The difficulty of getting published today by the big publishers is real for the writer who is more of a mid-list writer, like myself. The prevailing philosophy seems to be that, if they don't think it will be a best seller or earn x-amount of money, the big publishers won't publish it, even if it is well-written. And literary agents have to find novels that they think will meet the big publishers' criteria. And writers have to meet that criteria in their work or forget about being published. Publishing has become a bottom-line business.
What's the majority of us to do (because the majority of us will not write best-sellers)? Has the internet and the self-publishing revolution given us a chance? I think about the USSR and the downfall of the iron curtain. I'm sure the internet and public opinion had something to do with that. What about Tunisia and Egypt? It's pretty well agreed that the revolutions there would not have happened without the internet and Facebook. Is self-publishing on the internet a writer's revolution? I think it is.
I believe the internet has set us free.
We can write any way we want, anything we want. We can experiment. We can follow our dreams. And we can get published. However, besides our primary goal of writing fiction and non-fiction, the self-published writer should organize his own team of editors and proofreaders and cover artists, etc., and become an internet-marketing expert. It's a huge undertaking for the writer, demanding a significant amount of time and effort. But it will work. It's being done.
The internet has set us free..
2 comments:
Well said, but I still think we just need more agents and publishing houses, that would solve everything. It wouldn't be hard to make bigger bookstores, right? LOL.
No, seriously, writing is a business, and we have to treat it as one. Like any business, the guys at the top control things. Why aren't the writers at the top? Maybe self-publishing allows us to be. Let's see how we fair. How many will screw it up for the rest of us? Oh, I am hopeful.
No, we won't all write the next best seller, we can't (there's just too many of us, and not enough time), but damn it, we should try, we should pretend we will, otherwise, our writing won't be everything it could be.
As usual, Richard, love gabbing with ya. You always have such insightful posts.
Thanks for the comment. Oh, I'd be lying if I said I don't dream of whatever I write becoming a best seller. I'd love it. But, based on the NY Times bestseller list, I'm not sure I'm writing the right kind of books. But at least Amazon.com and others have given us an outlet, when all else has failed.
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