I pulled this (not in its entirety) from the Editorial Anonymous blog, the July 19, 2009 post, for a damn good reason. This is a fine cut of circumstantial meat, with the sizzle and smell attached. Literary gold. An amazing bit of truth I just had to share. Editorial Anonymous is a children’s book editor, but I think (more like know from personal experience as a published and unpublished writer) this is a very good indicator of the reality behind some publishers, many editors, and all the documented-as-real agents out there today. To be fair, within my mind I removed the word kids (and the word child) from each line in the Consumer Interest in Topic portion, and substituted the word audience. I then held this candle up to my own writing, me writing what I feel most passionately about within my entire body of work, not thinking about trends, but writing what I myself as a reader would want to read, all six completed novels, and came up with a grand total of ninety-five (95) points, give or take. I was honest with myself, and my body of work. That Degree of Celebrity thing hurt the most. It was the Not recognized by anyone outside of books, but previously published -- 20 points thing. Even when I fudged on the lists I still couldn’t reach that 120 points level, so gave up trying. See you next week.

　

There are essentially three variables at work:

　



Quality of Writing



Consumer Interest in Topic



Degree of Celebrity

　

Editors want to weight things in terms of Quality of Writing. But editors also know that the Public -- the book-buying consumer -- cares a hell of a lot more about Topic and Celebrity than Writing. And yes, publishing is a business. So use this guide:

　

Quality of Writing

　



Transcendent -- 50 points



Excellent -- 45 points



Delightful -- 40 points



Good -- 35 points



Decent -- 30 points



Drivel -- 20 points



Culpable -- 10 points



An abomination to anyone above the IQ of an orangutan -- 0 points

　

Consumer Interest in Topic

　



I WANT that! -- 110 points



My kid won't shut up about that -- 90 points



My kid likes that, and so do I -- 70 points



My kid likes that, but I'm pretty tired of and/or annoyed by it -- 50 points



Hmm. Maybe? -- 30 points



No, thanks -- 20 points



Ew, really? -- 10 points



You couldn't PAY me to expose a child to this, and I'm writing to my congressman -- 0 points

　

Degree of Celebrity

　



Hollywood royalty -- 120 points



Hollywood and widely recognized -- 100 points



[Other field] and widely recognized -- 80 points



Not widely recognized, but still a certain amount of celebrity -- 60 points



Not recognized by anyone outside of books, but with a good track record -- 40 points



Not recognized by anyone outside of books, but previously published -- 20 points



Unknown -- 0 points



Famous for something people actively want to keep their children away from -- 0 points

　

Anything over 120 points total is going to be published.

Anything under 90 points total is going straight to the recycling bin.

The stuff in-between has a chance, but may be a long shot.