A common misconception

One thing that never ceases to amaze me is the fact that everyone seems to buy into the idea that publishing is nepotistic. That you need to know someone to get inside, and that you're pretty much screwed without it.

It isn't really true. What is true is that it's a surprisingly small and well connected industry and people move from job to job and company to company with an extremely high frequency. So yes, people will give honest reccomendations as well as foist anoying authors or acquaintances off on someone else as a way of calling in favors. What isn't true is that this is a normal or even useful part of the process.

See, there are two general reactions when this happens. "Thanks heaps, asshole." Which was more or less how the director at Big Corporate Internship explained her sentiment when I helped her unjam the printer. The jam occured because of a 550 page manuscript a friend of her uncle's sent her for review. And she's a marketer. The other response is basically "Not on your life." As one of my professors says, it's something she does once a decade because they're always awful and she only did it as a gift for someone else in the industry who requested it and to whom she owes favors. I've never heard good things come from this. Even if your manuscript is good, going through this channel rubs people the wrong way and isn't likely to get you any more attention than otherwise. If anything, it makes the reader bitter. And hurts your chances. Ultimately, every time I think of the situation, I can't help but remember that infamous scene from Space Balls.


Lone Star: Helmet! So... At last! We meet for the first time- For the last time!

Darth Helmet: Before you die, there is something you should know about us, Lone Star.

Lone Star: What?

Darth Helmet: I am your father's brother's nephew's cousin's former room mate.

Lone Star: What does that make us?

Darth Helmet: Absolutely nothing.