Re: RARA-AVIS: Are unpublished novels best left unpublished? YES!

From: vhend1234@aol.com
Date: 16 May 2007


  In a message dated 5/16/2007 4:30:11 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, kvnsmith@thrillingdetective.com writes:

They're not very good.

They may be preposterous or inept, hackneyed or incomprehensible gibberish, clumsy or poorly structured or any of a multitude of other sins, but most rejected works share one thing in common. They're not what the publisher is looking for, or not good enough to put in the editorial time to make better.

There's no big conspiracy.

The clarion call of "unfairness" is just a balm to soothe untalented, frustrated writers looking to blame someone -- anyone -- for their lack of literary of success. Anyone but themselves.

Talk about pathetic. Boo hoo hoo.

If you think the literary marketplace is unfair, put your own money where your mouth is. Publish your own damn novel. There's no law against it. The vanity presses are waiting for you, licking their chops.

But the literary marketplace is unfair?

To who?

When was the last time you went out to buy -- with your own money -- a book you knew would be poorly written? Is it "fair" that you only buy books you think you will like?

One final point: the rise of relatively cheap POD vanity presses has, for the first time in history, given us a clear look at what traditional publishers have rejected. As a reviewer, I've probably read at least a hundred of these things over the years. The picture is not pretty. There are a lot of people out there who think they're writers.

They're not. They're typists.

And often not even very good ones.

Grrrrrr....

Kevin

I don't think anyone would say it's a conspiracy, but we all certainly know of unpublished or poorly distributed novels that are wonderful, and we see mountains of best seller crap by the cash registers. Popular taste is on a superficial level, whether you're talking about music, art, or lit, but there's not a lot to be done about it. Vicki

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