Things I don’t get, part nth

So I start reading this article in the Rocky Mountain Collegian about this aspiring writer. And it sounds interesting enough: young guy, trying to improve his craft, writes a novel, blah blah blah.

And so far nothing’s pinging my alarm bells. But at the same time, I know I’m waiting for one of those pings. Is it for the title? UNFORSCENE, OK it’s not great but I’ve seen worse puns. Plot’s standard serial killer/thriller fare.

Then I get to this:

He

learned the intricacies of what he considers a “cutthroat” business.

After completing “Unforscene” Pirog began to write query letters to

obtain an agent and a publisher for his book, which was when times got

tough for this young author.

“The rejection letters start coming in droves of hundreds and

thousands,” Pirog joked. “I’m pretty sure I could wallpaper a room with

rejection letters.”

Pirog eventually found an agent, but was yet again hitting bumps in the road to his dream of becoming published.

“My agent was not able to sell my manuscript,” Pirog said.

He found a publishing company that seemed to be made for the struggling authors trying to break into this business.

“I actually had to pay them $800 to make my book – it’s a one time

fee,” Pirog said. “I still own the rights to the book, that’s probably

the most important part.”

So what don’t I get? Why it seems that I keep running across articles like this (the “whine whine Authorhouse!” type) when mainstream published writers have a hell of a time getting press.

Or maybe it’s just that I cringe to see shortcuts leading to potential disaster encouraged.