130. For Writers and Readers
UPDATE: I see that no one has made any comments to my questionnaire, so is it safe to gather that all the wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth on Nathon Bransford (lit agent for Curtis Brown)web site against only bad books getting published was just hot air being let loose? And is it safe to say that as my comment states to why we were asked the following question
was this:
Eva Ulian said...In answer to Jude Hardin: "If you think you're better than average, then you haven't set the bar high enough."
None of us set the bar in the first place, a certain Literary Agent did to find out how many of us could, in Jim Lamb's words be able to:
"temper one's egotism with humility before being thought of as an ass."
None of us set the bar in the first place, a certain Literary Agent did to find out how many of us could, in Jim Lamb's words be able to:
"temper one's egotism with humility before being thought of as an ass."
January 25, 2009 6:03 AM
Thoughts to ponder for Writers, Readers, Editors, Agents and Publishers so as to bring the Novel back to its days of splendor.
Non-fiction flourishes more than fiction because editors, not being the experts, can’t alter it. Do you agree? Why/Why not
Novels are fabricated like cakes in a tray mould. They all have the same ingredients and the same mould because publishers know they can sell X number of copies in each category. Is that indoctrination? Why/Why not?
Comments
I'm an editor of non-fiction and I ask my authors to make a LOT of edits. Probably non fiction editors demand more changes than fiction ones, because readability and structure are more important -- and there are stronger "publisher conventions" that must be followed.
As an editor of course I think we are very important, and am amazed Jane Austen / Will Shakespeare managed without us. ;)