No publisher should ever express an opinion on the value of what he publishes. That is a matter entirely for the literary critic to decide. I can quite understand how any ordinary critic would be strongly prejudiced against a work that was accompanied by a premature and unnecessary panegyric from the publisher. A publisher is simply a useful middle-man. It is not for him to anticipate the verdict of criticism.
~ Oscar Wilde
No publisher
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Of course, the Dunning-Kruger effect comes into play…writers whose work is actually pretty good, or at least promising, are more likely to be the ones to worry it’s not good enough to show anyone, whereas writers whose work stinks on a level where literally no one, not even their friends or parents, would want to read it even if it was free are often the ones who are most confident about throwing it up on Amazon. Even for self-publishers it’s probably a good idea to get at least one other disinterested person (i.e., not a friend or family member) to tell you your book is worth publishing in its current state before adding it to the tsunami.
I adore Wilde, but I’m pretty sure he was referring here to publishers tooting their books’ horns with over-enthusiastic advertisements, etc., in an attempt to influence critics and readers, rather than the implicit judgment involved merely in publishing one book and not another.
Great quote, and something indie publishers in particular need to learn. We really are the worst judges of our own work whether we think it’s “good” or “bad.” We should never mistake our own opinion for the opinion of the reader and then let that mistake keep us from publishing.