The great American novel: a thing of the past? Aspiring writers please read.

POSTED BY: chrisisall
UPDATED: Wednesday, January 8, 2025 02:53
VIEWED: 2613
PAGE 1 of 2

1 2 NEXT PAGE

CHRISISALL

Wednesday, January 25, 2006 5:22 PM

An "Arts, Briefly" piece from the NY times

January 4, 2006

Booker winners need not apply
Jonathan Calvert and Will Iredale

Top novels in disguise rejected by publishers

THERE is no greater award for a writer than the Nobel prize for literature. Five years ago the accolade went to VS Naipaul in recognition of his 50-year writing career.

Naipaul, born in Trinidad, also won the 1971 Booker prize (now the Man Booker) in Britain, where he has lived since 1950. It was awarded for In a Free State, his novel about displaced colonials on different continents.

Dennis Potter, the TV dramatist, praised its “lucid complexity”. He wrote: “Do not miss the exhilaration of catching one of our most accomplished writers reaching towards the full stretch of his talent.”

Surely the special qualities of such timeless prose would be recognised by today’s publishing industry? Surely a first-time novelist who matched the standard of Naipaul at his best would be snapped up?

The Sunday Times sent out the opening chapter of In a Free State to 20 agents and publishers to find out. Only the names of the author and main characters were changed.

None of the agents or publishers spotted the book’s true pedigree. And instead of experiencing Potter’s exhilaration, they all sent back polite rejections.

Typical was the reply from PFD, a major London literary agency. “Having considered your material,” wrote a submissions department reader, “we do not feel, we are sorry to say, sufficiently enthusiastic or confident about it.”

The Blake Friedmann agency also sent its apologies: “In order to take on a new author, several of us here would need to be extremely enthusiastic about both the content and writing style. I’m sorry to say we don’t feel that strongly about your work.”

Earlier we had also submitted copies of Stanley Middleton’s 1974 joint Booker winner, Holiday, to the same agents and publishers. Middleton, well- regarded in the literary world, has produced 42 books. Ronald Blythe, the author, once wrote in The Sunday Times: “We need Stanley Middleton to remind us what the novel is all about.”

But Middleton’s Booker winner also received a less-than- enthusiastic response. Bloomsbury, the London publisher, read the book “with interest” but found it unsuited to its list. Time Warner said the manuscript contained “good ideas” but it was not its sort of book. Thirteen others gave similar replies. Only one literary agent, Barbara Levy, expressed an interest in reading further chapters.

So why were two such “great” literary works overlooked? David Taylor, the novelist and critic, thought Middleton’s novel may now be regarded as “old-fashioned” but could not explain why Naipaul’s “timeless” work was ignored.

But he was not entirely surprised. “The sort of books being rejected would really shock you,” he said.

Nicholas Clee, former editor of the Bookseller, said that publishers were no longer keen to take risks on untried authors because they faced fiercer competition as the supermarkets forced down prices. He said: “Publishers tend to go for newcomers who have something sensational to offer, or established names. They’re putting big promotional efforts behind just a few titles.”

This has led to a growth in celebrity novels. For example Katie Price, the model known as Jordan, secured a deal to write two novels with Random House earlier this year.

Today’s authors have to be marketable. Taylor said: “Being 29, blonde, good-looking and vaguely famous should be enough to get you a book published nowadays.” Although there are still middle-aged novelists who buck the trend, our rejected version of Holiday was purportedly written by a 53-year-old man.

According to Doris Lessing, the author, publishers have become less willing to nurture talent. “The whole industry has changed so much,” she said. “They used to make an effort to keep first-time novelists in print. Maybe it took till the fourth book for the writer to take off. Now, if the first novel doesn’t attract any attention, they don’t take another one.”

Th

KPO

Wednesday, January 25, 2006 5:54 PM

Wow, thanks for the interesting post Chrisisall.

You an aspiring writer yourself?

Psst, QueenoftheNorth - you read this yet?

CHRISISALL

Wednesday, January 25, 2006 6:05 PM

kpo, not me, but my wife is. I just write as it strikes my fancy, to examine Firefly, to discuss science fiction, or to annoy those who think they know everything (see my other posts in RWE for the latter).

But the whole corporate door is being slammed on diversity. Millions reading novels by less than half a hundred? Sounds like a recipe for Earth-that-was, artistically speaking.

No wonder Firefly was canceled. Wonder is, how'd it ever get past the pilot...

Bad speller Chrisisall

SEVENPERCENT

Wednesday, January 25, 2006 10:42 PM

The culture of Oprah Winfrey and the internet killed the modern novel, if you ask me.

Hear me out on this. It wasn't just her, but she's symbolic of the problem. I've heard them referred to as "Wal-Mart" readers, and what 'they' refers to is people that don't read and debate books, but people who buy whatever trash they see on Oprah (or shows like hers) at Wal-mart. And the fact that people are getting excited because you can get Shakespeare on your IM screen (as 2brnt2b) is like the combo of a deadly 1-2 punch to the testicles.

Literature is supposed to be a challenge; it's supposed to be enlightening. But people don't want to expend the effort anymore. They want people to tell them what to think, tell them what to read, tell them what is good/bad. "I wonder what Oprah will tell me to like today." "An independent bookstore? What's that? I wonder if they have the latest Ann Coulter book (or MMoore, whoever)." "Read? Like, whatever. Text me to my phone."

Like with the Oprah and James Frey controversy. She did no research, and it came to light that the story was fraudulent. What did she do? Nothing; she smiled and said well, it's the spirit that counts and her audience smiled and nodded and bought the next book she recommended. Bah. Oprah cannot help you experience a good book, neither can the checkout girl at Target. I'm old enough to remember the good old days of independent bookstores, where the clerks had read damn near everything in the store, and could hold a conversation about books that would put a ph.D to shame. We've lost that, and I think if we already aren't paying for it, our kids will.

------------------------------------------
He looked bigger when I couldn't see him.

Anyone wanting to continue a discussion off board is welcome to email me - check bio for details.

QUEENOFTHENORTH

Wednesday, January 25, 2006 11:51 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by kpo:
[Psst, QueenoftheNorth - you read this yet?

Yup, here I am.

This sounds pretty much exactly like my experience. I spent over a year hounding agents and publishers. First off, I could only find about a hundred or so that would even LOOK at a fantasy novel. Which is really weird, considering how much money fantasy novels are making right now.

Anyways, so I sent sample chapters and what have you to these hundred or so people. I got two - count 'em, two - actual replies. These were both your polite, generic rejections. The other ones never sent any reply of any kind, which I found extremely puzzling and rude.

Long story short, if you're not a big name, there's less a chance of you getting published than there is of you winning the lottery. (That reminds me, I should go buy a lottery ticket.)

In the end, I decided to go the self-publishing route. It at least gets my book out there so potential publishers might actually read it. It may also make my second try easier, because publishers will see I'm actually serious about this line of work.

Note: Christopher Paolini (Eragon) went the self-publishing route to start out with and is now a best-selling author with a movie adaptation on the way.

Maybe I'll consider including pictures of myself with sample chapters. After all, I'm 21-year-old woman, blondish, and am told I'm fairly decent-looking. Maybe that would help.

"I'm having one of those things - a headache with pictures."

"Of course I'm right. And if I'm not, may we all be horribly crushed from above somehow."

Like books? Go to this thread: http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=2&t=14862
to find out how to buy mine!

CITIZEN

Wednesday, January 25, 2006 11:53 PM

I think it's not so much any great change. The majority of people have always been to lazy to think for themselves. They didn't read at all, is all.

Now we've got a whole new market, and the moneys not in really litriture, it's in crap. So that's all that gets made.

Why waste resources on a small minority of people who want real books when your making millions from stuff that came off a computer template with the names changed?

Two of the best books I've ever read were the Self Destruction Syndrome and Economic Values both by Steve Edwards, both self published.

I don't think anyone could get a copy of the Self Destruction Syndrome anymore, but Economic Values is here:
http://www.librario.com/librario/item/2577

Trust me it's very good.

More insane ramblings by the people who brought you beeeer milkshakes!
The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four persons is suffering from some sort of mental illness. Think of your three best friends -- if they're okay, then it's you.

CHRISISALL

Thursday, January 26, 2006 12:46 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by SevenPercent:
I'm old enough to remember the good old days of independent bookstores, where the clerks had read damn near everything in the store, and could hold a conversation about books that would put a ph.D to shame.

I live in a college town where there are many graduates that can't find work in their fields of study, consequently the most interesting literary conversation I've had (I confess, I don't have all that many as I lean toward movies) was with a CVS clerk who used to be in the recording industry.
Barnes and Noble? Yeah, go ask a clerk there if they've read anything recently...it's a coin toss.

Reading helps us to speak English better Chrisisall

FLETCH2

Thursday, January 26, 2006 1:29 AM

This will sound stupid but I suspect the problem is lack of public transport. When I lived in the UK I could knock off the odd chapter on my commute to work every day. A long trip by train would let me read half a novel in resonable comfort. I actually had time to write stories while commuting in Stockholm.

Here in Texas you have to drive everywhere, if bus lines exist (they dont here) then they only run limited hours. You could argue that the time I save having my own transport could be ploughed back into reading but it's rare to have a block of quality time I can use.

KPO

Thursday, January 26, 2006 3:47 AM

Quote:
Anyways, so I sent sample chapters and what have you to these hundred or so people.

Wow, did you email it to all those people? Otherwise it sounds like a hell of a lot in printing/binding costs.

How's it selling anyhow? I imagine it's difficult when you have to promote it yourself.

Self publishing at 21? How 'bout that. I take my hat off to you.

DREAMTROVE

Thursday, January 26, 2006 3:58 AM

Or trains. I have trouble reading on a bus, but I agree, self-transportation is pretty much wasted time. We have a lot of wasted time in society that lowers productivity. One that's been getting me lately is, as I sell more and more books online, I end up waiting a fairly long time at the post office for a task of which the only input I give is cash. If they just kept my credit card or a tab on file, they could charge me for each package.

1 2 NEXT PAGE