Peter Laurent's Blog - Posts Tagged "editing"
Constructive Criticisms
One of my wonderful reviewers contacted me today. They asked why another author would write a book and then blog about expecting to sit back to wait for the money to roll in, then get upset when receiving this reviewer's honest 3 star review.
I thought my response to the reviewer might interest some of you...
(edited for relevance)
I have no issues with wanting to make money out of writing, I definitely want to make enough to support myself and be able to write full-time. But writing with the sole intention of making money is the wrong way to work. The most important thing, above all else, is that the reader enjoys your book, whether it's entertaining, educational, or an erotic thrill, making money is a by-product of reader enjoyment.
So when I read a book, and I see a typo or clunky sentence, it diminishes my enjoyment of that book. I can forgive maybe 3-4 errors for an indie author, a bit more if the rest of the story holds up (strong characters, plot etc.)
A traditionally published author has no excuse and must have zero mistakes.
That's why I proofed my book at least 6-7 times. Then after I published it on Amazon, I read it again and found maybe 10 punctuation mistakes and fixed them (within a few days of the initial publication date, before the freebie sale). So maybe even I was a little hasty, but at least I went back and fixed it up as soon as possible. It's something I wanted to be proud of.
If an author is lazy and publish their 1st or 2nd draft, readers will not enjoy their poorly edited books, won't recommend it to friends and/or give negative reviews. Money can't buy good reviews, they are worth more than that.
Good reviews aren't just 5 star reviews. If a reviewer gives 2, 3 or 4 stars, but mentions what they liked and didn't like, possibly even suggest improvements, that is just as valuable as a 5 star review.
Authors should not be unhappy with 3 star reviews if they actually cared about improving their writing.
Besides, many readers ignore the 1 and 5 star reviews because they assume they are biased, and only read the 2, 3, 4 star reviews for honest opinions. I would be fine having 2-3 star reviews as long as it was honest and said how the book could have been better, or why it was not good enough for 4-5 stars.
Personally I think the whole "star-rating" system is broken and Amazon should abandon it. Readers should be forced to read reviews instead of tallying up an average star rating to make decisions on what to buy.
Maybe it's because I come from an animation background, which is even more cut-throat than writing, I became used to taking criticism, and kept an eye out for what people will pick up on that would need fixing.
It can be heart-breaking when you have spent months of your life pouring your soul into your work, only to be told it is no good.
I was lucky to have received mostly good reviews on my animation, honest feedback that critiqued and ultimately ended up improving it. The same applies to writing. You can't learn without making mistakes.
Then again, not every reviewer knows what they are talking about, and sometimes you have to stick to your guns. It's just that it is important to keep an open mind.
There are over 1.5 million ebooks on Amazon, and since they do not check for quality, you can imagine how many books are rubbish and not selling at all. That's where honest reviews are needed, positive and negative ones.
Whew that's quite the rant I wrote!
Well I'd better get back to it, book two isn't going to write itself haha!
Cheers,
-Petes
I thought my response to the reviewer might interest some of you...
(edited for relevance)
I have no issues with wanting to make money out of writing, I definitely want to make enough to support myself and be able to write full-time. But writing with the sole intention of making money is the wrong way to work. The most important thing, above all else, is that the reader enjoys your book, whether it's entertaining, educational, or an erotic thrill, making money is a by-product of reader enjoyment.
So when I read a book, and I see a typo or clunky sentence, it diminishes my enjoyment of that book. I can forgive maybe 3-4 errors for an indie author, a bit more if the rest of the story holds up (strong characters, plot etc.)
A traditionally published author has no excuse and must have zero mistakes.
That's why I proofed my book at least 6-7 times. Then after I published it on Amazon, I read it again and found maybe 10 punctuation mistakes and fixed them (within a few days of the initial publication date, before the freebie sale). So maybe even I was a little hasty, but at least I went back and fixed it up as soon as possible. It's something I wanted to be proud of.
If an author is lazy and publish their 1st or 2nd draft, readers will not enjoy their poorly edited books, won't recommend it to friends and/or give negative reviews. Money can't buy good reviews, they are worth more than that.
Good reviews aren't just 5 star reviews. If a reviewer gives 2, 3 or 4 stars, but mentions what they liked and didn't like, possibly even suggest improvements, that is just as valuable as a 5 star review.
Authors should not be unhappy with 3 star reviews if they actually cared about improving their writing.
Besides, many readers ignore the 1 and 5 star reviews because they assume they are biased, and only read the 2, 3, 4 star reviews for honest opinions. I would be fine having 2-3 star reviews as long as it was honest and said how the book could have been better, or why it was not good enough for 4-5 stars.
Personally I think the whole "star-rating" system is broken and Amazon should abandon it. Readers should be forced to read reviews instead of tallying up an average star rating to make decisions on what to buy.
Maybe it's because I come from an animation background, which is even more cut-throat than writing, I became used to taking criticism, and kept an eye out for what people will pick up on that would need fixing.
It can be heart-breaking when you have spent months of your life pouring your soul into your work, only to be told it is no good.
I was lucky to have received mostly good reviews on my animation, honest feedback that critiqued and ultimately ended up improving it. The same applies to writing. You can't learn without making mistakes.
Then again, not every reviewer knows what they are talking about, and sometimes you have to stick to your guns. It's just that it is important to keep an open mind.
There are over 1.5 million ebooks on Amazon, and since they do not check for quality, you can imagine how many books are rubbish and not selling at all. That's where honest reviews are needed, positive and negative ones.
Whew that's quite the rant I wrote!
Well I'd better get back to it, book two isn't going to write itself haha!
Cheers,
-Petes
First Draft of The Covert Academy's sequel is DONE!
Yes! I can come into the sunlight once more. What a marathon.
And what a rough draft it is too! Last time around all I really needed to do was tidy up a few continuity issues, fix up lots and lots of punctuation and grammar mistakes, and formatting for publication. And that still took over a month with help from my parents.
But this draft is a mixed bag of scenes that I'm really happy with and scenes that are either going to be outright deleted and/or rewritten. I've got far more subplots than I ought to, haha.
It's going to be a big job since this first draft clocks in at 83,110 words. That's around the same length as The Covert Academy combined with Scout's Honour. I expect it will be around the 90k mark by the time I'm completely done.
The name of the book will probably change too. I've got a new front-runner which I'm going to try out on a few people I know before announcing it.
Time to start editing!
-Pete
And what a rough draft it is too! Last time around all I really needed to do was tidy up a few continuity issues, fix up lots and lots of punctuation and grammar mistakes, and formatting for publication. And that still took over a month with help from my parents.
But this draft is a mixed bag of scenes that I'm really happy with and scenes that are either going to be outright deleted and/or rewritten. I've got far more subplots than I ought to, haha.
It's going to be a big job since this first draft clocks in at 83,110 words. That's around the same length as The Covert Academy combined with Scout's Honour. I expect it will be around the 90k mark by the time I'm completely done.
The name of the book will probably change too. I've got a new front-runner which I'm going to try out on a few people I know before announcing it.
Time to start editing!
-Pete
The Subplot Thickens
I admit I've been hesitant to continue writing. It's not so much writer's block since most of the creative work has been finished.
I'd been inching along the 2nd edit until I had come to a place where I looked at the page and I didn't know what to do. And I've finally figured out why.
My rushed first draft of the next book contains far too many subplots. Even with my notes I find it difficult to keep track of it all.
One of the biggest subplots revolves around a computer program which becomes self-aware. I thought it was a good idea at the time, and that I could bring something new to the concept. Now I'm not so sure. The old "rogue AI" idea has been done to death.
The payoff for this subplot came in several turning points in the story. But looking back, it comes off as feeling like a cheap "get out of jail free card". I'm considering dropping the whole idea, which means re-writing at least several thousand words, not to mention finding new ways to move the plot along without this thematic device. It might all fall apart.
There are certain passages of writing about this rogue AI which I am very proud of, but I'm hoping the book will be better off with these massive cuts.
Has anyone else looked back on their early drafts and felt the sting of regret when seeing a wonderful part of your work that needs the chop? Did it work out in the end?
I remain hopeful!
I'd been inching along the 2nd edit until I had come to a place where I looked at the page and I didn't know what to do. And I've finally figured out why.
My rushed first draft of the next book contains far too many subplots. Even with my notes I find it difficult to keep track of it all.
One of the biggest subplots revolves around a computer program which becomes self-aware. I thought it was a good idea at the time, and that I could bring something new to the concept. Now I'm not so sure. The old "rogue AI" idea has been done to death.
The payoff for this subplot came in several turning points in the story. But looking back, it comes off as feeling like a cheap "get out of jail free card". I'm considering dropping the whole idea, which means re-writing at least several thousand words, not to mention finding new ways to move the plot along without this thematic device. It might all fall apart.
There are certain passages of writing about this rogue AI which I am very proud of, but I'm hoping the book will be better off with these massive cuts.
Has anyone else looked back on their early drafts and felt the sting of regret when seeing a wonderful part of your work that needs the chop? Did it work out in the end?
I remain hopeful!
