I hope you're keeping entries like these and most of what you write here. The essays are indeed publishable in themselves and many would get a lot out of them.
This piece reminds me of Rembrandt who, in his own lifetime, was well recognised and people often asked, "How do you make such great paintings?" or similar. 'Great' as not only in a pictorial sense but something of depth which touches the soul. He had a standard response:
"My paintings are only but the sum of my mistakes."
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Generally speaking, with success in publishing, the literary world I've found to be like any other and it's very much not what you know but who. It's a people industry. People can often get published in the local paper and small journals. With the mid to large size (book) publishers however, you need a literary agent. 99/100 times if you send something to known publishing house then the package will not be opened and returned as "unsolicited material". The publishers rely on the literary agents to forward works to them and they're the ones who they deal with direct. It's sort of like going to court, which you well know all about. If you are charged with something or have some civil action going on and you turn up without a lawyer representing yourself, then this is frowned upon to the point where even if innocent you would more than likely lose no matter how good you case is to win. They even think it's an insult to the court with some of the judges.
Publishers prefer the writer to be represented by a literary agent as the agents act as 'filters' and when represented by an agent, then the publisher deems that your case is worthy to be heard.
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Date: 2004-12-26 07:13 pm (UTC)This piece reminds me of Rembrandt who, in his own lifetime, was well recognised and people often asked, "How do you make such great paintings?" or similar. 'Great' as not only in a pictorial sense but something of depth which touches the soul. He had a standard response:
"My paintings are only but the sum of my mistakes."
-----------------
Generally speaking, with success in publishing, the literary world I've found to be like any other and it's very much not what you know but who. It's a people industry. People can often get published in the local paper and small journals. With the mid to large size (book) publishers however, you need a literary agent. 99/100 times if you send something to known publishing house then the package will not be opened and returned as "unsolicited material". The publishers rely on the literary agents to forward works to them and they're the ones who they deal with direct. It's sort of like going to court, which you well know all about. If you are charged with something or have some civil action going on and you turn up without a lawyer representing yourself, then this is frowned upon to the point where even if innocent you would more than likely lose no matter how good you case is to win. They even think it's an insult to the court with some of the judges.
Publishers prefer the writer to be represented by a literary agent as the agents act as 'filters' and when represented by an agent, then the publisher deems that your case is worthy to be heard.