The Great Business of Publishing

With all the angst, tribulations, anguish and trials writers go through on the road to publication, it’s no wonder we whine, cuss, and even throw rotten eggs at this amorphous thing called The Publishing Business.

And what better time to point the finger at the publishing establishment and wag it? Its failings, its consolidations, its being usurped by the self-published… Ha! Told you, Publishing! You weren’t doing your job! See?* (*Sometimes this really means you failed to accept my book or my best friend’s book, or properly promote the best book I ever read.)

Now that I am in the “published” section, I can attest that frustration doesn’t end there. It morphs. I’ve seen it years ago with published friends, complaining about aspects of publishing that I could only secretly dream of being able to complain about.

So I decided to do something different here. I missed being publically thankful on Thanksgiving, but there’s no expiration date on gratitude. I woke up determined to find three great things about the business of publishing.

It was easy. I could probably list ten. But lists get tedious after three. Here goes:

*Publishing is about books. The business makes books, not weapons, or doodads.

**Many, if not most, people in the business love books.

***Best of all, publishing produces some great books.

IT’S A GREAT BUSINESS.