Comments | stacia_kane: Publishing: It’s a Business! And it’s hard sometimes.

stacia_kane

Publishing: It’s a Business! And it’s hard sometimes.

Jan 26, 2011 13:23

It seems, much to my surprise, that there’s something controversial about saying “Don’t make enemies of people who may be in a position to help you later on in the career you hope to have.” I had no idea that this was something people would disagree with.

(While I’m on the subject, a link in comments led me to this post by Jeanine Frost, a NYT ( Read more... )

sometimes people lie on the internet, the business of publishing, my opinion for what it's worth, in which i am kind of bitchy, take two, don't trust people who tell you it's eas

Comments 4

ariandar January 26 2011, 23:28:26 UTC

Thanks for these posts. I mean, it made perfect sense to me from the first post, and it boggles the mind that there are people who aren't getting it.

If I said disparaging things about people in my business, or the quality of their services, and they saw/heard me say those things, I'd have a hard time getting them to help me out with a project or a job in the future. It seems like common sense.

tinachristopher January 27 2011, 00:39:45 UTC

I've been following your posts and have read the links. It boggles my mind that there is a discussion. Isn't there something like common sense or even common decency? Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

elialshadowpine January 27 2011, 02:57:43 UTC

"It seems, much to my surprise, that there’s something controversial about saying “Don’t make enemies of people who may be in a position to help you later on in the career you hope to have.” I had no idea that this was something people would disagree with."

I don't think that's what's controversial. I think what people are having problems with is the idea that a review would be something worth writing someone off over. Honestly, I think that's one that's hard for unpublished writers to "get" -- you don't really know how it feels until you've been there.

That said, I am a bit baffled by the editors/agents who've said that they wouldn't work with someone who gave a bad review of one of their clients' books. If someone repeatedly disliked their clients' books, sure, I could see the thinking that they wouldn't be a good fit. One or two dislikes amidst a bunch of likes/loves, though, would seem a bit odd to me.

emlynley January 27 2011, 05:48:20 UTC

I missed the first post on this, but after what you said here I can see both sides of it ( ... )