Originally published in shorter form on Facebook 22 September 2015.
Wannabe writers: please hear me out on this.
As much as my heart sinks every time some gatekeeper says no to one of my stories, and as much as I inwardly rail against the communal blindness involved when some story I deeply believe in proves a hard sell, the fact of the matter is that there have been any number of times where rejections did me the best of all possible favors.
I should kiss the earth in gratitude every day that my first two attempted novels, Maelstrom and The Maze Tattoo, never saw print. They were the promising first attempts of a proto-artist, but they were immature work, and by god they revealed more about me as the immature person I was than I would now want anyone to know. (In particular, The Maze Tattoo betrayed a twenty-two year-old’s deep insecurity about women.) Ditto, I live in daily relief that no horror magazine ever said yes to that early novelette, “Pimping the Brain Dead,” which was about what the title would lead you to believe you to believe it was about. The ghastly premise was not the problem; the sniggering emptiness that then characterized my attempts to shock was. It was the work of a man adult in years, not in outlook, and I believe it would have condemned me not only as an inauspicious debut, but for decades afterward as the early embarrassment I was unlucky enough to have hanging outside my closet.
In such cases, the frustration of not being able to sell my words steered me toward other words I was able to sell — and more importantly, gave me incentive to improve.
As much opportunity as the e-book evolution has provided many writers of worth who might have found their futures denied by the marketplace, or those like Hugh Howey and Andy Weir who first brought works of substantial value to the marketplace via self-publishing, before their success in such venues brought a previously recalcitrant publishing industry to their front doors, I fear that such anecdotes are still the exception, not the rule.
For all too many, the direct route that omits the intervention of an independent judge in the form of an editor, a gatekeeper, badly short-changes them by eliminating all incentive for maturity and growth. They don’t need to get better! Amazon will put up their crap as it is now! And so there is no incentive to learn, to correct what technical problems they have, to demand more of themselves, and become more.
For the ones I’m worried about, the decision to self-publish might well be the end of their development.
I am so, so happy that the internet marketplace did not exist when I was sending The Maze Tattoo around. Happier than I even want to tell you. My gatekeepers did me a tremendous favor in rescuing my reputation before I formed it, from the substantial damage it would have been done by that novel. It is arguable that they’re blind, as per certain of my white-elephant stories, now. But it’s also possible I am, and that they’re saving me from tremendous embarrassment by only taking my best.
Comment By: Annelies van der Leeden
September 23rd, 2016 at 9:17 am
Not being a writer, I am sure you are a better judge of this. On the other hand, I am glad that established writers are able to circumvent the tyrrany of publishers. And I wonder with a lot of publications whether the length of the books and the frequency of sequels is due to the writer’s wishes or the publishers need to make sure that they will get the last ounce of revenue out of a franchise.
Comment By: Adam-Troy Castro
September 23rd, 2016 at 9:17 am
Established writers, yes. I think in particular of Harlan Ellison, who of late has been publishing a flurry of books under his own imprint. Or of the great Charles Bukowski, who worked with a publishing house that existed only to publish every damn thing it occurred to Bukowski to write. Or Dean Wesley Smith, who published (and might still be publishing — I haven’t kept track) a magazine for subscription that exists only to publish his own fiction.
The difference is that, even allowing for the occasional work that is half-assed by HIS PARTICULAR STANDARD, you are not going to find Harlan publishing a book where half the words are misspelled and all the commas appear in the wrong places, or where characters walk onstage and deliver ten pages of exposition only to never appear again. Harlan has built a name and a reputation and it’s clear that he knows what he’s doing, and that he’s built a support structure of which you can say the same. Dean might occasionally publish a story by himself that he loves more than any readers will — and this is just a guess, not an accusation — but he will not self-publish anything that makes your molars grind with its sloppiness and illiteracy, and I am confident in saying so. This is not something you can say of many writers who self-publish on Amazon, because they have not progressed to the point of being ABLE to sell their work yet.
Comment By: Annelies van der Leeden
September 23rd, 2016 at 10:18 am
I have read quite a few books that fit your description to a T, and that actually includes classics, which baffles me.
Comment By: Adam-Troy Castro
September 23rd, 2016 at 10:18 am
The thing is, as a writer and even as a discerning reader, you can spot the half-assed even in the work of the titans. The greatest American novel of all time sets up a murder mystery that it forgets to present, and then tosses off the loose end in a paragraph on the last page. (HUCKLEBERRY FINN.) And the greatest work by the greatest writer who ever lived is structurally and logically a mess, flailing about in its last half as the storyteller convulses looking for a way to wrap up. (HAMLET.)
Comment By: Amy Bisson
September 23rd, 2016 at 10:18 am
When I think of the crap I wrote in the 90’s, I have to admit it is a very good thing no sane editor would have ever bought any of it. Thankfully, over the past 25 years I have improved my craft to the point of selling a couple of stories to low-paying semi-pro markets, and I hope to break into better paying markets soon. I totally agree that for a new writer breaking in (and this definitely includes myself), the gatekeepers are essential to avoiding future embarrasment and encouraging writers to hone their craft and improve their work.
Comment By: Steven Silver
September 23rd, 2016 at 10:18 am
I’m currently reading a book entitled *Chasing the Last Laugh* by Richard Zacks. It is a look at Mark Twain’s round the world lecture tour in 1895, undertaking to pay off the enormous debts he owed due to the failure of his publishing company (many of Twain’s books, including Huck Finn, were self-published). It points out the difficulties of self-publishing even when you are one of the most successful authors around.
Comment By: Michael Pullmann
September 23rd, 2016 at 11:17 am
Twain’s publishing company didn’t fail because his books didn’t sell, though. (One of the titles, President Grant’s memoirs, was a bestseller.) It failed because of mismanagement and Twain’s complete lack of business or investing sense.
Comment By: Steven Silver
September 23rd, 2016 at 11:17 am
It was actually a combination. While Grant’s book was their biggest seller, they then contracted for several other Civil War Memoirs that didn’t sell. Of course, for everyone not Mark Twain, Webster was working as a more traditional publisher (although using a subscription model rather than the model we’re more used to).
Comment By: Dave Meyer
September 23rd, 2016 at 10:18 am
The motto of my radio news department is “get an edit.” It doesn’t matter how good you are, your work can always be improved.
Comment By: Wyman Cooke
September 23rd, 2016 at 11:17 am
I want to be published by a traditional house, but I’m open to publishing on Amazon. There are some ideas I have that I’m pretty sure the regular publishers may not be interested in. And we’re not even talking controversy like Control. Alt, Revolt!
Comment By: Adam-Troy Castro
September 23rd, 2016 at 10:38 am
Twain’s problem was not just self-publishing. He invested in a number of terrible ventures, notably a hopeless typesetting machine, that he pursued with more and more money even as its impracticality became evident.
Comment By: Dusty Gillespie
September 23rd, 2016 at 11:17 am
I wish I could like this twice.
Gatekeepers are absolutely essential to anyone who wants to get good. They forced me to be honest with myself and they taught me tenacity. Had Amazon existed when I started, I’m scared to think of how undeveloped my writing might still be.
Comment By: David Vineyard
September 23rd, 2016 at 4:17 pm
It is different for an established writer or even a professional who understands the rules. Aside from sloppy editing, too many self published ebooks cross the line between homage and simply stealing.
They often don’t know the basics of writing either. They neither know how to frame a story or tell one.
You learn these things through the old fashioned method of submitting stories to editors, getting rejection letters, eventually getting feedback, and eventually making sales. Those letters of rejection where editors begin to give you feedback usually mean that a professional sees something in your work—or you are so hopeless they tell you to give up. Even that can help determine if you are a real writer or just fooling around.
Yes, there are those rare circumstances where a self published writer pens a masterpiece, or all the majors turn down a work published by a small house that hits bestseller status (the Naval Institute published DELILAH, THE SAND PEBBLES, and THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER), but that’s a lot to gamble on.
In any profession there is a learning curve. For writers it usually involves editors and listening to them. Writing a book proves nothing. Anyone who can type and understand basic grammar and construction can write a book. Stringing together 50, 000 words is something anyone with a high school education should be able to do. Even stringing them together in some semblance of a plot doesn’t mean much.
A professional writer, and the minute you get paid by someone else you are a professional, values input by other professionals.
There is an old saying in the South that you never know you are a man until your father tells you that you are one. I honestly don’t believe you are a professional writer until a professional editor chooses to treat you like one.
Comment By: Leslie E Owen
September 23rd, 2016 at 8:18 pm
Meh. Wool never impressed me either. Signed, a gatekeeper.