CONTACT CAROLINE
facebook
rss
tumblr
twitter
goodreads
youtube

  • Home
  • Write Away Blog
  • Books
    • Books
    • Trompe l’Oeil
    • Heart Land
    • Gothic Spring
    • Ballet Noir
    • Book Excerpts
  • Video Interviews
  • Press
    • News
    • Print Interviews
    • Plays
    • Ballet Noir in the Press
    • Trompe l’Oeil In The Press
    • Gothic Spring In The Press
    • Heart Land Reviews
  • Contact
  • About
  • Resources
    • Writer Resources
    • Favorite Blogs
    • Favorite Artists



A Few Words About “Editorial Needs”

Jan 24, 2013
by Caroline Miller
"On the Road", Jack Kerouac, Sterling Lord
0 Comment

Recently, I received a rejection for a story I’d submitted to a literary magazine. It came with the standard explanation: the material does not meet our editorial needs.

Okay, I can accept rejection. A writer must. But I won’t accept the request that came with it: that I purchase a subscription to the magazine. Listen up, editors. When you slap a writer in the face, don’t expect him to kiss your hand.

 I’m not crying about the rejection. The piece is solid. It will find a home. But the crassness of the editors — and they are not the first — appalls me. Where oh where are the caring people of old? I’m thinking of an interview I read recently about Sterling Lord. He was the literary agent who represented Jack Kerouac.

He met the author after his novel, On the Road, had been rejected by a publisher who was kind enough to pass him on to Lord. Lord was at the beginning of his career and looking for clients. He admits when the young author walked into his office, the two had little in common. But, not being “locked into any publishing tradition,” Lord signed Kerouac up as a client. (“Out to Lunch” by John Hellpern, Vanity Fair, 2/13, pg. 46.) He goes on to say that the novel continued to be rejected and so many times, that Kerouac asked Lord to stop submitting it. Lord ignored his request and the rest is history.

 I was touched by Lord’s story and his willingness to take on a client whose work he didn’t entirely understand. He did it because he liked Kerouac and because the young author had told him “he had to write.” (Ibid, pg. 46)

 Kerouac was lucky. He met a publisher who passed him on to an agent who might do the writer some good. The agent did, mainly because he was willing to work outside his comfort zone and to ignore other people’s “editorial needs.” In the hurly burly world of the 21st century, that sort of risk taking is rare, which may explain why some critics fear literature is danger of becoming stagnant.

 Jack Kerouac

 

 

 

(Courtesy of chipkidd.com)

Social Share

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

*
*

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Contact Caroline at

carolinemiller11@yahoo.com

Portland, Oregon author Caroline Miller had distinguished careers as an educator, union president, elected official and artist/advocate.

Her play, Woman on the Scarlet Beast, was performed at the Post5 Theatre, Portland, OR, January/February 2015

Caroline published a serialized novelette, Marie Eau-Claire, on the website, The Colored Lens.  She also published the story Gustav Pavel,  a parable about ordinary lives, choice and alternate potential, on the website Fixional.co.

Caroline has published four novels

  • Ballet Noir
  • Trompe l’Oeil
  • Gothic Spring
  • Heart Land

Subscribe to Caroline’s Blog


 

Archives

Categories

YouTube-logo-inline2 To access and subscribe to my videos on YouTube, Click Here and click the Subscribe button.

Banner art “The Receptive” by Charlie White of Charlie White Studio

Web Admin: ThinPATH Systems, Inc
support@tp-sys.com

Subscribe to Caroline's Blog


 

Contact Caroline at

carolinemiller11@yahoo.com

Sitemap | Privacy Notice

AUDIO & VIDEO VAULT

View archives of Caroline’s audio and videos interviews.


Copyright © Books by Caroline Miller