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You also forgot "indie writers" - authors who publish their own books for a variety of reasons. There are some indies who sell thousands of books each month - without getting ripped off by publishers or agents.
The percentage of people successfully going that route is minuscule. There's some widespread delusion that ordinary people are good writers, and need no intermediaries. This is a fantasy. Editors exist for a reason.
Well, not really. People may have preferences as to what kind of books they like to read but if there wasn't an acknowledged standard for greatness, we wouldn't have what is known as classics, and we wouldn't have book prizes like the Nobel Prize or any of the other book awards. Most books are not great. That doesn't make them not good or unreadable but there is a standard for greatness in literature just as there is for artists in other genres like music and dance.
Lots of people don't like the classics. Lots of people don't like certain books that have won prizes. I do agree there are some books which are just poorly written (you can't argue that something like "a symbolic symbol" is good writing) but some people just don't seem to notice or care.
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The percentage of people successfully going that route is minuscule. There's some widespread delusion that ordinary people are good writers, and need no intermediaries. This is a fantasy. Editors exist for a reason.
Agreed but even editors can do a poor job - the example I gave above of "a symbolic symbol" was from a very popular historical novel from one of the "big 6" publishers.
Lots of people don't like the classics. Lots of people
don't like certain books that have won prizes. I do agree there are some books
which are just poorly written (you can't argue that something like "a symbolic
symbol" is good writing) but some people just don't seem to notice or care.
Absolutely, but that wasn't my point. I was referring to there being an acknowledged standard of greatness in literature. For example, I can sing - but I'm under no illusion I'm a great singer like Pavarotti. I can dance - but I'm no prima ballerina. I don't have to like either opera or ballet to know that. And not every single thing has to be 'great' on a world standard - I'm just saying such standards exist in everything, regardless of personal preference.
I understand the economic bit for new works, new authors.
But not so much for books and authors that have been around forever, at least not in digitalb form. I feel the same way about music.
I bought Bob Dylan's Blowin in the wind on 45.
Then I bought the album
Then i bought the cassette
Then I bought the CD
Then I bought the downloaded album on itunes, hated apple, switched to android
and bought the songagain for my android phone.
How many times did Bob Dylan write this song? How much does it cost to generate fa digital file to download? How many times does Bob Dylan and his music publisher expect me to pay for the same dman song?
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Absolutely, but that wasn't my point. I was referring to there being an acknowledged standard of greatness in literature. For example, I can sing - but I'm under no illusion I'm a great singer like Pavarotti. I can dance - but I'm no prima ballerina. I don't have to like either opera or ballet to know that. And not every single thing has to be 'great' on a world standard - I'm just saying such standards exist in everything, regardless of personal preference.
