Quote:
Originally Posted by speakingtohe
I have a feeling for books published in the traditional manner. Not saying that feeling is correct or that I trust any publisher more than another, and some/many publishers I avoid. Still it is a more known quantity in my mind.
I am not that keen on the term gatekeeper as it seems to imply that the gatekeeper is keeping things out and letting only the priveledged few through. I don't actually think the publishing industry does that. They may be falling all over themselves to get best selling authors published, but I am pretty sure they publish many books that are by first time authors as well because they need more bestselling authors as the current crowd dies off.
Helen
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Not arguing the "known" quantity point at all. However, if you are a midlist author who has been dropped by your trad publisher because you don't make *quite* enough sales, I'd say you probably feel it's a place for a privileged few. More and more authors who sell well, but not "well enough" get dropped so that the publishers can try something different. There is nothing wrong with this business model per se, but as some of those authors have said, instead of dropping authors who sell, why not spend a little extra time on marketing for that author? The general gripe is that the best sellers get all the marketing because they are easy sells (and there is truth to that.)
One author blogged about how his series was dropped because he was paid too high an advance for the first three books. While the books earned out, they didn't take off as the publisher assumed, so the series was dropped. Doesn't mean it didn't sell, doesn't mean it didn't have readers. But the gatekeepers made an initial decision on the series and then decided not to pursue it further. The gatekeepers have a lot of criteria to look at. Nothing wrong with it, but it does make the whole thing a bit of a gamble for the reader and the writer. Unless said writer wants to put out more books in a series on his/her own, that series will not continue and it has little to do with the overall quality if quality is defined as "well-edited, well-plotted." It simply didn't find as large an audience as the publisher expected. The author believes that had the initial advance been smaller, he might still be writing the series--expectations would have been set differently, etc.