If you could sit down with an editor...
- Thread starter Barbara R.
- Start date
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2009
- Messages
- 6,004
- Reaction score
- 1,233
Well, it is a good question.
Along with: Do they notch their pens with their victories in crushing the hopes and dreams of fledging writers?
I keed! I keed!
I can't wait to read the interview when done!
In both instances I got about a two page response with very specific changes they wanted to see. They wanted me to clarify the motivations of specific characters for acting a certain way in specific scenes, as well as a request to pull more life into a couple background scenes.
That's the reason for my question. They said I should hear back "soon" and it has been a while. I wondered if I missed the mark on the revisions and if they might give me another shot if I'm close, or if they have a one-shot policy. Doing this without an agent is a real change for me.
I think this is part of a larger question about what happens when the editor's view of the work doesn't mesh with the writer's: is that right?
Or maybe they just haven't read it yet, in which case a gentle nudge would not be inappropriate---this is assuming "a while" means a month or more.
No - it's more about "Do I get to be that lucky again?"
Old Book was one I'd written pretty much for me and then thought "What, hey - let's get published again!" I'm a little unnerved with New Book because - yanno - maybe I shouldn't assume I can do that again.
Last edited:
So you feel those genres have run their course, for now at least? (Some of them are perennials, appropriately enough for the undead.) I know it happened with Chick Lit, and plenty of other fads---first publishers can't get enough, then they can't bear another one. I doubt that's changed, though the particular genres might have.
It's not so much my personal feeling (I don't really read them, honestly, so I'm definitely not sick of them) as my impressions based on things I've seen agents saying a lot lately. Many have said on Twitter and/or in pitch contests recently that they absolutely don't want to see X, Y, or Z anymore, or "There's a crap ton of X on the market; you need to go the extra step to make your book about X be absolutely unlike anything I've seen before." I would be shocked to see someone selling a vampire book right now, and pretty damn surprised to see someone sell werewolf, angels and/or demons, grim reaper, or dystopia.
I think chick lit will eventually come back around, partly because I think the rise of e-readers contributes to people reading books in public they wouldn't have once upon a time (hence why erotica is super popular right now), and partly because it wasn't just a genre but it fit a kind of "vacation reading" niche and I think people are starting to miss it. Or maybe that's just my personal feeling because I would seriously kill to find to some good chick lit nowadays and I hate how nonexistent it is.
It always happens that way. Something takes off unexpectedly ---a Zombie mashup, say---and a bunch of writers say "I can do that," and a bunch of editors say, "I want some of that;" a year later, the market is super-saturated and all the imitations tank.
I'll ask Tara about the current pariahs. Thanks for the suggestion.
Barbara
What would she absolutely LOVE to get her hands on right now?
(Not saying we should write to the trends, just wondering what an editor sees as the next big thing if dystopian, etc are on the downswing.)
(Not saying we should write to the trends, just wondering what an editor sees as the next big thing if dystopian, etc are on the downswing.)
Ruth--
Yes, thanks--that would make a good companion question to the one about what genres she wouldn't touch.
Yes, thanks--that would make a good companion question to the one about what genres she wouldn't touch.
- Joined
- Jun 11, 2011
- Messages
- 161
- Reaction score
- 11
I fear I'm too late for the interview but I would love to ask, "What's one thing you would change about the publishing business?"
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2009
- Messages
- 6,004
- Reaction score
- 1,233
- Joined
- Jun 11, 2011
- Messages
- 161
- Reaction score
- 11
My question may not have been timely but my popping in here sure was! Thanks for sharing the link, Barbara. I'm eager to read the article. Just need to grab a cup of coffee to go along with it. (That's why I love coffee. It goes with everything!)
Unimportant
No COVID yet. Still masking.
Staff member
Moderator
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
My pleasure---literally. I think Tara gave a great interview that conveys the fact that people really are drawn to publishing because they love books. It's sure not for the money. Those who do well in publishing could make much more in other fields.
That's why I get so annoyed at many of the rants against the industry. There's plenty to criticize about mainstream publishing, and if you put two writers together they'll probably bond over those issues. But, as Tara said, the people you meet in publishing houses are some of the smartest and most interesting people you could meet anywhere, and they are passionate about books. That's what I miss most from my time as an agent.