Questionable Questions Series: Introduction & No. 1
"Don’t editors feel stupid when they reject a manuscript that ends up a huge success?"
Questionable Questions: A Series
These are some questions repeatedly asked by writers looking to understand how the book publishing industry works.
They are reasonable questions but they embody some misunderstanding about this business.
I hope that answering these questions is both informative and clarifying.
I’m going to answer the first question today and one question each week from now.
I always welcome other questions from you writers – whether ‘questionable’ or straightforward.
1. Don’t editors feel stupid that they rejected a manuscript that later became a huge success?
2. Don’t agents feel stupid that they rejected a manuscript that later became a huge success?
3. How come there are so many badly written books published?
4. How come there are so many second-rate books published?
5. How come my agent told me my book would never sell but a similar one has just been published?
6. What should I write to a literary agent to ensure they pay close attention to my submission?
7. Why are agents so rude that they either ignore my submission completely or just send the briefest rejection email that tells me nothing?
8. Why do I need to keep editing my manuscript before it is sold to a publisher whose editor will have the job of helping me edit my book?
9. Why should I give 15% of my royalties as commission to a literary agent when I have been offered a book deal directly by a publisher?
Answer to 1. below. The rest in weeks to come.
1. “Don’t editors feel stupid that they rejected a manuscript that later became a huge success?”
The aspiring author submitting their books to publishers (whether via their literary agent or directly) can get frustrated by the slowness of editors to read their manuscript.
The writer has lots of time to just wait and stew.
They keep thinking about what the future holds.
Will their book be published to great acclaim and huge sales success?
If so, maybe they’ll meet some of the rejecting editors at a future publishing party and watch them squirm as they’re confronted with the consequences of their lack of vision.
It’s a pleasing scenario, and as that author’s agent, I wouldn’t mind attending the party and witnessing the moment.
But this isn’t real.
The premise of this question is that buying the right book is like being buying a winning lottery ticket.
It imagines that all the editors who didn’t offer to buy the book will cringe forever at the golden ticket that slipped through their fingers because they missed out on a guaranteed mega-hit.
Publishing doesn’t usually work like this.
A new novel by an unknown writer that is published in the usual way can have several different fates.
The course of the book’s life is determined by many factors: the final edit agreed with the publisher, the book cover, the time invested and expertise of the marketing and sales teams within the publisher, the state of the market at that time, other books being published in its genre, the earliest reviews, early responses by fans of the genre, endorsements by influential people, the appeal of the author’s story and the author’s work around the launch.
These factors work together like alchemy.
Occasionally the result is a huge success. What’s difficult to realise is that a bestselling book published slightly differently or at a different time could have had far less impact.
The reverse is equally true.
The real publishing skill is not so much about spotting the obvious winner but taking any book with ‘the right stuff’ and turning it into a winner.
Editors know this, and so don’t cower when confronted with authors they rejected.
But to be sure, editors do occasionally feel they would have been the ideal publisher for a book that was published by someone else. That happens.
But more usually they are thinking that they would have published it better, not that they missed sharing whatever success it had.
[ENDS]
Read disclaimer and hint for writers here.
That's satisfying to hear Karen.
Hello Jenny
Glad to see you engaging. I almost mentioned Rowling by name but felt I was only going to add yet another reference.
It is very hard to break into publishing successfully and generate a decent income. I'm hoping I'll provide some useful hints here on how to improve the odds in favour of the Writer.