So Not Low Maintenance reached a milestone around noon. 6 months ago it would have been a very big deal indeed. Now not so much. Still I'm thrilled and hope this is a harbinger of things to come.
Here's an interesting legacy article
Publishers Desperately Seeking Insanely Great Debut Novelists
“Everybody’s looking for the next big thing — a work of great literary fiction from an unknown writer who’s never been published.”
That’s according to Jay Schaefer, an editor-at-large at Workman Publishers in New York City and its subsidiary, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Schaefer, a publishing veteran best known for producing the huge best seller Under the Tuscan Sun during his long tenure at Chronicle Books, spoke with me the other day after making the rounds at a couple of writers conferences out here on the West Coast.
“Every editor I saw was prowling the workshops and the grassy slope outside the conference, searching high and low for the next undiscovered debut novelist,” Schaefer said.
Look at the date. Last April. Isn't that when Amanda Hocking, despairing of ever being published after submitting to everyone and being ignored, decided to self-publish? IIRC, that would be yes.
It goes on
Q: Why would an editor prefer an unknown writer to someone with some kind of a track record?
A: Because there are so many mid-list authors around whose last few outings weren’t exactly best sellers.Someone with a track record--aka someone with experience and who can actually write. Freaking annoying hacky midlist, boring ass writers. Death isn't good enough for them!
Would a year ago Joe Konrath be considered a non-bestselling mid-list author? I think he might be.
O-kay!
Break out the Windex for that Krystal Ball.
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