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Book prizes don't work how you think

rebeccamakkai.substack.com

91–97 of 97 posts

Re: Book prizes don't work how you think

#91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know probably three dozen authors. $500k every two years seems great for a job that so many people romanticize, but the money goes fast. The writing is the easy part. Self promotion becomes a full-time job, and you do the writing in your off hours. Also, you don’t get to take all that money home. Your agent gets 15%, but you’ll never get published at all without one. And there is an unspoken rule that you must put…

Interesting! how did you come to know three dozen authors? I know 2-3 published authors --- published at all, not fulltime authors, just people who got a book published. In my history of acquaintances I know of one mildly successful fantasy author who is making a living at it (parent of a classmate of my child). So 36 seems like a very high number to me... maybe you sell typewriters? or Wite-Out?

from another thread

> I actually am a top 1% writer

Ah, i see.

Re: Book prizes don't work how you think

#92
post #68
post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you are judging something you are judging the whole thing. If the first part is bad that puts the book behind every other book. Even if the rest was decent the chance of it being the best overall is small. Think about judging a 3 course meal. If the appetizer is bad, what is the chance that you will rate this meal as the best even if the main course and dessert were very good? If you are eating at restaurants th…

> you are judging the whole thing That's literally the opposite of what happens, you can't judge the whole thing if you've only read 1 paragraph! > If the first part is bad that puts the book behind every other book. That makes no sense, you don't know the quality of other books to make that determination! What if they have much worse paragraphs in the middle? What's so special about the first one expect being helpfu…

In theory, you're right. But she talks about how it happens in practice. We can all sit around and talk about how this or that should work in theory, until one day we get a chance to do that one thing. And then most of us shut up because the real world is messy.

> What if they have much worse paragraphs in the middle?

Do you think a book that has a particularly bad first few pages is more or less likely to have a lot of poor content in the middle vs. a book that has a really good first few pages?

Re: Book prizes don't work how you think

#93
post #92
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> you are judging the whole thing That's literally the opposite of what happens, you can't judge the whole thing if you've only read 1 paragraph! > If the first part is bad that puts the book behind every other book. That makes no sense, you don't know the quality of other books to make that determination! What if they have much worse paragraphs in the middle? What's so special about the first one expect being helpfu…

In theory, you're right. But she talks about how it happens in practice. We can all sit around and talk about how this or that should work in theory, until one day we get a chance to do that one thing. And then most of us shut up because the real world is messy. > What if they have much worse paragraphs in the middle? Do you think a book that has a particularly bad first few pages is more or less likely to have a lot…

> And then most of us shut up because the real world is messy

That's rather ironic because you both can't do that with a fantasy of a simplistic world of "first line bad = whole book bad"

> more or less likely

In the real messy world the correct answer is "you have no clue" neither when it comes to the whole universe of books nor to the specific subset of books that were accepted for the competition.

But I'm aware of the allure of the simple nature of a fantasy world where there is a very simple way to judge the quality of any art work, and where such quality is necessarily uniform, so a tiny sample is fine.

Re: Book prizes don't work how you think

#94
post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It does not explicitly admit it, and seeing the quotes pulled separately make it harder to infer. But it's pretty clear when read in context that she's admitting that diversity is being factored into the longlists (which of course play a huge role in which books eventually win). Are these quotas or just nudges? It's hard to say. But I've been in the room when decisions like this were made, by institutions that are le…

> But it's pretty clear when read in context that she's admitting that diversity is being factored into the longlists First it is not pretty clear, what is clear that long list is not composed of white male only. > (which of course play a huge role in which books eventually win). And second, this really come across as hidden "we should not be competing with them anyway" argument. Yes, if long list contains other peop…

> And second, this really come across as hidden

It's easy to win arguments when you get to put words in the other person's mouth. Congratulations! Victory is yours!

Re: Book prizes don't work how you think

#95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Selling" doesn't require DRM; publishers require DRM. So not every book you want to buy or can buy is available without DRM. Not even authors especially want DRM. Kobo will only let you buy a book without DRM if the publisher makes it available that way.

If you say "publishers require DRM" and then say that publishers sometimes sell books without DRM, you might need to review the definition of the word "require". Some publishers require DRM. Which is entirely different than the false claim made earlier that "selling ebooks necessarily requires DRM".

When DRM is used, it is because publishers have required it, not because booksellers require it. Is that a better way of putting it?

Re: Book prizes don't work how you think

#96
post #87
post #2

Pretty interesting post. I guess I'm surprised that it's just like 5 people doing most of it and the most complex structure is still just 2 stages usually (Pulitzer: 5 judges send 3 books to a special council to pick a winner). It makes me think you probably get as much value from following a few specific critics as you would from following these prizes I wonder how the reviewers feel when authors like Ursula K. Le G…

Le Guin refused a Nebula, and I think those are selected by member voting.

from Le Guin and then Stanisław Lem's wiki pages:

Le Guin refused a Nebula Award for "The Diary of the Rose" by withdrawing the nomination in protest of the Science Fiction Writers of America's revocation of Stanisław Lem's membership. Le Guin attributed the revocation to Lem's criticism of American science fiction and willingness to live in the Eastern Bloc, and said she felt reluctant to receive an award "for a story about political intolerance from a group that had just displayed political intolerance" toward communism.[11][12] She withdrew the novelette shortly before the announcement of the winners. The SFWA pleaded her not to do that since she had in fact won, but Le Guin insisted on the withdrawal.

Lem was awarded an honorary membership in the Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA) in 1973. SFWA honorary membership is given to people who do not meet the publishing criteria for joining the regular membership, but who would be welcomed as members had their work appeared in the qualifying English-language publications. Lem never had a high opinion of American science fiction, describing it as ill-thought-out, poorly written, and interested more in making money than in ideas or new literary forms.[42] After his eventual American publication, when he became eligible for regular membership, his honorary membership was rescinded. This formal action was interpreted by some SFWA members as a rebuke for his stance,[43] and it seems that Lem interpreted it as such. Lem was invited to stay on with the organization with a regular membership, but he declined.[44] After many members (including Ursula K. Le Guin, who quit her membership and then refused the Nebula Award for Best Novelette for The Diary of the Rose)[45][46] protested against Lem's treatment by the SFWA, a member offered to pay his dues. Lem never accepted the offer.[42][44]

further interesting tidbits from Lem's page:

Lem singled out only one[47] American science fiction writer for praise, Philip K. Dick, in a 1984 English-language anthology of his critical essays, Microworlds: Writings on Science Fiction and Fantasy. Lem had initially held a low opinion of Philip K. Dick (as he did for the bulk of American science fiction) and would later say that this was due to a limited familiarity with Dick's work, since Western literature was hard to come by in the Polish People's Republic.

Dick alleged that Stanisław Lem was probably a false name used by a composite committee operating on orders of the Communist party to gain control over public opinion, and wrote a letter to the FBI to that effect.[48] There were several attempts to explain Dick's act. Lem was responsible for the Polish translation of Dick's work Ubik in 1972, and when Dick felt monetarily short-changed by the publisher, he held Lem personally responsible (see Microworlds).[49][48] Also it was suggested that Dick was under the influence of strong medications, including opioids, and may have experienced a "slight disconnect from reality" some time before writing the letter.[48] A "defensive patriotism" of Dick against Lem's attacks on American science fiction may have played some role as well.[48] Lem would later mention Dick in his monograph Science Fiction and Futurology.

Re: Book prizes don't work how you think

#97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you say "publishers require DRM" and then say that publishers sometimes sell books without DRM, you might need to review the definition of the word "require". Some publishers require DRM. Which is entirely different than the false claim made earlier that "selling ebooks necessarily requires DRM".

When DRM is used, it is because publishers have required it, not because booksellers require it. Is that a better way of putting it?

It's a completely different statement, so yes.
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