--- In rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, "James Michael Rogers" <jeddak5@...> wrote:
>
> I'm with Joy. The big publishers have given me the joys of James Patterson, who's novels have all the style and punch of Victor Appleton and Dick and Jane, to say nothing of the very insulting work of Dan Brown. So it's not like I don't already have to winnow through a lot of dreck that, in a better world, would be unpublishable. The publishers have always been very unreliable gatekeepers.
>
> James
>
But publishers have also given us Derek Raymond, Donald Westlake/Richard Stark, Elmore Leonard, and many other authors/books that we talk about here. Future books like these won't exist in an ebook only world--how would any new writer standout in this future new world where their books are dumped among 100s of thousands of others? And why would any good writer bother writing books when there's about 0 percent chance of making any money?
In today's world, new writers do have a chance. I've talked to booksellers who've read my books because of Serpent's Tail's reputation of publishing high quality crime fiction, and who now are recommending my books to their customers. And because of ST's reputation, critics like Maureen Corrigan give my books a try and I end up making NPR and WP's best lists. But if I were starting out in an eBook only world, I'd have no chance and I wouldn't even bother.
--Dave
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 18 Dec 2009 EST