How did Chris Paollini get Published?

Roald Ellsworth

2011-10-06 07:23:13 UTC

Publishing is a business. As sad as it sounds, publishing houses take many things into consideration besides quality. They like it if the author has a strong built-in audience (because of a popular blog, for instance, or in Paolini's case: he'd been traveling around promoting his own work at schools). With interest in the author prior to the contract, marketing is easier. As one literary agent said on her blog recently, if she does an internet search on a potential client and finds that person doesn't have a strong presence online, she automatically rejects the work (very sad, isn't it?).

Paolini also stood out because of his young age, which drew in curious readers. And most importantly: he was writing during the height of Harry Potter's popularity, when publishing houses were looking to cash in on readers' interest in fantasy. Publishers are always looking for the next big trend.

Joss

2011-10-06 13:55:21 UTC

I know at least his first novel is self-published. His parents owned the publishing company and they published his book and since they published it, it constitutes self-publishing. He also mentions on his website that the first book is self-published.

Next, his parents did a darned good job of marketing his book. They took his book to schools. Some kid who just happened to be the kid of an editor liked the book, the editor ended up reading it and it was picked up by the publisher. BUT, it also had lots of sales, because otherwise no publisher would want a self-published book unless it sold thousands of copies.

So, yeah, he lucked out. He's the EXCEPTION when it comes to this process - self-publishing a bad book, selling thousands of copies, and then being picked up by a major publisher.

"It's just, if he can get published, then any of us can!"

-- Keep dreaming. Publishing is harder and the standards are higher. There will always be badly written books that slip through the cracks. Again, they're the exception, which means it won't happen to most people, which means that if you write a badly written book then an editor will LAUGH at you before sending you a rejection. Either laugh or groan from despair. If you read a lot, and I'm sure you do, then you'll find that most books you read are pretty decent and not badly written. It's not often that you'll come across a book that's so bad that you wonder how it ever got published.

And, about the mistakes. Everyone is a human. Different types of editors at the publisher, and the author, go over the book looking for typos or any errors, and sometimes they're missed. It happens. If you've polished your work as best you can and then have a few other people look over I'll bet anything they'll find simple errors that you overlooked. That's just how it is. Our eyes can't catch every single mistake.

anonymous

2011-10-06 09:36:11 UTC

I'm 19 now and when I first read Eragon and Eldest when I was 13 I absolutley loved it and thought it was fantastic. For a 13 year old reader who had never read any fantasy before it was incredibly original and interesting. It's clearly a young adult series, and for kids that age it's a perfectly fine book. I just read the Fellowship of the Rings for the first time a few months ago and I do see a good many similarites between the few series. But let's face it, the book's target audience is most likely to pick up Eragon than Lord of the rings.

But all that being said, and having read alot more fantasy since then, I still do love the series.

pj m

2011-10-06 07:59:17 UTC

Rex,

The same way Stephenie Meyer got published with the Twilight series drivel. I believe writers get published at times because the publisher likes the premise of the story and feels it would make a great movie after publication. It's a piece that simply catches a literary agent's eye. It's basically the same with movie scripts. We've all went to the movies or watched a dvd and said, "OMG, this has got to be the worst movie I've ever seen in a long time."

I guess it's just the luck of the draw.

PJ M

?

2011-10-06 09:05:04 UTC

I was reading some responses to a question about publishing. One answer that I think fits here is that when there is a genre that is a hit, the publishers look for more of the same genre. Potter really brought fantasy back. He got published as the frenzy for more Potter was growing.

However, yes they are simple but I still like the stories. His books sell because they are liked.

?

2011-10-06 07:20:50 UTC

I ve never read Eragon but if you read Sword Of Truth by Terry Goodkind, you will think a 10year old wrote it. It is full of so much repetition and details that are just as unnecessary as they drag down the book. I normally take a week or two to finish a book but this is my fourth MONTH! and I still haven't read half of it . . .

I don't mean to sound arrogant but, you're write, some of the these ''authors'' don't deserve being labelled that. I bet you're a better writer than Terry Goodkind . . .

And if Eragon is half as bad as Sword Of Truth, then Eragon novels should be burnt - all of them! And the author, too (joking).

brother_in_magic

2011-10-07 02:34:18 UTC

I agree. While I've read worse (Goodkind,as mentioned by another poster, is one that springs to mind), Paolini's novels are derivitive and pretty bog-standard. The 'hype' was because this teen boy,who supposedly lived inthe boonies and never read fantasy (yeah right) somehow came up with this wonderful, massive epic. What was less known is that his parents actually ran a small press publishing business, so they were very much involved in the 'hype machine' as well as were undoutably able to aid him with editing,plot and so forth, as well as printing copies which they could distribute to schools and other organisations,hence helping to bring his name to attention. Apparently he's become pretty arrogant too,making the statement 'I'm comparable to Tolkien at his best...'! (No, dear, I'd rather read Tolkien's WORST (possibly Bombadil's poems) than your ponderous spider-killer.)

Persephinae

2011-10-06 07:10:22 UTC

I wasn't impressed with it either. I saw the movie (which was craptastic, and *clearly* a movie adaptation of some amateurish writing). Tried reading the book, but meh...

Read the summaries, and even the summaries presented a very blah story.

Now, I'm a huge fantasy fan, and I'll read just about anything (except Twilight), and this looked to me like the only reason he got published was the novelty of a teen writing a novel length book.

Sorry to fans, not hating just voicing an opinion. :)

?

2016-10-02 11:22:14 UTC

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MsBittner

2011-10-06 07:29:48 UTC

Rex, my understanding is that he was very good for a kid, and his parents worked in publishing. They paid for his self-published book. I don't know the nature of their jobs, but I've heard they had marketing savvy, and their efforts got him enough vanity-published sales to draw the attention of a commercial publisher.

Apparently his sales are adequate to make a profit for the publisher. That's the bottom line. Not art, not quality, profit.