Another Post Mentioning Music and Writing

The other day, and album from the band Evelyn Hope (yes, a band, not a person) came up on our iPod. They were a band started by a former associate of mine, Chris, who owned a recording studio in New Jersey. One of my old bands recorded our demo there, so I got to know him a decent bit. His older band, Element 101, released one of my favorite albums of all time, and they started getting big before a petering out. After getting to know Chris, knowing his songwriting skills, and seeing them play live a few times, I had high hopes that Evelyn Hope would go somewhere. They didn’t, but I still spin the music from time to time.

Being a neophyte to publishing I have to wonder if things end up the same way in that industry. Publishing books is a different animal than a performing art like music. Artists can promote their product through performance; there’s not a parallel equivalent in publishing, so I think authors rely more on advertising, promotions, and word of mouth to move copies. Even though music is almost entirely subjective, are there books that you’ve read that are, or would be considered, officially “good” literature but have passed by critics’ desks unnoticed or haven’t been picked up by consumers? I haven’t read enough under the radar books to get a good reading (heh) on if this is a common or even possible situation.

Let me know: email me at [email protected].