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Writers...Fight for That Right to Be Vetted, Edited, and Published Professionally (?)

7/13/2012

12 Comments

 
Traditionally published author Shannon Hale wrote a post on her blog where she stated the following.

“I suffered the years of rejections. I was told again and again that I was not good enough, my stories were not good enough, my book was not good enough. Most published writers I know suffered through a similar process. For good or ill, it's survival of the fittest, and many writers give up too soon. The yearning to share creative works is natural and fierce. Here's my unrequested advice: Writers, you just keep going. You keep trying. You keep improving. You fight for that right to be vetted, edited, and published professionally. You fight for it. Sometimes it takes years to find the right house, the right editor, the right manuscript, but you do it and your book will be better for it.”

I don’t get this. About 1% of all new authors vying for a publisher gets signed up every year, and of those 10% do well enough to be considered successful (0.01% of the total). Also getting published traditionally means signing up the rights to your books for life, earning meager royalties in exchange for ever-shrinking advances, and zero control over how your books are published. And this typically happens only (if ever) after years and years of the so called “query go round.”

Authors are supposed to “fight” for their right to endure this torture?

Also what does “vetted, edited, and published professionally” mean? If you self-publish you can hire professionals who will edit and format your books. But what about “vetted,” what is it to be vetted? Ideally it means that somebody decides whether what you write is good enough to be published. But there are two problems with that. The first is that your book may get rejected, not because it’s not good, but because the publisher doesn’t think it will sell. The second problem is that agents, editors, and publishers are not competent at deciding whether a book is good. Shannon mentions the saga of her children’s book “The Goose Girl.” She writes:

“The goose girl, was rejected (unread) by dozens of agents, then after I found an agent…it was again rejected nine times by the who's who of children's publishers.”

Finally she got an editor who loved the book, which was published, won awards, and is still in print. She posts some of her rejection letters and calls these editors “well-meaning (but obviously misguided!).”

So this is my point: The majority of the people in the publishing business fit this description. They are “misguided.” These are the people to whom an author is supposed to send his/her book in the hope of finding the oddball who will love it?

I sympathize with Shannon and I am glad she has found her niche and is happy. But for every writer like her there are scores of very talented writers who are not making it and due to simple numbers (0.01% of the total) will never make it. I would not wish what she went through on anyone. She writes:

“Oh, the days when you looked for the positive in a rejection--at least they bothered to send a letter! At least they seemed to read it at all! At least they said something sort of nice! (Oh, the pain, the pain!)”

Is this really necessary? Fight for your “right” to go through this? No wonder some writers stop writing altogether while others even kill themselves! Self-publishing is not the Holy Grail to riches but at least you don’t have to deal with this stuff. With self-publishing you are in control, and the only one who will decide whether you are good enough is that person who is ideally suited for this: the reader And this is all that matters in the end.

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12 Comments
Adriene link
7/13/2012 11:46:48 pm

I think deep down many writers would love to have the "validation" of being traditionally published, and I don't begrudge those who reach that goal. But there are too many genuinely talented writers who need to be read and who don't have to depend on the publishing houses to give them that opportunity.

Reply
Rolando link
7/14/2012 03:23:20 am

Yes, I've seen this too (the validation syndrome), and it's the wrong attitude to have when you self-publish. If anything self-publishing makes you less likely to get traditionally published unless you make a lot of money and gain recognition.

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BarbaraAlfaro link
7/14/2012 04:59:32 am

An excellent post. I've read that some self-published authors who "make it big" and sign with a traditional publishing house, still retain control of their ebooks but let the trad publisher take care of hardcover sales and marketing. I agree with so much of what you've said and said well.

Reply
Rolando link
7/14/2012 02:40:39 pm

Thanks for your comment Barbara. I think what you mentioned would not happen very often because if an author retains control of the e-book they can price it lower than the print book, and the publisher would not like that. The only case I know of is John Locke, but he signed a very particular deal with a traditional publisher.

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Barbara Alfaro link
7/14/2012 09:39:14 pm

Hugh Howey who wrote the science fiction book/s "Wool" is another example. Several others I can't remember held on to US rights but let publisher handle book in other countries.

Rolando link
7/16/2012 02:40:27 am

That's true for the case of print books in other countries. I guess publishers there are not as concerned with digital sales eating into their paper profits. Maybe they think the e-book markets in those places are not as much of a problem for them as in the U.S. I do know however that in the U.S. few publishers will allow you free reign over the e-book version. It is a missguided mindset but that's how they think.

Reply
David Biddle link
7/20/2012 05:22:56 am

I know so many wannabes and modestly published writers (who should know better) who think the Indie route is somehow second class. The thing writers need to understand is that publishers aren't any different than venture capitalists. They're investing in you and they need to make money. VC guys all talk a good game and many of them really believe in their investments, but in the end they're looking for a profit. The way the game works is they buy you off or promise "royalties" but they make the profit. You have to be an idiot to think that you've "proven" yourself if you still want to play that game.

Reply
Rolando link
7/20/2012 11:29:42 am

I wouldn't use the word "idiot," but I think that many writers that have gone through the torture of the traditional publishing process are incensed to find that self-published writers are being successful without having to endure what they did. Naturally they think that their way is THE way and don't think very highly of anyone that has taken a shortcut.

Reply
Patricia Lynne link
7/23/2012 01:16:41 am

So writers have to fight to be found good enough to be published by a traditional publisher? I think we just have to look at the recent best sellers to see that good writing doesn't always matter. Look at 50 Shades of Grey. Most people I know think it's horribly written and from what I've seen, I agree. Yet, it sells. A publisher is looking for a good book, but they are looking for a sellable book more. They are a business and to survive they have to make money. If they had to choose between a well written book w/ no market and an okay book that will have people arriving in droves to buy, they're going to pick the okay book.

Reply
Rolando link
7/23/2012 08:31:41 am

Yes, publishing a book is a crapshoot. There is no way of telling whether it will sell or not. Decisions regarding whether to publish are not based merely on whether the book is "good." Many authors upon getting rejected think "my book is not good enough" and they invest more time rewriting to make it "better." This is the wrong mindset. Thanks for your comment Patricia.

Reply
Remittance Girl link
10/9/2012 08:08:43 pm

My impression is, after spending years as an indie writer and getting 'validation' this year from the trad publishing world is that I was disappointed at how little it meant to me when I got it.

Looking at the sort of things that trad publishers are supposedly 'vetting' and pushing, I have to say, their standards have dropped so low that this 'validation' means very little anymore.

I did negotiate a pretty fair deal regarding my rights timeline and royalties, etc. And I appreciated the luxury of a good line editor.

But my total lack of control over what I felt was an inappropriate cover, the lack of critical feedback on my manuscript, etc., was a let down. I won't be pursuing it again.

On the other hand, having an agent has been a real delight. So, that much of the 'validation' process was worth the struggle.

Reply
Rolando link
10/10/2012 02:48:05 am

Thank for your comment, and I am glad you were able to negotiate a good deal. Most writers get the standard boilerplate stuff which is very slanted towards the publisher. But I see that going trad was not exactly what you expected. In any case the bottom line is what trad or self-publishing can do for you. Many writers have projects going on in both modalities; there is no need to choose one or the other. Just make sure your trad contract does not contain a non-compete clause that would prevent you from self-publishing other books.

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