Opening the barn door…
I’m not too into rants, but a few things bother me. Maybe I’m cranky from lack of sleep, but…
My husband told me about an interview he heard recently on some program…I don’t know, radio, TV, internet…about a man who published his first novel at the tender age of 17. Apparently, this fellow made the following preposterous claim: the fact that both his parents are novelists and among the mucky mucks in the New York publishing world had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with his ability to get a literary agent, admittedly after his parents called around to a few friends of theirs, and again, nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that his first novel was published when he was so young. Um…uh…speechless here. This is kind of like saying that Rumer Willis getting to be Miss Oscar had nothing whatsoever to do with who her parents are.
Don’t misunderstand. I don’t begrudge anyone their success. I’m just saying that a foot in the door is definitely worth two in the mouth, and if someone cares enough to give you that, you are one lucky SOB. I guess we all like to think we earn our way. Sometimes we do indeed, after the path has been smoothed by someone else. Just be careful. To quote Elvis Costello - The same people you misuse on the way up, you might meet up, on your way down.
So what else is bothering me? Why You (Still) Want An Agent - by Eric over at Pimp My Novel. No quotes, but I will provide the link. http://pimpmynovel.blogspot.com/2010/08/why-you-still-want-agent.html
Eric makes it sound so easy! Like these literary agents are falling out of trees and playing leapfrog to get to you, because man, they all wanna pimp your books! I won’t even go there. I got off that wagon years ago.
Thanks to the internet and the blogosphere, pretty much everyone knows about the Dorchester move to e-publishing and Barnes and Noble’s demise - well, we knew that was coming, but it’s still too damn bad. I wonder how small, local bookstores view the situation. I recently read a question on one of my writer’s loops…an author asked if we think the traditional New York pubs are going to move into the e-pub business big-time, pushing out the current e-publishers.
My response? No. The internet levels the playing field. E-publishing allows those of us who’ve been ignored by the traditional pubs to play the game. It’s a good thing, capitalism at its best. The cream will still rise to the top. Books will become more affordable, readers will continue to have easy access their favorite authors and genres, and book bloggers - who have themselves revolutionized the book review/promotion industry - will continue to thrive. I swear, fifteen years ago I worried about increasing rates of illiteracy. No more - the internet has increased literacy, spreading the desire to read all around the globe. ***I recently ran into someone who quite literally believes the internet to be the work of the devil. My mouth dropped open. No sound came out. How can you argue with such an irrational thought process?
One other rant - this comes from an author on one of my loops who read a comment on another loop - an unpublished author said she was saddened by Dorchester’s announcement because she doesn’t want to be e-published…she wants to be a real author. What does that make the rest of us, chopped liver? Well, maybe if we’re my gramma’s chopped liver because hers was really really exceptional…
