i think these are sage words, m, i just don’t want to be discouraged in a market area that has always been challenging. i mean, really, what is the percentage of writers who are actually making a living wage to feed and house a family, eh? if my old writer/artist/musician crowd around boston is any indication, the percentage is miniscule. even the relatively lucrative touring musicians i knew still had at least part time day jobs and lived quite frugally.

The publishing model is changing. As print-on-demand and digital media proliferate, traditional publishers struggle–and the current economic climate is having a major impact. Any established publisher is not going to take a chance on a piece of fiction that doesn’t totally blow his or her socks off–AND scream “marketable.” Your book has to be more than good. It has to be superlative. Forgive the sweeping generalities, but you won’t get published unless the editor who reads your manuscript stays up all night to finish it because he or she can’t put it down and drives straight to work to send you a contract or to call your agent. If the publisher isn’t confident that your book is going to sell at least 5K copies–hopefully many times that amount–they won’t bother, regardless of how much they might “like” your book. It has to be marketable, not just likeable. It may be dripping with literary merit but if it’s not an easy sell, no go. The mid-list of “worthy” fiction has shrunken drastically over the past decade. Most publishers just aren’t interested in another “good” book. There are millions of “good” books out there, and millions more sitting in the slush pile. Publishers want a GREAT book that leaps out from the pack–something that sales reps can pitch to Barnes & Noble like selling water to a fish. The piles and piles of well-written, nice little books that end up on the remainder table? Publishers are steering clear. All of that mid-list fiction just amounts to nails in the coffin.

In the traditional publishing model, publishers take on all the risk, because EVERYTHING THAT BOOKSTORES BUY IS RETURNABLE. Bookstores buy at a huge discount, pocket the flap mark-up, and then RETURN whatever they don’t sell. (They can also buy non-returnable books at a deeper discount, but that’s not how the big guys generally operate.) The book pulping business is huge. Publishers don’t like spending lots of money publishing a book just to spend more money sending their books to the pulper when copies return from the bookstores by the ton and the distributor’s warehouse starts charging for storage.

I’m not saying this to bring anyone down–I’m saying this so that you see that rejection is not necessarily a judgement of weather your work is “good” or “bad.” It MIGHT be a judgement. But it might also be the reality of this market, and the result of what a specific publisher is really looking for–what they think that readers want, and what they think they can sell. I’m sure there are small independent publishers that will still take a chance on an unknown first-time writer and a good book without an obvious marketing hook, but I don’t think that those publishing houses are sitting in a lot of cash right now either.

The only thing you can do is ensure that your book is “sock-knocking-off” good. Then, it’s just a numbers game. The cream of the crop will find its way into the right hands eventually. Have faith. In the meantime, make damn sure that your book is something that will make an acquisition editor’s heart skip a beat or two.

http://picsandpoems.blogspot.com/2009/07/for-hell-of-it_16.html

i know nothing about this world, so i can only relate it to what i experience at my arts festivals. i’m putting my work out there for everyone to critique…and maybe across the aisle from me is someone with buy/sell crap selling earrings for two pair for $5. then they walk into my booth, which is filled with pieces i actually created myself with precious metals–gee! real silver! imagine that!–and wonder why my prices are so much higher. as far as the rejection piece, i see it in their faces. you’d be surprised how rude some people can be with their “oh, i don’t really like this stuff” comments. fine with me, to each her own. and then there’s the type that says to her friend “oh, you could make that yourself” as they both pick it up to study it. they bug me more than the ones who just say they don’t like my pieces.

rejection and lack of appreciation for what you’ve done comes in all forms. i think the key is just to hold you head high, have faith in yourself and what you’ve created, and know that there is someone out there who will truly admire and appreciate what you’ve done. you’ll find the right publishing house for your book. i’m certain of that.