Toward Ecosophy

Yes, you are quite correct about the way agents and editors are structured today to suck blood from authors not help them. I was not thinking about the New Shyark pro scene, but more like a co-op or lodge where a much smaller outlay is asked from each author who joins a writer’s club or even a lodge. Then the club or lodge screens and hires a couple of decent people to do the work of editing or agentry—maybe part-time or less. They could be students even or retired people who need a little more cash than they are getting otherwise. But they would have to be *known* to the club member, and, like doctors, develop a mutuality and collegial relationship with the people they serve. Not just a cold business transaction. I suppose it is a pipe dream—the details will let in the printer’s devils---but to have vertical integration with a lodge-owned printing press and an apprenticeship for bookmakers, etc...(sigh).