It's not even a problem limited to the book industry. Movies have all those credits, but none of those jobs are explained. Most people walk away from a movie thinking the director directed every scene, but it's not true. Even aside from secret guest directors like Stephen Spielberg on the opening sequence of the final Star Wars movie, you have all the second unit directors who get to mastermind various scenes for which the One True Director is too busy or doesn't have enough expertise. (One that was pointed out to me is that Peter Jackson didn't direct that first duel between Gandalf and Saruman in the first LOTR movie, where they hit each other with telekinesis.) The moneymakers need to have a brand name for everything, and that leads to the promotion of an "auteur" who is held up as the source of all good things.
That segues nicely into my next point, which is to address your question about how to actually promote and sell these ideas. Frankly, I don't think I'd be able to do it, professionally. I expect this would be something only big names like Stephen King- who already are a well known brand- could make work. The other possibility is to work with Lit Agents, get known to them, and have them refer me as a source of well-defined ideas to people who inquire about breaking into the industry. Since agents are increasingly forced to be editors for their clients, they might even welcome a mercenary third party who their clients could pay to do all that for them.
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That segues nicely into my next point, which is to address your question about how to actually promote and sell these ideas. Frankly, I don't think I'd be able to do it, professionally. I expect this would be something only big names like Stephen King- who already are a well known brand- could make work. The other possibility is to work with Lit Agents, get known to them, and have them refer me as a source of well-defined ideas to people who inquire about breaking into the industry. Since agents are increasingly forced to be editors for their clients, they might even welcome a mercenary third party who their clients could pay to do all that for them.