Middle Market?

A friend of mine had a ms rejected by a relatively small but prestigious press, which mostly publishes quality literary fiction.

It was a personal rejection and complimentary about the writing, but included the phrase "perhaps a little middle-market, so not quite right for us."

I've never seen the phrase "middle market" in reference to a book. It's an investment and business term, of course, but I'm not quite sure what it means in this context.

Anyone ever heard or seen seen this in regards to a ms??

benbenberi said:

I would take that to mean, not literary, but not trashy.

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That would be my guess as well. I just thought perhaps it was a standard publishing term that somehow I'd never heard. Guess not, though.

dangerousbill said:

Why don't you ask them what it means, now that you're reasonably sure that there are other writers out here who are equally puzzled?

For all you know, it may have been read by some intern in their office, who screwed up the terminology, and really meant, 'mainstream'. But if there's a new jargon term going around, it behooves all of us to know about it.

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No, it was a full, read by the editor-in-chief. I can't ask because I have nothing to do with the submission. The party involved doesn't want to ask, because it's not necessarily a good idea to ask an editor who has rejected a ms "What exactly do you mean by that? Explain yourself."