The Writing Center

An AFP story offers some interesting insight into the publishing industry: The head of the Jane Austen Festival in Bath, David Lassman, sent slightly disguised versions of several Jane Austen novels to eighteen editors. Not only was he rejected by all of them, but only one publisher recognized Austen’s work (in a submission that included the opening sentence of Pride and Prejudice).

This says a lot about the editors who are the gatekeepers to modern literature. Among the major publishers to which these manuscripts were sent was Penguin, whose response, according to the article, was that the submission “seems like a really original and interesting read.”

Alex Bowler of Jonathan Cape, the only editor who caught on, responded, “I suggest you reach for your copy of ‘Pride and Prejudice,’ which I’d guess lives in close proximity to your typewriter, and make sure that your opening pages don’t too closely mimic that book’s opening.”

It’s a depressing story, but if there’s some hope in it, it’s the knowledge that even Jane Austen would have a tough time getting published today (a Penguin spokesperson told AFP that the thinly disguised Pride and Prejudice manuscript “would not have been read”). Which brings me back to the same old lesson: Don’t give up.

We’ve just updated our resources page (finally), and I wanted to point out a few recent additions — all great resources for writers, all available at your fingertips (remember the old days of flipping through the paper-thin pages of a dictionary, or the newsprint that Writer’s Market used to be printed on?).

Though some writers still prefer paging through the notoriously thick Writer’s Market, the biggest advantage the online version offers is constant updates, so that you won’t need to double-check all the info you find in the print edition. At $30 a year, it’s a very good deal (the print edition will cost about that much and be outdated before the year’s over).

A couple other great resources for writers looking to submit their work include New Pages, which offers a wealth of info on independent presses, literary magazines, upcoming contests, and other resources; and Agent Query, offering a searchable database of literary agents as well as information on publishing, query letters, etc.

For editors (and writers who like to follow the rules of the publishing world), you can now subscribe to the Chicago Manual of Style online. Because it’s the publishing industry’s bible, it’s essential for editors (and not a bad idea for writers) to familiarize themselves with these style guidelines. An introductory subscription is $25/year, with special rates for groups.

Dictionaries and thesauruses, of course, have been online for years now, making finding the right word so much easier than it used to be. And web versions are going above and beyond, such as Thinkmap’s Visual Thesaurus, an interactive site that creates visual associations for whatever words you type in. It’s fun, handy, and even a little mind-bending.

These are just a few of the myriad resources for writers out there — let us know of others that you have found useful.