There's an interesting collection of comments after this post over at Editorial Anonymous (she of the fabulous blue dinosaur slush pile picture.)
My favorite is this after a litany of things that aren't so great about the publishing industry: You have to know this going in. And you still have to want to do it.
Publishing isn't perfect. It's a small, insular, power imbalanced industry. I still love it. And my fiercest hope is to work only with people who love it too.
I'll never understand how people think their behavior - good or bad - won't come back to them.
ReplyDeleteHi Janet,
ReplyDeleteI ended up posting about this on my blog too. http://joelleanthony.com/daily-writings/i-forgot-to-go-to-law-school/
cheers,
Joelle
Hi Janet,
ReplyDeletethere are some people who 'have a go' at writing a book, like it's a hobby, and think it would be nice to have one book published.
They are dreaming!
Your site, and others like yours, show it's an industry for people who work hard and want to be in it because it's their passion. You don't get into it as a sideline, you do it because you're passionate and you believe in what you're doing.
Editorial Anonymous should be a mystery writer. She says in effect: “I am not going to tell you who I am, but whoever I am, someone I will not name did something I will not mention, but whatever it was it was bad, or at least questionable. Well, I’ll just admit it. It fell into a grey area, whatever that is. And even though you don’t know what it is, take it from me, you’d better not do it. Consider yourself warned.”
ReplyDeleteWell, I am hooked. Totally hooked. Normally I would not care, but now I want in the worst way to know what she is writing about.
Imagine if the papers had got this in 1963. Here is now the news would read:
“Somebody we will not name, except that some people call him Lee Harvey Oswald, did something some people don’t like, but we won’t tell you what it is, but whatever it is, he should not have done it, if he did do it, since some people think a conspiracy did it. But if he did do it, whatever it is, (or even if he didn’t do it) we are going to put him on trial for doing it, whether he did it or not.”
“Unless Jack Ruby shoots him first.”
If Editorial Anonymous ever does go into mystery writing, I hope she shoots you a query. Or, er, sends you a query. Nick the part about shooting.
It will be a sure fire (oops, there I go again) bestseller.
And I will be ger first customer.