Writerly envy

[anghara]

Others have written about this recently, notably Maggie Stiefvater here

What she says: (1) who ever said publishing is fair? and (2) yes, it IS fair, in the manner of publishing - because nobody cares about who you are or how long it took you to write your book or whatever, so long as you sell books

Comments

[anghara]

Very true, and borne out by all the controversies over "whitewashing" covers of assorted books over the last few years... to give them, presumably, a leg-up in the "fair" marketplace, which, of course, ABSOLUTELY consists of only white able bodied and have-access-to-a-certain-amount-of-disposable-income readership. Nobody else reads books. Nobody. Do they...?

(But that's a whole 'nother entry, right there...)

[anghara]

Er, this was meant to reply to Shveta - LJ did a hiccup someplace...

[la_marquise_de_]

Yes, this, very much so. Because, as well, I do not agree that the free market is 'fair', which the original piece seems to hold. I can't: it visibly isn't in all sorts of ways to do with access and perceived cultural value and class and race and gender. And I won't accept 'fair' as a definition in those circumstances.
Plus, you know, gentle jealousy is human. We all feel pleased and sad at once sometimes -- pleased for the friend, but a little sad that we too can't have a little piece of the cake. Labelling the latter as bad just feeds into the negative self-image stuff most of us already carry around. I have always felt Anne Lamott has the best line on this: it's okay to feel left out. It's normal. It's not okay to use that as an excuse to be hateful to others, but punishing yourself for a natural feeling is pointless.

[shveta_thakrar]

Oh, you already said it, and better. :)

[shveta_thakrar]

Not to mention that way of thinking (the let's hunt for the next superstar mindset) doesn't touch upon the bias for straight, white, able-bodied characters, preferably American, in the publishing industry and how that factors into which books even get published, let alone given tons of marketing and press. It doesn't have to, sadly.

[la_marquise_de_]

Precisely. The 'free' market is only 'free' for some people.

[green_knight]

The publishing industry, by and large - at least the large corporations - are doing something very dangerous and self-destructive: they're only buying things that they are certain they can sell to their esablished customers. Who *will* dwindle over time.

As long as a handful of bookbuyers - who really *are*, as far as I know, almost exclusively white and male - determine which books get published, that isn't going to change.

We'll just have to see how the industry develops in the next five years.

[sartorias]

Straight, white, male, able-bodied. And if not American characters, written by an American male.

[green_knight]

I've been thinking about these things recently (as in, the last couple of days) and I'm more determined than ever to work at breaking into the market... but I don't think I will concentrate my efforts into aiming for the big six, because it's a small market (as in, not many slots in any year for unknown writers) and I don't think I'm writing the right kind of book to break into it.

The Write Fantastic event on Saturday > set me wondering about the British market - sure, it's smaller, but it's still a market, and it seems to be more aligned with my reading tastes. I don't expect NYT bestseller status, so I think other than working on writing the damn best book I can, I also need to look for people who publish the kind of book I write, because I'm not in line with the bestsellers, and no matter how much I try, I don't think I ever will be

[anghara]

"But just because I've not met that kind of success doesn't mean that I wish anyone to have any less. "

Well no - neither do I - but there does seem to be a certain mindset out there that success, much like actual physical financials, is a finite quantity and there's THE PIE (and no more than that) and if somebody else gets a big slice it leaves the rest to be squabbled over by those who have yet to have ANY.

In one sense success is far more like a good well, and there's a bucket, and if someone gets a full bucket when they draw it up and someone else gets it only half-full doesn't mean that there's any less down there at the bottom of the well to be drawn. But the problem - taking that analogy to its ridiculous extreme - is that there are some people who don't get issued a bucket, or have to share one between too many people. It's ACCESS to success that's a bottleneck, not the success itself...