Ed here: Kristine Kathryn Rusch has long been one of my favorite writers. And editors. And savvy commentators on the lives of freelance writers. Kris and her husband (and writer) Dean Wesley Smith are also well-known for their writing workshops. Now I had assumed with all of Kris' street cred that she would never be treated by NYC the way some or many of us have been over the years. Not so. Kris blog is mandatory reading for writers. Here's an example.
Crank up the Aretha Franklin as you read this. Because her classic “R*E*S*P*E*C*T” is blaring as I write this.
I am fed up.
This is the kind of mood I get into when I tell bosses to go screw themselves, when I walk off the job, when I say, “That’s it, no one treats me like this. Not a soul.”
In the past two days, two different editors have told me that I don’t know how publishing works. One deigned to explain to me how something in book production worked when I questioned a scheduling problem in the publishing house. The other told me I had no idea how to write a good book in my genre.
Excuse me, children?
And I do mean children. Both are younger than me, both have been in the business less than ten years, neither is anything more than an editor. Not a senior editor, not a vice-president, not the owner of the damn company. Editors. Employees way down the food chain.
I know. I was one, long before these two were out of frickin’ school. I have taught copy editors, for god’s sake. I have designed publishing schedules. I have run publishing offices. I have managed managing editors. I have more knowledge about publishing in my little finger than either of these two.
for the rest go here:
http://kriswrites.com/2011/10/19/the-business-rusch-respect/
I know how Kris feels. One day in the 90's I found myself standing in the lobby of NAL pitching some books to a young editor, when I realized, "I shouldn't be doing this." He was much younger than me, and I didn't even get to go to his office. I immediately stopped and walked out. Never did work with that editor. Too bad for him.
ReplyDeleteRJR
I have friends who are veterans of the movie business, who have run into this sort of thing from the twenty-somethings who are running the studios, or what's left of them.
ReplyDeleteBook publishing, the movie business, the record business...they're all run by the same type of people, and they're all in trouble because of digital technology, something none of them ever saw coming. No one will cry for them when their lights go out.
ReplyDeleteKris, on the other hand, gets my applause for her very upfront telling of her story and her subsequent assessment of the business.
I don't think their lights will go out, but if they do, I will cry for them.
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