Some Publishing Pros Walk Into a Bar...

Abby Zidle

At the conference I attended the other weekend, I was sitting with an agent and an author at the bar when the agent asked us, "Do you believe that every well-written book will eventually find a publisher?"

It's a good question.  And it's interesting to hear what different people think.  The author who was with us said yes, a good book would always find a home somewhere.  I agreed, if you assume that you have an unlimited time to shop the book around...you might have to put it in a trunk for a few years until the market turns, but a good book will out.  But the agent who posed the question disagreed--she felt that sometimes, even an excellent book simply wouldn't find a home.

Perhaps this is just a reflection of our jobs, and the level of optimism inherent in each.  I think any author who wants longevity in this business probably has to believe that all good books will find a home...otherwise how could you go on?  (Frankly, I don't understand how y'all are that brave to begin with, facing all that rejection.)  As an editor, I dole out rejection all the time...but just as often, I read in the trades that someone has snapped up a manuscript that I thought was junk.  So if those are getting bought, surely a book that's well-written, even if it's not my sort of thing, would find a home, too.  But the agent comes face to face with the difficulty of selling a project every day.  He has to think about more than what he loves, but what will sell...and if something he loves doesn't sell, the project (and the author) don't just vanish with the next recycling period.

So what do you all think?  Will a well-written book always find a home?  Tell me about it in the comments...

(And a post-Derby Day addendum: RIP, Eight Belles. You ran a hell of a last race.)

Comments

[Jeff Cohen]

I dunno, Abby. Maybe I've grown cynical (MAYBE???), but I think it's entirely possible a really good book WON'T find a publisher, based on the economics of the market. Everybody's looking for the next Lee Child, and if you're not that, there's a chance you could be really good, but not be what the houses want. I'm sure it's frustrating for all involved.

[Amie Stuart]

I almost think this is a question that writers can't (or without some difficulty, can't) be objective about. That said if I had something that I really believed in but knew or finally figured out that it was just too far left of center, I'd definitely look at other alternatives.

[Heather]

I don't know that I believe a well-written book will always find a publisher ... but I do believe that a good writer who continues writing good mss will eventually sell one and hopefully continue on selling more and since the writer didn't give up, maybe that old one sitting at the back of the closet or in the trunk may eventually find a home ... or not ...

[Mark Terry]

I absolutely do not believe that every publishable book gets published or will get published.

Even if I didn't face that in my own writing on a regular basis, I just don't think the math computes. The number of slots for books to be published by publishers (and I'll exclude self-publishing and the POD folks like iUniverse) is finite and shrinking and yet we're all churning out books. And very good writers are being rejected and dropped by their publishers and it has nothing to do with the quality of the manuscripts.

[Clair Dickson]

I do think that every good book will find a home. Especially with so many small presses out there, there's someone willing to take a chance on a book that will only ever sell 10,000 copies, not 10 bazillion.

But I think that it's got to be a GOOD book, not a 'good' book. An average or 'good' book may never be placed, but a Very Good book with something key-- like a compelling narrative/ narrator, or an unusual plot will find a home somehwere. Small press is better than no press.

[Kitty]

"Will a well-written book always find a home?"

No. I'd like to believe that it's not personal, that it's strictly business, but I don't believe that, either.

...

[Charlene Teglia]

I think a well-written book *can* always find a home, eventually...but maybe not in a way that meets or advances the author's goals. So sometimes even if you could sell something, it might be better not to.

[Abby Zidle]

Yikes! Who knew I was going to be the Pollyanna of the group?

[Cicily Janus]

My 2 cents...I would like to think...as an unpublished novelist/author except in the short fiction and non-fiction markets, that every good MS will find a home. But if you look at the staggering statistics, yeah, I'd rather not go there. I have a friend who works at a "big" agent house in NY and she says that her slush pile props open her door.

Hmmm, could the next Richard Russo be in that slush pile? Probably. But, if you REALLY want to get published, I think the key is tenacity. Keep writing. So what if you get rejected a million times over.

What's that saying in the God-father? "It's not personal, it's business." The more you write, the better you'll get. Think about it this way, as an ex-musician, I went through years upon years upon years of private lessons, practice sessions and band practice for hours a day at school. After about 9 years of study on the trumpet, I finally started to get gigs of my own. And it wasn't until I was 15 years into playing the trumpet that I got a huge paying gig with a well known singer.

So why is it that a person can sit down, write a novel for the first time and expect to make the short list for the Pulitzer, or for that matter, the short list of any agents slush pile turned door holders? Better yet, they expect to make the published 1% of novelists with their first book.

Keep going. And if the talent is there, the tenacity is there, the drive to be that next American Idol of Lit. world is there, then one day, maybe, it will happen. But until then, yeah, don't let the "market" and the thought of it not ever happening stop you.

Alright, I'll shut up.

And yes, Martini's at 6K feet, will get to you everytime.

~C

[Rick Helms]

Expecting that every good book will find a publishing home is a little naive. I do believe, however, that every good author will eventually find a home(or at least a nice lease with an option to purchase)with a legitimate publisher.

This isn't the real issue, though. Getting published, however difficult that might be, is the easy part. Staying published is a bitch. This is a fickle business, and your future as an author at any given imprint turns on the friendly (or unfriendly)card.

I've always been amazed at some of the dumb things publishers do after investing in an author's project - things like selling half a print run to a distributor who concentrates on drug stores, grocery stores, and airport bookstores. Unless you are a top-shelf name, those venues have about a 90% or higher return rate. It's a guarantee that the book won't meet its sell-through. Why don't you just save the author some time and dump him as soon as the book comes off the presses?

Good books sometimes go unpublished. Persistent and good authors eventually get published.