Why Fiction Doesn’t Sell

Posted on May 1, 2005 in Class Writing

Once I heard novelist Lee Smith comment that the only attenders of her classes who ever made it were upper middle class women who could afford to stay home and write. When I’ve thought about it, I realize that I’ve seen a lot of better talent wasted (in both women and men) because they weren’t upper middle class and had to work for a living. It’s tragic that these have little or no chance to develop their voice. Many never get to learn other styles of poetry than the high school lit class rhyme rhyme rhyme. A few struggle on their own nonetheless, untutored except by their instincts and love of the written word.

Publishers wonder why they can’t sell fiction books these days. I suggest it is because they’ve turned a blind eye to the unknowns who know what it is like to dirty their hands. Most novels feature upper middle class characters: if you want a larger chunk of the public to read fiction, you’re going to have to produce fiction that they can identify with.

And the people best suited to doing that aren’t upper middle class housewives, former advertising men, or journalists but the raw poets who come to groups.