The Reviewer's Corner: Help! I'm in Love with the Sound of My Own Voice!
Background note: I've recently joined a structured review group, which puts me in the position of seeing a lot of self-published books being offered. The group’s prevents us from posting reviews of books that receive a personal rating of less than 3-stars. Since only about half the books coming my way receive a “3”, I think it useful to point out some of the trends that I’ve noticed. Your mileage may vary—but at least there might be some notes here worthy of your attention.
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The #1 failing of most self-published work is the simple fact of falling in love: as in “falling in love with the sound of your own voice”.
There are financial considerations, of course, in hiring a professional editor. But, more than that, I believe, most DIY authors simply do not want bad news: as in “Chapters 7, 8, and 9 aren’t really doing anything”.
Long form work is hard, and grueling. A lot of people who sit down to write a lot feel that they have a lot to say. So they fill page after page after page. They really don't want to see any of it go away. It sounded so good at the time!
That’s how you end up with a book of 150,000 words selling for $2.99. The bargain of the century, to be sure. But—if they’re writing a tight thriller, or a crime piece, or steampunk—you can pretty much bet that they started typing, and somehow couldn’t stop, because, for most genres, 150K is too much. Other books: it’s obvious that the author believes that he (or she) is truly fascinating—and they’re sure that you’ll agree.
One book of more than 500 pages was described to me as “the greatest American novel since Moby Dick”. Turned out that it wasn’t. It was just really, really long.
Nobody likes to cut. That much is clear in my mind. But the line between “essential” and “blather” is one that a storyteller has to cross in order to improve. Eventually you have to start tapping the DELETE key—even though it hurts every time you press it.
Until next time....
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The #1 failing of most self-published work is the simple fact of falling in love: as in “falling in love with the sound of your own voice”.
There are financial considerations, of course, in hiring a professional editor. But, more than that, I believe, most DIY authors simply do not want bad news: as in “Chapters 7, 8, and 9 aren’t really doing anything”.
Long form work is hard, and grueling. A lot of people who sit down to write a lot feel that they have a lot to say. So they fill page after page after page. They really don't want to see any of it go away. It sounded so good at the time!
That’s how you end up with a book of 150,000 words selling for $2.99. The bargain of the century, to be sure. But—if they’re writing a tight thriller, or a crime piece, or steampunk—you can pretty much bet that they started typing, and somehow couldn’t stop, because, for most genres, 150K is too much. Other books: it’s obvious that the author believes that he (or she) is truly fascinating—and they’re sure that you’ll agree.
One book of more than 500 pages was described to me as “the greatest American novel since Moby Dick”. Turned out that it wasn’t. It was just really, really long.
Nobody likes to cut. That much is clear in my mind. But the line between “essential” and “blather” is one that a storyteller has to cross in order to improve. Eventually you have to start tapping the DELETE key—even though it hurts every time you press it.
Until next time....
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