From GalleyCat:
AGENTS
Andrew Wylie on ‘Devaluation of Quality Editing and Writing’
By Jason Boog on May 26, 2011 9:45 AM
In the new issue of WSJ Magazine, agent Andrew Wylie shared his thoughts about the contemporary publishing industry in an opinionated essay. We got a sneak peek at the essay where the famous agent pondered our digital future.
His essay stressed that despite self-publishing options, the writing profession needs “a chain of people who have authority and can help convey what is essential.” What do you think?
Here’s an excerpt: “The devaluation of quality editing and writing is sad and it’s inevitable. Each house has a large number of titles to publish, and with a difficult economy, fewer people to handle the publications. But publishers need to become smaller, leaner, and they will have to learn new disciplines. The whole one-year publication process must be reduced.”
UPDATE: Readers respond on Facebook:
Hookline Books: “Authors still need the endorsement of an outside party, be it a publisher, a prominent reviewer, advocate”
Leah Cummins Guinn “I’ve read quite a few self-pubbed books, and even though some were very good and most were average, all of them could have been greatly improved by a good editor.”
Olga Gardner Galvin “Some authors need outside validation; others less so. All authors need an editor and a proofreader.”
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this post misidentified the source of the essay.
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6 comments:
All of that is true. Authors need editors, proof readers, a shorter publication cycle. I would suggest, however, that publishers are providing less guidance, less quality proofing and that they focus on brands rather than writing, with such silly rules as minimum length manuscripts. No doubt e-books and the emergence of self-publishing will have a significant downside; but it might have some genuine opportunities for new publishers as well as writers. Who knows how it will shake out. But I'm kind of excited by it.
"The devaluation of quality editing and writing is sad and it’s inevitable." I agree wholeheartedly! I just read a book published by Poison Pen. Granted, not a self-pubbed book, but the editing was embarassing. There were virtually no spaces between scene changes, mispelled words, missing quote marks. Anyone being published by Poison Pen, beware. Anyone self-pubbing, hire a freelance editor.
RJR
I've come across some total schlock and some very good writing but in most instances (bad and good), the editing just wasn't there (and in way too many instances, neither was the formatting--what RJR mentioned above). I think previously published authors who have had editors from their publishers who choose to fly solo to save coin should rethink their strategy ... I have a list of authors I won't read again because of getting burned (paying for stuff that just wasn't professional). On the other hand, last week I bought Naked Lunch on kindle and wanted to blow my brains out for doing so after reading about 18% of that piece of shit. $9.99 ... i could've invested another penny, split the difference and played a high-low (one roll of the dice) ... 30:1 payoff ... what I got for my $9.99 was a fucking headache before I gave up.
Quote: His essay stressed that despite self-publishing options, the writing profession needs “a chain of people who have authority and can help convey what is essential.” Unquote.
I must respectfully disagree.
"Help convey what is essential"? That's the kind of blind arrogance that helped put traditional publishing in its current bind. The thinking that they, and only they, can filter out the unwashed riffraff so that only the highest quality "essential" literary efforts might be admitted into the golden castle on the hill.
"Help convey what is essential"? One word: Snooki.
I believe there needs to be gatekeepers in the publishing world. Just because self-publishing now means you can be published, it sure as hell doesn't mean your manuscript is readable.
It strikes me that if writers wish to self-publish — and I do — then we, as publishers, are responsible for the editing and proof-reading, whether we do it ourselves or hire it done. As far as gatekeepers are concerned, this is important as well. I imagine that these folks will emerge in some fashion as this trend matures. I have no idea what form it will take; but I believe it will happen.
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