It's just that just about every resource on writing gets to the "don't spend money on vanity press" point fairly quickly. I would not have thought you needed to repeat it. But based on some of the responses you've gotten, I guess it must be.
I can't claim expertise in this. But it does seem to me that if one wants to learn a profession, a key method is to talk to people in that profession to learn what they do. I know many published authors, and what they have in common is that they are, well, published. And as far as I can see the way to get published is to deal with, well, publishers.
I'm amazed at the number of people who've friended me -- and this is relevant because I'm also amazed at the range of ages I see on various user info pages. Not everyone lists by birthdate; some do, some don't -- but there are a lot of younger writers who are reading these (or at least, that's what friending suggests to me).
Which is my way of saying that they are, in fact, doing what you've done; they're taking in the commentary of one writer, with a particular set of experiences about the publishing industry.
I'm certainly not the first person to say what I'm saying. I may, however, be the first person they've found who is; they'll no doubt go on to find other people with similar -- or disparate -- experiences, and they'll build some of the same knowledge that you've built based on this.
I posted the bit about P&L statements and the costs associated with publishing a novel/book because many people aren't clear that there are costs beyond the actual production associated with publication. It's something you already know; it's something that they might not.
And without doing a survey, I decided that it was useful enough to state the obvious -- because every published writer's experience will differ -- in the hope that if I am the first person they stumble across who makes this clear, I've done something useful.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2004-08-10 10:38 pm (UTC)I can't claim expertise in this. But it does seem to me that if one wants to learn a profession, a key method is to talk to people in that profession to learn what they do. I know many published authors, and what they have in common is that they are, well, published. And as far as I can see the way to get published is to deal with, well, publishers.
I'm amazed at the number of people who've friended me -- and this is relevant because I'm also amazed at the range of ages I see on various user info pages. Not everyone lists by birthdate; some do, some don't -- but there are a lot of younger writers who are reading these (or at least, that's what friending suggests to me).
Which is my way of saying that they are, in fact, doing what you've done; they're taking in the commentary of one writer, with a particular set of experiences about the publishing industry.
I'm certainly not the first person to say what I'm saying. I may, however, be the first person they've found who is; they'll no doubt go on to find other people with similar -- or disparate -- experiences, and they'll build some of the same knowledge that you've built based on this.
I posted the bit about P&L statements and the costs associated with publishing a novel/book because many people aren't clear that there are costs beyond the actual production associated with publication. It's something you already know; it's something that they might not.
And without doing a survey, I decided that it was useful enough to state the obvious -- because every published writer's experience will differ -- in the hope that if I am the first person they stumble across who makes this clear, I've done something useful.