This post is about two problems with skimming reality, in the real world: reacting instantly to first impressions, and horrid typos.
Yesterday I surfed to PublishAmerica while doing my morning mail, and after spending a grand total of ten minutes looking over the site, and the news items on success stories in particular, I gleefully dispatched an e-mail to two mailing lists where I share a sense of community with fellow writers, recommending PublishAmerica as something worthy of their attention.
I was swiftly chastened for my naivety by a flurry of replies, catching me up with the complaints clogging writers' forums and law courts, from authors accusing PublishAmerica of misleading them. This morning I spent a bit more time investigating and was left feeling saddened and frustrated.
I continue to believe in a world where more deserving artists get published, and the art of writing thrives accordingly, but I now feel I was wrong to be heartened by PublishAmerica, in particular. If PublishAmerica is as sincere and honourable as it claims to be, they should allow captive authors to dissolve their contract with them, at the very least, and be more forthright with new prospects about what they are getting into in the first place. I suspect many authors would still want to publish with PublishAmerica, even if they were told frankly, up front, what their prospects were for making money. And it would be reassuring to know what percentage--if any--of submissions are turned down by PublishAmerica. I do believe more books deserve readers. I do not believe every book does. (The article I found most useful, in my researches, was Publish Anything: The Saga of a PublishAmerica Author by Lisa Maliga.)
I still find the situation in the traditional world of publishing too painful for aspiring authors, in particular, to be healthy for reading and writing, in general. Of course, I am terribly happy to have publishers! This observation is in no way a criticism of them or any other publisher in business, today. The only ones I have ever met are good, book-loving people, doing their best to help their authors succeed. But if we want writing and reading to thrive, we need to find ways to make it more respectable to start small and grow bigger, naturally.
My fear is this. It is readers and writers, themselves, who are to blame for the difficulty of making small-circulation publications work better. It is we who would rather read this week's best seller, than take the time to look for something worthwhile closer to home, risk investing in an unproven commodity, or give a less-than-perfect work with promise the encouragement it deserves. The struggle to create a good place for writers to thrive in, is therefore beset by threats from all sides. It is still a good fight, despite that, and I would hate to see bad experiences, such as the kind reported by some PublishAmerica authors, detract from the importance of making space in the world for more authors to get published. My blessing on all small press publishers, and all honest markets for the diversity of talent in the world that may never be best-seller material! May those of us who love to read, and love to write, have the good sense to support them, as well as the latest best seller.
My second discomfort of the day is -- typos.
As one of those creative types who read and wrote for content, as the saying goes, I have always been prone to spelling mess ups and keypad fumbles. Ever since I was in elementary school, my report cards would say things like "Janey (I didn't start going by Lynda until first year university) is a delight to have in the classroom, but her handwriting is messy and she has trouble with spelling."
Now, thanks in part to a copyediting course at SFU, I find I am haunted by my past transgressions. I read my own copy, online, and I cringe at the typographical blemishes. I look at a beloved book and think about the well-known-oops in it, before I remember to love it for its content. I have lost my innocence. :-(
Sadly, I know I shall never stop being prone to typos. But I can swear a mighty oath to proof read everything TWICE and to spell check even e-mail before I dispatch it.
As a final gesture of reform, I entreat any readers who spots a typo on the Okal Rel Universe website, or any of my blogs, to report the evil thing to me at lynda@okalrel.org in the hope that you will, therefore, be the last innocent bystander exposed to its malignant influence.
posted by Lynda at 08:11
comment? e-mail lynda@okalrel.org
5 comments
I am a fan of content over form. If a thing is unattractive, but full of content, I can overlook the form. There's an SUV out there that I consider to be one of the more horrid looking vehicles on the road. Yet when I learned of its content, I decided, had I the money, I would love to have one.
Typos are (part of) the form, but the message is the content.
Now, had nobody told me of the features of this particular SUV, it would have stayed in my "wouldn't want" pile.
This is a thing that goes both ways. The form of PublishAmerica sounded good. However, once the content was pointed out to you, it quickly lost its luster.
All of this shows me that while the content of a thing is what matters, the form can initially draw you to or repel you from that content.
: 2005-08-17, 3:33 p.m. 
It really is too bad that PA gives POD a bad rep.
Virginia
I'm for whatever kind of publishing fits with your goals, so long as everyone is honest about expectations and probable outcomes. It's the dishonest ones that ruin things for everyone else.
: 2005-08-21, 7:07 p.m. I read a blog, Making Light, by Teresa and Patrick Nielsen Hayden (http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/), both of whom are senior editors at Tor Publishing. They have written extensively about the PublishAmerica and its ilk, warning anyone who'll listen about it. They were also involved in the "Atlanta Nights" scam, in which a bunch of professional, well-published authors got together over a weekend, wrote a bunch of utter crap, and sent it to PA. PA accepted it. Then they learned it was a scam, and withdrew their offer (that $1 I mentioned).
If you visit Making Light (and it is a fabulous site), do a search on either PublishAmerica or Atlanta Nights, and you can read all about it. I gather there's a pretty much eternal discussion about PA going on over at Absolute Write, as well.
: 2005-08-22, 4:23 a.m.