I think about that Ira Glass quote a lot about the time in your development as an artist when your skill level isn't yet as good as your taste. And I think a lot of querying writers don't realize their book isn't good enough to compete with the others, but it's more of a comfort to say "the system is broken" than to realize, wow I just spent years writing this book and I learned a lot but I may have to get better in order to break in. There are just so many other writers who have the same dream. And we're told not to look at other writers as our "competition" but as our "community." It actually is a competition!
I agree! Also, if you blame other people for rejections, then when you do succeed, you may not be able to enjoy the feeling of knowing your hard work made the difference. If you think everything is out of your control, that's a pretty hopeless situation to be in.
Comfort is the key word! The rejection is definitely a tough pill to swallow, and I've been there, which is why I empathize so much. But at the same time, I can't pretend that reaction is all that useful. It certainly wasn't for me. I love that Ira Glass quote, too, btw, and I don't even really know Ira Glass' shit like that lol. But that one quote is so true.
Nice post Andrew, but I think there's another way to look at it. The way it works now, the entire status system for writing is controlled not by writers, not by regular readers, not by people who have the best interests of literature necessarily at heart, but by people who are looking to make a buck by packaging a book as a commodity. There's nothing wrong with that per se but the system emerged out of very different material conditions, where the distribution of content had to pass through the expensive medium of the print shop. Now that that's really no longer the case, the same publishing companies nonetheless still act as though they are the sole credible evaluators of literary merit. All of this is a highly unnatural and antiquated system. It creates chokeblocks in the ability of writers to find their audiences, and those chokeblocks often last for the entirety of people's careers - the vast, vast majority of writers (this is still the case) spend their lives chewing their elbows in frustration, being broke, thinking they're inadequate, and all because some agent didn't answer their email. This is not a good state of affairs and it is no longer really necessary. Writers have every right to be frustrated and angry about it.
Thank you for reading and sharing your thoughts, Sam! A few things came to mind while reading your response. One is that to characterize all editors or agents or people who work at publishing houses as "people who are looking to make a buck by packaging a book as a commodity" feels like a generalization. I'm only one book in, but I've met a lot of people, particularly younger people my age trying to move up the ranks, who aren't making a whole lot of money in publishing and work long hours and really just love books and want to help publish some cool ones. Do they want to make money? Fuck yeah. We all do. And at the end of the day, whether you are a big company or a small one you gotta pay the bills. But I think we can sometimes characterize these people as evil villains hiding the key, and often, at least in my own experience, that is because we feel personally spurned by them in some way.
The second thing is that I agree that there are choke points to finding an audience as a writer, but I would argue there probably have always been. Writers have always had to grind and hustle, particularly the writers that I've admired. Just because you want to be a writer doesn't mean someone owes it to you to publish you. For generations there have been amazing writers who were never discovered in their lifetime or never discovered at all. The whole thing, in my opinion, is a crapshoot. What's wonderful about now, however, is that you don't necessarily need a big publisher or a media imprint to back you. You can go out there and find your own audience or literally create them. You can get paid for your work, build up following, and sell books on your own if you'd like. Or, if you're really looking for prestige, you can become too big to ignore and get your big 5 deal that way. To me this is all wonderful. Get it how you can.
Finally, and I tell this to younger writers I talk to all the time, I think that if you enter into this business--and particularly the niche business of literary fiction--looking to make money, then you're wasting your time. It's not to say some money can't come, but at this point, given the size of our readership, it's beyond a crapshoot. You might as well enjoy the ride a bit.
Andrew, thank you for the note. We mostly agree. I take your point about aggrievement - that writers would do well to see publishing as just a different entity, which doesn't owe them anything one way or another. I agree also that people who work in publishing aren't bogeymen - that they're regular people who mostly got into the business because they genuinely love reading. I would just say that the structures of writing and publishing are very different from one another. The structure of publishing is about turning manuscripts into commodities to sell them - whatever the intention is of people going into the industry, that's what they end up doing. The structure of writing is to find truth. There's a very deep mismatch between those two. The problem sets in when the publishing industry, as it's been doing for over a century, presents itself both as a friend to writers and then as the arbiter of all possible taste. The overall effect is that writers find themselves in a position where they're completely subservient to the publishing industry, while the publishing industry doesn't care one way or another about the deep value of what the writers are doing. The whole thing is deeply unhealthy. It feels like writing is buried under a giant rock that we are just able to begin crawling out of now.
Appreciate you teasing that out Sam, that makes more sense to me. Seems your point is more about the intrinsic value of writing vs trying to “sell” a book. I get that
Yeah, I think the publishing industry has stuck an idea in our heads for what the lifespan of a book has to be, and it's a bit of a false or limited conception. Anyway! Already made my point. Nice chatting and enjoyed the piece!
"The overall effect is that writers find themselves in a position where they're completely subservient to the publishing industry while the publishing industry doesn't care one where and another about the deep value of what the writers are doing." This 1000%.
I feel all of this and find myself exhausted by the barrage of negativity in the publishing sphere. Of course I'm not immune to frustration and of course I'm bummed out by rejections, but like you said, bitching and moaning doesn't solve anything. And worse still, it hinders forward momentum on new projects.
I admire your ability to keep it moving and I can't wait to see what you cook up next.
Yes. There are a lot of people who have found writing as a calling aided by MFA programs, conferences, craft courses , social media sites etc. It’s enormously fulfilling to write unless you do it with expectation to be published quickly. I wonder if there is any data available on how many people identify themselves as writers.
I think about that Ira Glass quote a lot about the time in your development as an artist when your skill level isn't yet as good as your taste. And I think a lot of querying writers don't realize their book isn't good enough to compete with the others, but it's more of a comfort to say "the system is broken" than to realize, wow I just spent years writing this book and I learned a lot but I may have to get better in order to break in. There are just so many other writers who have the same dream. And we're told not to look at other writers as our "competition" but as our "community." It actually is a competition!
I agree! Also, if you blame other people for rejections, then when you do succeed, you may not be able to enjoy the feeling of knowing your hard work made the difference. If you think everything is out of your control, that's a pretty hopeless situation to be in.
Comfort is the key word! The rejection is definitely a tough pill to swallow, and I've been there, which is why I empathize so much. But at the same time, I can't pretend that reaction is all that useful. It certainly wasn't for me. I love that Ira Glass quote, too, btw, and I don't even really know Ira Glass' shit like that lol. But that one quote is so true.
Here's the full quote: https://www.themarginalian.org/2014/01/29/ira-glass-success-daniel-sax/
Nice post Andrew, but I think there's another way to look at it. The way it works now, the entire status system for writing is controlled not by writers, not by regular readers, not by people who have the best interests of literature necessarily at heart, but by people who are looking to make a buck by packaging a book as a commodity. There's nothing wrong with that per se but the system emerged out of very different material conditions, where the distribution of content had to pass through the expensive medium of the print shop. Now that that's really no longer the case, the same publishing companies nonetheless still act as though they are the sole credible evaluators of literary merit. All of this is a highly unnatural and antiquated system. It creates chokeblocks in the ability of writers to find their audiences, and those chokeblocks often last for the entirety of people's careers - the vast, vast majority of writers (this is still the case) spend their lives chewing their elbows in frustration, being broke, thinking they're inadequate, and all because some agent didn't answer their email. This is not a good state of affairs and it is no longer really necessary. Writers have every right to be frustrated and angry about it.
Thank you for reading and sharing your thoughts, Sam! A few things came to mind while reading your response. One is that to characterize all editors or agents or people who work at publishing houses as "people who are looking to make a buck by packaging a book as a commodity" feels like a generalization. I'm only one book in, but I've met a lot of people, particularly younger people my age trying to move up the ranks, who aren't making a whole lot of money in publishing and work long hours and really just love books and want to help publish some cool ones. Do they want to make money? Fuck yeah. We all do. And at the end of the day, whether you are a big company or a small one you gotta pay the bills. But I think we can sometimes characterize these people as evil villains hiding the key, and often, at least in my own experience, that is because we feel personally spurned by them in some way.
The second thing is that I agree that there are choke points to finding an audience as a writer, but I would argue there probably have always been. Writers have always had to grind and hustle, particularly the writers that I've admired. Just because you want to be a writer doesn't mean someone owes it to you to publish you. For generations there have been amazing writers who were never discovered in their lifetime or never discovered at all. The whole thing, in my opinion, is a crapshoot. What's wonderful about now, however, is that you don't necessarily need a big publisher or a media imprint to back you. You can go out there and find your own audience or literally create them. You can get paid for your work, build up following, and sell books on your own if you'd like. Or, if you're really looking for prestige, you can become too big to ignore and get your big 5 deal that way. To me this is all wonderful. Get it how you can.
Finally, and I tell this to younger writers I talk to all the time, I think that if you enter into this business--and particularly the niche business of literary fiction--looking to make money, then you're wasting your time. It's not to say some money can't come, but at this point, given the size of our readership, it's beyond a crapshoot. You might as well enjoy the ride a bit.
Andrew, thank you for the note. We mostly agree. I take your point about aggrievement - that writers would do well to see publishing as just a different entity, which doesn't owe them anything one way or another. I agree also that people who work in publishing aren't bogeymen - that they're regular people who mostly got into the business because they genuinely love reading. I would just say that the structures of writing and publishing are very different from one another. The structure of publishing is about turning manuscripts into commodities to sell them - whatever the intention is of people going into the industry, that's what they end up doing. The structure of writing is to find truth. There's a very deep mismatch between those two. The problem sets in when the publishing industry, as it's been doing for over a century, presents itself both as a friend to writers and then as the arbiter of all possible taste. The overall effect is that writers find themselves in a position where they're completely subservient to the publishing industry, while the publishing industry doesn't care one way or another about the deep value of what the writers are doing. The whole thing is deeply unhealthy. It feels like writing is buried under a giant rock that we are just able to begin crawling out of now.
Cheers!
Sam
Appreciate you teasing that out Sam, that makes more sense to me. Seems your point is more about the intrinsic value of writing vs trying to “sell” a book. I get that
Yeah, I think the publishing industry has stuck an idea in our heads for what the lifespan of a book has to be, and it's a bit of a false or limited conception. Anyway! Already made my point. Nice chatting and enjoyed the piece!
I appreciate you, Sam. Nice chatting too!
"The overall effect is that writers find themselves in a position where they're completely subservient to the publishing industry while the publishing industry doesn't care one where and another about the deep value of what the writers are doing." This 1000%.
Wise words, Andrew! And thanks for the shout out!
I feel all of this and find myself exhausted by the barrage of negativity in the publishing sphere. Of course I'm not immune to frustration and of course I'm bummed out by rejections, but like you said, bitching and moaning doesn't solve anything. And worse still, it hinders forward momentum on new projects.
I admire your ability to keep it moving and I can't wait to see what you cook up next.
Glad I'm not the only one feeling like the vibes have been extra negative of late. Was wondering if it is just me.
Vibes are negative on a macro level well above and beyond publishing, unfortunately.
It's grim out there. And the macro stuff certainly isn't helping.
I think it was Stalin who said “1 rejection is a tragedy but a million is a statistic”. 😂
Just happy to live in a world where there are hundreds of options to get my work out there! Thanks for the shoutout bro.
Amen. And of course! Stay on the grind, you have the right attitude.
Beautifully said, Andrew, thank you!
Thanks a lot, Michael. Always appreciate you reading!
👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
Thank you for reading!
Yes. There are a lot of people who have found writing as a calling aided by MFA programs, conferences, craft courses , social media sites etc. It’s enormously fulfilling to write unless you do it with expectation to be published quickly. I wonder if there is any data available on how many people identify themselves as writers.
I feel completely the opposite! I don't find writing fulfilling without sharing my writing with readers. I write to be read.