I ran across a new crop of idiots the other day on ehow.com. There was one guy in particular whose only publishing credit was through Publish America – can you join me in saying "Ewwww!" – was telling everyone else how to write a query letter or some such nonsense. It was bad advice and worse writing.
These days, anyone can "get published". I used that phrase sardonically and with malice aforethought because it doesn't mean what it used to mean. Back in the ancient days – like five years ago even – before rampant POD and ISBN by the pound, getting published meant something. It meant that someone besides your Mom (who proofed and told you how wonderful you were) and your bank (who paid the check you wrote to a printer and told you how wonderful you were) and a printer (who called itself a publisher and cashed your check and told you how wonderful you were) actually thought your writing was fairly decent. Or if not decent, fixable and salable.
Not so these days.
Now, this is not to say the book industry and big publishers aren't without issues. We all know the system of advances, returns and sell-through is cumbersome and not working. I'm GLAD that the barriers to getting a book out there are lower. There's some good stuff that needs to see the light of day or at least the light of the endcap.
But the downside is that the signal to noise ratio has dropped dramatically. One can no longer rely on the fact that a book is actually IN PRINT in assuming at least a modicum of worth. Getting printed has become synonymous with getting published, and folks – that's just not the case.
If you are "published" through PublishAmerica, Xlibris or AuthorHouse – it doesn't count. Seriously. It doesn't. Not to the real writers. Not to say it's a BAD thing (although you could do better through Createspace.com or lulu.com or booklocker.com) and that you might not sell some books – you will if you work at it. It's just that it doesn't count as having gone through the traditional system, no matter how loudly you proclaim your status as an amazon.com bestseller (Guess what? That doesn't count either.) or your amazing adventures as a published author.
You're in print. That's a good thing. But it's not being published. And if you think it is, talk to me again after you ink your first deal with Berkley and get your first real editorial letter.
What's that? Berkley won't publish you? Neither will St. Martins?
Yeah. Wonder why?
That's kinda my point.
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