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Originally Posted by gmw
I did consider this, but the way I see it, all that happens in self-publishing is that the slush pile has been made public and the readers have become the new gatekeeper. There is still pressure on writers to produce something that will stand out from the slush pile, so there is still pressure to do better, to not be mediocre.
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Yes but as a reader, how do I know that you as a writer is actually good? (Yes, by reading them, but that takes time I could have spent reading a supposedly excellent book.) Do these gatekeepers get it right every time? No. But this is also where brand starts to develop, and readers start following certain publishers/editors/authors (and avoid the ones they don't like).
The problem with self-publishing is that while there are excellent works being written, some people's horrible first drafts are also being published.
While arguably Sturgeon's Law applies equally to both trad publishing and self-publishing, quantity-wise, there's simply a lot more in terms of output from the latter.
Quote:
Originally Posted by gmw
I also considered whether there was some indirect benefit to writers by having a gatekeeper regulate the market (like De Beers and the diamond market?). The gatekeepers make sure the market is not flooded so my book, if I do get past the gates, may be more likely to get its share of the buyers dollars. But instead Konrath makes me wonder if this regulation is part of publishers' way of exploiting writers. If I get past the gatekeeper once I have a better chance a second time - but if I make too much of a fuss about the working conditions then they threaten to consign me back to the slush pile.
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No, that's not what editorial gatekeepers do. It's not about "flooding" the market but thinking whether they can actually sell the book in X amount of quantities. That's why there's the difference between the mid-list (5 digits) and best-seller author (6 digits or more).
If the gatekeeper is looking for a best-selling title, and they think your manuscript is only good enough for the mid-list, then they might decline your novel. That doesn't mean that novel was bad, just that they're not the right published for that particular business model. (And why that novel would have worked for a different publisher.)
You don't get demoted to the "slush pile".
Although having said that, there are also publishers who have been abusive, such as delaying on royalty payments, if not outright withholding royalty payments.