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Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 270
enthusiast
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OP
enthusiast
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 270 |
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189 |
Either that or be born Ray Bradbury.
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
This is a rather delightful essay and all the more funny because of the (many) grains of truth embedded in it. I passed it along to all of the fantasy-fiction nerds (there are many) in my cyber address book. Thanks, Woody.
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
formerly known as etaoin...
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Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 1,773
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 1,773 |
As the country's most resoundingly unpublished writer, I can testify that it's a lot easier to write a "best seller" than it is to find a publisher who agrees with your assessment
Ayn Rand's "The Fountainhead" was rejected by 12 pubs. But with the advent of the word processor, I estimate it's 25 times easier to write a book; and using the Internet it's 25 times as easy to address a potential market. Given those figures, a typical publisher probably gets 625 times the input load. To find one that liked her book enough to publish it, might today require 12 x 625 = 750 queries
If the book occupied, say, 200 written pages and typing at the time cost, say, $2 a page, then you had to submit a $400 MS to one pub at a time, with return postage
Even today, in order to discourage overloading of its hard drives, a pub showing any interest might ask for a printed copy. You will be very lucky if your 750 queries result in 75 such requests
Postage notwithstanding, that's 75 x 20 = 150,000 pages
Don't write a book
dalehileman
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Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 19
stranger
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stranger
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 19 |
Eh, for me mildly amusing, far less than delightful.
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,027
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,027 |
Why does the author give away all that advice for free?
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