I wonder if it's one of those publishers who say "Due to current economic conditions . . ."

Amadan said:

We need a "Why I can't get published" bingo card. At least half the squares will be filled in with names like Billy Crystal, Tyra Banks, and Snookie.

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I'm just waiting on a "Katie Price uses a ghost writer!" for a full house.

"Current economic conditions" are those in which celebrity books are big gets and guaranteed mega-sales, while first-time authors are not.

I'm confused. What does the title of this thread have to do with Billy Crystal getting a book deal and large publishers not accepting submissions from unrepresented authors?

Miss Plum said:

"Current economic conditions" are those in which celebrity books are big gets and guaranteed mega-sales, while first-time authors are not.

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That's not "current." That's "since forever." You think Erroll Flynn didn't get a good chunk of cash for MY WICKED, WICKED WAYS?




(Heh, I originally typo'd MY WICKED, WICKER WAYS, and am now picturing Erroll spending his free time making wicker furniture with a lascivious smile on his face.)

Stacia Kane said:

That's not "current." That's "since forever."

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Ha! I stand corrected.

(It'd be nice if publishers would use that language, too. "Due to current economic conditions since forever and the industry-wide decline in overall book sales since Gutenberg, we will no longer keep the policy we have followed since Day One and not accept unsolicited non-agented queries and submissions of any kind from previously unpublished authors.")

Miss Plum said:

Ha! I stand corrected.

(It'd be nice if publishers would use that language, too. "Due to current economic conditions since forever and the industry-wide decline in overall book sales since Gutenberg, we will no longer keep the policy we have followed since Day One and not accept unsolicited non-agented queries and submissions of any kind from previously unpublished authors.")

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Well, erm, no, that's not what Stacia meant. She was talking about it being 'since forever' that celebrities get big advances. That's what's not a 'current economic conditions' issue.

As others have said, the title of this thread has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the original post's actual content.

The reason that so many publishers have stopped accepting unagented submissions is because, due to the ease with which manuscripts can be put together on computers (vs typewriters, which was one hell of a lot more work), they started drowning in unpublishable crap.

It has nothing whatsoever to do with allocating more money to celebrity books than they did previously.