As a child I dreamed of having a book published. Then, later on as an adult I dreamed of having a book published. And finally after about thirteen years of serious writing, I did. It took a long time. It took several manuscripts (with lots of revisions). And as C.R. noted earlier this week, it took a lot of waiting.
When I dreamed of having a book published, I did not dream of taking a manuscript to a printer and paying them to print it out. I dreamed of having it accepted by an editor and bought by a publishing house. There were other avenues. I could’ve found somewhere to print it.
But I didn’t want a self-printed book. I wanted a published book, that a publishing house would back and lots of people would actually read.
Books today are taking on lots of different forms. Of course you have your traditional paper ones (my favorite). And audiobooks (which I also enjoy). You also have e-books, Amazon’s new Kindle, POD technology, and all sorts of things. Our industry is changing.
The problem is…how can you make sure a book that you want to “publish” is worthwhile? Sure, a few people might be able to write a book and print it and have it be great. But for the most part…we all need some help. I know for my books besides my own first trusted readers, I have other published writers that I call on, my editor, and other people at the publishing house. And my editor doesn’t let me get away with anything. Thank goodness.
And we all know — even with those layers we can get bad reviews. I’m not saying every book that goes through the traditional process is a great triumph. Some are better than others. But at least there’s a very good chance that the especially bad stuff will get cut out!
I was talking with one of my friends the other day and she told me, “Now I have two friends who write books!” I was excited about that, and asked her about the other person’s book. She told me about the plot and characters, and then said, “Oh, and she published it herself!” I have to admit, I wanted to groan. But I didn’t. It’s just…after thirteen years of rewriting and rejections and all that waiting…it’s frustrating to know that a lot of people don’t see the difference.
People can say what they want. I’m not whining. I’m frustrated. I know writers who want desperately to get published. And I know how that feels. But please, I want to tell them. Make sure what you publish is worthy of being published. I know my early stuff wasn’t. There’s probably a lot of what I write now that’s not. But that’s why we have channels to go through. If you publish something of bad quality now, it’s only going to hurt your career — not help it.
I know it’s a tough business. And it can be depressing and awful and demoralizing. I’ve been there.
But don’t you want your work to be the best it can be?
I know I do.
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Amen and amen.
by C.R.
on March 6th, 2008 at 7:20 am
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Hi Judy. Great thought about the publishing industry. And I think you hit the nail smack square on the head.
I have an additional thought that’s only a my opinion. It also involves the publishing industry. Remember when there were smaller book stores and they had a number of book displays? Remember when a book store didn’t look like the Cleveland Public library in downtown Cleveland?
I think many years ago someone in the industry got greedy. This person decided they wanted a larger percentage of the market, so rather than compete and win a larger portion of the existing published writers, he/she decided to grow by allowing his/her publishing standards slip a bit…..and wa-la, a lot of writers who were not quite good enough to be published indeed got published. The competition saw what was happening and did the old keep up with the Jones’s thing and did the same thing to grow their market share.
The end result is what we now have….book stores of huge size that look like the main library in a big city.
And this has hurt the industry and hurt individual writers and mostly the readers. The old saying one bad apple spoils the barrel could be one of the many reasons people are reading less. They pay good money for a book that should not have been published, and it kills their desire to buy again.
So greed again, in my opinion has started to destroy a good thing.
What you have talked about here may be just an expansion of my whole greed concept.
Now please, let me step off my soap box. Its is time for another form of real corruption and greed to take over the pulpit. I now return the mic to one of the national, regonal or local politician…Mr/Ms Greedy & Powerful….do you have any comments for the masses?
Z
by Zorro
on March 6th, 2008 at 7:57 am
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Thanks for tackling a touchy subject, Judy. Everything you say is right on, especially the part about folks not distinguishing between a “real” published author and one who is self-published. I’ve done library programs with self-pubs who are treated no different by the readers or the librarians. (Not that I want them sitting in a corner or anything, but you know what I mean!). I’ve had a self-pubbed lean over during a program and whisper to me, “I want to be just like you someday.” And I want to scream, “You won’t be just like me. Never. Not unless you go through all the rejections and the waiting and the editing. That’s what makes a ‘real’ author!”
by Casey
on March 6th, 2008 at 8:19 am
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There have always been self-published writers, of course, but today’s technology makes it cheap and easy. And so many people are doing it that the stimga is being erased.
I can see it for non-fiction. If you are an expert on some subject and you want to have a book you can sell at lectures, etc., that’s perfectly fine. You are not really selling yourself as a writer, but as an expert on Victorian doorknobs who has a book on the subject. But fiction is another matter. Being a published fiction writer means that your work has been judged worthy by professionals.
Last fall I did a library event down state. They rounded up a local guy who was writing a book to fill in for a professional writer who couldn’t attend (Casey something or other)and the rest of us professional writers had to share the panel time with. His dream was to some day finish his book and then self-publish. He spent his speaking time asking the rest of us how to go about it! And they gave him the same can of popcorn as the rest of us!
So, what I’m saying is this: It’s all Casey’s fault.
No, I guess I’m saying that when we get asked to do panels, we ask if there will be self-published authors involved. And if so, say no. And then we’ll be called snobs.
by C.R.
on March 6th, 2008 at 9:10 am
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Exactly, CR. And who wants to be accused of being a snob! (Well, maybe that wouldn’t be bad in the right circumstances.)
But that’s the whole thing . . . self-pubs are just daring someone to tell them they’re not “real” writers, and when we do (for instance, some organizations no longer recognize self-pubs for contests, etc.), they get all bent out of shape.
Hey, get the same manuscript rejected by editors a couple dozens times, then you have the right to get all bent out of shape about something!
I recently spoke with a self-pubbed who said she sent her ms. to one publisher, got rejected, and decided she’d just publish it herself. Sigh.
And if I knew there was going to be popcorn, I would have been there!
by Casey
on March 6th, 2008 at 9:20 am
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Remember that library gig we did last year with was a panel of us and several self-published authors? It was all I could do not to run out screaming when the one guy was talking about “how to publish your book.”
Since then I *have* asked about other authors who will appear at events. And I have turned them down when told that they are inviting “all kinds of authors, no matter how they’re published.”
And I’m not a snob. I’m just someone who wants people to understand what the industry is really about. It’s not a hobby. It’s a career.
by Judy
on March 6th, 2008 at 10:10 am
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Exactly Judy!
z
by Zorro
on March 6th, 2008 at 11:00 am
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I agree with you completely Judy. I haven’t been published, and while I’m working on a book, I’m not holding my breath for it.
I’ve had friends, even one of my parents, offer to self publish it for me. And the idea sounds great: you keep all the profit, you can hock it to anyone, and no waiting a year or more to see it on the shelf.
But it isn’t worth all of that if I don’t even try to get it to an editor and a real publisher. THAT is being published, not standing next to a mass printer going “One box to the library, one box to my mom’s office, and one to my husbands unit so they can all be guilt’d into selling these for me.”
by Marissa
on March 6th, 2008 at 11:24 am
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Oh, Marissa, you make me laugh! I’m with you…that is not the kind of writer I ever wanted to be. Let us know how your writing goes!
by Judy
on March 6th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
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Great post, Judy. And a great comment from Zorro - your style is a little more tactful than Tuesday’s post on memoir mania in my blog, but I’m not trying to use tact.
Oh, the things I’ve read, or tried to read, that were self published or “vanity” published. These things only inspired me to stick with the “traditional” road to publication. When I finally do get published, I know it’ll be worthy of someone’s time to read it.
I remember as a little kid watching a “Brady Bunch” or something where one of the kids sent away to get a book published, and it turned out to be a self publishing scam. I still remember the kid ending up with a garage full of unsalable books and a bill to pay. Who says you can’t learn something watching TV?
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And a time-less classic, like the Brady Bunch. : )
I know, Steve, that when you’re ready, your book will be great, and will be published. I can’t wait to see it on the shelves.
by Judy
on March 6th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
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In reply to C.R. - I am the library down state. I’m sorry that you felt slighted by sitting on a panel with a gentleman who was not published and looking to be self-published. To give you some background. I am a writer (yes, published in very impressive national magazines, with a slew of rejection letters from “real” publishers and agents - enough in fact to do a very good wallpapering job on most of my home) I have paid my dues as well, so I very much understand the sentiment of the bloggers. In the Internet age anyone can be an author. However,in the midst of my career I have had the kindess of some very well-known, published authors who’ve given me the benefit of their wisdom, and the time to share my experiences at panels I probably wasn’t ready to be a part of. Those venues gave me the encouragement to endure the rejections, fired my determination to succeed and taught me enough (from lack of experience) humility to (usually) know when to keep my mouth shut and how to properly speak before an audience. The unpublished gentleman was a kind man, who retired and wanted to pursue his dream of writing. He ask to come to the panel. I had the opportunity then to turn him down, but did not. He was sincere and earnest and my compassion obviously got the better of my “commercial judgement.” It made me thank of those authors who had given be the opportunity to do the same and I was, shall we say “Playing it Forward.”
I thank the authors who were here for being patient with him. I apologize because I was unaware that his presence would cause such frustration for the panel. As we are a small library, we depend on authors to attend our events gratis. We do all that we can to provide a venue for self-promotion and to help them sell books and aquire new readers. Without much of a budget, it is difficult to give a gift or monetary token of appreciation. While the popcorn tin wasn’t expensive, it was given with appreciation for the time each author volunteered to this library, including the unpublished gentleman.
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My apologies, that should have read “Pay it Forward.” Too quick on the trigger.
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Linda,
I’m sorry if anything I said was hurtful. I had a lot of fun and enjoyed talking to the gentleman I referred to. My intention was not to criticize or offend anyone.
We’ve been having a back-and-forth discussion today about the growing number of self-published authors. While we respect all those who write and share the dream — and believe me, we do — it does concern us that sometimes self-published books and books from traditional publishing houses are not differentiated. My local newspaper here in Akron, for example, reviews self-published books equally with those from regular publishers. Some self-published books may be very good and we all know that some books from major publishers are not very good, but the traditional publishing route is incredibly competitive. Writers work for years to meet their standards. It took me 25 years! That competitiveness is good for readers and good for writers and good for libraries.
Additionally, I worry that the ease at which people can self-publish today (all of those on-line services) takes advantage of writers who are not ready. They take their money and leave them with hundreds of books they cannot sell.
When we raise the issue — as we have today — we run the risk of being criticized. Certainly we are concerned for our own careers, but we are also concerned for the industry we work in.
Art is a very subjective thing. There never will be agreement about what is good and what isn’t. What is worthy of attention and what isn’t. But there have to be standards. There have to be gatekeepers. For example, in choosing what books libraries put on the shelves, librarians carefully read pre-publication reviews and select books from publishers they trust. Standards. Gatekeepers. The public is the winner.
I recently read that about 175,000 books are published annually in the U.S. Only 25,000 of those are novels and only 5,000 of those are published by established houses. Every year hundreds of thousands of manuscripts are submitted. Believe me, those of us who’ve fought those odds and managed to get published know how lucky we are. We also feel a great sense of accomplishment, even if we end up selling only a few hundred books.
Anyway, I apologize if my comments today were hurtful. And I’m glad you joined the debate.
As for the popcorn, that was an inside joke between Casey and me. Last year she couldn’t make it to an event in Pittsburgh because of a family illness. I took the bag of candy on her table and ate it on the way home. So, I was teasing her that somebody else got her popcorn because she couldn’t make it to your event.
We really appreciate those little gestures at events. The coffee mugs, the candy or popcorn. And I especially enjoyed judging all those pies at your wonderful event!
by C.R.
on March 6th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
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Zorro-you are absolutely correct. Sometimes having all those choices in front of you in the bookstore can be completely overwhelming. Where do you start?! My oldest son had that problem when we were at the bookstore on Saturday. He eventually narrowed it down to the science fiction section and then to one author, but we were in there for 2 hours.
by Pam Adamson
on March 6th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
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Pam…your son is going places! For him to focus for two hours on what book to buy and read….well, hats off to him, and you.
Hope he enjoyed his selection, added it to or started his own private library and returns to the book store of his choice and selects another book.
Z
by Zorro
on March 6th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
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Some of us were at a libarary event about seven or eight months ago. There were several self-published authors there who were very nice, well-meaning people. The audience must have included thirty or forty people, and when one of the audience members asked about editing, one of the self-published authors offered this comment.
“You should have someone read your manuscript for spelling errors and stuff like that.”
Yes. You should. My publisher has my wife,( a 35 year High School English teacher) read it, then it goes to my editor. It comes back to me for approval of corrections, then it goes back to my editor. It then goes to a proof-reader who sends it back to me for approval. At that point it comes out in Advance Reader Copy form and goes back for a final proof.
Yes…you should have someone else read your book. And someone else, and someone else and someone else. And you’ll still end up with mistakes.
This is a serious business, and if it’s not taken seriously, it demeans all of us.
by Don
on March 7th, 2008 at 2:13 am
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C.R. & Fellow Bloggers - My feelings weren’t hurt, I just thought all the authors needed some background and an explanation of my reasoning. I agree very much with all of you about how easy it is today to call oneself a writer, particularly with the internet and POD. I enjoy your blog and learn a great deal. I felt an explanation was necessary to clarify.
As a librarian my perspective is a bit different - Libraries walk a thin line - we like to call it the line between you, the FBI and censorship. Many communities withhold tax dollars if libraries have anything deemed innappropriate by self-appointed citizens who look out for others moral values. Unfortunately, sometimes we are not able to be the gatekeepers we wish to be. But this is fodder for a blog of its own.
So I, thank you all for being a part of my libraries programs. Hopefully, I will be able to have all of you back later this year.
by Linda McMaken
on March 7th, 2008 at 9:28 am
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Don,
Yes! I don’t have a ‘real’ editor, but I’ve got friends (one of which is my high school english teacher who can handle a writers block induced fit with the best of them) who know me well enough that I see red font, size twenty, threatening bodily harm if I keep messing up to and too.
by Marissa
on March 7th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
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I can see that, Linda. I’m sure it is a fine line to walk. Thanks for letting us know about your part of how these things work!
And Marissa, those red words are menacing, but they do help, don’t they?
by Judy
on March 7th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
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Speaking of fine lines…Both pub-pub authors and those from the self-pub world, share the common passion: we wwrite because we have to ‘write’…and from that point the divide sets in. It’s similar to loosing weight, we share a passion to weigh less; therefore, we talk about it and take action to reach our goal… Some choose the blood, sweat & tears of diet and exercise; others take a different route…..lap band or gastric by-pass procedure!
Patience and work ethic may be a difference that makes a difference…some authors seek to get the support from the publishers and other seek to believe that they can “do it alone”. I have a friend who does self publisher and her comment was that she really didn’t want to do all that work and have to make changes…so she chose to do it herself…the “quality” in that situation ’suffers’.
by Jeannie
on March 17th, 2008 at 11:02 am
