“One of the most important things anyone engaged in intellectual enterprises can do is to find and publicize overlooked work of value.” I love this. Thank you.
Before I started my own Substack earlier this year, I was for 15 years a freelance contributor to various high-end poltical/cultural journals and magazines in the USA, UK and Australia. When I managed to actually get my essays in front of an editor many got published. But I know that for any decent publication, the ratio of unsolicited submissions-to-accepts is of the order of 100 to 1 at best. My big problem was my not being a networker by nature plus being a lone conservative when all my friends and connections are progressives.
Sad to hear The Power of Glamour has not found a wider audience yet. It is my favorite book. It opened my eyes to the reality that underlies so many beautiful images as well as the glamour not captured in some many every day scenes.
I have now read this piece twice, the first time skimming it in my in-box, the second, slowly on print-out with a pencil. And it reminds me of those great works, well, works that we see today as greats which weren't successes in their time, including Herman Melville's Moby Dick or the classic film, "The Wizard of Oz". It's a Wonderful Life was a "box office dud". https://screenrant.com/its-a-wonderful-life-box-office-flop/
Today film buffs loves the Katharine Hepburn/Cary Grant screwball romantic comedy "Bringing up Baby". When the flick was released, disappointing ticket sales led some in the film industry to conclude that Ms. Hepburn was "box-office poison".
And then there are those of us who write and can't get published... We see other writers who just happen to have been at a party or social gathering, maybe even a professional one... and start talking, soon connecting with someone well-connected in the publishing business...
It is a bit of luck, if you will....
You may be a great writer. You may have a great story to tell. You may work hard at telling that story well, only not to have that bit of luck.... Doesn't make you any less great a writer, doesn't make your story any less great, doesn't mean you didn't work hard... it just means that you didn't find that bit of luck..
Oh, and, in between reading this piece online and reading the print-out, I worked out at my Hollywood gym where I chatted briefly with an actor who has enjoyed enough success to make a living from his craft. He is humble enough to realize that there are others just as talented as he is who are still struggling. "It's look, like, and preparation," he told me.
1. I remember watching a documentary about the Beatles in which the narrator says that "they were lucky--meeting the right people and playing the right clubs at critical points in their career. But they were also good--very good." That influenced me a lot as an entrepreneur. I made a huge effort to meet people (it's now called "networking"), so that I could become lucky.
2. Speaking of networking, it is interesting that your connection with Martin is through his son. So is mine. I had Adam in class. Easily the brightest, most engaged student out of close to 100. Years later, Adam left a comment on my blog. By that time I was aware of Martin's book, and I asked Adam if he was related to Martin. So Adam introduced us.
It seems to me that much of what does get published is not even good. It's just sensational enough to sell well. That's especially true in today's publishing industry, wherein publishers are asking authors to bring their own audience, meaning "influencers" are getting book deals for no other reason than the guaranteed sales. So I can see why the genius writers, when looking around at what fills bookshelves lately, don't even bother trying to get traditionally published anymore. Ironically now self publishing seems to produce more works of genius than the industry.
I often hear comics and other performers say, “You make your own luck.” (Carson McCullers—a writer of minor masterpieces—called it “the grace of effort.”) Is “dumb luck” a counter, or a complement, to that view?
I remember Pug Ravenal from his losing 1978 Senate race against Strom Thurmond. So much for the argument that courts shouldn't rule that candidates are ineligible because ... democracy. He later went to jail for bank fraud, then was pardoned by Clinton.
Sturgeon's Law; "Ninety percent of everything is crud". I was around when Sturgeon first stated it and I remember his corollary; "Including this statement. "
The problem is I can't find any reference to that corollary today. Misremembering on my part or lack of dumb luck?
“One of the most important things anyone engaged in intellectual enterprises can do is to find and publicize overlooked work of value.” I love this. Thank you.
Before I started my own Substack earlier this year, I was for 15 years a freelance contributor to various high-end poltical/cultural journals and magazines in the USA, UK and Australia. When I managed to actually get my essays in front of an editor many got published. But I know that for any decent publication, the ratio of unsolicited submissions-to-accepts is of the order of 100 to 1 at best. My big problem was my not being a networker by nature plus being a lone conservative when all my friends and connections are progressives.
"Luck favors the prepared mind." Louis Pasteur
Fascinating article. Unfortunately, I think you are correct. It seems to me the discovery process is the key place where innovation needs to occur.
Sad to hear The Power of Glamour has not found a wider audience yet. It is my favorite book. It opened my eyes to the reality that underlies so many beautiful images as well as the glamour not captured in some many every day scenes.
I have now read this piece twice, the first time skimming it in my in-box, the second, slowly on print-out with a pencil. And it reminds me of those great works, well, works that we see today as greats which weren't successes in their time, including Herman Melville's Moby Dick or the classic film, "The Wizard of Oz". It's a Wonderful Life was a "box office dud". https://screenrant.com/its-a-wonderful-life-box-office-flop/
Today film buffs loves the Katharine Hepburn/Cary Grant screwball romantic comedy "Bringing up Baby". When the flick was released, disappointing ticket sales led some in the film industry to conclude that Ms. Hepburn was "box-office poison".
And then there are those of us who write and can't get published... We see other writers who just happen to have been at a party or social gathering, maybe even a professional one... and start talking, soon connecting with someone well-connected in the publishing business...
It is a bit of luck, if you will....
You may be a great writer. You may have a great story to tell. You may work hard at telling that story well, only not to have that bit of luck.... Doesn't make you any less great a writer, doesn't make your story any less great, doesn't mean you didn't work hard... it just means that you didn't find that bit of luck..
Oh, and, in between reading this piece online and reading the print-out, I worked out at my Hollywood gym where I chatted briefly with an actor who has enjoyed enough success to make a living from his craft. He is humble enough to realize that there are others just as talented as he is who are still struggling. "It's look, like, and preparation," he told me.
Indeed it is.
The cross-stitch does not have the word “of.”
1. I remember watching a documentary about the Beatles in which the narrator says that "they were lucky--meeting the right people and playing the right clubs at critical points in their career. But they were also good--very good." That influenced me a lot as an entrepreneur. I made a huge effort to meet people (it's now called "networking"), so that I could become lucky.
2. Speaking of networking, it is interesting that your connection with Martin is through his son. So is mine. I had Adam in class. Easily the brightest, most engaged student out of close to 100. Years later, Adam left a comment on my blog. By that time I was aware of Martin's book, and I asked Adam if he was related to Martin. So Adam introduced us.
It seems to me that much of what does get published is not even good. It's just sensational enough to sell well. That's especially true in today's publishing industry, wherein publishers are asking authors to bring their own audience, meaning "influencers" are getting book deals for no other reason than the guaranteed sales. So I can see why the genius writers, when looking around at what fills bookshelves lately, don't even bother trying to get traditionally published anymore. Ironically now self publishing seems to produce more works of genius than the industry.
I often hear comics and other performers say, “You make your own luck.” (Carson McCullers—a writer of minor masterpieces—called it “the grace of effort.”) Is “dumb luck” a counter, or a complement, to that view?
I remember Pug Ravenal from his losing 1978 Senate race against Strom Thurmond. So much for the argument that courts shouldn't rule that candidates are ineligible because ... democracy. He later went to jail for bank fraud, then was pardoned by Clinton.
The book title is *the revolt of the public*
Sturgeon's Law; "Ninety percent of everything is crud". I was around when Sturgeon first stated it and I remember his corollary; "Including this statement. "
The problem is I can't find any reference to that corollary today. Misremembering on my part or lack of dumb luck?
Say I’m sitting on a body of information that needs to make it into the public consciousness. What advice would you give me?