunks, game-players, or just plain lucky. It makes for a great soapbox. It makes for even more interesting movie characters. The sleezebucket agent, drunk, half-crazy, soul-selling writer, gold-digging publisher, and desperate editor make for a pretty cliche cast. Think: Adaptation, Barfly, Deconstructing Harry, Barton Fink. Hell, I'll even throw Misery in there. See what happens when you write what you've dreamed of writing? You get kidnapped by a crazy fan and get your legs chopped off. That'll show you.I hate to be a downer, but the world of publishing from the perspective of a writer through that of an editor, marketing director, library team, design team, illustrator, agent and publisher is WAY LESS DRAMATIC. (I know. Can't make a cool movie out of that, can we?) This is WAY closer to my reality ...
(Okay, okay, I have my occasional glass of wine or beer, and copious amounts of coffee ... that cliche probably holds true for most in this business.)
The thing is, everybody who works in this business does so because they love words. Yep. They love great books, great words, great perspectives, a new take on an old idea (all ideas are old, just the perspective changes). And, at the end of the day, these horrible, awful people spend most of their time making sure great words get out there. Sure, some slip through the cracks -- "bad" writing is published (Ahem, I won't name those.) and great writing isn't guaranteed to get published. I get that. But it's not as big as a crap shoot as we'd like to think.Those "crack-slippers" probably sell a load so that other books can be out there, on the shelves -- a book one editor fought for at acquisitions and publishing house backed; a book an agent knew would sell, even after double-digit rejections; a book an author put everything into, not because she wanted to sell her soul, but because she had a story to tell. And to get these books out on the shelves, lots and lots of people work really hard doing something they love -- reading, writing, and weeding through slush -- they read it all -- because in slush, they'll find gems like: SPEAK and A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES. (The editor actually read the latter because the mother begged him to after her son killed himself. Then it won the Pulitzer.)
So these gatekeepers are actually the ones with open doors -- ready to find their next favorite author, work with someone they know has potential, someone they know will get there. And that person might as well be you, right? (Just lay off the whiskey ... And don't drive on curvy roads during winter in remote areas, either.) We might not LIVE those movie characters, but we sure can learn from them.
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