F. P. Dorchak

Speculative Fiction Author

Writing

What Ever Happened to Book Editors?

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Do It Right. (Tacoma Narrows Bridge, by RustyObjects {Own work} [CC BY-SA 3.0 {http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0}], via Wikimedia Commons)
Do It Right. (Tacoma Narrows Bridge, by RustyObjects {Own work} [CC BY-SA 3.0 {http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0}], via Wikimedia Commons)
Book editors.

We all have images in our heads of what they are. What they do.

But are our images correct?

Marjorie Braman’s article, “What Ever Happened to Book Editors” got me to remembering the first time I’d ever heard about the real working lives of publishing editors. It was at a writer’s conference. From the very editors themselves. What I’d heard sounded more like my own work life (minus the specific book stuff)…meetings, meetings, and more meetings. Budgets. Schedules. Reading queries. Writing flap copy—oh, and trips.

I didn’t hear a whole lotta editing going on in those offices.

Now, they did tell us that any editing they did they had to do on their own time…at home. After looong days at work. So, they had that going for their job descriptions.

But what Marjorie’s article brings out is that publishers believe it’s all about acquiring and selling. She was flat-out told by her publisher at the time—as she says, “almost in passing”—that “We don’t pay you to edit.” She says that one little quip meant to her (and rightly so, as I’ve gathered over the years I’ve experienced being in the publishing world) was that editing is no longer important. It’s all about buying and selling. She says this has been true since she came into the business in 1985.

This date, I found curious.

You see, I started getting serious about writing around that time (May of 1987). I still have my original log books—see, I even started treating it as a profession back then…doing it every day, studying it, going to critiques groups, keeping track of all my work.

But, man, talk about being a day late and a dollar short in an industry where editors were editors and authors were cultivated!

On the flip side to Marjorie’s article is that she became a freelance editor and left trad publishing, so all of the above no longer applied to her. Now…she’s full-bore into helping authors write the best books possible.

But what she’d described above is what I’m seeing everywhere: the constant focus on the bottom line to every business. It’s all gone to bean counting. Bean counters are even making heady corporation direction decisions, all based upon what’s making money and what’s not. That’s not a good perspective. A good perspective would be the overall picture/health of a company and what needs to be reworked…sometime a “minor” correction in one department can generate huge, positive outcomes (yes, even positive revenue generation) elsewhere. It’s not just a “this makes money and this doesn’t.” What is working and what isn’t…how can we improve processes…more intelligently schedule…make better use of existing capabilities…make a better product/give a better service…and the rest will follow?

How can we publish better books?

Better cultivate authors?

Not just sell crap cause crap sells?

If all you have is crap (or “the same old thing”) available…that’s all anyone can buy. If you don’t challenge people, they do not grow.

A fair cost-benefit analysis (again, I find this different and more in-depth and useful than a mere “this makes money…this doesn’t…” indignance).

Just how much of a profit is really needed for an industry to survive?

Hire the people you need…staff the actual positions with qualified individuals…cultivate better authors…and let editors do what editors are supposed to be doing. I know all this “costs.” So do books. And there are other options out there for readers…for writers.

My dad always used to say, if you’re gonna do something…do it right, for God’s sake.

 

 

X-Files Returns!

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I just post my Intruders post when I see this X-Files tweet. I’ve known about the X-Files return since it was announced, but I really wanted to make this Intruders show known and hope it does return (Glen Morgan is associated with both The Intruders and The X-Files)!

Anywho, check out the updated information on the X-Files!

The Truth is Out There.

 

The Intruders

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I LOVE this series.

This is my new X-Files.

Finally! A show worthy of the X-Files legacy, yet kick-ass all in its own right!

And I near missed it, if it hadn’t been for one of my Twitter friends, Cindy, aka @Mater2Six. On the day of  its first or second airing, she asked me if I’d heard of it. I hadn’t. I went looking. I’d missed it.

Then found it!

Quite fitting for this show.

I found the online site and watched the first two episodes back-to-back staying up until 2 a.m. or something when they were still airing the online versions. This show just grabs you by the throat and it don’t let go! Admittedly, the first episode was a little jarring, but just stay with it. It all fits, it all works.

And the character of Maddie. Oh. My God. This girl is killer!

I’m posting this some seven months later, because the post had gotten lost in the shuffle! I had meant to post this back in October, but things had gotten quite busy for me. I hope it…returns…I visited their website, but didn’t find anything talking about its (if you click the Qui Reverti links, it gives stuff away, so don’t select them if you want to catch the episodes first) Qui Reverti return. I do hope we see it again this Fall. In the meantime you can look for it at these locations (which I haven’t tried, so I hope some are still in operation). You can also buy on Amazon.

But…but…Qui Reverti! It can‘t die!

The show is inspired by the 2007 Michael Marshal novel of the same name.

Of course, maybe Shepherd got to the producers….

Award Winning…What?!

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Seriously?

Award Winning-Expertly-Milled-in-the-USA-Gold Medal-Premium Quality-Over-125-Years-of-Baking-Success-Enriched-Bleached-Presifted-All-Purpose Author, F. P. Dorchak (© 2015, F. P. Dorchak composition of some really, pretty damned good flour).
Award Winning-Expertly-Milled-in-the-USA-Gold Medal-Premium Quality-Over-125-Years-of-Baking-Success-Enriched-Bleached-Presifted-All-Purpose Author, F. P. Dorchak (© 2015, F. P. Dorchak composition of some really, pretty damned good flour).

When I see this associated with any author and not a bag of flour I cringe and immediately get all pissy.

It seems, methinks, that every author I come across has won some kind of award.

Even me.

My blog won a Liebster Award in 2013. Does that make me “award-winning?”

Oh, and I did take second place in a PPWC writing contest way back in ’92.

Award winning?

Now, I’m not trying to diminish everyone’s hard-won and legitimate successes, I’m really not, but it just really bugs me that I see so many “award winning” authors out there that, well, have awards from places I’ve never heard of or are awards that are, what I consider, kinda “incestuous” to only the organization “awarding” it.

Or such books are so labeled and I’ve never heard of them.

Or, you know, that they’re labeled at all.

It doesn’t even matter the reasoning behind it…it just annoys me on principle.

Yeah. It does.

I mean, “Hugo winner” used to mean something until I read Bob Mayer’s post. Same with NYT’s and WSJ’s Best seller lists, when I read somewhere how these are “fixed” (wish I could find that article but this one will serve the point).  I just don’t believe much in any award-winning labels anymore.

Except for flour. The stuff that works really, really well. And tastes good, too.

I’ve read some “award winners” and wasn’t all that impressed with most of what I’ve read (not counting Hugo winners when I was a kid; it seemed that might have meant something back in the day…but I’ve also found when I tried to reread some of the fiction I read as a kid that I thought had been great…that the writing actually wasn’t all that well-written, so am still kinda up-in-the-air about the whole thing…)

I’ve removed the Liebster award image from my blog. I felt weird putting it there in the first place and have wanted to remove it for a while and just never got to it. It was fun answering the questions and nominating others I thought really deserved it—and I truly thank and appreciate the guy who nominated me for it, I really do, that was très cool of you, Samir—but I really don’t want to get into all that “award labeling.” I’ve never been one for “pomp and circumstance” (not a fan of it while in the military…still not). Let the “thing” (whatever it is) stand and speak for itself.

I mean, do you ever really see or hear anything about “Stephen King, award-winning author…”? No. All you hear is:

Stephen King.

Then you pee your pants, clean up, know exactly what is meant by “Stephen King” (his name is always italicized). You don’t need any adjectives or adverbs or whatever those modifier-thingees are supposed to be called before or after his name.

That’s what I’m talkin’ about.

Okay, okay, I know…there’s also the whole “best selling” debate, and King and others have been so labeled, but that kinda dilutes my whole argument so I’m just gonna ignore it. My blog, my topics.

The upshot of either discussion is that I don’t want to be coached into what you’re bringing to the table…I just want to see what your words do to me.

I want to read the jacket copy…take in the cover…check out what’s between the covers (kinda like checking out what’s between a person’s ears…). Now, I don’t have to like what’s between the covers…but I can certainly appreciate the wielded skill. I feel that way about a couple of authors I’ve read—damn good authors but don’t like what they write. I really can appreciate kick-ass writing even if I don’t like the content.

Yet (<sigh>)…I know it’s all about promotion and marketing annnd whatnot.

I know being on a best-seller list means more money to authors. I’ve read that readers like to see that kinda stuff on covers…but I gotta say, I just don’t know that I believe it. That readers really care whether or not “award-winning” (or “best selling”) graces the cover of any book. What I’ve got from my informal survey of the 3.5 people I’ve asked such questions of was that, no, they really don’t care. They just want a good story—in some manner—that grabs them. makes em cry, angry, or emote and associate in some way with the story. In some manner. I think it’s the media and the publishing industry that cares about what’s on covers. When I was a young kid buying books the only thing I cared about on the covers were how frigging cool the images and graphics were! As an “aware” adult author/reader the only thing I care about on the cover is how fricking cool the images and graphics are! Sorry, but I have to side with Franzen, here, I really don’t want an Oprah sticker taking up space on any cool cover graphics!

What the heck’s behind the sticker? Like author intrusion into a story, such embellishments intrude into the weltanshauung of the cover!

Is Oprah adrift and in the boat with that tiger and that guy?

Did Oprah just give the dirty and barefoot and smiling 1930’s kid money?

So, nothing against Oprah or all the authors who received hard-won accolades for their efforts—we all like to think we’re making a difference in this world—but, in the end…whenever I hear that someone is “award-winning”… I just automatically think of them as being nothing more than

A sack-a-flour.

You-Turns

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You-Turn. (By Eric Kilby from USA (Confusing Sign Uploaded by xnatedawgx) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)
You-Turn. (By Eric Kilby from USA [Confusing Sign Uploaded by xnatedawgx] [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)
I always used to say “I hate regurgitating myself.”

And this is a true statement…I really haven’t liked redoing my work or, well, anything. I’ve figured once I’d done something, it’s done…time to move on.

Then reality would intervene.

Never say never.

It doesn’t mean that everything I’ve done was perfect and not to be trifled with…what it means was that I’m done with whatever I’ve done, either a job or a manuscript; whatever: got that T-shirt. Time to move forward. But as my life progresses and I get older I find that the energy behind my life seems to beg to differ. It seems much of my life bears repeating.

My writing. Job hunts. TV reruns. Reincarnation.

I posted a list of my writing projects over the years…and how I’ve gone back and reworked several of them to publish. Most of my published history (all of my novels) is work I’d done years ago. Maybe this is nothing new to authors in general…but to me, well, it’s the subject of this post.

Take a look at this post: I did one about my short-lived modeling career. Retrospective.

And there’s my current work in progress (WIP) that I’m looking to publish in the coming months. More retro.

Oh, and in my daily life…my day job…there’s a certain line of energy that seems to have me revisiting the past. Returning to that which I’ve “come from” in a certain fashion. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with the work I’m doing or have done in the past…it’s just that I’ve returned to it a couple times over the years.  It’s the whole “retro argument” I’m making here….

However and curiously…as I’ve grown older I don’t seem to have as much “against” going retro in and of itself anymore…I guess it’s only natural that after you’ve lived “some life” and gone down all those roads paved-and-otherwise it’s only natural to revisit some of those journeys as all the roads you’ve traveled cross and weave in and out. When you’re younger you’re afire with boundless energy and ready to frickin’ carve (not just carve, but frickin’ carve…) your name into the world…but after a while (if you live long enough) you come upon those carved-names in the strangest of places…places you’d never dreamed of every seeing again….

Life has a way of getting you to reflect.

Everything changes.

And eventually those changes transition the physical world…so enjoy life while it’s happening. There are far worse things that can befall a soul than having to, you know, redo a thing or two.

Enjoy life. Enjoy the journey.

Enjoy your You-turns.

Related Articles

Hate The Author…Still Read Their Work…?

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Just Because You Can Say It Doesn't Mean... (By Unknown or not provided (U.S. National Archives and Records Administration) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons)
Just Because You Can Say It Doesn’t Mean… (By Unknown or not provided (U.S. National Archives and Records Administration) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons)

I read a post by another writer who said that he would still read the work of an author he couldn’t stand. To me he was essentially saying he could separate the person from his work.

I gave that some thought.

Some years back I sat in a session at a writer’s conference given by a very famous writer. Very famous.

I couldn’t stand the guy. To be frank (pardon the pun) I found the guy a total dick. He also openly and with great relish dumped on other writers’ work. Named names. And the bulk of the audience was “in there” with him!

I was stunned.

And I was gonna buy one of his books. I didn’t.

To this day I can’t think about one good thing to say about this guy, that’s how off-putting he was to me.

I can’t support a writer (or any other person) if I can’t stand that person. If I find them abhorrent in whatever way bugs the shit out of me.

Why would I possibly want to support a livelihood if I don’t like the message?

I mean, I might possibly find an exception in the future and eat my words, but today I cannot think of a single exception to this rule: if I can’t stand you or your message I more than likely will not read your work. It’s hard for me to separate the two. I will wish you well and personal and spiritual growth (please have some spiritual growth…), but I will not be supporting your habit.

Now, I’m sure there are probably some authors I read who are jerks and I just don’t realize it. True. But if I do, I will most likely not continue to support them. There are just too many other books out there to read, and if this reasoning culls the herd for me, so be it. I wish you all (even the jerks) peace and growth in your journey through life…I just don’t want to be a part of it.