Some thoughts on change
A lot of change is happening in the publishing industry these days. A lot of downsizing, and merging, and, one hears, less books are being bought for fewer positions in publishing lines - the rest of that adage being, quality is getting picked over quantity. I recommended Michael Stackpole's latest Secrets podcast a couple of days ago, and I
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True, very true. :)
Everything about being published is an unknown for me, so I'm not particularly worried about it.
See, and I think that might be key - for you, this isn't a change, because you're not familiar with the current model anyway. Wherever publishing ends up, that's what you'll be tackling for publication when the time comes. But change is scary, and for everyone used to publishing the way it is, I think that's especially true. Unlike the movie and music industries, the book industry hasn't significantly changed in any way for....decades. So I think the changes we're seeing now have a panic inducing effect for some - they really aren't used to seeing it at all.
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*snort* Oh, really. Well, it's not been that long since I last worked in a bookstore and you could have fooled me on that score. I think a lot of times it's who you know in the industry. I mean, look at Cassandra Clare. The second book in her series was just recently released. Quality? I don't think so.
So, if the publishing industry in general is acquiring fewer books, that just means your book has to be better to get picked up.
Unfortunately, I'm cynical enough to believe that what they mean by this it that they'll more or less publish sure bets, like the offerings by James Patterson, Nora Roberts, and Sophie Kinsella, rather than take a chance on an unknown author.
I know, I know. I'm a huge downer. But all is not negative in Palomaland. I do believe this very strongly: someone's got to become the next J.K. Rowling, Stephenie Meyer, Nora Roberts, Dan Brown, Robert Jordan, etc. Why not you? Or me? That is, if this massive writer's block ever goes away. *
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Don't get me started on this one - City of Bones is a finalist for a Locus Award. All I could think was "Seriously??" and "Maybe awards for books are more like the Oscars than I ever thought."
But back on topic before I completely diverge - the books you're seeing on the shelf now are the product of the past two years of publishing, not examples of where it's headed in the future, which is fewer books. Whether those books will ALL be "quality writing" is extremely subjective. Not everyone likes the same things, and some decisions will be based more on "this will sell" than "this is good". Right now, for example, YA is still in a big boom phase - that will fade, but until it does, publishing will continue to acquire mediocre and even occasionally poor books to fill all the slots they have for the latest "trend", simply because they have x number of slots to fill, and only so many really great books to fill them ( ... )
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Arrrggggh!! WTF?! Seriously?! That is just so, so wrong. How on earth did they get past the fact that technically, she's a very bad, very sloppy writer? I'm not talking plot, characters, themes here. She has structurally unsound sentences, misplaced modifiers, comma splices galore. The works! Arrrggh!
Sorry, that just makes me so mad.
And, yeah, I do ultimately agree with the stuff you've said. I guess I'm just living up to my "Miss Crankypants" name today. And I suppose I still have a lot of bitterness left over from all the crappy books I've had to receive, shelve and sell over the years.
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