Are publishers still hiring writers in person (individually)? How do they negoti

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   watergeekposted 12 years ago

   Are publishers still hiring writers in person (individually)? How do they negotiate fees?
   
   I see writers sites all over the place, each offering a different way of accessing publishers or matching up to publishers, and different types and levels of payments. Has this replaced the system of a writer approaching publishers with an offer?

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   AlexDrinkH2Oposted 12 years ago

   Undoubtedly, the most favorable way for a writer to be published is the "old-fashioned" way - an editor at one of the NY publishing houses likes a manuscript, decides to publish it, and it's in the bookstores a few months later.  Sounds good, right?   Trouble is, you have almost as good a shot as hitting the Powerball lottery as you have of this happening.  Now, many of us (including this writer) have tried the literary agent route - it turns out that "hiring" and agent isn't quite like hiring a gardener.  This is one case where the employee (the agent) basically makes an assessment of the employer (the writer) instead of the other way round.  The result is that it is just about as difficult getting an agent interested in a manuscript as it is to secure a publisher.  It's a strange industry.  There are MANY would-be writers out there and to say it's a buyer's market is a gross understatement.  So now the internet gives people the chance to publish material themselves (which I have done). But (and it's a BIG but), the odds against a self-published book making a decent amount of money are rather long.  Yes, some writers still get publishers to accept their material, but their last names are usually Clancy, Grisham, Rule, King, etc.

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      watergeekposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I did a little research yesterday that bears this out. None of the big publishing houses accept manuscripts anymore. Not only do they all go through agents, but they also will not recommend agents. I was just wondering if it was worth it to even try.

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