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Originally Posted by AnyaKimlin  Having just read Agatha Raisin I am not that convinced about the Traditional Publishers acting as a filter. Had I not been late for a train and followed my usual rule of reading a few pages I'd never have bought it in the first place. Same goes to be honest to Dark Materials (not because of the standard of his writing but the style), that was an airport buy. |
I think we need to make a distinction between books that are badly written and books that are not to our personal taste.
His Dark Materials disappointed me (or at least the first one, which is the only one I read) but that was because it wasn't what I thought it would be, what I wanted it to be. I wouldn't call it a bad book on that account, or think that the company that published it acted as a bad filter. So many people fell in love with the story and had good reasons for doing so -- they just weren't reasons that would have made
me like it. As for the Agatha Raisin books, again, I read one and was not entertained, but they bring pleasure to so many, many readers, I can't call that a mistake on the part of the publishers either.
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In between I'd read Brother's Bishop by Bart Yates - most amazing book with the most disappointing, obviously editor/publisher imposed ending.
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I wouldn't count on that unless the author himself said so. I've been in a position to talk to a lot of writers, and many times found out that endings I thought were "obviously editor/publisher imposed" were no such thing. In most cases, it was the end the writer had planned from the very beginning.