Faster, Publisher, Kill! Kill!(*)

(* That was a Russ Meyer joke, in case you were wondering.)

Thanks to technology, it is now possible to write, edit and publish a novel faster than ever before.

I wish traditional publishers were catching up faster to this fact. It can be frustrating to see one's manuscript slowly grind through the established publishing apparatus and grow old - so that when it might finally get in print, the content isn't hip anymore.

Then there's always Print-On-Demand. Traditional publishers are beginning to catch on - slowly.

I understand that the publishing business is in a period of transition from one technological paradigm to another. (This has happened before, of course - from handwriting to printing press, from manual typesetting to computerized editing, from printed book to e-reader etc.).

But: Man, are they dragging their feet into the 21st century.

Editors Suffer Too, You Know: "Redactor Agonistes"

If you think authors have a difficult time, read this essay about what makes an editor's job painful (NOTE: authors are only a very minor part of the pain):

Daniel Menaker: "Redactor Agonistes"

Choice quote:
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[S]ome 150,000 books are published in the United States every year. Let's -- once again without any real foundation -- be really draconian and say that only 10 percent of those books would be in any way appealing to generalist readers of some intelligence.

Let's take 50 percent of that 10 percent, for no reason at all, just to be even meaner, and we end up with 7,500 books. That means that on average one hundred and fifty more or less worthwhile books are published every week in this country.

Let's cut that number in half, just to make the floor of our metaphorical abattoir really bloody. That makes seventy-five decent books a week. (By the way, that number is about twice the rough and generous estimate I've made based on actual experience.)

How are seventy-five at-least-half-decent books going to receive serious and discriminating reviews in the few important places remaining for serious reviews every week? To say nothing of getting attention from prominent publicity outlets, like NPR and Charlie Rose and Jon Stewart?

They're not. They're simply not. These statistical circumstances make publishing into a kind of grand cultural roulette, in which your chances of winning any significant pot are very, very small.
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Ouch. And more ouch.

Homepage Update: THE TIME IDIOT, Chapter 11

Another chapter of THE TIME IDIOT, my novel-in-search-of-a-publisher:

THE TIME IDIOT, Chapter 11

Choice quote from Chapter 11 (wherein the protagonist travels back in time to an alternate 1936, and asks Albert Einstein for advice on a tricky predicament):
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"Are you serious?" asked Einstein, studying Prescott from head to toe. "You traveled in time to get here?"

Prescott nodded vigorously and showed Einstein the wooden box-camera. "I have photos here..." He couldn't find a lid to open the box and get the film roll out. "How do you get the pictures out of this thing?"

Einstein shook his head and said: "I remember that Kodak model from when I was young. You have to deliver it to a photo shop..."

"There's PhotoShop? Here? Are you sure?"
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Read the rest.