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about the way that the publishing industry finds and treats talent, and how to get published in the information age.
“The number of aspiring •novelists is growing as word processing technology spreads, incomes and life spans increase, and child rearing decreases,” explained Bums. Meanwhile, like many industries, publishing has consolidated itself, with a small number of large companies accounting for the majority of major market books.
Low grade ore
Bums was one of those legions of aspiring novelists when he retired from his work as an economist for the World Bank back in 1996. He had a manuscript that he had worked on as time allowed for many years, and his retirement allowed him to finish it. He decided to see if he could get it published.
“Most people that write want to be read, ” said Bums.
In the submission model recommended by writer’s publications like the periodical Writers Market, writers submit their manuscripts to agents, who then submit the cream of their crop to publishers, who in turn select out the potential best sellers. In theory, the best manuscripts will make it through this process and see publication. According to Bums, the reality is far harsher.
“ You send a cover letter, an outline, and a brief manuscript, and after some waiting you receive a pre-printed rejection slip, with no feedback or indication that anyone has read what you sent,” recalled Bums. “Agents have estimated that they only ask for the full manuscript once in 2000 submissions.”
In order to deal with this onslaught of writing, most agents employ people whose sole job is sorting submissions, separating out the marketable work from the unedited and unready, what Bums calls “low grade ore.” This means that many submissions are rejected before an agent ever sees them, with only the rejection slip indicating that a submission has been read. “There’s just this wall of silence,” sighed Bums. After more than forty rejections in this manner, Bums changed his tactics. “You have to find a way around the system.” For Bums, the way around the system was a relatively new type of technology called Print on Demand, or POD.
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