Ten percent, in the context of the Bible, is a tithe. The old laws say that you owe God ten percent of your income. Some religious people today still pay it.
I was reading an article recently that featured another ten percent. This applied to writers. Although an unscientific survey—including information from Duotrope—this article suggested the acceptance rate of fiction writers is ten percent.
That means, and I’m no math guy, that a piece has to be submitted an average of ten times before it is accepted somewhere. This helps explain, but not assuage, my lack of success when it comes to getting published. It’s normal.
This has been on my mind lately since Interview with the Gorgon is getting more than ripe. I stopped trying to find publishers some five years ago when it was under contract with Vagabondage Press. They took a long time killing it—with no kill fee—leaving me in a scramble to find another publisher.
I’ve contacted lots of agents, but agents are only interested in bestsellers. Art books are not for them. I’ve also contacted way more than ten publishers, and rejections rain down. This is a truly creative novel. It is well crafted and polished. There are people who would like to read it.
Publishers can be remarkably short-sighted. I recall that geniuses such as Poe and Melville died destitute. Wonder what their agents think now? (That’s cynicism, pure and raw.)
The best that writers can do is support one another. Being published is a form of validation and publishers are under no obligations to anyone. They take their tithe and laugh all the way to the bank.
The publishing industry is going through difficult times. I hear it time and again. I don’t blame the internet. It is editors, all to human editors, who can’t recognize quality when they see it. I think intelligent people buy books. They like intelligent fare. Just try explaining that to an editor. Actually, you’d better try explaining it to ten.
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