quamp Posted July 21, 2007 Report Share Posted July 21, 2007 Story here David Lassman sent off to 18 publishers assorted chapters from Austen novels in which he changed just the titles and the names of the characters.<snip> Seventeen publishers rejected or ignored his bid for literary glory. Only one spotted the ruse and told him not to mimic "Pride and Prejudice" so closely. You'd think that a publisher would be able to spot a literary classic like that. It's pretty sad, really. Once again, society proves it's not how good you are, but how good-looking and well-connected you are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StoryJunkie Posted July 21, 2007 Report Share Posted July 21, 2007 So then, the statistics for submission are send to eighteen, one will comment. Sounds about right. Maybe I ought to send a bunch of crap in just to see what would happen. Oh darn, how many Canadian publishers are there? Two? And in Toronto no doubt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foeofthelance Posted July 21, 2007 Report Share Posted July 21, 2007 Actually, this doesn't really surprise me. After dealing with all the so called classics in various English and Literature classes in school, I long ago reached the conclusion that most of the classics earned that honor simply by being long, wordy, and most importantly, old. Combined with a much less competetive field, and we accept things as classics simply because we're told they are such. On the reactions of the publishers, well, that really isn't all that surprising. The ones that ignored him might not have even opened his mail yet. I hang out at the Baen publishing site and they have a backlog of slush that's nearly a year and a half long at this point. Considering they're a rather small company, compared to the likes of Scholastic, Random House, and Simon and Shucster, who would be more likely to consider such and author as Austen, one expects the larger publishers to be facing similiar backlogs. This also raises the issue of type letters, and the fact they probably for the most part noticed he was plagiarizing (the article mentions no comments from the companies, nor attempts to garner such) and simply and properly dismissed him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leonhart29 Posted July 21, 2007 Report Share Posted July 21, 2007 Times change and so do tastes. What was popular with the public once is no longer popular anywhere but in literary circles. It stands to reason that it wouldn't be picked up. I've been trying to get published, and the only thing I've gotten published was a poem I wrote during the Gulf War - and I suspect that the only reason why it was published was because it was written by a high school student. Publishing companies do not always give you a rejection - rather your manuscript is sent into the literary black hole never to be seen again. If you truly want to be published you have a couple of choices. 1) Do it yourself (just be very careful which company you go with - some of them will rape you of all your rights) or 2) get an agent. At least that's what I've been told. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Knorg Posted July 21, 2007 Report Share Posted July 21, 2007 This guy said it best: Wow, someone sent in Jane Austen chapters with the names changed to book publishers and they nearly all ignored him. I wonder if they ignored him because he was sending in Jane Austen chapters with the names changed? This doesn't say shit about society or good writing, it says book publishers won't pay attention to outright plagarism (except for one employee at one company who'd apparently read Jane Austen but not the specific book being ripped off). What a total fucking non-story. Looked to me like it just showed most of them reach for form replies rather than writing an original one when they're rejecting something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mangamazoku@hotmail.com Posted February 6, 2008 Report Share Posted February 6, 2008 Author conventions help the getting an agent part, a friend is going through that process now. Sadly, even getting an agent is difficult, let alone publishing after that! As for the classics, I enjoy a few of Austen's works, but many of the classics do suffer from being slow and wordy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terri Posted February 6, 2008 Report Share Posted February 6, 2008 I know it was written by Charlotte Bronte and not Jane Austen, but *clings to Jane Eyre with all her might* Others can say what they will, but call it anything less than a classic and at the very least I will want to hit you - depends on my mood as to if I will *clings tighter to her favorite book* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Caeru Posted June 2, 2008 Report Share Posted June 2, 2008 That's exactly the thought I had when I read the article, "They probably saw that he was plagiarizing and summarily dismissed him, as I would a fan-fic writer who can't even spell their title correctly." As for the classics... most of them are no longer relevant to our time and therefore not found very interesting or understandable by the mainstream public, so no publishing house wants to waste its time with something they are sure the mainstream isn't going to like. Though you'd have to wonder with all the trash that DOES get published, what kind of books exactly IS the mainstream actually interested in? Or more importantly, the person who is choosing which books are published... *shakes head* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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