Posts
The light of my writing is my heart. I give it freely.
Publishing is a business. We are writers, basically creative souls with little experience in the world of contracts and predators wearing business suits.
Reading for pleasure is becoming a lost art in a video game/TV world.
Publishers are downsizing.
The surviving editors are gun-shy of taking chances.
Purchasing agents for said publishers want a guarantee-return for their advances.
Ebooks are illusionary. Three hundred dollars is a lot to spend for a devise that gives you teeny-tiny books with no color and few graphics with less illustrations.
The odds of any of us getting an agent are atrocious :
.04%
And when you do, you will have no say over the all-important title and cover art. There is the horror story of Allison, a client of sage agent Rachelle Gardner (who, by the way, will not even look at queries for the 1st quarter of 2011) :
http://cba-ramblings.blogspot.com/2011/01/when-publishing-dreams-become-nightmare.html
Many literary agents are so fearful of offending the all-important publishers, who are the source of their livelihood, that they will not challenge outrageous behavior on the part of said publishers.
And no, we are not the source of the agents' livelihoods. Would-be authors are a penny a dozen. Publishers who are still open to looking at unpublished authors on the other hand are getting fewer and fewer.
Ebooks are an option, of course. But with limitations. Go to Raquel Byrnes excellent post to see what they are :
http://nitewriter6.blogspot.com/2011_01_01_archive.html
And read what her agent says about the drawbacks of Kindle here :
http://cowboymusing.blogspot.com/2011/01/books-published-on-kindle.html
So are we kidding ourselves?
Why do we write?
I write because I enjoy the art of crafting a suspenseful, lyrical, fun read. If I ever get published that will just be the icing on the cake. But even I get weary of the sound of one hand clapping that I receive from queried agents. How about you?
***
Publishing is a business. We are writers, basically creative souls with little experience in the world of contracts and predators wearing business suits.
Reading for pleasure is becoming a lost art in a video game/TV world.
Publishers are downsizing.
The surviving editors are gun-shy of taking chances.
Purchasing agents for said publishers want a guarantee-return for their advances.
Ebooks are illusionary. Three hundred dollars is a lot to spend for a devise that gives you teeny-tiny books with no color and few graphics with less illustrations.
The odds of any of us getting an agent are atrocious :
.04%
And when you do, you will have no say over the all-important title and cover art. There is the horror story of Allison, a client of sage agent Rachelle Gardner (who, by the way, will not even look at queries for the 1st quarter of 2011) :
http://cba-ramblings.blogspot.com/2011/01/when-publishing-dreams-become-nightmare.html
Many literary agents are so fearful of offending the all-important publishers, who are the source of their livelihood, that they will not challenge outrageous behavior on the part of said publishers.
And no, we are not the source of the agents' livelihoods. Would-be authors are a penny a dozen. Publishers who are still open to looking at unpublished authors on the other hand are getting fewer and fewer.
Ebooks are an option, of course. But with limitations. Go to Raquel Byrnes excellent post to see what they are :
http://nitewriter6.blogspot.com/2011_01_01_archive.html
And read what her agent says about the drawbacks of Kindle here :
http://cowboymusing.blogspot.com/2011/01/books-published-on-kindle.html
So are we kidding ourselves?
Why do we write?
I write because I enjoy the art of crafting a suspenseful, lyrical, fun read. If I ever get published that will just be the icing on the cake. But even I get weary of the sound of one hand clapping that I receive from queried agents. How about you?
***
