Really?

I recently read a book which left me wondering -- again -- how it is that some novels get published, while others do not. This particular book -- which shall remain nameless because I'm not in the critiquing business -- was not a horrid book. It was not badly written and had an interesting premise -- but it really went nowhere, had an unsatisfying ending and the numerous characters were each a stereotype -- as if the author had to get every sort of personality quirk she could think of between the pages. At the end of it -- I seldom put a book down once I've started, even if I'm not particularly enamored -- all I could say was ho-hum.

I've often read that publishers/editors know a good novel when they see one -- and, after reading only one or two chapters. Really? 

Really? 

I won't denigrate their talent at sniffing out great works -- but they sure must be missing out on a lot better stuff out there. There must be a pile of books somewhere called "great novels which will never see the light of day unless self-published".

Now, I know that not every book is going to appeal to everybody. I've read books that had glowing reviews which I could not get into at all. I've read others that were just the opposite -- not great reviews but quite enjoyable.

But, what made an editor read this above-mentioned nameless novel and say, "we've got a winner"?

Anyway, I know how it works -- a manuscript has to cross an editor's desk at the exact right moment --  no matter how good -- or bad -- the novel is -- to get noticed. And that is why many writers -- who can actually spin a good tale -- don't get published. And why some who really can't, do.

 

As a reader and a (unpublished) writer, it's very frustrating.

 

By the way, I take great pains to say that I'm an unpublished writer because some published writers seem to get their panties in a wad if someone refers to themselves as a writer/author, if they haven't been published (or been paid for it, maybe?). Maybe I just don't understand the criteria but I simply don't  get this -- if you write something, you are the author of what you have written, published or not -- is that not so? I can tell you, even unpublished, I'm neither judge nor jury on what anybody wants to call themselves.

I'd rather spend my time writing than worrying about that.