tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5360814020056871156.post4413123184010475829..comments2024-03-03T13:55:46.243-08:00Comments on Ambling Along the Aqueduct: Just So You KnowTimmi Duchamphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673465487533328661noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5360814020056871156.post-62559346645859285412010-01-28T11:12:34.143-08:002010-01-28T11:12:34.143-08:00I'm glad Aqueduct is getting attention!
I thi...I'm glad Aqueduct is getting attention!<br /><br />I think of Aqueduct as a very focused sort of communication with a limited audience. If you want to talk to an audience of dedicated feminist SF readers with an intellectual and possibly academic bent, go here. You cannot reach this audience as effectively with distribution elsewhere. On the other hand, you are unlikely to reach too far outside this audience with an Aqueduct book. So, it's good for a particular kind of goal and a particular kind of material. That works for me.<br /><br />I could be wrong about all that, though.Rachel Swirskyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00939668760298612130noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5360814020056871156.post-78507681944567217092010-01-25T13:17:30.177-08:002010-01-25T13:17:30.177-08:00Interesting that I just sent you a manuscript beca...Interesting that I just sent you a manuscript because I didn't want to go through the "big" house shuffle.<br />I want the passion and dedication to the art that you all have at Aqueduct. I want the critical perspective that will help me see how to make my work better. I want to be in the "conversation" that changes us. That's Aqueduct. So I definitely know what I am in for and it's good!Andrea Hairstonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08533238589541221316noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5360814020056871156.post-55192808976467031942010-01-25T02:25:02.999-08:002010-01-25T02:25:02.999-08:00Timmi, first time authors like me should also know...Timmi, first time authors like me should also know, though, that Aqueduct is the place to go to get your strange little experiments understood and appreciated. I'm grateful for your presence and your (unpaid) work, and I suspect that's part of what's drawing in submissions.clairehttp://clairelight.typepad.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5360814020056871156.post-44939879948556166812010-01-24T02:45:10.484-08:002010-01-24T02:45:10.484-08:00Or maybe even see if you can find some more volunt...Or maybe even see if you can find some more volunteers - some trusted people to do some slush-pile reading? At least of writers you are not familiar with?<br /><br />And although it is somewhat different for academic work, I for one made a deliberate choice to send to you, rather than a couple of other academic presses that were interested. I knew it would end up a better book having been through Aqueduct!<br />And in the interests of volunteer book promoting, I just did a bit of spruiking at the weekend's Aurealis awards.Helen Merrickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11995803585448097253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5360814020056871156.post-26953066410563399872010-01-22T13:25:15.176-08:002010-01-22T13:25:15.176-08:00Maybe I ought to clarify: I don't want to sca...Maybe I ought to clarify: I don't want to scare away submissions-- I am extremely grateful, in fact, that so much excellent work flows into Aqueduct. & that is actually our raison d'etre: we're not just publishing books because we're enamored of the idea of being a publisher; we're publishing books because we're fervently interested in seeing that certain work is made available to people who share our tastes in reading. If it weren't for the excellent work coming to us, I'd be back, like a shot, spending all my time on my own work. <br /><br />My concern was to make sure that writers don't feel deceived, in the way White's piece suggested to me that some may do. <br /><br />Kristin, your idea of temporarily closing to submissions is a good one. If the submission situation gets out of hand (as I'm worried it will soon do), that, I think, will be my solution.Timmi Duchamphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00673465487533328661noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5360814020056871156.post-14261677847188250382010-01-22T12:05:42.722-08:002010-01-22T12:05:42.722-08:00I'll echo Josh in saying that people will be a...I'll echo Josh in saying that people will be attracted to Aqueduct. It seems to me that small press is where it is at these days. My own quest to publish my work is terribly long and convoluted, but it's led me to some observations and conclusions. <br /><br />First, our population is exploding, but the amount of books one person can read is fixed. And the number of books a large press can publish is also fixed. That means a lot of excellent writers will be left out, no matter what.<br /><br />Second, publishing at a big-name press is not necessarily good for a writer's career. The success stories are easy to see, but that's because the authors have succeeded. If you look harder, you hear stories about authors whose big-name publishers supported their first book but abandoned them later because sales did not meet a ridiculously high number.<br /><br />And third, writers will not necessarily choose money as the first criteria for where to submit. If we are discerning, we will seek the "just-right" readers, the ones who will understand what we have to say.<br /><br />You wrote: "The only solution seems to be a longer response time or more cursory attention to mss that don't look extraordinarily promising."<br /><br />I have another solution: close temporarily to submissions. You absolutely have the right to refuse to take on more work than you can handle.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07261156769469311687noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5360814020056871156.post-46732815285121958582010-01-22T04:11:03.484-08:002010-01-22T04:11:03.484-08:00Still beats Routledge. You know what I'm sayi...Still beats Routledge. You know what I'm saying? So many publishers are so often so spectacularly unprofessional that I'm afraid people are going to be attracted to Aqueduct in full knowledge of your small size. I mean, I'll publicize my frustrations with you if you want me to try and help cut down the submission rate, but they'd sound so petty in the face of what people have suffered at the hands of other publishers. It'd be like saying to a survivor of child abuse, "Oh, families are horrible. My uncle chews with his mouth open!"<br /><br />I'd note too that many of your authors are among those "handling publicity," and that some of us work hard at it.Joshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15914730499199048197noreply@blogger.com