I get annoyed with seeing articles like this one. If he wanted to write in a literary genre then he should do so. Literary writers don’t become authors because they think that they will make it to the NY Times bestseller list. Many authors simply accept that in the world of publishing/writing - either the author will have big sales or literary nods - not both. If an author is unhappy that he is selling a lot of books but not getting literary awards then maybe that author should reevaluate why he became a writer in the first place.
In today's world, very few writers experience both sales and industry recognition (Salman Rushdie, Yann Martel, Mark Haddon). I doubt they began their careers thinking that they would be able to transcend the stereotype - literary = possible awards and genre = sales.
And let’s face it, even fewer authors ever receive recognition or experience huge sales.
I’m sure we can all think of authors who, in our opinion, deserve public recognition but this is why groups like the Emerging Writer’s Network and the Lit Blog Co-op exist. This is also why so many authors are asked what they read, in the hopes that the author’s fans will gravitate toward books written by those who inspired their favorite authors.
I’ll step down from my soap box now. I’m starting to get lightheaded from the altitude.
Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI get annoyed with seeing articles like this one. If he wanted to write in a literary genre then he should do so. Literary writers don’t become authors because they think that they will make it to the NY Times bestseller list. Many authors simply accept that in the world of publishing/writing - either the author will have big sales or literary nods - not both. If an author is unhappy that he is selling a lot of books but not getting literary awards then maybe that author should reevaluate why he became a writer in the first place.
ReplyDeleteIn today's world, very few writers experience both sales and industry recognition (Salman Rushdie, Yann Martel, Mark Haddon). I doubt they began their careers thinking that they would be able to transcend the stereotype - literary = possible awards and genre = sales.
And let’s face it, even fewer authors ever receive recognition or experience huge sales.
I’m sure we can all think of authors who, in our opinion, deserve public recognition but this is why groups like the Emerging Writer’s Network and the Lit Blog Co-op exist. This is also why so many authors are asked what they read, in the hopes that the author’s fans will gravitate toward books written by those who inspired their favorite authors.
I’ll step down from my soap box now. I’m starting to get lightheaded from the altitude.