Interesting Conversation With A Friend
I had an interesting conversation with a friend of mine today who has been repeatedly published in the genre of science fiction. I am withholding his name for reasons that I think will be obvious by the end of this post.
For the past few years my friend has been trying to break out of sci-fi and into another genre. He has however been repeatedly hassled by the publisher of his past sci-fi books to present them with a new manuscript. It is important to note that he has no contractual obligation with his current publisher, they just want him to write another book because they see him as an established author who can sell books. However, as he put it to me, he just does not feel that he has anything worth writing about in sci-fi anymore. But he does have ideas for other genres. Unfortunately his current publisher does not publish said genres.
He has been polite in refusing them but confided in me that he was becoming very annoyed with the constant badgering. Apparently this publisher is very light in the funnel. The other day when they called he mentioned my name and gave me a reference because they also publish fantasy and let slip that they are interested in such as well. They told him that they were not interested in developing new talent and, such was his take, that they wanted to stick with past sucessess. Yes, he said, even if what those past successes gave them a subpar story to work with. They said they wanted “anything” from him and commenting that “quality does not matter.” Read more…
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