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Maybe You Should Write a Book
softcover book
- GenresWritingNonfiction
196 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1979
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 6, 2023
Ralph Daigh calls this book a "manual of encouragement" for people aspiring to be authors. He felt encouragement was justified because, as he puts it, "book authorship is a promising, growing, and always-to-be-with-us profession." He further claims that "authorship is the business to be in."
He gives as evidence tales of certain very successful authors "to stir applause and envy." I'll agree that it's interesting to read the backstories of how Jaws and The Godfather came into being, and how those books made millions for their authors—especially after having been converted to film. (BTW, the film versions of both are superior to the books, in my view.) The problem is that successes like that are a far, far, far cry from the experience of virtually everybody else. Daigh admits as much, which leads me to wonder why he thinks they even merit discussion.
Apart from the misplaced encouragement, this book contains advice and random insights. It's worth reading for those insights. I'm sorry to say that most of the author's opinions are now worthless.
First of all, since this content appeared in book form in 1977, there have been enormous changes in the publishing industry. What he has to say on that topic is so outdated, or even just fundamentally wrong, as to be of no practical value.
An example of bad advice is where he says, "If you can sit placidly, perhaps gratefully, while another [person] slashes your copy with an editing pencil, removing words, changing sentences, and feel no deep urge to plunge the despoiler's pencil into his thorax, there is a good chance you will never be an author."
Obviously, this book is not intended for literary giants on the level of, say, William Faulkner or James Joyce. Those guys had artistic visions and were on solid ground in resisting anyone who didn't share it. However, garden-variety writers living down here among us mortals tend to have inflated ideas of the quality of their work. An author who's not receptive to feedback had better stick with diary entries. Daigh should see the majority of today's self-published books—and indeed some that are commercially published. I say this as the author of a self-published book. Personally, I write well. I write clearly. And even so I welcome feedback from beta readers and paid editors. I would not so much as upload a blog post without having someone give it a sanity check. Yes, "the author is the creator." Yes, the author may have a very good reason for using the words chosen. It is still important to know if readers are encountering speedbumps, which may have to do with logic or missing information, or any of a great many other issues. Too many speedbumps and readers stop reading.
As for self-publishing, Daigh's verdict is simple: "Don't do it." He seems to have had only vanity publishing in mind, and sure, that is still to be avoided. But a lot has changed since 1977.
Because a lot has changed, nobody should rely on reference books in the public library (he mentions Literary Market Place) in order to get names of editors at publishing houses. Personally, I never found that sort of thing helpful, and in any event the internet made it obsolete long ago.
I could go on about other statements in the early part of this book that are utterly, disastrously wrong. And while he does refer to unread manuscripts in the slush pile, he never really acknowledges the phalanx of gatekeepers whose purpose is to ensure the publishing industry does business only with certain kinds of writers, who can be used to promote certain views, come with a ready-made platform, etc. That is a separate rant, but even if an unknown author today somehow does make it past all the gatekeepers and has a title accepted for publication, it's still folly to suppose, as Daigh suggests, that a publisher is going to "take you by the hand, coach you for publicity appearances, and fling you into a national publicity tour." You can of course pay a publicist to help with promotion, most of which you will do anyway, and that will cost you just as much as if you self-published.
So there's a lot wrong with this book in 2023. However, once you get past the misinformation there is interesting content still. I particularly enjoyed the anecdote on the origin of Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. Daigh was, after all, in the thick of the publishing world of his day. He knew authors who'd made it big. He also solicited advice from some of them, which he includes. Here are a few points that stuck out for me:
Peg Bracken: "Writing is a curative process."
I agree wholeheartedly. I wrote my memoir out of a need to cope with a devastating situation, and I credit the effort with having kept myself from falling apart. It also provided perspective and guidance that has helped others in the same situation, and it sold well enough to more than recover the cost of publication. It was a good thing to do.
Isaac Asimov: "Everyone who wants to should write."
Also true! The act of writing, for me at least, goes hand in hand with thinking and understanding. It brings clarity. I've been writing all my life because it keeps me grounded. Also, writing is my job; but as it turns out, that which I write only for myself is also important. For some of us, writing for an audience of one may be reward enough.
This ties in with the following comment:
Donald Hamilton: "If you want to be a professional writer, you simply can't afford to write for money or security or anything but the sheer pleasure of writing what you really like and writing it well."
Joyce Carol Oates: "When one writes about his true subject, in contrast to the false subject, he really has no difficulty with writing."
To be clear, writing generally serves to inform, persuade, or entertain others. This book does not attempt to say how that sort of thing is accomplished, but some of Daigh's authors provide clues. Example:
Dorothy Eden: "The secret is in making the background so interesting and unusual, the action so vivid, the characters so alive that the reader is swept along on an uncritical tide.
And there are other issues known to everyone who has undertaken a writing project:
Taylor Caldwell: "It is my belief a novelist should not permit family crises, or health, or worries of any kind, to interfere with his work."
Louis L'Amour: "Do not wait for an idea. Start writing and the ideas will come. You have to turn on the faucet before the water starts to flow."
This of course is not to say everything one types is worth keeping. There will be iterations. Another contributing author (Saul Bellow) says, "To rewrite ten times is not unusual."
Much of this can be found in other books, too, I'm sure. I'm commenting on this one because I found it on my shelf, where it's been neglected these last several decades while the world has been moving on, and decided to give it one more quick scan. It does have merit.
He gives as evidence tales of certain very successful authors "to stir applause and envy." I'll agree that it's interesting to read the backstories of how Jaws and The Godfather came into being, and how those books made millions for their authors—especially after having been converted to film. (BTW, the film versions of both are superior to the books, in my view.) The problem is that successes like that are a far, far, far cry from the experience of virtually everybody else. Daigh admits as much, which leads me to wonder why he thinks they even merit discussion.
Apart from the misplaced encouragement, this book contains advice and random insights. It's worth reading for those insights. I'm sorry to say that most of the author's opinions are now worthless.
First of all, since this content appeared in book form in 1977, there have been enormous changes in the publishing industry. What he has to say on that topic is so outdated, or even just fundamentally wrong, as to be of no practical value.
An example of bad advice is where he says, "If you can sit placidly, perhaps gratefully, while another [person] slashes your copy with an editing pencil, removing words, changing sentences, and feel no deep urge to plunge the despoiler's pencil into his thorax, there is a good chance you will never be an author."
Obviously, this book is not intended for literary giants on the level of, say, William Faulkner or James Joyce. Those guys had artistic visions and were on solid ground in resisting anyone who didn't share it. However, garden-variety writers living down here among us mortals tend to have inflated ideas of the quality of their work. An author who's not receptive to feedback had better stick with diary entries. Daigh should see the majority of today's self-published books—and indeed some that are commercially published. I say this as the author of a self-published book. Personally, I write well. I write clearly. And even so I welcome feedback from beta readers and paid editors. I would not so much as upload a blog post without having someone give it a sanity check. Yes, "the author is the creator." Yes, the author may have a very good reason for using the words chosen. It is still important to know if readers are encountering speedbumps, which may have to do with logic or missing information, or any of a great many other issues. Too many speedbumps and readers stop reading.
As for self-publishing, Daigh's verdict is simple: "Don't do it." He seems to have had only vanity publishing in mind, and sure, that is still to be avoided. But a lot has changed since 1977.
Because a lot has changed, nobody should rely on reference books in the public library (he mentions Literary Market Place) in order to get names of editors at publishing houses. Personally, I never found that sort of thing helpful, and in any event the internet made it obsolete long ago.
I could go on about other statements in the early part of this book that are utterly, disastrously wrong. And while he does refer to unread manuscripts in the slush pile, he never really acknowledges the phalanx of gatekeepers whose purpose is to ensure the publishing industry does business only with certain kinds of writers, who can be used to promote certain views, come with a ready-made platform, etc. That is a separate rant, but even if an unknown author today somehow does make it past all the gatekeepers and has a title accepted for publication, it's still folly to suppose, as Daigh suggests, that a publisher is going to "take you by the hand, coach you for publicity appearances, and fling you into a national publicity tour." You can of course pay a publicist to help with promotion, most of which you will do anyway, and that will cost you just as much as if you self-published.
So there's a lot wrong with this book in 2023. However, once you get past the misinformation there is interesting content still. I particularly enjoyed the anecdote on the origin of Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. Daigh was, after all, in the thick of the publishing world of his day. He knew authors who'd made it big. He also solicited advice from some of them, which he includes. Here are a few points that stuck out for me:
Peg Bracken: "Writing is a curative process."
I agree wholeheartedly. I wrote my memoir out of a need to cope with a devastating situation, and I credit the effort with having kept myself from falling apart. It also provided perspective and guidance that has helped others in the same situation, and it sold well enough to more than recover the cost of publication. It was a good thing to do.
Isaac Asimov: "Everyone who wants to should write."
Also true! The act of writing, for me at least, goes hand in hand with thinking and understanding. It brings clarity. I've been writing all my life because it keeps me grounded. Also, writing is my job; but as it turns out, that which I write only for myself is also important. For some of us, writing for an audience of one may be reward enough.
This ties in with the following comment:
Donald Hamilton: "If you want to be a professional writer, you simply can't afford to write for money or security or anything but the sheer pleasure of writing what you really like and writing it well."
Joyce Carol Oates: "When one writes about his true subject, in contrast to the false subject, he really has no difficulty with writing."
To be clear, writing generally serves to inform, persuade, or entertain others. This book does not attempt to say how that sort of thing is accomplished, but some of Daigh's authors provide clues. Example:
Dorothy Eden: "The secret is in making the background so interesting and unusual, the action so vivid, the characters so alive that the reader is swept along on an uncritical tide.
And there are other issues known to everyone who has undertaken a writing project:
Taylor Caldwell: "It is my belief a novelist should not permit family crises, or health, or worries of any kind, to interfere with his work."
Louis L'Amour: "Do not wait for an idea. Start writing and the ideas will come. You have to turn on the faucet before the water starts to flow."
This of course is not to say everything one types is worth keeping. There will be iterations. Another contributing author (Saul Bellow) says, "To rewrite ten times is not unusual."
Much of this can be found in other books, too, I'm sure. I'm commenting on this one because I found it on my shelf, where it's been neglected these last several decades while the world has been moving on, and decided to give it one more quick scan. It does have merit.
April 16, 2021
FUN read! Midway through this book, I woke up at dawn last weekend and got the grand idea for a book about Philippine Mythical Creatures. For two hours this germ of positive thinking, buoyed by Mr. Daigh's prose, had me convinced how easy it would be! Of course, it's now Monday morning, and I can't even write a thing...don't know where to start.
The first half of the book deals with the process of having your manuscript published. But it's the second half of the book which is even more encouraging, since it features brief write-ups about a handful of writing luminaries, how they started out, their educational attainments (or lack of it), their writing styles, and best of all, their solicited advice. Not surprisingly, writing style does vary from author to author. Of course, Isaac Asimov, one of the writers asked to share here, shines more brightly than the rest--the man is a genius.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who has ever thought of giving writing a go, or to someone who just wants to write for the pleasure of it, without entertaining any thoughts of being published. And although this was published in 1973, this does not sound dated at all, not by a long shot.
The first half of the book deals with the process of having your manuscript published. But it's the second half of the book which is even more encouraging, since it features brief write-ups about a handful of writing luminaries, how they started out, their educational attainments (or lack of it), their writing styles, and best of all, their solicited advice. Not surprisingly, writing style does vary from author to author. Of course, Isaac Asimov, one of the writers asked to share here, shines more brightly than the rest--the man is a genius.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who has ever thought of giving writing a go, or to someone who just wants to write for the pleasure of it, without entertaining any thoughts of being published. And although this was published in 1973, this does not sound dated at all, not by a long shot.
May 30, 2013
A few interesting quotes from famous writers scattered throughout, but the book is extremely outdated. The advice it contains would not be helpful for someone writing today.
Read
September 13, 2024Very first book I bought on Writing.
March 29, 2011
Dispels the mystique with its behind the scenes look at the publishing industry. It drags a bit in spots, probably because it's more information than I need to know at this point. However, I will definitely pick it up again when I'm submitting my ms.
July 18, 2013
Reads like a business plan and results. Boring.
August 4, 2015
Intelligent and inspiring.
October 11, 2015
Great find from Nana's bookshelves
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews