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Originally Posted by tompe
I was thinking about developing from good to very good and I do not think that is gone.
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When you say "developing", what does that actually involve on the part of the publisher?
My understanding is that no real development happens for existing authors. They'll edit your manuscript (usually), provide some marketing (more and more rare), but that's it. The explosion of indie publishing isn't happening just because anyone can publish (although that's part of it), but also because there's less and less value coming from the publishers who expect authors and their agents to do more of the heavy lifting that they used to do.
Part of the reason to that you might find it harder to find really stand-out genre fiction is because agents tend to be extremely conservative in what they'll agree to try and sell. Because agents have to do more of the work, many won't take a chance on risky works, only works they think the publishers will like. This has the effect of creating a bit of sameness in genre fiction.