tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31121848.post5319900600941816946..comments2024-02-19T15:11:41.227-06:00Comments on Catholic Writer Chick at Large!: Bad Books: Or, A Paean of Praise for the Hated GatekeeperJannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06725527285837338560noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31121848.post-89529785757627013602013-01-18T08:22:04.468-06:002013-01-18T08:22:04.468-06:00A couple of notes.
First of all, I wish that auth...A couple of notes.<br /><br />First of all, I wish that authors out there would lose the hackneyed and ignorant notion that editors, agents, and other "gatekeepers" that publishing uses (and has used since generations before most of them were even BORN) are there to "keep out the riffraff." Reverse snobbism, anyone?<br /><br />Even the term "gatekeepers" needs to go, frankly. Publishing isn't a national park from which certain people are being kept for arbitrary whims...it's an art and a business, and some of the dreck that's out there reflects people who have no concept of either.<br /><br />Another notion that needs to go is that these people function as "cultural entertainment police." If anything, these people let in pretty much anything, AS LONG AS THEY THINK IT CAN SELL--which is their right as businesspeople, for heaven's sake. If they "buy" enough borderline books and gamble on them selling enough to keep the place in lights and heat and water and staff, there's not going to BE a publisher there for long. It may be tremendously in vogue now to jump up and down on the figurative graves of these publishers, declaring, "Well, then, they deserve to die"--but it's stupid, in that it hurts us all in the long run.<br /><br />What we know about publishing today we know as a result of the efforts of BOTH book lovers and bean counters. One doesn't work without the other...or the ability to get books out for ANYONE to read dies out pretty darn fast. <br /><br />So while it sounds "enlightened" to say that gatekeepers aren't needed and that they impede a "free press"...it's poppycock. If you've never lived where there truly ISN'T a free press, naturally, your hackles are going to rise at the very thought that ANYONE has the right ANYWHERE to tell ANYBODY else that their stuff really isn't ready for prime time. But that, again, is an immature notion brought on by the "entitlement" attitude that says, "Hey, if I write it, I've got the right to have it published."<br /><br />OF COURSE YOU DO.<br /><br />YOU ALWAYS HAVE.<br /><br />And that's what a free press is about...which we've had all along. Self-publishing has ALWAYS been an option for you. It never WASN'T. If you want someone ELSE to spend money on your work, however, you've got to meet a certain set of standards they have. Just as in any other business, you've got to give a customer what he or she wants. If you don't want to do that with one customer base, go find another one--but don't rail against the first one for being artificially "policing" you. They're not. They simply see the scenario, and the business for which they're responsible, differently from the way you see it. They may end up misjudging your work, and it may sell in the millions. Them's the breaks of business; every business has that happen. And there may be people who love badly written books; in fact, it can be proven over and over again that these books even get past GATEKEEPERS with pretty much carte blanche, if a publisher thinks the book will sell. So where is the artistic "policing" going on? Where is the infringement on a free press? <br /><br />It isn't there. It's never been there. And merely praising the gatekeepers who still exist--and who in many cases have helped save CONSUMERS endless hours of sorting through dreck to get to good stuff--doesn't change that one iota.<br /><br />My take,<br />JannyJannyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06725527285837338560noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31121848.post-64831513302392290702013-01-17T16:10:35.589-06:002013-01-17T16:10:35.589-06:00A simple solution is to purchase books published b...A simple solution is to purchase books published by traditional publishers. Of course, this would mean skipping some notable reads, like the current number one bestselling fiction at Amazon, which is also number two on the New York Times Bestseller list for fiction – a self-published book.<br /><br />I can’t speak for all eBook venues – but you can find previews for even self-published books at Amazon.<br /><br />I am not sure how proposing a gatekeeper to keep out the riffraff is not an infringement on the free press. Each of us has very different tastes. I imagine some of the books I enjoy you may hate, and vice versa. I really don’t want some gatekeeper to protect me from what they believe is poor quality literature.<br /><br />And the fact is – some people love books that are poorly written. Just like some people like watching reality television, which I deplore. I may find much of it shoddy entertainment, but as long as other people want to watch it, I am not about to vote for a cultural-entertainment police, any more than I would advocate installing a gatekeeper on publishing.<br />Bobbi Holmeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02782930801954007429noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31121848.post-46986107841764718582013-01-17T15:14:59.773-06:002013-01-17T15:14:59.773-06:00Unfortunately, my experience has not been that the...Unfortunately, my experience has not been that there are "a few poorly written books" out there. There are FLOODS of them. And there is absolutely NO WAY to tell whether the quality of a book is going to be good in many cases, because the smaller presses don't always offer the "look inside" features or the like which would allow that. True, it's becoming more common--but I have to disagree with you on loving the present state of affairs. It's not encouraging great writing that's non-commercial as much as it's encouraging ALL KINDS of writing that's non-commercial...and much of it is non-commercial for very good reasons. <br /><br />Finally, I find the notion of "being an advocate of the free press" sounds like a slam on those of us who care about quality. We have a free press in this country and have ALWAYS had a free press. Merely because we've had some people making decisions as to which books their companies think will make a profit, and buying accordingly, does not render and has never rendered our presses "not free." The presence of people who can make sure a book is at least intelligible and can intrigue/interest/entertain enough people to be popular and sell well--thereby ensuring that there will BE a market for others--does not render the press "not free," either. But as an editor, an author, AND a reader, I certainly miss the presence of folks with reasonable knowledge enough to filter out the dreck. You don't have to agree with me--and there was a time I would have hopped right up on that soapbox with you about "gatekeepers." Too much just plain AWFUL fiction out there has, quite frankly, changed my mind. Apparently you don't mind wading through dreck to get to the good stuff; I, however, would like to spend my time more productively than tossing books figuratively against walls. :-) With the "old" system, I did much, MUCH less of that than I do now. To me, that's NOT change for the better.<br /><br />Thanks for listening!<br />JannyJannyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06725527285837338560noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31121848.post-8766915622313929972013-01-17T14:32:28.373-06:002013-01-17T14:32:28.373-06:00I’ll choose what to read in much the same way as I...I’ll choose what to read in much the same way as I did before the Indi explosion. Yet, instead of standing in the bookstore and reading the book description on the back of the cover, and reading the first few pages of the book, I will read the book description online and read the preview. I will probably look through the online reviews. Before eBooks, I rarely read book reviews. I would normally find an author I liked, read all of his or her books, and then go onto find my next favorite.<br /><br />I love the current state of the publishing world. Not just because I am a self-published author, but because I’ve discovered some amazing books by other Indies – books that would have never made it past the traditional gatekeepers, for commercial reasons that had nothing to do with quality. I would not want to be denied those great reads, simply because I had to sort through a few poorly written books. Fortunately for me, I never purchased any of those subpar books – the preview alone told me not to buy them.<br /><br />As an advocate of the free press, I have no desire to implement a gatekeeper system. I don’t need some third party filtering books for my consumption. <br />Bobbi Holmeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02782930801954007429noreply@blogger.com