> ***previous e-mail (slightly modified)***
> You wrote:
> >> I didn't realize you had to go
> into the publishing business yourself to get your viewpoints in print.<<
>
> "I am afraid you are going to have trouble getting a publisher. Most
> of the conservative Christian houses have young-earth creationists looking
> over their shoulder and are reluctant to publish anything that would get them
> into trouble with that group. (Both Hugh Ross and I have faced this problem)
> In general, your liberal religious publishers would only sneer at taking the
> Bible seriously regarding early earth's history. "
> ...
> "I'm afraid that we at [deleted by GRM} cannot publish your book. Our guys
> are old-earth creationists, not theistic evolutionists, and we take enough
> heat for our own position without attracting additional flack for publishing
> a book we don't even agree with."
>
> It was the nicest rejection I ever got.
>
> Another publisher called me, encouraged me, (he talked to me for over 45
> minutes) but said he didn't think they could publish it either. However, he
> has since bought 7 books. One for himself and 6 to give away. If the book
> is bad, as one might surmize from the more than 30 rejections, why would the
> guy do this?
>
> One editor hand wrote a note on his rejection "Excellent presentation." and
> wrote in the body "Do keep knocking on the doors". His assistent had wanted
> to read it before he returned it but the editor didn't let him.
>
> [name deleted by glenn]'s editor hand wrote on his form rejection letter, "We
> appreciate your material but do not have a place for a book on this subject
> in our present plan. Sorry." Publishers generally don't write hand notes on
> rejections.
>
The above quotes present an interesting dilemma: on the one hand,
publishers provide a great service in filtering out garbage, redundancy and
non-marketable ideas. On the other hand, they have constituencies built up over
the years that they are beholden to, and they therefore present an arbitrary,
arrogant, and censoring influence on new ideas.
This dilemma has become sharpened recently with the advent of on-line
'publishing' via the Internet. The colleges, bless them, have encouraged every
student to create a Web home page on the net (free server usage provided). So
the Internet is rapidly becoming crowded with 'sophomoric' information, trivia
and multiple links to the same sites. When you do a search for information on
the Web, you generally get a lot of this 'noise' when someone happens to have a
searched word in their web page. At times like this, you appreciate the role
that publishers and editors have to keep the flow of information under control.
Then you encounter situations like the one above, where publishers with
their narrow and restrictive attitudes get in the way. At times like this, I
want to tell them, "You and your proclivities are irrelevant. Your jobs are
obsolete. I'm going to publish it myself on the Web!"
Paul Arveson, Research Physicist
73367.1236@compuserve.com arveson@oasys.dt.navy.mil
(301) 227-3831 (W) (301) 227-1914 (FAX) (301) 816-9459 (H)
Code 724, NSWC, Bethesda, MD 20084