Republicans are really great at fiction, they have been writing political fiction for years.

Wait a second!  Before you know it, you won’t even be “writing” fiction!  Take a look at “Publishing: The Revolutionary Future” by Jason Epstein in NY Review of Books current edition.

And before we get used to that revolution, the next one will be on its heels:  All you have to do to get worldwide distribution for any idea, good or bad, is just sit down in front of a sensitized screen and think your book into it. Automatic correction of errors whether textual or grammatical.  No editors.  No rejections—except maybe the machine will be programmed to reject libelous statements for the protection of the “writer.” 

All submissions will be automatically “archived"at the World University of Literature—fiction or nonfiction or “other.”  Any “user” wanting to “access” your work can punch in your name or a word from the desired title, and Bingo! Your work is located and our account is automatically dredited with compensation according to a prearranged scale based on quality and length of content.  A bank of computers called “Read-and-Rate” will be developed for this specific purpose, and ...  Wake me when it’s over!

The really good political books are in academic libraries and the populace is not encouraged to read them.

It seems all the populace ever hear is fiction.

What is really needed is 10 rules to get an editor to look at your work.  The first will be to have a Name already, which opens the door to getting an agent to consider helping you.  Then 2 to 8 will be: “List previous work published by major publishers, citing dates and credits, reviews of note, etc.”  Number 9 will be “List prizes, awards, grants, etc.”  And 10 will be “State what resources you have for helping to publicize your work, contacts in radio, TV, movies, etc.”

The truth is that there is so much creativity in human nature (and so many humans who try to write creative fiction) that publishers cannot begin to look at every possibility.  The result is that writers are limited to following a rigid protocol, and real creativity all too often cannot get through the barriers.

The more “popular” the subject matter, the easier to find a publisher and get “discovered.”  After that, it’s all downhill—literally, and you can find yourself writing in your introduction stuff like:  “Thank all my thousands of readers for buying my previous book.  My career is now assured, no matter what drivel I may cough up next time.”