Reading, writing, and (oh, my) self-publishing
January has been overwhelming me as a reader. I'm reviewing books again, plus I agreed to critique a book for a friend (more on that in a minute) plus a long biography for a book club, plus trying to fit in books I actually want to read that Charlie and I are both reading. So, I'm going back on my plans and I'm going to be a little more laid back for this year, at least for a while. I think a big part of my problem this month, though, has been that I've been trying to read too many books at once. I do a lot better if I'm just reading one book at a time. So I'm going to try to work on that for a while.
The book I'm reading for a friend. *sigh* She self-published a prior book through Amazon. I was pretty impressed with it, but it could have used another edit, and it felt self-published to me. It's better than self-publishing used to be -- it looks professional and everything, but it feels self-published, if that makes any sense. She's a good writer, though. That book was chick lit. This one is fantasy, and unfortunately for her my Hollins friends have spoiled me for what reading someone's draft should be like. I think she expects to get these comments back (I'm one of eleven readers) and edit/revise, then publish. She's already doing photo shoots so the artist who's designing the cover can get started on it. This feels like a first draft to me, second draft of some chapters, and I'm used to writers who go through at least three drafts before even thinking it might be done. It's got real promise. It could be really good, but it needs rewriting, not just revision and certainly not just editing to me. Although, most of my issues are with world-building, so major, major work on the first four chapters might make the rest of it work better for me. I'm just hoping that I'm able to say what I think needs to be said without making her hate me.
I struggle with the idea of self-publishing. Because I know so many writers, I know so many people who work so, so hard to go through the traditional promise. When their books make it, they really, really, really deserve to make it. I know some books that haven't been published yet that so NEED to be published. And this book will be published whenever she wants it to be, whether it deserves it or not. And whether it deserves it or not, her friends will buy it, and people will "buy" it when it's free on Kindle. As it is, it would get blasted in reviews, so I really hope she does the work she still needs to do, but it would still be out there. Because of the e-book market, there's a lot of books out there now, on virtual shelves right next to books published by traditional publishers even though they haven't gone through the processes of revision and editing by professional editors and publishing by professional publishers. Your average reader can't tell the difference. I hate that we're losing that gatekeeper. It was flawed, sure. A lot of crap gets published in the traditional way because it has a big name on it or because it has something other than quality writing that will make it sell (I'm looking at you, Fifty Shades of Grey). But publishers still pushed the books that were really, really quality, and a lot of those shone through the piles of books published each year and got the recognition they deserved. If everything is just thrown out there equally, it's going to be a lot harder to find what's really, actually good.
I know this is all just opinion, and a lot of people disagree, so feel free to argue if you want to. ;-)
The book I'm reading for a friend. *sigh* She self-published a prior book through Amazon. I was pretty impressed with it, but it could have used another edit, and it felt self-published to me. It's better than self-publishing used to be -- it looks professional and everything, but it feels self-published, if that makes any sense. She's a good writer, though. That book was chick lit. This one is fantasy, and unfortunately for her my Hollins friends have spoiled me for what reading someone's draft should be like. I think she expects to get these comments back (I'm one of eleven readers) and edit/revise, then publish. She's already doing photo shoots so the artist who's designing the cover can get started on it. This feels like a first draft to me, second draft of some chapters, and I'm used to writers who go through at least three drafts before even thinking it might be done. It's got real promise. It could be really good, but it needs rewriting, not just revision and certainly not just editing to me. Although, most of my issues are with world-building, so major, major work on the first four chapters might make the rest of it work better for me. I'm just hoping that I'm able to say what I think needs to be said without making her hate me.
I struggle with the idea of self-publishing. Because I know so many writers, I know so many people who work so, so hard to go through the traditional promise. When their books make it, they really, really, really deserve to make it. I know some books that haven't been published yet that so NEED to be published. And this book will be published whenever she wants it to be, whether it deserves it or not. And whether it deserves it or not, her friends will buy it, and people will "buy" it when it's free on Kindle. As it is, it would get blasted in reviews, so I really hope she does the work she still needs to do, but it would still be out there. Because of the e-book market, there's a lot of books out there now, on virtual shelves right next to books published by traditional publishers even though they haven't gone through the processes of revision and editing by professional editors and publishing by professional publishers. Your average reader can't tell the difference. I hate that we're losing that gatekeeper. It was flawed, sure. A lot of crap gets published in the traditional way because it has a big name on it or because it has something other than quality writing that will make it sell (I'm looking at you, Fifty Shades of Grey). But publishers still pushed the books that were really, really quality, and a lot of those shone through the piles of books published each year and got the recognition they deserved. If everything is just thrown out there equally, it's going to be a lot harder to find what's really, actually good.
I know this is all just opinion, and a lot of people disagree, so feel free to argue if you want to. ;-)