Walden and Fuzzy Lines

On this date in History, August 9, 1854, Henry David Thoreau's, Walden, recounting his experiment in a 2-year solitary life on the shores of Massachusetts's Walden Pond was published.  His woodland cabin was built on land owned by his friend and mentor Ralph Waldo Emerson.

As Walden Pond, was actually Walled in Pond, from some ancient time in the past, the name was just miss construed after all the years.  It has become apparent to me that part of the problem that developed over many years between publishers and authors is that like the name Walden Pond, things got fuzzy.  It has become apparent that many publishers and literary agents either are themselves authors or employ authors.  This seems like it would be a conflict of interest.

Just as in my previous post about Beta Readers, why would an author want to submit work to somebody who is in competition with them?

Not that somebody would turn a story down and then rewrite it in their own words, or publish the story in their own name, or even share the idea with another author who writes that kind of story.  I am positive with the high moral character of business in the world today that kind of stuff has never happened!

Now with self publishing, any author can call themselves a publisher!  Fuzzy lines just went completely out of focus.

Then, if you look at all the books about how to get your book published and how to write a query letter, they are almost entirely written by literary agents, or publishers!  It reminds me a lot of the college professor who makes his $110.00 book required for his class.  Don't colleges pay professors?  Wouldn't a college that a professor works for get some sort of break for their students?  There I go throwing stones about the morality of business again.

So it's a crap shoot.

Facts.

There are still traditional publishers!  How to get traditionally published is still like guessing where lightning might strike.

Writers are tone deaf to their own work.  Every writer believes their work is the end all of literature and the reason the pen was created.  When a publisher sees their work the world will be their oyster!

Editing and learning how to write, coupled with a great story can act as a lightening rod to help attract that elusive bolt of lightning!

Anybody can Self Publish just about anything they want to!

Anybody can create their own website and call it almost anything they want to!

The water has covered the wall so all we can see is one big pond.

The fish in the pond are varied in talent, means, resources, and who knows what fish are out there.  Thank God they are not eating one another yet!

The fish are changing as the pond gets bigger.  The names are fuzzy, and waiting for the reading public, the last bastion of intelligence in a world gone mad to clear it up by what they purchase, read, and review!

Amen.

Posted in: Walden Henry David Thoreau Ralph Waldo Emerson