Once upon a time there
was a big-time Referee, who worked in the Premiership. He had done
his stuff with all the great teams and even, a few years ago,
refereed the Cup Final at the old Wembley stadium. He was pretty
pleased with himself and his life.
One weekend he had a
day off, so took his dog that Saturday morning and went down to his
local park. There, he saw a bunch of kids having a kickabout. He
liked football, so stopped to watch. He was enjoying it, but then,
before long, something happened. One of the youngsters went steaming
in on another in an energetic tackle. 'Foul!' the man yelled and went
running onto the pitch. He couldn't help himself. 'You're doing it
wrong,' he screamed. 'There are Rules, you know!'
MORAL of the tale: the
Referee is similar to all those people who log onto the internet and
find books offered for sale, often by amateurs and first timers. They
like reading and check the offerings out. But then, they can't help
themselves. 'This is wrong!' they yell, steaming in. 'There are
Rules, you know!' They are confusing internet publishing and
Traditional Publishing. They imagine that it is roughly the same
thing, and that it should operate by the same Rules. It isn't, and it
doesn't.
If anything, internet
publishing is most similar to eBay, not Traditional Publishing. On
eBay, people offer all sorts and manner of things for sale. If you
come across it, you might be amazed. 'This is rubbish', you might
think. So what? The ethos of eBay is that 'One Person's Rubbish is
Another Person's Treasure'. Anything can be offered, and if people
don't want it, they move on. They DON'T feel compelled to shout and
stamp, and warn people about the quality of the goods. That isn't
necessary. Everyone trying to buy something knows it is their duty to
check the stuff out and make up their own minds. No one – NO ONE –
takes on the task of being the Publishing Police and imagining that
their good taste is the same as everyone else's.
These people aren't
needed. They are interfering and should keep their opinions to
themselves.
