Is there a publishing blacklist?

Derimed · Aug 19, 2016

Hi! I am new to these boards. I went to graduate school a few years back and I got the grad school cohort from hell. Basically a bunch of gossiping, hatemongering people with a superiority concept. They thought they were superior to all other people in that school and they made sure to tell each other every five minutes. There was a grad student guy, they just up and decided to mock and ridicule him behind his back for about three months, and the cohort facebook group was looking more and more like the National Enquirer. I eventually just got sick of them and blocked the lot of them on Facebook and severed all ties. Is it possible in the publishing industry for somebody of this sort to "make some phone calls" and editors and agents won't look at my query letters or manuscripts? Cause, while my grades in that professional school were really good, I looked for work for over eight months and couldn't even land an interview. The industry I was in school for is a small one, so everybody knows everybody else and blacklisting somebody is possible, and I think that's what my wonderful "friends" did.

I am new to the publishing scene, so I don't know how it works. Is it possible to slip some false accusations and get an aspiring writer blacklisted? While that sounds like a petty and spiteful thing to think of a group of people, well, they are a petty and spiteful bunch of people and have shown themselves quite capable of it. The industry I tried to get into, I don't care about so much; but writing is my life and my passion, so that part worries me quite a bit.

Perks · Aug 19, 2016

I've been fairly immersed in the publishing world, from a writer's perspective, for eleven years. For seven of those years, I worked on a daily publishing news website and in doing that, as well as attending lots of conferences, I've gotten to know hundreds of industry professionals. All this is to say that I feel completely confident in telling you that there's no overarching blacklist and no mechanism that would even make such a thing possible.

Now, terrible behavior can get you a reputation for being difficult to work with, and that can put speedbumps in your path and weights shackled to ankles. (Terrible behavior for a writer is stuff like harassing agents and editors, missing deadlines, and throwing fits on the internet with complaints about the people and processes you hope to work with. Oh, and getting into cyberscraps with reviewers.)

But, if you write well and comport yourself professionally, then the only other factor is the luck of having your work cross the right desk at the right time.

Aggy B. · Aug 19, 2016

It's not impossible, but it's very unlikely. While agents and editors do have "do not work with" lists, those are based on their own interactions with folks - not other authors gossiping about someone. (FREX: If an agent rejects your book and you send her a hateful or threatening letter you can bet she'll tell the other agents she knows. Because instances of revenge stalking by rejected authors are not nearly as rare as they should be.)

This industry is difficult and competitive and even folks who are very good don't usually find an immediate in. If it's something you want to do, you need to buckle in for the long haul. (It took me nearly six years of revising and editing to produce a novel that interested an agent. Almost a year of querying to nearly 200 agents. And, while I love my agent and he has been nothing but helpful and supportive, we still have only sold one small project in the past 2 1/2 years. But I write a new book or two every year and we keep pushing forward because we both believe the "break" is coming.)

Best of luck! And stick with it.

Derimed · Aug 19, 2016

Thank you guys. No, I don't think agents and publishers need to worry about terrible behavior on my part. I long since decided, even before my trilogy was done, that even the harshest denial from an agent would get a "thank you very much for considering my query" and nothing more nasty than that. I am very glad to hear that there is no blacklist that gossip can put one onto. If it's just my own writing and just my own behavior, I feel fine about whatever might come to pass.

Thanks again for your help.

Perks · Aug 19, 2016

Of course! And very best of luck and inspiration to you.

Sheryl Nantus · Aug 19, 2016

First - the grad school bunch you were tortured with likely have NO ties to anyone in power. When you get out into the real world all that blustering and chatting means nothing until you put your money where your mouth is by proving you've got the talent to deliver.

You can look up these wanna-be power brokers and I'd bet they're wallowing in their own sewage, still telling each other how wonderful they are and how great they'll be WHEN they get discovered.

The publishing world is wide and wonderful and filled with a LOT of people who will have no idea who you are who these people are - you're all blank sheets to them until you prove yourself. And trust me, anyone who comes in badmouthing their fellow grad students won't look good. In the ADULT world that sort of behavior doesn't go far.

You rise and fall on your own merits.

Derimed · Aug 19, 2016

Thanks again, guys.

AW Admin · Aug 19, 2016

Derimed said:
Is it possible in the publishing industry for somebody of this sort to "make some phone calls" and editors and agents won't look at my query letters or manuscripts? Cause, while my grades in that professional school were really good, I looked for work for over eight months and couldn't even land an interview. The industry I was in school for is a small one, so everybody knows everybody else and blacklisting somebody is possible, and I think that's what my wonderful "friends" did.

No; in fact attempts to black list someone generally back fire.

You can be a completely vile person, but if you write well, you'll be published nonetheless. (Hi there Orson! Have you told any lesbians they'll burn in hell alongside their children today?)

I suggest endeavoring to be courteous and kind and respectful is a better tactic, but no, there's no black list.

Perks · Aug 19, 2016

AW Admin said:
You can be a completely vile person, but if you write well, you'll be published nonetheless.

That's a good point. There is a level of performance (or perception of the marketability of that performance) that can produce the phenomenon of unsinkability. Best not rely on that, of course, but it does happen.

ASeiple · Aug 19, 2016

From my admittedly limited perspective, no, there is no real blacklist. Which works both ways, mind you. Don't assume that everyone you try to work with is going to be reasonable, or has your best interests in mind. There's a whole section on this board devoted to checking suspicious-looking publishers, and no matter how much bad stuff is proven true about various presses, they still get plenty of business. Now, one thing that I DO like about this industry, is that there are very few mistakes which can't be rectified. You don't have to be perfect at all times. Just own up to your mistakes, learn from your missteps, and keep trying.

Old Hack · Aug 19, 2016

I've run a slushpile or two in my time and have never had a blacklist, nor have any of the agents or editors I know.

What we did all do, however, was have a list of people we would auto-reject because they'd threatened or stalked us, or because they'd plagiarised other writers, or because they'd done other worrying or difficult things.

Writers who other writers said bad things about? If we blacklisted those we'd have no one to work with. No one is universally liked. Luckily we base our choices on the writing, first and foremost, and not on who has the most supportive friends.

frimble3 · Aug 19, 2016

Your grad school cohort have likely gone from the warm, comforting feeling of being a school of big fish in a small pond, to being individual small fish in a much bigger pond. They may wish they had the power to blacklist, more likely they have the power to get coffee.

And, even if they were to get the ear of someone with the power, hey, nobody really likes to work with someone who badmouths in the past tense: 'There was this guy, back in grad school...'. It only makes the new workmates wonder how they will be described at the badmouther's next job.

Helix · Aug 19, 2016

*looks through thread*

*takes names*

BenPanced · Aug 24, 2016

Helix said:
*looks through thread*

*takes names*

Old Hack · Aug 25, 2016

*bans everyone*
*sticks them all on a blacklist or two*
*especially that Panced bloke*
*cackles*

BenPanced · Aug 25, 2016

Not me! Look! I brung CAKE! :Cake:

Old Hack · Aug 25, 2016

*gives the Panced bloke a temporary reprieve*

blacbird · Aug 27, 2016

Derimed said:
I went to graduate school a few years back and I got the grad school cohort from hell.

I have to ask: What in hell is a "grad school cohort"? From hell or otherwise? When I went to grad school, I . . . just kind of . . . went to grad school.

caw

Zaffiro · Nov 9, 2016

In my experience, to the (tiny) extent that there's anything even remotely resembling a blacklist, it involves published authors, not aspiring ones. Editors and agents and publicists and media escorts all have stories about this one author who did this outrageous thing, and while they mostly won't spill the actual names to other authors (apart from two exceptions who are apparently such enormous gits that no one has any problem naming and shaming), I'm sure they share them among themselves. And, by the way, it's not stopping the authors in question from getting published.

But aspiring authors? Unless you do something so awful that it's actually noteworthy (setting the rejection letter on fire and sending the ashes back to the agent with a note that says 'YOU'RE NEXT'), no one is going to care enough to remember your name, never mind share it. 'I was in grad school with him and OMG he so totally sucks' would get an eyeroll and not one second more of thought.

ETA: Arghh. Just realised this thread is months old. I figure I might as well leave the post...

Maryn · Nov 9, 2016

Months old rather than years, not such a big gaffe in the greater scheme of things.

Maryn, who may yet do an outrageous thing

Is there a publishing blacklist?

Derimed

Perks

delicate #!&@*#! flower

Aggy B.

Not as sweet as you think

Derimed

Perks

delicate #!&@*#! flower

Sheryl Nantus

Holding out for a Superhero...

Derimed

AW Admin

Perks

delicate #!&@*#! flower

ASeiple

Livin' la vida biblia

Old Hack

Such a nasty woman

frimble3

Heckuva good sport

Helix

socially distancing

BenPanced

THE BLUEBERRY QUEEN OF HADES (he/him)

Old Hack

Such a nasty woman

BenPanced

THE BLUEBERRY QUEEN OF HADES (he/him)

Old Hack

Such a nasty woman

blacbird

Zaffiro

Maryn

Baaa!