Critic? Certainly, with the advent of online weblogs and journals and such, this is true. But more to the point, everyone’s a writer.
When I was younger and writing was my dream, the notion of getting published was something far more specific than it is now. “Getting published” meant that you sold what you wrote to a magazine or, better yet, a book publisher. And then your stories showed up in bookstores or on magazine racks. It was considered difficult to “break into” publishing, and there were limited options.
Now, however, anyone can be published. ANYONE. Whether on their own Web site(s)–including, but not limited to, blogs and online journals, many of which are free–or by self-publishing their manuscript. I’m one to talk, seeing as my short story collection is a Lulu.com publication. But I did have some stories (and poems) published in magazines prior, and striking out with so many others, I made the choice to combine a bunch of my stories into something more to satisfy myself than to expect praises or bestselling numbers. It was more to clear the decks for what I hoped would be coming: more of my writing being accepted for “traditional” (some would say “real”) publication.
There are a couple of ways to look at this, and this is ground that’s been trod all over in hundreds of classrooms and other forums, so I’ll try to be succinct. One is that the floodgates have been opened to many great and talented people who otherwise would never have a chance in navigating the narrow channels of traditional publishing. The other is that the floodgates have been opened to all the crap that used to be siphoned out by the storm drains that are agents, editors and publishers. I think it’s probably both; they aren’t mutually exclusive, after all. The floodgates are open–everyone can agree on that much. So yeah, the crap is getting through and so is a lot of fresh water (fish? fertile sediment?) that might not have made it otherwise. It’s more of a case-by-case thing than a general rule.
But now there’s a lot more water to navigate as well. By which I mean, you have to hunt harder for the good stuff because there is a lot of crap out there. I’m not talking about, or even thinking about anyone in particular. But I am starting to feel that the traditional publishers have ceased to paddle their canoes. Instead of looking for good material, they go back to their established wells again and again and figure everyone else can do their own thing. After all, they have very little motivation to find great new talent at this point. And even if they want to find new talent, they don’t have to look very hard. With everything that’s out there now, they can cherry pick from the lowest branches and not have to climb.
Am I mixing my metaphors? Probably. I do that a lot.
So what brought this on? Frustration, not with publishing but with myself for not being more disciplined in my writing. And still, even if I were superbly disciplined, I have to wonder whether it would be worth it. Would it pay off in today’s wonky system? Could I, should I, hope to get published? Or would I be on my own?
