Quote:
Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks
I hope what you really mean is that the the traditional method of publishing is not the only way to achieve quality. Some authors really do have the talent to go it completely alone, but that is rare. Some of us have to take a tiny glimmer of talent, add a thousand percent hard work, mix well, involve editors, beta readers, work some more and then age for varying amounts of time...
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That is indeed what I meant.
Though I still contend that the traditional publishing process has little to do with generating talent and/or quality writing. They're just in the business of helping to polish that which they think they can get people to buy. I don't mean to devalue their contribution at all, but rather to clarify it:
they are not the talent in the equation.
I have no desire to see the entire tradpub industry fail utterly. They just need to get over seeing themselves (and presenting themselves) as the "bastion of literature." The sooner they learn to share the stage (and more of the proceeds--in the form of royalties--with their authors), the sooner we can put this battle behind us. There's enough pie for authors, publishers, and editors (and any and all hybrid combinations of those roles in one or more entities) to go around.
The world will go on, and everyone will happily continue to read, write, publish, edit, and market "quality" literature long after Traditional Publishing gets done being redefined.