Who's entitled to publication?

I don't know that anyone is actually entitled to getting published, but many PA and vanity authors believe they are. I mean, who makes the decision? You are entitled. (Points to next person) You are not.

If you've worked hard on a book that you think a lot of people will like, that doesn't necessarily entitle you to publication. An author has to work hard to get it published, but entitlement? I don't think so.

allen

What would that even mean, "entitled" to be published? It's not a moral judgment on a writer or his/her work -- it's simply a matter of matching up product and customer, so far as being "published" counts.

(Who's entitled to have their work valued -- that would be a more meaningful debate, but also a big can of worms!)

The only thing anyone is "entitled" to on this earth is leaving it.

I am entitled to being published with a 100,000 dollar advance I'm just waiting for someone to offer it.

Screw entitled; I'm going to earn it.

Nobody's entitled to anything. Like aadams73 said, you earn it.

Why worry about it?

Everyone is overcritical. There is always something in every book, a stall point, something you disagree with...suddenly the book had no right to be published. Nearly every book has someone that is grateful for having the opportunity to read it. Doesn't that give it entitlement?

You can't judge yourself. You aren't qualified. Leave that to your public. You just have to get it past those picky publishers.

I'm kinda curious as to what inspired the question. I mean, there are certainly writers of all stripes who give the impression they think they have a God-given right to be published, but I tend to discount those people right off the bat as writing's equivalent of the first few episodes of American Idol. Maybe it's just a sign of my growing experience that only writers with the right attitude even cross my consciousness anymore.

Whoever writes material that a publisher thinks is marketable and will earn them a profit deserves to be published. Like any band that will turn a profit for a record company deserves to be produced. Like any movie that will make a profit for the producers or increase their market share deserves to be produced. Does that necessarily make any of it good? Hell no! It probably makes it edited and polished better, but just turn on your radio or look at the movies in the theaters right now and tell me what percentage you'd consider "really good and worthy of production".

Vanity publishing or endless querying for the rest of us, baby. Viva la Vanity.

I think the ones who feel entitled are the ones who rarely make it - hence PA and other vanity presses. Anyone with an ounce of realism knows it takes more than a simple "I wrote a book, it should be published" to actually get there.

The only possible exception could be the big-name authors. They've paid their dues (for the most part), so if they have a sense of entitlement, I think it's understandable. Of course, if they submit crap, it's their name on the line as well.

I hate the word entitled. Brings to mind Paris Hilton, who thinks she's entitled to everything.

Because of that, I will never believe that I'm entitled to anything, including being published! I'll work for it, thank-you.

Dave.C.Robinson said:

Just a quick question: Who here thinks they're entitled to be published? Or that anyone is.

I can't say that I do. I want to be published, I'm working on getting published, but all I'm entitled to is the opportunity to try.

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I remember watching a commercial (I think it was a Xerox commercial about On-Demand Printing or something to that effect) where a professor stood before his class and stated, "Of course everyone has the RIGHT to be published, but..."

And I'll stop right there.

There is no RIGHT to be published. No human being is entitled to be published, and like AAdams73 said, every person has to earn it.

If we did not have to earn our publishing credits, we would never appreciate them nor would we have any incentive to make our writing the best we can make it. I often talk about how I've been writing for 25 years and have never been legitimately published. There's a simple reason for this: I have not earned legitimate publication yet. Even though my writing has garnered me some cool responses from editors and agents, the fact remains I have yet to earn my ability to be legitimately published.

So the idea of a publishing entitlement is a myth. No one has the right to be published; we all have to earn it, or we will never appreciate our accomplishments.

I agree with Kristie. Entitled has no bearing on it. It's all a matter of whether or not your novel is both able to captivate and agent or editor's heart and whether it appears tha it will sell. I understand both conditions need to be present before the novel has a chance of acceptance by either editor or agent. I certainly am not entitled to publication and don't expect it to happen until I have succeeded in transforming my novel into a piece of compelling and enlightening fiction that draws in the editor/agent to the point (s)he is convinced the reading public will want to buy it.

Entitled

Well, according to the Constitution, we're all entitled to be self-published, but when you try to get someone else to publish your work, it's their rights that matter, not yours. They are entitled to buy what they wish, to reject what they wish, and to publish what they wish.

The only thing I'm entitled to is that creme-filled donut so keep yer grubby mitts off'n it.

callalily61 said:

I'm apparently entitled to the gray hair my teenager's giving me.

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That's not gray hair - that's a crown of glory and a testament of fortitude.

kristie911 said:

I hate the word entitled. Brings to mind Paris Hilton, who thinks she's entitled to everything.

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How could you possibly know what Paris Hilton thinks?

RumpleTumbler said:

How could you possibly know what Paris Hilton thinks?

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I tried a mind meld, and this is all I picked up: