Forbes magazine story on Mark Dawson who made six-figures self publishing on Amazon: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaymcgr...made-750000-from-self-published-amazon-books/
Hi Hugh,
interesting article. What do you think? Have you had similar experiences in publishing? Do you agree with the conclusions?
Yes. This is what bothers me. Too many people are jumping on the self-pub bandwagon and saying they're authors, yet the writing needs polishing....
I pretty much agree with what was said about self-pubbing, but what was not said (because it is impolite to say it) is that a writer needs to be honest with him or herself and ask if what they have is really publishable material. A writer can't just hack out a story, upload it to a book selling website and declare themselves published. I could do that myself and try not to look embarrassed when someone pats me on the head and tell me what a brave "indie" author I am.
The authors may or may not be aware that their writing needs polishing. If we look back at our work from several years ago, we may cringe. We keep writing, we keep improving, but we often can't see where those improvements need to be made when we've just finished writing and polishing. At that point, it's as good as we can make it and that is, of course, awesome. And that's where self-publishing can become a too-tempting option. I'm a big proponent of "let it sit" for a good long while. Everyone's got their own measuring stick.Yes. This is what bothers me. Too many people are jumping on the self-pub bandwagon and saying they're authors, yet the writing needs polishing.
I think that many readers are less critical (I hope it's not because of texting!), and as writers we expect certain things from the books we read. But it could also speak to the story rising above those inconsistencies and errors for the majority of those who reviewed the book.Perhaps most readers today don't see the inconsistencies, the errors, or the lack of good storytelling? Is it because we, as a society are so used to texting?
I'm having trouble with the books that are getting rave reviews by many (so I know it's not just relatives and close friends doing the reviewing), yet the characters are one-dimensional, the spelling and grammar beg for the red pen ...
This is what bothers me. Too many people are jumping on the self-pub bandwagon and saying they're authors.
I'm both. I still feel the same as I did five years ago.I remember five years ago when this was the main complaint of nearly every traditionally published author out there.
Kinda funny how things... shift.
I'm both. I still feel the same as I did five years ago.
But even though I'm only pubbed by small publishers (still can be referred to, though, as a "traditional" publisher, Jackx)), and have self-pubbed also, I still feel that way about many self-published books. So in my case, it doesn't matter that you were only referring to those who are with major publishers.
But not to pick on them, large publishers often pay for reviews. They wrap a lovely package and great editing around awful, story-less books all the time.
Hack, I first thought your note was tongue-in-cheek. What about Bethanne Patrick's #FridayReads, the whole Leapfrogging scandal brought out by Jeff Trachtenberg at WSJ—and reviews were only a small part of it, buying NY Times bestseller slots was the focus.
Perhaps we should each bring to mind our own major book disappointment but here's one from an NPR reviewerA Movie...and A Book. My own was the second by a NY Times bestselling author. (I liked his first.) Luckily it was a review copy and I didn't pay $25 for it. Awesome location but the characters were totally cardboard. One of the equally-weak subplots: A woman's entire family is butchered in front of her at her wedding—including the groom—she's taken as a sex slave, and just pages later, she's falling in love with the enslaver. Thinks he's gentle and good-looking. Seriously? And the cover's gorgeous. Thanks Knopf Doubleday.
That book has loads of great reviews on Amazon but was so maligned on Goodreads that the author went and gave himself a 5-star. "I'm the author but..."
Fake reviews are a scourge on every corner of this industry but they at least are becoming meaningless. When I see a book with like 20 5-star reviews, and pick it up, there's a 50-50 chance it's crap. Like most readers, I know that.
I agree with you here. Fake reviews are a bad thing. But they do not proliferate in trade publishing, and it's neither fair nor accurate to claim that they do.