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Forty years ago, I thought the toughest thing in the
world was to get published. That's because I started writing
at the age of 14, started my journey toward getting published (I'm
talking about getting anything published) at the age of 14, and succeeded at
getting my first paying magazine article published at the age of (hmmm,
you'd think I'd remember this) 23. Twenty-four maybe. That's a lot of rejection slips, you know? And my first book? I started trying to get that published at 14 as well but didn't succeed until I was 25 or 26. And then it was with a "fringe" publisher--not a "major." |
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That's a lot of words under the dam. No wonder I thought publishing was so tough. But, you know what? It wasn't anything near what it is today. Here's why getting published is tougher today than it was forty, thirty, twenty, or even ten years ago.
It's the economy, stupid.
There are fewer investment dollars available to publishers because more of us are running scared of $14 trillion deficits. "Don't blame me" doesn't work anymore. It's Obama, Pelosi, and Reid. Pure and simple.
It's also the changing nature of the information highway. It used to be print. And then it was print and radio. And then it was print and radio and television. And then it was print and radio and television and the Web. Today it's all of the above combined with Nookies and Crannies and Social Networking and eBooks and blogs and a million other different ways of getting the message out. All of which have cut into the traditional publishing profile, and all of which have created uncertainty, fear, and diminishing profits for the print industry model.
Does this changing element disturb me in the long run? No. Why Not? Because at the end of the day, the content providers will still be we writers, no matter what the deliver system might be. The New York Times in the driveway? The Daily Beast in your in-box? Doesn't matter. Writers will still produce the content. And good writers still produce the best of it. Let the damned publishers figure out how to disperse it, and how to pay us for it fairly once they do.
So what does all this mean to the everyday writer? It means get up-to-speed, learn what's happening, and go where the money is. It means join AmSAW or the The Writer's Guild or ASJA. And keep on writing. Good stuff, marketable stuff, publishable stuff. There's still a need for us, even though the marketplace has changed. And there always will be. At least until the cows come home to roost.
Until then...
Smoke if you got 'em.
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