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Book publishing: killing a harmless dream
May 16, 2008 | 7:29 am
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By Robert Nagle
If you follow a literary blogger long enough, every few months you’ll encounter a post/rant about the “dirty little secret of publishing”. You know the type. A blogger rants about the commercialization of an industry, how indie publishing (or ebook publishing) is the wave of the future, how dinosaur-like businesses are forcing pap at the public, how bookstores are ignoring the midlist author, how the Internet/blogging/Long Tail will change everything. Mixed in it is a lament about the economics of book publishing (conveniently overlooking the fact that most used books are available for merely the cost of shipping).
To say I am familiar about this subgenre of complaint literature is an understatement. Every two weeks in graduate school my creative writing teacher John Barth used to hand out photocopies of magazine articles full of dire predictions about publishing. We read them, we chuckled, we wept. Another major figure in the genre is Michael Blowhard, a blogger who has worked in publishing for a while (Here’s a random assortment of links). Every eight months or so a new variation of this essay comes out, along with a thread of 100+ indie writers who chime in with their thoughts/complaints/witty rationalizations. Once, a few months ago I stumbled across one of his older essays about the subject. Being bored, I read through the entire enjoyable thread..only to discover a comment in the comment section made by me (apparently I had read the same essay several years ago). Rest assured that my comment was brilliant.
By accident, I stumbled upon and enjoyed another literary/publishing rant by Michael Blowhard (dated 2003). He tries to understand the human need to publish books and how to channel it more productively. Here’s his advice:
But why turn your urge to create into “writing a book” in the first place? You say you’ve got a story to tell? Well, why does it have to be a book? You’ll burden your life with a tedious project for a couple of years, you’ll probably overstretch your material, and then no one will read the results. Why not realize your project in a manageable and pleasurable way instead? Put in a month of writing, keep it to a compact length, and post it to the Web. (There really aren’t many stories that need more than 50 pages.) It’s certainly true that no one may pay attention to your work despite its being out there on the Web. But at least you’ll have told your story, enjoyed the process, made your work available — and you won’t have ruined your life, or broken your heart.
No one listens to me, of course, and it’s probably better that way. I confess that The Wife berates me (lovingly and charmingly, of course) when I go on like this. She says I’m being a killjoy. Lots of people dream of writing books. What a harmless dream — why kill it?
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Comments:
“It’s certainly true that no one may pay attention to your work despite its being out there on the Web. But at least you’ll have told your story, enjoyed the process, made your work available — and you won’t have ruined your life, or broken your heart.”
I agree with that 100%. I know a few people who’ve written books, several books in fact, and they believe other people are bound to want to read them and it’s just a matter of finding an understanding publisher who shares their dream. The problem is they want to monetize these dreams and are resentful that the rest of the world doesn’t want to play along.
I read the shareware exploits of Richard herley with interest and mention was made of Cory Doctorow or John Scalzi. The thing is they don’t just give away their works (and as far as I know Scalzi only ever gave away one book with a tip jar mechanism – but I could be wrong) they’ve spent YEARS building a community around them on the internet and Scalzi made the bulk of his living until recently writing non-fiction.
Then there was the headshots with submissions story (I’m starting to feel like “Chuck”, piecing together a plot from disparate threads) which possibly means traditional publishing is going to become more akin to PR/management for writer-personalities with their websites and associated branding. It’s almost here now.
This is why I have an intense dislike for literary stuff (writers, fiction, etc). Everything is doom and gloom, broken souls, and unavoidable failure. Life sucks and then you die.
Geez.
Reality may be harsh, but I don’t want to wallow in it!
My advice to this person is: publishing is hard. Deal with it.
Yeah, it’s difficult to find an audience with all the hundreds of thousands of authors and works being published. We are now in an age where information is thrown at us from every angle; no longer are we starved for news like the pre-Gutenberg days. But, you write because it’s what you love to do. Nothing more, nothing less.
Publishing works, it’s a business like any other, and just because some people don’t like it, or think that it’s destroying the creative integrity of literature, doesn’t mean that it’s wrong. That would be like saying “oh gee, my mechanic is asking $400 for that part for my car — he’s destroying the integrity of the vehicle!” Sorry, but no. The intent of a car is to transport people. The intent of the publishing industry is to provide readers with entertainment. And there are corresponding parts to that. Marketing. Salability.
Understand that. Or get out of the game.
Thanks Heather for your literate response.
Every time I read one of these types of opinions, I want to scream.
Yes, writing is hard work done by people who want to tell a story. Even if it is the same story from last year, no one has told it “their” particular way. That’s what makes reading so enjoyable, so adventurous, a story told in a new way; funnier, more thrilling, more introspective, more character centered, more imaginative, the list goes on.
Alas, people like to fall out of the woodwork suggesting it isn’t worth the time, effort and energy. Ridiculous.
As long as an author exist with a story to tell they think worthy to tell, publishing (in some form) will always be around.
And I have no idea why the idea of “monetizing their dreams” is suggested with such contempt by Bill.
Doctors “monetize their dreams” of helping people get well.
Accountants “monetize their dreams” of working with numbers.
As Heather points out, mechanics “monetize their dreams” of working on car engines.
Even police officers “monetize their dreams” of keeping law and order.
So why not authors?