Helpful Article for Writers

[bevgray]

Bear with me on the background, I do have a point that may help everyone. I've been peddling my book (which evolved into books) for about thirty years. I encountered all the ups and downs most writers experience (publisher accepts it, then goes out of business; agent "loves" it but wants it re-tooled as historical romance for commercial appeal; etc.).

In the course of explaining to a couple of readers who had emailed and wanted to know why I didn't hang on to find an agent so the books would be "real" books in bookstores, I recalled the article that I stumbled over about four years ago that contributed to my complete artistic halt and reassessment. Anyone interested in the details of my personal epiphany is welcome to visit my blog.

The key for members here is the article itself - ON THE SURVIVAL OF RATS IN THE SLUSH PILE by Michael Allen available at this link . Although he wrote it back in 2005, it still provides an excellent sanity check for everyone connected with books be they publisher, agent, established author, or self-published or beginning writers.

[LoveHistory]

I've saved it to read later, Bev. I'll let you know what I think.

[bevgray]

I definitely am interested in hearing everyone's opinion on it. Thanks LoveHistory.

[annis]

I used to really enjoy Michael Allen's Grumpy Old Bookman blog - unfortunately he found it was taking up too much of his time so retired it.

[Justin Swanton]

Yes, very much to the point. Especially the part about the kind of readers who work through slush piles. I read somewhere about a major publishing house who employed students on holiday to do the reading. I can visualise them having a good hoot over Harry Potter: "Seen this one - 'bout a kid who waves wands and rides broomsticks and stuff. What was she smoking? Yeah, good idea. Let's go have a drag."

[LoveHistory]

Some of his arguments are weak, and there is a lot of "let's assume" going on, but overall he makes excellent points. He actually does what I'm hoping to do with my publishing company, except that I plan to have an entire stable of good writers with whom I work long-term in addition to publishing my own work. I'd even be ok being a launching pad of sorts. I like the idea of mentoring and developing talent within my company, which he suggests would be a good idea for the big publishers.

[bevgray]

I think that's between the lines, LoveHistory. With what is going on with POD and eBooks, I believe we'll see a return to the days when books are created by those who love the expression of the written word (be it self-published writers or small, dedicated publishers producing things readers will enjoy) as opposed to the bottom-line money counters that have taken over so much of the industry with all the mergers that occured a few decades ago. I haven't enjoyed very many of the "best-sellers" in recent years. Styles, characters, storylines haven't appealed to me at all (with the exception of the young adult/childrens market). Historical Fiction was the first genre I lost. Then Fantasy. Apparently, as a reader I'm not on the same wave-length as the Industry professionals who select which books will be published.

Your plan sounds like the publishers of years gone by. The ones who got into the business from a true love of literature and a desire to discover and nurture talent. Your model even resembles what Allen was talking about with the idea of working long-term with writers rather than expect them to hit a mega-bestseller out of the gate (with the exception of putting them on a salary).