Monday, September 12, 2011

Part - 5: Plight of the first-time writer

If the writer has a flair for expressing ideas into words, it will anyway happen. But, there are also many other factors that will build his/her morale and enthusiasm and the most important among that is the approval or recognition of the readers. The second part is the encouragement and support from a publisher who is the mediator in taking those good work to the readers.
Most of the writers fade away at this level.
I once heard from someone, “there are wonderful flowers in the forest which go unnoticed.”
Yes. That is what exactly happens in the case of a writer too.
If he is not picked up and encouraged by a good publisher, all the skills will be buried or wither away like the flowers in the forest.
Of course, the flowers in the forest go unnoticed because it is a forest. Nobody is there is see it. Nobody goes there. But if you go there, certainly you will appreciate the magical spell of beauty and splendor. Sadly, the flower is not able to come to you.
On the contrary, the first-time writer knocks at all possible doors with the optimistic feeling that someone will give a green signal. The writer will submit the precious piece of his life’s work to almost every publisher on earth for getting it out to the readers.
And of course, the publisher takes it either as hard or softcopy and dumps it in the trash bin. The unending wait of the poor first-timer continues till his/her teeth fall and hair turns grey.
What an agony?
What plight?
The publisher does not even have the courtesy to tell the author at what stage is the review of his manuscript. How long the review of the editorial team is going to take? What are the chances of getting it out to the readers.
No Idea at all!
The publisher keeps the writer hanging in the zero-gravity space indefinitely and thereby killing the energy, enthusiasm and vitality he has. The writer gets discouraged and he even drops the ideas of writing altogether.
First of all there is not much money involved in it. If at all a writer becomes popular, who reaps the harvest?
None, but the publisher himself.
How many people in the society are there to encourage a new writer and introduce him to the society?
How many can support a writer in his journey of accomplishing his dreams for the humanity?
How many agencies are there to offer some kind of support to the writer and his work?
It is not the story of the today. It has been the same story from time immemorial, if you check into the pages of history. The best example is Karl Marx, who throughout his life, had to undergo nothing but misery, poverty and suffering as an author. But today, we all cherish his work ‘Das Kapital’ as one of the authority for communism and even for economics.

…to be continued
JojiValli

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