BOOKISH: The Company Line

In the writing game, there are two groups. Those who are insiders, and those who are outsiders. The insiders are the publishers, agents, academics, and of course, successful writers. They belong to a select club. This club has a name.

The Insiders.

Insiders can help each other, and do. Once you become an insider, you leave behind that other club. Or non-club, as it were, since no one wants to belong.

The Outsiders.

I follow an online writing guru. Let’s call him Pete. A published novelist, Pete teaches technique. But he also takes industry questions from outsiders. He has to, it’s bad form to ignore them. But he doesn’t like answering. You can tell he doesn’t like answering by the way he answers.

He lies.

Take a recent question submitted by one of his readers. How did Pete get his latest story published in a prestigious lit mag? Let’s call it The Elite Review.

“Glad you asked!” (He’s not.) “I submitted, of course!” (Pete uses a lot of exclamation points.)

So, someone else asked. Should I try too?

“Absolutely!”

He went on to explain it’s all a matter of learning to write well. Then submit, submit, submit.

I’m suspicious. I know a little bit about these top lit mags. An appearance is no small thing. Accordingly, The Elite Review gets thousands of submissions. Thousands and thousands, charging four bucks a pop. That’s some pretty good change. So right away there’s a lot of incentive to repeat the company line, and keep those submissions flowing.

Do we really all have a shot, as Pete says? I decided to look into just who is getting published. Since The Elite Review lists contributor biographies, this is easy to do. Sure enough, contributors are nothing special. Except for Pete, of course. He’s a pro, and lists his novel. But the majority describe themselves as hard-working writers. In some cases with credits in a couple lit journals, otherwise just normal schmos, like you and me.

I wasn’t done. I’m like a bloodhound that way. Plus I’ve been lied to too many times. I decided to Google these contributors. This is what I found:

Many were teachers in universities. Guess they forgot to mention that. Others were MFA instructors in top programs. Again, no mention. Others were editors with prestige mags, or wrote in-house for coastal outlets like Mother Jones, The Atlantic or Vox. In other words, all were insiders. Bios typically skipped these insider credentials.

Why would a contributor do this? Why would they hide their status?

I don’t know. Yes I do. No insider wants to be seen as benefiting from an inside game. Especially writers, where it’s supposed to be all talent all the time. That’s the company line. It keeps the whole industry greased, from four dollar submissions to fifty dollar contests to the thousands handed out to how-to-write instructors and book coaches.

Insiders help insiders. They help each other with contacts, reviews, agent referrals, and friendships based on real value, not perceived value, or ephemeral value, like the writing itself. There’s good writing by the outsider. And good writing by the insider. Put yourself in the publisher’s shoes. Which would you pick?

It’s an I rub your back you rub mine kinda world. Always has been, and I don’t know about you, but as an outsider, I’m warming up my hands. Ooh, that feels good, doesn’t it? For some of us.