Kevin:
I thought you made these same points clearly in your original
comments. In fact, I thought you showed why and how it is so
easy to overlook a worthy manuscript.
By definition, most work is bound to be mediocre. As
standards rise, so does the level of mediocrity. It's a
statistical truism.
Best, Kerry
At 10:29 AM 17/05/2007, Kevin Burton Smith wrote:
>Several of the responses to my post about the
perceived "unfairness"
>of publishers-- including the private messages full
of the usual
>insults and typical hyper-ventilated posturing --
were exactly as I
>predicted.
>
>But they don't negate a single thing I
said.
>
>I NEVER said publishers were infallible.
>
>YES, they make mistakes.
>
>YES, they pass up on gems and publish duds. That's
not news. Or
>anything new. I covered all that in my original
post.
>
>But the question I was responding to was: "Is it
fair?"
>
>And the answer is still "YES."
>
>It's THEIR money. Publishers should be allowed to
publish the books
>and stories THEY think they can sell, whether they're
some massive
>unfeeling super conglomerate based in New York or
some hole-in-the-
>wall indy joint in Squibbley-on-the-Thames or
Thickneck, Nebraska (or
>even some dinky little cyber fart like THRILLING
DETECTIVE floating
>out there in the ether).
>
>Any half-way decent publisher that isn't an outright
vanity press or
>pay-to-play entity rejects far more than they
publish. And most of
>what they reject suffers from far more than a simple
lack of
>commercial viability.
>
>Anyone who thinks differently is fooling themselves.
Or trying to
>make themselves feel better.
>
>It's not that I'm unsympathetic. I've received my own
share of
>rejections over the years, and I know several writers
who deserve
>better than they've been getting from the publishing
industry. Some
>of them are even on this list.
>
>But that doesn't mean the industry is necessarily
unfair -- just that
>it's a hard, tough racket. You need talent and
perseverance and Lady
>Luck smiling at you 24/7 to make it.
>
>But the more talent and perseverance you have, the
less you have to
>rely on -- or resort to blaming -- that
bitch.
>
>Or those oh-so-unfair publishers.
>
>Kevin
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