Good Idea, Bad Idea: Self-Published Fiction Writers’ Peer Review
Written by David on January 21st, 2009If I were to publish my novel with a publisher, the book’s chances for success would be slim and would be entirely dependent upon my own actions. If I were to self-publish my novel, the book’s chances for success would still be slim and would still be entirely dependent upon my own actions. Therefore, I wonder, rather than spending potentially years searching for an agent and/or publisher, might I be wiser simply to self-publish and give it my best shot?
Here’s the problem: As always, money and time are the problem. I don’t care about the stigma. As e-books become more common and as they become easier to publish, I believe self-publishing a book-length work will eventually have about as much of a negative stigma as writing a blog (as opposed to being a “professional” journalist, for instance). But if I’m going to spend a hell of a lot of time and money self-publishing a book, I want to know that my work has reached a certain threshold of quality.
As the traditional gatekeepers, agents and publishers are responsible for determining first of all whether a book is good, and secondly whether it stands a chance of making them some money. Of course, I’d like my book to make money, but that’s not the reason I wrote it. There are easier ways to make money than writing a work of literary fiction (ex. working at McDonald’s). Therefore, my primary concern is that my work is competent.
No, I’m not going to take my mother’s word for it. Or my friends’. Or even the kind words of acquaintances who might have given it a read. I want to hear it from someone who really knows what he’s talking about and has no personal connection with me whatsoever, and preferably from several such individuals.
Here’s the idea: create some kind of peer review board for fiction writers, similar to the peer review that all published scholarly books and articles must go through. They wouldn’t say whether they liked the book, or whether it was terribly original. They wouldn’t make suggestions for how to improve it or edit it in any way, like a crit group or beta readers. Instead, they would simply state that, yes, this book-length work of fiction is of a high enough quality that it is suitable for publication. That’s it.
Such a judgment would certainly be subjective. Hence, having a board of several readers rather than giving a single person veto power.
This approval would give me the confidence that I was not wasting my time and money self-publishing something that never should have been published in the first place. Being able to state that my novel went through this peer review process might even help alleviate concerns among potential readers that the book is just a self-published turd.
How might this work?
The not-for-profit option: A writer could submit her own book for review only after having reviewed five other randomly selected books herself. Each book would be judged by five reviewers. Reviewers would not only give a thumbs up or down, but also briefly justify their judgment. That way, if a writer’s work was rejected, she could decide whether that rejection was reasonable and therefore whether it should be taken into account. Yes, you’d certainly get some people in there who don’t know what they’re talking about, but this wouldn’t be workable with only certified professionals of some kind. Having five reviewers per book would help mitigate the influence of the ignoramuses.
The for-profit option: Same as the above, except the company running it would screen the reviewers and pay them. There would probably be fewer reviewers per book. And the writer would have to pay substantially for the review.
Here’s the problem with the idea: I don’t like the idea of art of any kind being subject to an approval process. If this kind of system were to catch on, just as self-publishing is being de-stigmatized, experimentation could be further stigmatized if it were not somehow allowed for in the approval process (perhaps each book could be categorized by genre so that writers of similar taste would be doing the reviewing?). Better to have a lot of crappy self-published books out there than to create some fascistic infrastructure that would keep a would-be William S. Burroughs from getting “approved.” Yes, that person could still self-publish, so perhaps it would not be the end of the world. I could even imagine writers bragging that their work was rejected by the conservative peer review process!
Is there a better option for a writer who wants to get his own work judged objectively by someone who just might say “this is not good enough”?
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21
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I think this could work provided there was anonymity on both sides. I like the idea that you have to provide some evaluations before you can submit your own work. Also you could have 20 or 50-page samples getting reveiwed rather than full manuscripts. You’d need some structure around the process - writers would have to provide some context, maybe a paragraph summary. Reviewers would have to provide a brief justification of their opinion, and maybe complete a standardized evaluation form covering basic elements like plot arc, charaterization etc. This model would cover standard types of work - the WS Burroughs’ of the world would not be well-served by this model but they can find their own way, I’m not sure any structure would work for them. If writers liked the feedback they got maybe they could go further and have their entire manuscript picked apart - like a pre-publication edit done anonymously.
21
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Good point. No reason why this also couldn’t be done for a partial manuscript or even a short story. Just as writers/evaluators could be divided according to genre, they could also be divided according to text length so that a person wouldn’t have to read five novels to get his much shorter text evaluated. I think somebody with the time, programming expertise (or money) and drive to create such an online system could probably make a profit with this via advertising and maybe additional services (ex. copy editing). I know that a black and white thumbs up or thumbs down evaluation seems a little crude, but I think writers need a place where they can simply be told “no, stop, don’t do this.” And readers, if this system came to be trusted, would certainly appreciate the stamp of approval (”this text is fit for human consumption”).
21
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If you’re acutally thinking of starting something, I might be able to provide evaluations…
21
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Will your evaluator screen name be “The Executioner”?
23
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There is a portuguese site that tried to do exactly what you described, it’s called “sinapses” but didn’t had much visibility from readers or writers. The ideia is good, people should candidate but I think they must have a reason to do this or there has to be a community of writers that read others in exchange of others reading their work, per categories , that may work but it should be anonymous to be fair.
Certainly, It can and will be done
24
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I vote no. For this reason:
“I don’t like the idea of art of any kind being subject to an approval process.”
At some point it would become a popularity contest. Or people would vote yes or no without having read the work in question in order to get theirs through the process. So at some point it would either become unfair or utterly meaningless as a yardstick.
And if there was a fee for authors, it seems too rife with “scam potential.” And like “vanity reviewing” or something.
I like the idea of peer reviewing, but I don’t think there should be an organized “board.”
Further, you can cut down your costs by test marketing a free ebook to see how it flies with the reading public in your actual genre.
Since tastes vary so widely there is a good possibility that peer reviewers would say “this is unpublishable” to work that could go on and be successful.
Witness all the books that later became bestsellers that were rejected by publisher after publisher initially. And they are IN the business.
What are the odds that 5 people could be wrong about the viability of a book? I’d say pretty high.
Who vets the vetters?
Like all business decisions, publishing is a risk, and I don’t think we can codify a new gatekeeping system. But each publisher/author needs to figure out the best ways to vet/test market their own work and take the financial and time risks that they are able to take.
24
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Perhaps I would make a good evaluator…I enjoy vetting things, despite my lack of veterinary studies.
The best “vetters’ would be those that find the material of interest and are not encumbered as they may be today on producing a marketable book that could be translated into a motion picture, TV series, or sequel. Common folk who wish to be “subscribed” to a editorial review board-like community–and get to be the first at something, i.e. trend-setters–would provide the testimonials and networks necessary for spreading new author’s works like a virus.
24
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I made a typo above–would that only disqualify me as an editor, not as a vetter?
24
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True, Zoe. Test marketing can accomplish the same thing. What I really want is a magically objective “yes, it’s worth it” or “no, it’s not worth it.” And that’s probably just not possible. There’s probably no way to know without just going through the process of trying.
27
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There are a lot of sites that do exactly this, but the problem is the problem of self-publishing on the whole: the quality of the writing. A lot of the writing is by people who aspire to be Dean Koontz, and fail, which is a pretty serious kind of failure. But those are the books that often rise to the top. It also has the potential for people to game the system. But a site that rewards actual good work - I’m all for it.
31
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I think you’re looking for what we all want, David, both as human beings and as writers: validation.
Someone who we can point to and say: “YES, they say I’m a real writer, and I belong here.”
But I think in the end, we each have to prove we belong here, and that’s true for traditionally published authors as well, just not as much. The trad published author can always fall back on “well this publisher published me.”
An indie author doesn’t have that. But at the same time, the trad published author is still climbing a ladder of validation all the way up to the bestseller list. So it never really ends.
I think we have to find the strength within ourselves to be able to do our thing without needing that mindless climb for validation.
Sure, I’m climbing, but I’m climbing for readers and money. I don’t want to climb for validation. That feels too much like high school, and I was very glad when that was over.
1
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It’s really not the validation I’m after here as much as the assurance that I wouldn’t be wasting a good deal of time and money by self-publishing. The trad published author at least doesn’t have to worry about being his own production editor and financier! But like I said, I know that getting a truly reliable yes or not probably just isn’t realistic.
11
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Hi all. I’m interested in starting one of these peer-review-type websites, but would like to figure out who the competition would be, and whether I think I could do better. I’ve looked around, but haven’t been able to find some of the sites you guys have been alluding to. Any help would be appreciated, thanks!
11
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Max, I don’t know myself. The Portuguese one won’t help you. Perhaps try going to that Self Pub Review site and asking that person, if possible? Let me know if/when you create such a site.
13
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I now feel that in self-publishing you have to do a lot of experimentation. With a major pub, you will be directed to your market by the publisher. With self-publishing, you have to find your niche. It is frustrating but is rewarding.
http://stores.lulu.com/NSUgezene