I turned down a really nice job offer the other night. An editor I know is looking to start his own small press and wanted me to have a key role in the operations, everything from editing to PR work.
I felt bad, but I had to turn him down.
It’s an issue of focus. My goal is to be the best writer I can be, and that doesn’t mean spending a lot of time reading other people’s slush, or going to events and being social. It means a lot of sitting in front of a keyboard and making stuff happen, usually not good stuff, but if you do enough and scrape off the bad, things start looking better.
Honestly, I have been wondering if small press is really the way to go. I used to think that they would be the next-generation gatekeepers, but from my experiences with a publisher, I wonder how many of them are really up to that role.
If you look at how easy it is to create a book and throw it up on Amazon/Smashwords/etc, they are a gatekeeper of sorts. However, I think small press has a slight conflict when they need to get more talent on board (so they can produce more) verses being pickier. With the larger presses, they can afford to be picky because they get hundreds (of thousands) of submissions. They see the truly great stuff, mainly because they have to slush through so much.
It is harder with a small press is a primary income (money verses gatekeeping). But, it is hard to really succeed unless it becomes a major part of one’s life.
It’s a balance and it isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. But, being aware of the decision is a good thing, it gives you a goal and helps you. And, hopefully the editor in question, would respect that you thought about it as part of your rejection.
Hopefully, you didn’t raspberry them and say “yeah, right”.
I tried to break it to him gently. I thanked him for the offer, and I was flattered. It just wasn’t for me.