He said that not only was 90% of the subject matter ridiculous but that the majority of the manuscripts they received weren't even in an acceptable form for reading. It was like people had just printed off their blog pages and submitted them as books to be published.
In my mind far too many publishing houses stopped accepting unsolicited manuscripts at the same time for it to be a coincidence. Even looking for agents was difficult; a lot of them had begun only accepting authors who had previously published, not self-published, with a reputable publisher.
What had already been an almost closed door for new writers in North America and England had become a drawbridge drawn up and bolted. Getting your work even seen by a publisher would take a small miracle, let alone managing to have it published.
On the other hand though, the Internet has provided people who are serious about their writing with some golden opportunities that were not previously readily available. Sites like Blogcritics where you can have your work published on a regular basis, while at the same time receiving critiques on your writing in a generally professional manner, are a godsend to aspiring writers like myself.
Prior to the Internet you would probably have had to enroll in some sort of creative writing course through a community college and pay for the privilege of maybe having one story critiqued over a two or three week period by someone with dubious qualifications. At Blogcritics there are I don't know how many different editors now, each of whom have something they can offer to a writer in order to help them develop good habits no matter what they want to end up doing.
I admit that I sometimes get frustrated with some of the editorial decisions, but that's more my stubbornness in not wanting to admit that sometimes less is more. Learning how to write a good clean paragraph is much more important than flashy prose. That your first priority should be to make sure you’ve written something comprehensible is an idea that has finally begun to take root in my brain.
That this is happening at all is mainly due to the patience of certain editors at Blogcritics, and their willingness to keep hitting me over the head with a two-by-four, for which I will be eternally grateful.
The other thing that has happened for me because of the Internet has been the opportunity to connect with other writers on a personal and professional level. There are three gentlemen in particular, men whose books I've reviewed, who have been of incredible assistance to me both professionally and as moral support.
Article comments
1 - Connie Phillips
Congratulations Richard! Thank you for sharing with us via the interview. Nice write-up as usual, Lisa.
2 - Matthew T. Sussman
Uh oh. Back to back Canucks. We really need to plan this better.
3 - SonnyD
Yea, Richard! Great write-up, great interview.
4 - Vikk Simmons
Congratulations. I really enjoyed reading about you, your writing, and your process Keep up the good work.
5 - Richard Marcus
Holleee
do I really sound like that pompus beady canuck...
Thank you very much Lisa and all you other editor types for the honour. Considering all the folk who write on this site and have quite amazing things to say all the time it's enough to make a fella's head swell.
That is until his next article is put on hold for being sensless gibberish. Oh well that gives me about a day or two to revel in this.
Thank you once again,
cheers
Richard Marcus
6 - Donnie Marler
Richard,
Congratulations! Well deserved!
7 - Pico
You write good stuff. Keep 'um coming, Richard.
-P
8 - Kathy Jones
The interview was wonderful reading and the collection of articles is inspiring. I especially appreciated your comment, Richard, that what you found most difficult is this:"getting the words on the page to be as exciting as they sound in my head." Really resonated with my experience, and your persistence has paid off, as evidenced in the quality of your work. Congrats!
9 - Al Barger
Why, some of my best friends are Canadians...
Look, all decent patriotic Americans naturally hate beady-eyed Canucks with their heads so full of lies. Brother Marcus, however, does not indulge in the head full of lies part. He will tend to make somewhat different value judgments than me in some political areas (ie he tends to be more "liberal"), but he's highly respectful of facts and strives to seek truth rather than simply win arguments.
So then, as Canadians go, Richard Marcus ain't half bad. He's one of the good ones.
10 - STM
"Look, all decent patriotic Americans naturally hate beady-eyed Canucks."
Never got over having your blurters kicked from here to kingdom and back in the War of 1812, eh?
Time to bloody well forget that, Al, old boy, and move on.
11 - Al Barger
STM, keep monkeying with US Americans, and we'll execute Terence and Philip again.
Canadians are already skating on thin ice as it is. If you read the fine print, the Patriot Act actually outlaws Canada. That whole country is just one Celine Dion album away from being the new Iraq.
12 - STM
Mate, I have often heard Canada described as "America's hat".
However, I have a copy of Mercator's correctional map of the world, which since north and south are nothing more than human inventions and no-one really knows what is top and what is bottom, has Australia and New Zealand at the top of the world.
The US of course is then below the equator, with Canada below that. Using this map, it is no longer America's hat, but America's undies.
I'm sure they prefer being the hat.
13 - Elvira Black
Lisa and Richard:
What an incredible piece. Lisa, you somehow encompassed the essence of Richard in your brief intro, including the formidable depth and scope of his work. And Richard, I felt like you were inside my head (or vice versa) as I was reading the interview--and if I read you right, that's one of the essential elements of what every writer strives for. You've got it in spades. Congrats!
14 - Duck
How nice of Canada to allow Indigenous peoples use of their own land. How of them.
Seems racist to me when oil companies can go on Indigenous (Crown? Who wers the crown?) Land. Receive hugh tax breaks and I am sure lax environmental controls. Why can these companies sell or do whatever they want?
15 - STM
Ah, it's good to see that land owned by the Government in Canada is still called Crown Land (just like in Australia).
Much of it wasn't used by indenigenous people in the sense that we understand land ownership anyway. Therein lies the problem. A conundrum now being left to others to sort out, just like in the US, with varying degrees of success. Although mostly not.
16 - crushkill
I really like how he loves talking about himself!
17 - DukeDeMondo
Richard, congratulations Good Sir, and that interview was glorious also. It does the site no end of good to have folks like yourself on here. And what a lovely man, also.
18 - alessandro nicolo
Yeah, like the Inuit were going to extract the oil with their kakivak's. No offense. Congrats, Mr. Marcus. Montreal Canadiens - good man.