I speak as a writer of adventure stories
loved by everyone -- except for publishers. Still, the grief of a thousand
rejections has been fruitful, it made me realize a fact about our society.
Let me share this insight with you.
Let's switch to the movies. If I want
to predict whether I'll enjoy a new film, I'll take the trouble to read
the reviews the Experts have prepared. If they offer praise, I know I'll
hate the film. If they're scathingly critical, there is a good chance that
I'll enjoy it. This is not certain, because I may dislike it for reasons
the Experts never thought of. On the other hand, I can get a good prediction
by listening to the opinions of ordinary people who are not Experts.
Moving further down from the rarefied
heights, we come to food. A plain, honest cheese sandwich will please a
hungry person. The connoisseur's jaded palate is far beyond such boring
simplicities. When you have habitually sampled the best the great chefs
can offer, you lose the ability to enjoy the fare that feeds the rest of
humanity.
Who writes articles on restaurants?
Who reviews films and books? Who decides which composer's music will be
played, and who reviews the concert? Who decides which writer's offerings
will be published?
A form letter of rejection by a literary
agency says: "... we receive thousands of submissions a year and reject
more than 90% of them. ... But take heart: rejecting manuscripts that become
bestsellers is a publishing tradition." The same letter also points out
that "Although we have sold books to more than 90 publishers since 1972,
our clients' work is still rejected. Nor do all of the books that we sell
succeed."
At least, there is a solution in this particular
case. A submission from a hopeful author should be assessed in the first
instance by ordinary people, just like those who will consider buying it.
Not by Connoisseurs, but by Customers.
There is a Ph. D. thesis in this for
someone, comparing the sales figures of books selected by the two methods.
I offer the idea free of charge. I don't even want a discount voucher.
Since I have written this essay, two major publishers have implemented online schemes that at first sight sound like my idea. However, there is a huge difference. Their intitial judging panel consists of writing hopefuls who compete with one another. Their opinion is not that of the general public. And in both schemes, they are being cruelly exploited.
There is a far more serious essay
you might want to read here.
Home to Bob's writing Bob's book reviews Book editing service LiFE Award: Literature For Environment
Somebody, I don't know who, once said,
"To be considered Art, modern poetry must have no rhythm, no rhyme, and
precious little sense." There is a general truth here that applies to many
fields of interest.
Much of 20th Century music seems to
be designed to give the listener a headache; and to torture perfectly good
musical instruments until they scream, sob and bellow for mercy.
We Philistines are told that it's
our fault that we don't appreciate modern paintings. Just because it looks
like the random creations of a three-year old doesn't mean that it isn't
Great Art.
I ask you -- who is right, the small
group of Experts, or the great mass of otherwise sensible, educated people
who actually like Shelley and Keats, enjoy Mozart but can't stand Schoenberg,
accept that Picasso was a genius merely because everybody has told them
so but hate his paintings, and instead like Rembrandt and Van Gogh?
The jaded
Expert.
What a wonderful condolence for the
rejected author! Rejection does not imply that the work would not be bought
by ordinary people. It just means that the Connoisseurs can no longer tell
what the Customers would like. Their taste has been spoiled through too
much exposure.
Publishers, like agents, get thousands
of submissions a year. These typically consist of a covering letter, a
synopsis, a resumé of the author, and a short extract from the book,
probably a few thousand words. Some unfortunate person has to scan many
of these a day, day after day, week after week, and select the few the
Publisher can hope to turn into a profit. No wonder predictions are so
woefully poor. Eventual bestsellers are rejected by agent after agent,
publisher after publisher, while some enthusiastically accepted, even prize-winning,
works end up as recycled paper.
It is true that there are thousands
of hopeful writers who are desperate to have their work published. However,
there are hundreds of thousands, even millions, of readers potentially
available to help the Publisher to choose.
Make submissions from authors available
to the public, for example through the Internet. A person who responds
(positively or negatively) to items on the list can be given a discount
voucher for books published by the firm.
Then the professional Expert employed
by the Publisher will have a much easier job: assessing only those submissions
that have received a high enough positive vote from the public.