Books: Am I Impressed?

You've probably heard the stories of writers whose family and friends love their work but are constantly rejected by editors and agents.  There are probably a lot of reasons for this.  Sometimes, people who know the writer think "Wow!  You wrote something!  That's awesome--and therefore whatever you wrote is also awesome!"  Sometimes the query letter just isn't strong enough to get the attention of an editor or agent and sometimes those people aren't the right ones to help get the book published.

But what about when someone with a personal connection really does enjoy the book regardless of its origins and the manuscript is still constantly rejected by people who should have every reason to accept it?  I think I've started to gain some sympathy for editors and agents because I think that I've gained something they have: a higher standard a book has to be at in order to impress me.  I still read as much as I can--I love to do it--but since I have read so much, it is now nearly impossible for a book to have me completely satisfied by the end.  Brandon Sanderson went through a similar phase where he stopped reading fantasy because he had read books in the past that were better written than ones he read in the present.  When I first heard about this a year or two ago, it seemed unfathomable to me.  Now that I've been oversaturated in my reading consumption, I understand very well.  Friends and family of a writer, while they may have different tastes than an editor or agent, probably haven't read as much as disillusioned reading addicts--and definitely not as much as the professionals.  This is what I think is one of the (if not the) main reasons that a book can be loved and hated by people with similar tastes.  It's all about the quantity and quality of previous exposure.

All that said, I'm not going to stop reading or writing completely, but I'll put more thought in deciding what I want to read and how I want to write before I waste that time and effort.