Quote:
Originally Posted by Worldwalker
I've talked to a few slushpile readers, mostly from SF magazines, over the years.
You know how bad you imagine the slushpile to be?
It's worse.
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I like having a copy of
The Eye of Argon to show people who lament the state of published books.
It's sometimes advertised as "the worst story ever written," which of course it's not; you can follow the (clichéd) plot, understand the (adverb-laden) dialogue, sympathize (somewhat) with the (badly-described) characters, and cope with the (erratic) punctuation. Even the hilariously wrong modifiers don't interfere with comprehension, just with anything resembling enjoyment for the story as a story, rather than a parody of high-fantasy tropes:
Quote:
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The enthused barbarian swilveled about, his shock of fiery red hair tossing robustly in the humid air currents as he faced the attack of the defeated soldier's fellow in arms.
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I do like pointing out that
this is what we'll see more of as we eliminate the gatekeepers.
I like reader-led gatekeeper communities; I think mainstream publishers are too caught up with "we should try to sell what's already selling" rather than "we should publish well-written books and find a market for them." But anyone who thinks that what's published by the Big Six is "utter crap" has never looked at what doesn't make it through the slushpile--and is now being sold on Amazon and Smashwords.