Wait a sec...

[meganbmoore]

So, I just saw in a comment at canonrantsthat Christopher Paolini's father is in the publishing industry, and that's how he got published.  Is this true?  I had heard that his parents pushing the book is part of how he got published, but this would explain so much.

It also occurs to me that making people rewrite any given page of Eragon or Eldest using half as many words could train anyone out of purple prose.

Somebody get him out of my pet genre, I beg you.

Comments

[anime-babble.livejournal.com]

I believe his parents run a small press, and the stories goes that they self-published the book, and marketed it locally, until it was picked up by a publisher.

I would have to double check that though, but it's what I remember.

[keelieinblack.livejournal.com]

Yeah, what anime_babble said. Knopf only picked it up after another author brought it to their attention--I think it was Carl Hiaasen? Apparently his stepson had read it and thought it was the Best Thing Ever.

It makes me weep to think that there are probably a thousand teenagers out there with halfway decent fantasy novels who deserved to have this fate fall on them instead of Paolini. Life--So Not Fair.

[tatterpunk.livejournal.com]

Knopf only picked it up after another author brought it to their attention--I think it was Carl Hiaasen? Apparently his stepson had read it and thought it was the Best Thing Ever.

*points* What she said. When Paolini wrote the book his parents did a small run and a "book tour" of schools, libraries, etc, and eventually the book ended up in the hands of Hiaasen's son.


P.S. keelieinblack, I love your Wakaba icon!

[kingcrankycat.livejournal.com]

I had heard this as well, but it was from a source I only marginally trust.

It does explain a lot though.

[mekosuchinae.livejournal.com]

It's pretty brilliant, business-wise. Paolini's parents run a small publishing company, so Eragon was first published through their house, thus guaranteeing that Paolini would have complete ownership of Eragon and any later entries in the series. Paolini was then free to aggressively market it throughout the region, at school book fairs and what have you, due in large part to the fact that as he is/was home schooled, Paolini had greater mobility and freedom than other writers of his age. Some big name publishing house took notice of his success in the region and offered to republish it for the mass market.

HISTORY.

[magicnoire.livejournal.com]

And also, the sad sad truth about the publishing industry is: teenage writer + fantasy novel = bidding war.

[artillie.livejournal.com]

Not to mention teenage writer + getting published = bad novel = hype hype hype, no matter what the quality.

[lastseptember.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't be surprised. He pisses me off--not to sound like I have a chip on my shoulder, but he does. Everyone called him a "genius" because of his age and yet his book was just a collage of several other popular fantasy novels and series. I only saw the movie, regretted it, and noted so much unoriginality that I would never dream of reading the book.

What peeves me off is that there have been, and will always be, better writers who are even younger than he is and the way they placed him on a pedestal, you'd think he was the first. If I'm not mistaken, S.E. Hinton published young, I know she started in junior high, and the Outsiders has definitely stood the test of time.