If you love writing <3 discussion

So is the novel-length publishing process mired in as lofty a mound of steaming bullshit as it'd seem? Lemme give you some examples of what I mean by this:

1) "Thank you for your consideration"--higher born, but basically equivalent to its bastard cousin, "Your call is important to us." Gimme a break! As if a manuscript editor doesn't know writers are a pathologically needy bunch, subsisting for years on personalized rejections and such. 'Thank you' doesn't even scratch the surface of the obsequiousness that I've seen most writers show toward anyone with publishing clout. It's shameful and false--like a porn star smiling as what's left of her dignity gets obliterated. And besides, do you really want to work with someone whose professional opinion of your work depended on whether or not you included "Thank you"?

2) "Pitching" your story--great euphemism here, meaning (and the dictionary will corroborate this) 'throwing it in the fucking trashcan.' "What IF love went beyond the grave?" "What IF Hitler had won?" "What IF hypotheticals didn't exist?" If you want to cheapen your heart's work, that's your business. But to say that *every* book needs to be effectively turned into a B-movie trailer? No wonder mainstream fiction is in the shithouse these days.

3) You know, I was going to fill out more but what's even the point? In short, publishing sounds like a a vast economy of whorish double-speak that would've made Orwell wince. I'm sure some of you are thinking: Well you gotta play the game. Fuck that shit. I have a good novel; I've got no false modesty about that. All I want is for it to speak for itself, without any bullshit ingratiation. If any of you know of a way to do so, please tell me. I refuse to play grabass with some bean-counter whose only advantage over me is being well-versed in the art of withholding praise.

And some of you are probably thinking I've had a bad experience with publishing. Not so, but I am an American, so I know damn well how arbitrary authority is. And good gravy, is the publishing world packed with checkpoints and braindead gatekeepers, from what I've read.

kb

Addendum: If anyone thinks this is a hit-and-run, know that I will gladly say the above, in person, to any editor/publisher to whom it applies. It should be clear thus far that I don't give a shit. It's been said that I'm young, as though this were some sort of character deficiency. The opposite is true. My inexperience with publishing is such that I haven't been inoculated against THINKING FOR MY SELF, as opposed to deferring to some sort of conventional wisdom. And I don't intend to.

I am sure there are honorable publishers; this is why I ask. I've got a good job, fortunately, so I'm not compelled by wage slavery to start meeting with the publishing pimps. If any of you know of this honorable publisher, please, drop me a line. I'm actually quite pleasant when I'm not talking about ignoble institutions that refuse to treat writers with even a semblance of dignity.

And a postscript: Seriously, tell me about any publisher with reasonable turnover and I'll submit there. Heck, I'll even post my rejection for your entertainment. Seriously. I don't give a fuck. I'm just not going to wait two years while my novel sits around a bunch of unintelligible slush. There's gotta be a quicker way to do this.

Ken, not sure if this is exactly what you are looking for but maybe this can help.

http://journalstone.com/journalstone-...

P.s.
Have you thought about self publishing? Amazon Direct Publishing for Kindle? Hope this might help. Good luck and just try to stay positive though i know that is getting increasingly hard to do. Keep hanging in there.

Tiffany wrote: "Ken, not sure if this is exactly what you are looking for but maybe this can help.

http://journalstone.com/journalstone-...

P.s.
Have you thought about self publishing? Amazon Direct Publ..."

Hey thanks for the advice, Tiffany, I appreciate it. I'll let you know how much the article helps.

kb

Tiffany wrote: "Ken, not sure if this is exactly what you are looking for but maybe this can help.

http://journalstone.com/journalstone-...

P.s.
Have you thought about self publishing? Amazon Direct Publ..."

Wow, Tiffany, that site is *exactly* the kind of thing I was looking for. I posted in three other groups and no one said anything; I'm real glad you did. Lemme know how I can return the favor!
Ken

Ken, good glad to hear it! Just keep going and don't give up is how you can return the favor. :) I would suggest joining this group, nice people over there who are willing to help you out...if you need any more advice or a place to vent. Good luck!

http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/4...

Tiffany wrote: "Ken, good glad to hear it! Just keep going and don't give up is how you can return the favor. :) I would suggest joining this group, nice people over there who are willing to help you out...if you ..."

That's very kind of you. Please, keep me in mind if you need a second pair of eyes for editing or something, I owe you one.

Ken

Will do, thanks. Have a good one Ken.

K guys, next time can ya refrain from the swearing so much?

Jess wrote: "K guys, next time can ya refrain from the swearing so much?"

Next time, politically correct language will be observed. Please forgive me for momentarily lapsing into genuine human emotion.
kb

its ok :)

I would be interested in knowing the outcome of this attempt.

@BookieWormie: Try waiting 14 years for a deal because, though 'the people' say the writing's good and, mostly, error free, the story is a little too 'out there' and 'risky' to back. -_-
And they say they want new, fresh stuff. ^_^

Amazon, yes. Amazon makes a good book. But, my goodness, don't they take a decent chunk of the price. Suppose they have to, what with it being POD and them having to print the book in the first place, but still ... O_o
I think, if I self-publish my other novels (hoping for an indie deal and then, maybe try again for a traditional route), Smashwords will stay my preferred eBook 'publisher'. ^_^

Thanks. I'm one immensely stubborn person. I simply refuse to believe a story can't be too 'out there'.

I think Smashwords lends itself to the self-publishing quite well with it's easy conversion of one .doc file to many types for various readers, for no added charge, then also distributes them to different stores with little input.

Also, if you want to help promote your indie or self-published book (or a friend's), there's a good little site called The Indie Booklist, you just have to email them and be sure to share the love by telling others. ^_^