The Great Equalizer
by Rebecca Kemp (a.k.a The Web Goddess)

I couldn't help doing this months editorial on my experience at Boskone 37. For those of you just tuning in, Quantum Muse packed up our pixels and went to Framingham, Massachusetts last month for a science fiction convention called Boskone 37. We wanted to rub elbows with some prestigious writers and artists, which we did, and that was good. We also made some new friends and met important contacts, which also was very good.

At Boskone 37, you could attend various seminars ranging from book signings with authors to the Do's and Don'ts of Web Publishing for Writers and Artists. It's the later I'm going to rant about. I attended this seminar with my husband (and editor), Mike. The seminar itself was a definite DON'T. They were so disorganized, I had to be restrained from usurping the whole thing. What's worse was Mike was sober through all this...but that's another story.

There were three individuals who were supposed to be 'running' the show - a publisher from Baen books, an editor of unknown origin and a web designer with over 10 years experience on the Web. The web designer was good, I'll have to admit. She put everything into laymen's terms and had a few useful things to say. The editor was quiet, except when she was supposed to laugh at the publisher's jokes, that no one else understood. The publisher needed to be pushed down a flight of stairs. Let me explain...

She was the embodiment of everything that's wrong with the current publishing industry. She was stuck up, set in her ways and totally convinced that publishing your work on the Web isn't "real". In other words, it doesn't count. In her world, anyone who's anyone is published only in paperback. Internet 'zines are a "lesser" form of publication. Oh yeah and don't even try to mention the on-demand publishing industry, such as Xlibris or iUniverse. That sneer she gave when we mentioned it nearly stuck there on her face permanently. (Mike was ready to take scalps.)

It was obvious that she was afraid. Hitler, this publisher and other people who have a superiority complex, actually feel quite inferior. They have a need to lash out at alternative ideas that frighten them. Well, guess what? Hitler couldn't exterminate all the "undesirables" and neither can the traditional publishing industry.

You may wonder how I can I be so sure of this. Well, here's a sad, but true story. Glen Cook is one of our favorite authors. We have a recommendation of his highly acclaimed Black Company books featured in our Recommended Reading page. He's also written many stories about a detective named Garrett set in a fantasy realm. He's written over 15 books and he's been published by TOR and ROC.

Ok, so here's Quantum Muse at Boskone 37 in the Dealer's Room with our little table that's too cramped for all of us to sit behind, with our computer set up, trying to explain what we are to numerous confused faces. We have one on-demand published book, Transdimensional Blues by Ray Coulombe, and another on the way. From time to time, one of us gets antsy and takes a stroll around the Dealer's Room.

Mike and I were looking at some books that a bookseller was selling two tables down from Quantum Muse. Mike notices that they were selling a lot of Glen Cook books. He goes to buy one of the Garrett books he doesn't own yet. He hands the money over to the bookseller. Mike then reads his name tag. It's Glen himself, peddling his own books. Just like Quantum Muse.

So, you see folks, we learned something that weekend. You can struggle your whole life, submit your work to a million publishers, get rejected by nine hundred ninety nine thousand of them, get accepted by one, write one or two books you like and then a dozen more cookie cutter versions of them because the publisher made you and then go to Boskone 37 and get a cramped table and sell your books OR you can start a web zine, publish mighty fine writing and art that's always fresh, publish a few books on demand and six months later you can go to Boskone 37 and get a cramped table and sell your books.

All hail the Great Equalizer - The World Wide Web.

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