Soul -- I told myself I had to get published before I got another tattoo. HA!
HA! Cat if I told myself that I'd never get another tattoo ever again!
AW can give you a really false impression. But over the years I've seen people strutting around like big stuff with a hot shot agent and a book deal with a major publisher. They strut for a year waiting counting the minutes their book comes out. Then a few months later *poof* they disappear. No more posts. So all there is left to read is the strutting and how 'everyone here needs to do just what I did if you want to make it big.'
Good point, Teri. I can see how it'd be easy to strut and preen when one has an agent/deal. Shit I know I'd want to! When one works hard they are excited! But like you said it's the 'you should follow my path. It happened tome and it WILL happen to you - that grates. But very few continue to post about their journey once their book has come out and of course, strut/preeners would feel embarrassed to admit if their sales were low/their pub dropped them/their agent gave them the axe.
Publishing success (for all but the lucky few) is like a shooting star. You wait and wait and hope and hope and when it happens (IF it happens) it's beautiful and awe inspiring but blink and it's gone.
Here's what I want to know, esp. after reading that article. Now I haven't read Am@nd@ H0ck1ing, but given all the rave reviews and cult following, I'm guessing it's not crap. You're going to tell me that every single agent and editor that read her partial or full beforehand deemed it crap? I don't get it. The genre is already popular. It obviously hooked readers. The industry is that far off?
Everyone says a book that's well-written will trump all. If an agent can't put a ms down, she signs you, right? Come on -- H@rry P0tter I understand the resistance. There wasn't anything like it out there, but to be turned down by everyone and then have it go on to mega success????
Cat I'd say 'gate keeper' subjectivity trumped all (until very recently). What one person thinks is an awesome story I may hate.
Also it's strictly business for agents/eds. If they think they can sell your book they'll sign you. If they don't or if they think they'd need to put too much work in it to be worth their time (they gotta make a profit) they'll R you. That's my 2 cents, anyway.
I've had agents sing my ms's praises. One said it's a very rare ms that she reads to the end and holds her interest. Didn't stop her from R'ing me. One agent said my ms was marketable and she thought it'd sell. She still R'd me. So I think 'falling in love' for an agent doesn't just mean falling in love with the writing...they also need to fall in love with the amount of $$ they think they can make from the sale.
For those megasuccess books, it's a case of storytelling trumping everything else, and how many agents, who we assume are very well-read, can still read and manage to overlook other flaws to see that? As much as I love reading good storytelling, I don't think now I could pick a great story out of the slush if it had lots of other problems. I can't shut off my internal editor.
Good point Amarie...before I started writing I read with a far less critical eye. I just wanted a good story didn't care much about the writing. Now my editorial eye is far sharper and bad writing can ruin a book for me....but for some agents maybe that means they shoot down a book that's good but has errors that THEY find glaring but the general public would love to read