J Ritchie.
Who cares?
How many writers published traditionally are household names? Frankly publishing is such a numbers game now and trad publishing seems to have lost its way.
Writers can spread their creative wings and experiment with the many form of publishing available.
For too long we've been brainwashed with a sort of Emperor's New Clothes idea by the publishing world. We've been taught to scorn those who cannot get their book to an agent and then a publisher. Time for we writers to expand our thinking horizons a little.
PDR, I agree.
I dislike the submission process as it works now. It leaves a very bitter flavor in my mouth to grovel at the feet of the almighty Agent, only to receive . . .
nothing. That isn't to say I haven't gotten full requests; I have. But more often than not, the agents don't even bother with a form rejection. And I don't come across as sub-par.
I know agents are busy. I interned briefly at an agency. I know. (BTW, I don't like excuses. I'm looking at you, agents.)
But I also work at a scientific journal, and let me tell you, these folks would shit bricks if they received the kind of treatment that fiction writers receive. Every single submission, unless it's clearly from a crackpot, is seen by an eminent scientist and vetted. Sometimes, this results in a form rejection, but even a majority of those are accompanied by comments from the eminent scientist who rejected it. And we get 20,000+ submissions a year!
There has to be some way to offer more to the authors who are not crackpots. Honestly, I'm not sure the crazies (and they're out there!) need more than a form rejection, but for those that are legitimate possibilities, I feel something more is in order. Am I bitter? Quizas. But I'm hardly the only one who feels this way.
I don't think there's an answer, because agents do serve a necessary role, weeding out the substandard stuff. The problem with the "free-market" approach (ie, write and sell your own stuff) is that 1) how will people find you? and 2) how will anyone know your stuff is better than the junk that it's floating amongst? Already, there is a shit-ton of, well,
shit out there. I wouldn't want to read most that tripe. How do I, as a reader, find the stuff that isn't tripe? It's not like I can take your, the author's, word for it. Hence agents, traditional publishers, and bookstores. Maybe they're tastes aren't great; I'm not convinced their tastes are worse than they've ever been. Poor writing has always made its way into print.
It will be interesting to see how things evolve in the next decade or two. For now, I'm willing to play the game. The game might change, or I might get royally fed up with it and choose another game (frisbee? badmitton? curling?). But for now . . .