Over at the wonderful blog, Grumpy Old Bookman AKA Michael Allen, has posted the beginning of what promises to be an important essay called On the Survival of Rats in the Slush Pile which is about, among other things, randomness in publishing.
Please skip over all the embarrassing things Michael says about me and scroll down to where he begins the introduction. I plan on reading each installment since his thesis promises to be totally fascinating and seems to be, sad to say, all too true as based on these samples:
"But there is, unfortunately, a considerable body of evidence to show that writers, in particular, have a grossly overoptimistic view of their own chances of achieving success (however defined); and every year brings a fresh crop of stories about publishers who have either paid far too much for a book which turned out to be a dud, or decided against publishing a book which some other firm accepted and then proceeded to turn into a smash hit. I immodestly suggest, therefore, that all riders on the publishing merry-go-round might do worse than spend a few minutes considering the thoughts, which are presented here.
"The essay should be particularly useful for writers, because they are the ones most likely to labour for years, motivated only by dreams rather than hard cash; and, when their dreams fail to materialise, they are the ones most likely to suffer psychological and physical damage, as a result of powerful emotions such as anger, bitterness, and frustration. It will do no harm at all for these people to have a clearer idea, at an early stage, of the nature of the problems they face."
This is something I have lived through, do live through and watch my friends and foes live through everyday. It promises to be an interesting few days as Michael sets out his thesis.
Publishing is like a marriage. If you do not have high expectations - amazing things tend to happen ;-)
Daring introduction to reality, indeed.
Posted by: Jozef Imrich | March 02, 2005 at 07:14 AM