Internet Authors don't need fame

By: Mike Scantlebury


It must be awful being a publisher. Working in a Traditional Publishing firm must be like working in the industry of flood prevention in Holland. In that country, nearly seventy per cent of the land is lower than the sea level, so it's a constant battle to make sure that the barriers and dykes are well serviced and watertight, otherwise water will flood in and houses and people will be overwhelmed. Publishers say they know that feeling. In their case it's not water, though, it's brown envelopes. Every day the postman staggers in to their office with a heavy sack on their shoulder - like Santa at Christmas Eve - and unloads a stack of submissions onto any spare surface available - desk, shelf or floor. Then minions have to turn the envelopes over and try and identify who they're from and whether they're worth reading. Anything with a famous name will get looked at. Most other stuff hangs about for a bit, and then gets returned. If you're not famous, you're ignored. Tough but true. Meanwhile the publishing staff, despite leaving the majority of submissions alone, still feel like they're drowning under the flood of paper. They take manuscripts home at night. They read them on the bus or train coming in to work in the morning. There's a sea of chapters around them, all the time threatening to cover them completely. No wonder they feel under pressure.

Luckily, there's some joy in the job, and that's when a piece turns up that's a joy to read. Suddenly the weight lifts from their shoulders. The plot drags them in, the characters stir them, the dialogue sparkles. The words leap off the page and everyone is hooked. Mark that one up for publication, they cry!

Then there's the actual stuff they publish. Check any Bestseller List and you'll see that it isn't the above, the genuine work of literature, the 'joy to read' that we've just discussed. At the moment the fastest selling books as listed in the daily newspaper are all by people you already know - singers, comedians, musicians, actors, TV stars and sports people. Do their words grab you? No, but people want to read this stuff. Do they shock, enlighten, educate and entertain? Not at all, but then, that's not what we want. What we ask famous people to do is divert us, take us away from the mundanity we already know and let us dip our toes into the pond that is celebrity. It doesn't have to well written, it just needs to have enough gossip to titillate and amuse. If there's references to other famous people, so much the better - it'll save having to read their life story. One book could cover several. Even better if it's a husband and wife team. If famous people marry each other, our curiosity is tickled even more. So much to learn! So little time.

Internet Authors don't need to worry about such matters. There's no hurdle for them that says, 'If you're not famous, you're not getting in'. They can go to an on-line publishing firm like Lulu and upload their book, then they can print off as many copies as they need, passing them round to friends and relatives, and placing a few in local bookstores. They can even pay a small amount for a listing in on-line bookshops like Amazon, so that people can order their own copies, either soon or in the future. Meanwhile they're in the market, and there's still that dream of 'being noticed', of being spotted and taken up by a national publisher, or one of the Traditional names. If so, maybe a career beckons, the life of 'author' and the small amount of celebrity that will entail. If not, they've still found a home for their creation and still seen the work in print.

The alternative? Your work, so lovingly crafted, polished and presented, may be scuffed around the floor of an already overcrowded office, not being noticed because no one knows your name. You haven't got the fame - yet - and so you can't get the attention. It's a vicious circle and few writers will ever break in and join the enchanted few. Most will languish, their books still in the brown envelopes, right up to the time they are taken out, given a Rejection Slip, and put back into the Stamped Addressed Envelope and returned. Undaunted, the ambitious author and would-be writer will try again, and again, doing nothing except contribute small waves to the flood that may, one day, overwhelm the insecure offices of each of those Traditional Publishers.