exactly what I've been trying to say
Dec. 5th, 2009 08:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mmegaerafor a very long time, whenever someone posts about vanity publishing. ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
smallship1's extremely astute comment on e_moon60's post about vanity publishing, quoted in full:
"Well, like all good conspiracy theories, there is a truth behind it. Not that there's a plot, of course, but that there are far fewer openings in the professional book market than there are good writers, and that the process of making one's way from unpublished to published is not always dependent on the merit of the manuscript. I believe that more people do deserve to be published than ever get there. Unpublished writers can also sometimes be disturbed when members of the literary and allied professions come out with utterances such as "everyone has a book inside them, and in ninety-nine per cent of cases it should stay there," and similar. (Actual quote, from memory.) No-one likes to be disparaged sight unseen, and the bad feeling that kind of remark arouses fuels the resentment and paranoia you mention, gives life to the conspiracy theories and plays into the hands of the scam publishers.
Nobody wants to be fooled. That's a canard. People want there to be something they can believe in, either a way for them to achieve what they want or a substantive reason why it's not possible. Yes, it also makes people feel better to have someone or something to blame. That's human. But in the end, it's always a leap in the dark, whether it's to Random House or Teck, Demani & Runne Inc. One will almost certainly reject you, especially if you're unpublished, for reasons often having nothing to do with the work you submitted; the other will take your money and do something with your writings. On the one hand, a gamble with your self-confidence with the deck stacked against you; on the other, a straight commercial transaction, service for money. I wouldn't do the latter myself, because that's not what I want out of being a writer, but I see the appeal."
smallship1's extremely astute comment on e_moon60's post about vanity publishing, quoted in full:"Well, like all good conspiracy theories, there is a truth behind it. Not that there's a plot, of course, but that there are far fewer openings in the professional book market than there are good writers, and that the process of making one's way from unpublished to published is not always dependent on the merit of the manuscript. I believe that more people do deserve to be published than ever get there. Unpublished writers can also sometimes be disturbed when members of the literary and allied professions come out with utterances such as "everyone has a book inside them, and in ninety-nine per cent of cases it should stay there," and similar. (Actual quote, from memory.) No-one likes to be disparaged sight unseen, and the bad feeling that kind of remark arouses fuels the resentment and paranoia you mention, gives life to the conspiracy theories and plays into the hands of the scam publishers.
Nobody wants to be fooled. That's a canard. People want there to be something they can believe in, either a way for them to achieve what they want or a substantive reason why it's not possible. Yes, it also makes people feel better to have someone or something to blame. That's human. But in the end, it's always a leap in the dark, whether it's to Random House or Teck, Demani & Runne Inc. One will almost certainly reject you, especially if you're unpublished, for reasons often having nothing to do with the work you submitted; the other will take your money and do something with your writings. On the one hand, a gamble with your self-confidence with the deck stacked against you; on the other, a straight commercial transaction, service for money. I wouldn't do the latter myself, because that's not what I want out of being a writer, but I see the appeal."
