Comment Re:The publishers are to blame too (Score 1) 854
On the one hand, you're right, publishers are part of the problem these days, as they've merged themselves into (or with) corporate monoliths that only care about next quarter's numbers. Capitalism and art don't mix very well.
On the other hand, do you know how many frikkin' queries, proposals and manuscripts your average literary agent or editor has to deal with on a weekly basis? Do you have any idea how big their reading piles get just from manuscripts they've requested? Reading takes time, and there's only so much time available, so, yeah, stuff that might well find an audience can instead fall through the cracks because it didn't grab the reader in the first 5 pages. This is one of the reasons so many editors won't even read stuff that isn't repped by an agent, because the agent is one more filter to help control the flood of words that comes from writers every day. It isn't always fair, but it's not something that can be helped when publishing means picking and choosing a limited number of titles to see print each year.
You found an alternate way to distribute your work to people who want to read it though, so I congratulate you on that. Maybe someday the internet will prove to be as much of a boon for independent writers as it has been for iny musicians.
On the other hand, do you know how many frikkin' queries, proposals and manuscripts your average literary agent or editor has to deal with on a weekly basis? Do you have any idea how big their reading piles get just from manuscripts they've requested? Reading takes time, and there's only so much time available, so, yeah, stuff that might well find an audience can instead fall through the cracks because it didn't grab the reader in the first 5 pages. This is one of the reasons so many editors won't even read stuff that isn't repped by an agent, because the agent is one more filter to help control the flood of words that comes from writers every day. It isn't always fair, but it's not something that can be helped when publishing means picking and choosing a limited number of titles to see print each year.
You found an alternate way to distribute your work to people who want to read it though, so I congratulate you on that. Maybe someday the internet will prove to be as much of a boon for independent writers as it has been for iny musicians.
