WYK -- Part II
November 7, 2001
6:34 a.m.
You want a "fer instance" in regard to yesterday's entry on Who You Know? Look at the January issues of Analog and Asimov's. One name appears on both covers -- James Van Pelt. This is a guy who's been writing for a long time, he's gone to conventions, he's sold stories for a couple years--consistently good ones, BTW--and last year he had his best ever for selling fiction. It's no coincidence that he's now on the cover of 2 of the 3 biggest SF magazines in existence. Or, pick Daniel Abraham -- who's on the cover of Asimov's. I believe Daniel met Gardner Dozios at Clarion. He started selling to Asimov's soon thereafter. It would be easy to say this is a Who You Know thing, except ... well, first, Daniel Abraham writes fine, fine fiction. Second, he keeps selling all over the place. Perhaps he got a leg up at Clarion. In fact, I think it's more than possible that he would have taken longer to sell if he hadn't met Gardner there. But to say he's sold only because of who he knows is flat-out wrong. And worse, it's a slightly off-handed insult to a very talented new writer like Daniel Abraham. BTW -- I've know Jim Van Pelt for several years now, and I've briefly met Daniel (at a convention, natch). I didn't pick them for any particular reason except that I've got those two magazines sitting on my desk. I'll note that of the ten names on these two covers (counting Jim only once), I've met seven of them. I'm sure editors meet more writers than I do. So it strikes me that it's almost impossible for an editor to not know the people he's buying from.   I think I've finished working on my outline--at least I'm as finished as I ever am when it comes to outlines. So now I move into the meat of the third draft. Yeah me! Received a check from Leading Edge for "Barnstorming," so it appears that one is ready to be released.  Daily Persistence is © Ron Collins |
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On the CD: Laura Love |
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