Polarised Discussions

Over the last few days I have been having random thoughts about several issues.

Consider, first, the reviews and opinions that abound on self-publishing versus commercial publishing.

The latest view that I read concerned the quality of writing.  It was a blog from an established, and successful writer, whose ideas can be suitably summarised by saying that those who self-publish do so because they cannot get a commercial publisher to show an interest in their work.  Their work is, therefore, rubbish.

It is interesting to note that among the many responses on that blog are those who point out that some novels sold by commercial publishers are short on quality both in terms of story and prose.

Nevertheless he does have a point but he does miss one important aspect.

Within the blog and its responses there are frequent references to ‘The Gatekeepers’ (shades of ‘Ghostbusters’?).  These are the persons whose task it is to identify the stories that the publisher would wish to follow up with the potential for print.  These Gatekeepers have their own tastes and ideas that may not quite gel with the author or, indeed, the public and it’s requirements.

Furthermore, the Gatekeeper has a personal need to fulfill in the way that the MS is delivered to them—and be sure that publishers vary in their demands, and so the author has to be on their toes to ensure that the format is correct for that publisher.

If the cover letter is not right, if the blurb isn’t right, if the summary isn’t right the Gatekeeper will never even read the book.  This is glossing over the ‘white paper, black print, courier new font, twenty five lines per page....’.

Getting past the Gatekeeper is a work of art on its own.  Little wonder that many authors choose to self-publish.

In short, the argument that self-published work is bad and commercially published work is good is a tenuous argument at best and specious at worst.  It is certainly a fuzzy and very grey argument.

Just, briefly, go back to the ‘white paper, black print, courier new font, twenty five lines per page....’ issue.  Not physically—in our heads will be adequate.

Formatting documents for publishers should now be easier.  In the old days, and I mean really, really, old days before computers, when Chaucer and Bacon not only had to hand-write their MS but also had no ‘Gatekeepers!  The writers would go to the printers with various marks, still internationally recognized, to denote certain actions required.  It is for this reason that there is, even now, a need for wide margins so that the ‘printer’s marks’ can be entered without disturbing the script that will already be covered in amendments and notations.

Then editors and publishers got in on the act and more revisions needed to be made.  We are now heading away from the writer’s ideas into the realm of what the publishers regard as ‘commercially required’.  And yet, very often, publishers are playing a guessing game because they do not, really, know what is going to sell and what is not.

But.  Back to the formatting.

We moved from hand-written MSS to typed ones.  And now?  Computers.  Software like Adobe and Word take care of everything.  If you know how to use it!

Ah!  But there are elephant traps out there.  For example:

Some very bright people have assisted self-publishers by allowing them to format their work and putting it on to the web for e-readers.  This means that the Word or Adobe file must be converted by modern electronic means into the appropriate software for the e-readers to use.

But this conversion is not, necessarily, easy for those of us who are less than expert with electronic gadgetry.  That means, in essence, those of us who are not the youngest kids on the block!  For some of us just getting the hang of Word is hard enough.  To get those twenty five lines per page there needs to be some sort of process involving 'widows and orphans'--for whom I have the greatest sympathy but no ability to address on the computer!  Just obtaining the line numbers puts my brain in a vice-like grip.

All these things take research and/or professional assistance.  I have said before and, very likely, will say again, that the job of the writer is to write.  Let us get on with it.  If you write well and have a good story then self-publish.  If you do not write well and do not have a good story the market will find you out.

Let the people decide.