It’s not a secret that the quality of books published by traditional publishers varies greatly. Some are breathtakingly magical, some read like lukewarm porridge.
I personally have long felt that authors cast too many aspersions against traditionally published books and underrate how good they really are, particularly if you’ve never read slush to get a sense of the “competition.” If you’re not finding more wonderful books than you could possibly have time to read, you’re really not looking very hard.
But it’s undoubtedly true that there are some traditionally published books that feel a bit, well, mailed in. And whenever an author brings one of these to my attention and uses it to interrogate the standards at traditional publishers, I often ask this question: was it a debut?
There are many reasons an established author might get a so-so book over the line to publication: they might have a faithful readership who will buy any book that hits the right notes, or it may be as simple as the author delivering a second or third book in a contract that has already been signed. These books may not need to reach the same level of excitement that’s required for an editor to go through the hurdles of acquiring a new book on behalf of the publisher.
If you want to know how good you have to be to get a traditionally published book across the finish line: look to the debuts. Those are the ones that had to get an editor excited enough to make an offer and take a chance on an unknown author.
Now, that book you might not like may still be a debut. And this gets to the other essential point: tastes are subjective. There are no crystal balls, there’s no standardized threshold for what constitutes “publishable” or “literature.” One person’s trash is another person’s treasure, and there are a lot of reasons a book might appeal to people beyond mere writing craft.
At the end of the day, if your goal is pursuing traditional publication, all you can really do is to write the best book you can, pitch it as best you can, and the market is going to do what the market is going to do. But the real measure of your competition is the debuts, not a bestselling author’s twenty-fifth novel.
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Art: Jumping the Gate by James Seymour
Excellent point.
Nathan, could you recommend a contemporary story you’ve read and really enjoyed?
Spoiler Alert
A book I’ve read recently that I was hooked on from the first page is called ‘The Bigamist’. Not fine lit or uplifting and inspirational, but a story of surviving a harrowing marriage. The author came to believe her former husband was a kind of evil genius.
Interesting facets were introduced such as a concept the author referred to as ‘conversational hypnosis’ which she believed he used to manipulate and extract money. What makes the story feel even more real– as it was only published about 3-4 years ago–are the vids across the internet of interviews detailing the horrific years they were together, and the Court case where he was charged and sentenced for offenses against his wives and girlfriends.
While he pretended to work for the CIA, even when living in the UK, he actually made a living fleecing the women in his life.
His behaviour was always unpredictable. He’d disappear for weeks at a time and then explain it away as being sent on a Government mission to an overseas country. After proposing to each of his victims, he’d make a big deal of being infertile, and then it was Surprise! Amazement! Shock! when she became pregnant.
The author has since written a sequel where she focuses on helping and warning other victims who have already grown in numbers since his release.
This is an interesting perspective. I’ve often read that an author’s work will not be considered, no matter how well written it is, unless the publisher believes that person can promote their own book effectively. They must have a loyal and large following on a social media site. You know much more than I. What do you think about this?
For nonfiction platform matters (https://nathanbransford.com/blog/2021/03/what-is-an-author-platform)
For fiction and memoir, a social media following or marketing ability is a bonus but not a requirement.
Last year I read a debut that was brilliant in every regard. I got their second novel as soon as it came out, and it was, well, good enough, but it wouldn’t have jumped out of a slush pile. And then I realized just what you said – that it was simply to fulfill a contract, and didn’t have to knock any socks off. Plus, authors never have the same amount of time to work on their second books as they did with their first.