Editing, self publishing, and ego...
Often, until you’ve experienced something for yourself, there is the tendency to gloss over what you hear and not pay attention. That changed for me yesterday when I read a social media post by an author who claimed that it had been a life-long ambition to see their writing published, but could ill afford the cost of editing. So, given the ability to self publish anything within moments of its completion, this was the route that was taken. Allowing the writer the benefit of the doubt, I went to Amazon, looked up the title, and began to read the opening of the novel. Quite literally, I wanted to stop reading after the first thirteen word sentence which contained one spelling error and the repeat of a word. Had the writer simply spoken the sentence aloud, it would have screeched like Harry Potter uprooting a mandrake. But I forged ahead to complete the first paragraph. It had additional spelling errors, three clichés, another repeat of the word from the first sentence, and little or no punctuation. I stopped reading.
I’m going to take a hard line here, and I am not the first to make this observation, but it bears repeating. Writers who promote their ego at the cost of craft and basic editing do a gross disservice to the writing community at large. The fact that we all have the ability to self publish is a boon to writers who have difficulty cracking the traditional paradigm. Let’s face it, there are many writers whose quality fiction won’t make it through the narrow doors of the big six publishing houses or even beyond the slush piles of the agencies. Self publishing remains a clear path to get your work out there, but that doesn’t mean a writer should not strive to perfect their “product” to the best of their ability. It is costly to hire an editor, but there are some alternatives to improve your work if your budget doesn’t allow for that. Consider contacting your local high school or community college English department to see if there would be a teacher or professor who might be willing to help with line edits. There are innumerable writer’s groups who will peer review, critique, and help with editing. There are self-help books on the subject of editing and revising. To simply write something and publish it without several rounds of polishing is inexcusable. Imagine Ford selling you a car where the doors don’t close, or they put two different size tires on the wheels. What if Hollywood made a movie where they filmed the actors just reading from a script and forgot to add any action? Who’d buy that? Who’d see that? Who’d pay for any of that?
No one polices the self publishing world, so it is up to us as a community to do our part in maintaining a standard that the reading public can rely upon when selecting a book to purchase or to download. I’ve written two novels, and I refuse to publish either of them, yet. Each has gone through a round of editing by third parties, each has been revised at least twice and even a third time. I love my stories as much as any other writer, but I simply will not allow the work out in published form until they reach my own standard, which I’ve purposely set at a reasonably high level. I put some of the blame on our culture which has fomented the ideal of instant gratification.
This post may ruffle some feathers or possibly hurt some feelings, but everyone has to draw the line somewhere, and on this issue, I just did. Write to your heart’s content, but make it ready before it goes out.
I’m going to take a hard line here, and I am not the first to make this observation, but it bears repeating. Writers who promote their ego at the cost of craft and basic editing do a gross disservice to the writing community at large. The fact that we all have the ability to self publish is a boon to writers who have difficulty cracking the traditional paradigm. Let’s face it, there are many writers whose quality fiction won’t make it through the narrow doors of the big six publishing houses or even beyond the slush piles of the agencies. Self publishing remains a clear path to get your work out there, but that doesn’t mean a writer should not strive to perfect their “product” to the best of their ability. It is costly to hire an editor, but there are some alternatives to improve your work if your budget doesn’t allow for that. Consider contacting your local high school or community college English department to see if there would be a teacher or professor who might be willing to help with line edits. There are innumerable writer’s groups who will peer review, critique, and help with editing. There are self-help books on the subject of editing and revising. To simply write something and publish it without several rounds of polishing is inexcusable. Imagine Ford selling you a car where the doors don’t close, or they put two different size tires on the wheels. What if Hollywood made a movie where they filmed the actors just reading from a script and forgot to add any action? Who’d buy that? Who’d see that? Who’d pay for any of that?
No one polices the self publishing world, so it is up to us as a community to do our part in maintaining a standard that the reading public can rely upon when selecting a book to purchase or to download. I’ve written two novels, and I refuse to publish either of them, yet. Each has gone through a round of editing by third parties, each has been revised at least twice and even a third time. I love my stories as much as any other writer, but I simply will not allow the work out in published form until they reach my own standard, which I’ve purposely set at a reasonably high level. I put some of the blame on our culture which has fomented the ideal of instant gratification.
This post may ruffle some feathers or possibly hurt some feelings, but everyone has to draw the line somewhere, and on this issue, I just did. Write to your heart’s content, but make it ready before it goes out.
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