Apparently, there’s a notion floating around the book industry that agents and editors aren’t the gatekeepers (those who decide who is let into the “publishing pantheon”), readers are. That’s right! If you thought agents and editors decide who they sign and publish, boy are you stupid. You see, “the readers” decide whether an agent accepts or rejects a query letter, not the agent. And do editors really decide which books they buy for their publishing houses? Of course not, silly! “The readers” do! I bet these “readers” are starting to wonder where their 15 percent is.
Basically, this theory can be boiled down to what I call “The Fast Food Cop-Out,” which goes like this: “Hey, we just give people what they want.” It’s the cop-out used by anyone and everyone whose main objective in life is to slither all the way to the bank, regardless of the slime they leave behind.
I’m not saying I don’t understand the idea of a “market-driven economy.” I do. What I am saying is that the issues involved cannot simply be boiled down to: The customer decides what’s on the menu! The audience decides what gets into theaters! The reader decides what gets published!
Yes, anyone with half a brain can understand that if no one buys a certain product, that product can justifiably be taken off the shelf. But it takes a certain kind of slippery logic to jump from that to saying that the people who didn’t buy said product are the ones who make the actual decisions as to what replaces it.
That is simply not true. It’s the epitome of faulty logic. And to apply it to the book industry, well, I think that’s spineless, weak, and greedy. It’s a cop-out.
For “the readers” to “decide” what gets published, everyone who reads books would have to get together, make suggestions, vote, and present to the industry what they think should be published. That’s not what happens. What actually happens is that people choose what books to read from the menu they are handed, just like a “diner” in McDonald’s. (Now, I’m pretty sure that McDonald’s prints up their menus. If you’re going to say that they don’t, well then, you’re not running on all cylinders.) “Industry analysts” then look at what those readers choose, and the industry rushes to churn out more of it. That’s not “the people deciding,” that’s labeling a trend and then chasing it. And it is the industry’s choice to do so. Trend-chasing is one way to run a business. One way. It is not the only way. People who believe it is are those who believe in “trickle-down.”
Again, yes! I understand the theory of a “market-driven economy.” What I am saying is that those who use it as an excuse for putting out drivel, or unhealthy food, or mindless pulp are spineless and greedy. To use such an excuse is to be a child, to not take responsibility for your choices and actions. And that is the real problem.
I truly hope that there are agents and editors out there who do not work from this ridiculous attitude. Otherwise, the book industry will soon be nothing more than the latest addition to our decadent fast food nation.
