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Comment from the book world in July 2016

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Editors and publishers 'wait for writers to come to them with manuscripts that are fully formed'

25 July 2016

‘If you are an emerging writer now, there are more channels for you to get in front of the eyeballs of a publisher but you have to do a lot of the work yourself. There's less work done by editors and publishers - they wait for writers to come to them with manuscripts that are fully formed.

A writer will seek that support elsewhere - that's why writing groups have soared.

I've seen friends who I thought were going to be the next big thing in writing kind of drop off because of the money. They are stuck in universities or are arts workers or in advertising. In previous generations they would spent the majority of their time being a writer and doing a bits of arts work on the side.

A writers' group can only take you so far.'

Sam Cooney, publisher of the Melbourne-based literary journal The Lifted Brow

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'No other reason to work this hard'

18 July 2016

'Writing isn't generally a lucrative source of income; only a few, exceptional writers reach the income levels associated with the best-sellers. Rather, most of us write because we can make a modest living, or even supplement our day jobs, doing something about which we feel passionately. Even at the worst of times, when nothing goes right, when the prose is clumsy and the ideas feel stale, at least we're doing something that we genuinely love. There's no other reason to work this hard, except that love.' Melissa Scott, SF and Fantasy writer, author of Trouble and Her Friends and Conceiving the Heavens: Creating the Science Fiction Novel.

'We could not publish it with commercial success'

11 July 2016

'I regret we have reluctantly come to the conclusion that we could not publish it with commercial success... A helpful bookshop may be able to advise you. Owing to pressure of submissions, I regret we cannot reply individually or provide constructive criticism (a writers' group/writing course may help with the latter.)' Unnamed editor at Constable & Robinson, in turning down J K Rowling's first Harry Potter book.

Emerging writers have to do all this work

4 July 2016

‘When you are emerging even small things can make a difference to a practice, a craft and a career. There's been less and less institutional support for young writers from publishers. Not that long ago a writer would be identified by a publishing house or editor at an event or a reading.

There would be a breakthrough book later on - like the case of someone like Peter Carey - who had longtime support from UQP (University of Queensland Press). If you are an emerging writer now, there are more channels for you to get in front of the eyeballs of a publisher but you have to do a lot of the work yourself. There's less work done by editors and publishers - they wait for writers to come to them with manuscripts that are fully formed...

A writer will seek that support elsewhere - that's why writing groups have soared... I feel that writers can no longer rely on themselves being just good writers. I feel like emerging writers have to do all this work - they have be all these social butterflies - they have to seek things out for themselves."

Sam Cooney, publisher of the Melbourne-based literary journal The Lifted Brow in the Guardian