Crowdsourcing and Literary Merit

January 6, 2010

crowdsourcing_title

Crowdsourcing: good thing, bad thing? The FT has an interesting, if short, piece on one lucky author who benefitted from the arrival of a very Web 2.0 phenomenon in the literary world. Miranda Dickinson’s Fairytale of New York was one of more than 10,000 manuscripts uploaded to an online “slush pile” launched in September 2008 by publishers HarperCollins. The putative authors submit to having their work reviewed by some 135,000 online readers, who, says the FT, have replaced “the handful of editors” who used to perform this task. Ms Dickinson’s work failed to reach the top 70 but was nevertheless spotted and her literary career has now begun.

We asked a reasonably well-known, long-published British author for her views on crowdsourcing in the literary realm. Her response was not as condemnatory as we expected, though it may nevertheless ruffle a few feathers:

“Everyone knows that publishers’ slush piles are traditionally overseen by pretty young things with thirds in English from indifferent universities. They read the first sentence of an MS and if by some miracle their attention is not diverted by discussion of what happened at the cocktail bar the night before, or the appearance of a handsome postboy, they might even read a whole paragraph. If, by then, they are still vaguely absorbed they will read another paragraph or two, but even then plenty can stop them from turning the page. If they do, and find they like what they’re reading, they refer it on to someone who actually understands literature, an editor. If they don’t, they have the power to write the “Thank for thinking of us but your novel is not suitable for our list – best of luck elsewhere” rejection letter. The point is that the process by which a literary work surfaces from the slush pile is hopelessly hit and miss. Crowdsourcing is probably an improvement on this.”

Our author pleaded for anonymity, and we will respect her wishes. It seems to us that though her views are trenchant and somewhat cynical, she has a point. However, one man who isn’t so keen on crowdsourcing is Canadian writer Bill Casselman, at whose eminently readable website we discovered the arresting image above. Casselman specialises in Canadian etymology but has some hard-hitting views on crowdsourcing.

 

One Response to “Crowdsourcing and Literary Merit”

Posted by:
Tweets that mention Crowdsourcing and Literary Merit | Professional Services PR Firm -- Topsy.com on January 6, 2010 at 2:50 pm

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by chokha, Spada PR. Spada PR said: Spada blog: Crowdsourcing and Literary Merit http://bit.ly/8g4qSq [...]

Comments

Please submit comments to Swordplay below.

Not so right said Fred

February 2, 2012
fred hat

So Farewell, then, Sir Fred Goodwin.

Now you are just Fred.

Not Right Said Fred, but plain Fred.

The Forfeiture Committee did for you.

No one had heard of it before,

But Dave said it had to act, and it did.

Trouble is that no one knows what to think.

Is it ‘Alas, poor Fred‘,

Or ‘Hurray! Sir Fred is dead!’?

We don’t know.

Do you?

By A. Mob, aged 1,378 and a half.

London Goes AWOL

January 31, 2012
CNN

STOP PRESS:

Fed up with being stuck on the Thames in south-east England, London yesterday decided to move. In a dramatic gesture which augurs ill for the Olympics, the city upped sticks and relocated to East Anglia.

Lawyers were not consulted about the move, and the city’s precise motivation remains unclear. However, financiers fear that London’s decision is a sign that it wishes to downsize. Moreover, a source from London said: “We no longer want to be Britain’s seat of power. If the Scots can deregulate, why can’t we? East Anglia is a nice place where nothing happens. It’s time for a quiet life. Please respect our right to privacy.”

Elsewhere, Birmingham did not do anything, but Manchester was seen to be packing its bags. “There’s an opportunity for us,” said Manchester. “We can become London.”

East Anglia said: “We don’t mind. It’ll be refreshing to be associated with something other than fens and flatness.”

A cartologist at CNN, which broke the extraordinary news, was later fired.

An excellent ad if ever there was one

January 25, 2012
legovader

We seem to be visually led this week but sometimes words proliferate far too much and letting an image do the talking is no bad thing. That’s another way of saying that ACCESS Agency’s work with Lego is absolutely top drawer.