Quote:
Originally Posted by queentess
Agreed! Publishers, even when they screw things up, still offer valuable services to authors. For example, much of the self-published stuff now is badly in need of an editor with an army of red pens. A world where everything is self-published sounds like my worst nightmare.
|
Publishers are filters. Because they want to
sell books, they have an incentive to pick work they think they
can sell, and work with the author to make it as good as possible before offering it for sale. The most important service they may perform be
rejecting works that should never see the light of day.
Every publisher has the "slush pile" - manuscripts submitted by hopeful new writers. The vast majority is appallingly bad, and reading slush is the least favorite part of an editor's job. Many publishers now only accept submissions from recognized agents to reduce the amount of unsuitable work they have to wade through. The fact that it comes from an agent isn't a guarantee they'll think it salable, but it at least means it won't be actively painful to read.
With the ease of self-publication, the Internet is now the world's largest slush pile, and readers looking for decent work must endure what editors are all heartily sick of for good reason.
I have far better things to do with my time. There is probably good stuff out there in self-published land, but I can't be bothered to go and look. There's more actual
published work that I want to read than I have time for.
______
Dennis