Aspiring Writers and The Outsourced Publishing Industry

Update (Oct 6, 2008): I suppose I shouldn’t be too hard on the “publishing” industry – nor should I be so hard on those really hard working lit agents out there. But I recently saw a documentary that turned my head. It’s about the music industry and how it’s fallen to the whims of corporatism. As I was watching this I couldn’t help but think of the article below. The documentary is available below.

Coming to terms with being an unsuccessful writer has been a long, twisty, uphill road. I have been battling with failing as a writer for almost twenty years. I would define success as whether or not I’m published. I don’t define it like that anymore. For example, the plays that I produced in German are good enough for publishing and the audience response proved that. Yet I have been unable to find an entry point to the world of publishers or theatres. Why is that?

By thumb measurement of the last twenty years I have spent ten of those years trying to get published. I have learned that there are only two difficulties in being a writer. The first is the actual writing, i.e. being productive. The second is, of course, getting published. I have purposely spent years on productivity. The idea was to improve and develop the/my craft. Some of these years were very good. As mentioned above I was able to produce my own plays and was awestruck by audience response. (There is something much harder than becoming a novelist, btw. Try becoming a playwright.)

The thing that has bothered me most over the years, though, is that so-called literary agents have become deciders of fate and the industry hasn’t really changed since the influx of technology. The second part of that sentence maybe a bit far-fetched so let me throw a wrench. I’m willing to bet that, in terms of volume, I am the most prolific unpublished writer in history. I have written so much that I can barely keep track of it all. Everything on this weblog is either from me now or it is from something I have written in the past. It is a fraction of what I have written and could potentially publish here. Every agent or publisher I have ever spoken with has barely given me the time of day. Can someone who writes so much be so bad and, hence, not be worth a bit of effort on the part of an intermediary?

Advice from a loser-failure-writer

For aspiring writers out there reading about how to make it and taking tips and tricks from so-called industry pros via the Internet I give you the free advice of a loser-failure-writer: don’t give a shit. Over the years I have learned that there are two realities you will have to face as an aspiring writer. One: you better be a damn good writer and you better be damn smart. Can you say Jeffrey Eugenides? Two: you better be damn smart. Can you scream Dan Brown or JK Rowling?

Agents can be really neat-o

There may be another reality here. And this is based mostly on my gut feeling mixed with the experience of trying and failing to get published. The publishing industry has been in an uproar for years. I believe lit-agents today are the product of the first round of globalization in any industry. With the influx of “new-media” coinciding with the downfall of book prices over the past twenty years, the publishing industry was probably at the forefront of corporate outsourcing. Many of the agents today are a product of that outsourcing. Combine that with technology and compulsive behaviourism that has overtaken western culture and the fact that anyone with a PC can… What would you do if suddenly, almost over night, the entire world was banging at your front door asking you to publish them just after your company outsourced you? Thank goodness agents are also good people.

So… how will it look when lit-agents start outsourcing?

The problem most aspiring writers have is originality. Originality and good writing will always get you published. The problem you have to overcome is the shear volume of writing about being a writer. Ten years ago a lit agent would ask for a query letter and a writing sample. Now they ask for personal biography, list of previously published work, exactly 40 sample pages, plot synopsis, potential endorsements, something about the book, something about the author, something about the market and competition, about promotion, production details, book table of contents, recommendations from other published authors, chapter summaries, etc., etc. Hello.

Here’s an original idea for success: plagiarise

There was recently a wake-up call to aspiring writers around the world. This wake-up call was in the form of two plagiarism cases. One was in New York, the other London – two pretty important publishing towns, I’d say. You can read my previous rants here and here on that issue. Am I the only aspiring writer to recognize the wake-up call? I mean, we’re talking historical publishing achievements with the likes of JK Rowling and Dan (smart guy) Brown. Gazillions of books are being printed and sold. Rowling – a friggin writer – is worth a billion friggin dollars. How do things like this happen? It is all at the expense of originality. So the choice is simple for aspiring writers, eh?

Avoid the standards, rebel, be different

I’m not trying to blame agents for anything here. Some of them are very good, wise and have given me great advice – well, they are actually only really good. Unfortunately, agents have incorrectly taken on the middle-man role, they have worked too long in cohort with the same publishers that outsourced them, and they are all critics. Let’s face it, agents are overwhelmed and they deserve respect for dealing with the situation at hand. But I think it’s time for writers to start realizing what needs to be done. There is proof in Hollywood, throughout the media and blogosphere that readers yearn for originality. I am willing to accept the fact that I suck as a writer, or am not as smart as Dan (really smart guy) Brown. But at least I’m original and I don’t steal from others and… If only I could learn to use the grammar check thingy…

So let’s feel for the tough road ahead for outsourced publishing industry employees. At least we writers won’t have to consider that our jobs will be moved off to India or China.

Rant on.

-tgs-

Update google-video; it’s not about publishing but it’s kinda the same, eh:

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