Thank god for a little drivel
Timothy Egan has my sympathies when he writes in today’s New York Times that “the idea that someone [Joe the Plumber] who stumbled into a sound bite can be published, and charge $24.95 for said words, makes so many real writers think the world is unfair.”
But throughout his article, he makes no mention of readers’ preferences—that is, consumer demand. He comes close when he writes this:
I know: publishers say they print garbage so that real literature, which seldom makes any money, can find its way into print. True, to a point. But some of them print garbage so they can buy more garbage.
But the real issue is that publishers print what sells. And bad writing by itself isn’t market poison. So long as people are willing to buy books, like the forthcoming Joe the Plumber autobiography, publishers will keep printing them.
Is the world unfair to good writers, as Egan argues? I don’t think so. There are so many good writers, those who, if we paid them the attention that they may very well deserve, we would probably die. We’ve all skipped meals and missed subway stops and lost sleep because of good writers. With only good writers to read, we’d be changed and challenged, radically, every day.
Thank god for a little drivel.
