She posed an interesting question last week. She asked the following (I’m paraphrasing): With the ease of self-publishing, should everyone who’s been rejected by mainstream publishing go ahead and self-publish? Here’s a portion of her post:
“Other than when I say, “It’s not my cup of tea;” when I don’t finish a book what are the reasons?
“Probably the reason I give most often and one that has a multitude of underlying causes is that it is hard to read. This can mean that it is boring, poorly written, an ugly or depressing story. It can also mean it is a story wherein nothing happens; it has no plot.
“What do I mean by poorly written? Aside from technical aspects of writing, I mean what I term expository writing. This is when a writer tells me what the character is thinking, saying, and doing instead of showing me. Of course, the entire book cannot be dialogue (then it would be a script) but needs a balance between narration and dialogue. Invariably, and I mean invariably, the books I find with this imbalance are self or vanity published with an occasional independent publisher.
“I am not saying that all self or indy published books are written this way. There are many well-written indy or self-published books and in the e-book age more good writers are self-publishing. But, I have never reviewed a big house published book written this way. A good editor can make or break a book.
“Strangely, I never hear this discussed. Is it a taboo to tell someone they need to write more dialogue? Sometimes good work gets rejected. Sometimes something I don’t enjoy gets published. But, if rejection slips arrive, The first thing I would do if I wrote fiction, instead of running to the computer to self-publish, would be to look at this aspect of a book.
“I applaud anyone who puts his or her work out-it’s like running naked in a parade. But if you do decide to write and show it then please, please look at this in your writing.
“Then the next thing I can say is that the dialogue is either too much, hard to follow (who said that?) or just off. I find newer writers tend to write men speaking with each other like pre-teen boys playing war with or without GI Joes. It’s like a less polite “nudge-nudge, wink-wink.”
“There are other things that bug me just as much. What about you? What do you you find hard to read? What makes a book unworthy ofyour time?
“Please note these are the thoughts of a morning, solely my opinion.”
I thought about Stephanie’s morning thoughts. She makes a very valid point, several actually. Many indie authors have not only rejected mainstream publishing (often with good reason), but they’ve rejected good writing in the hopes of making a quick buck. And sometimes they do, make a quick buck, I mean. It’s also possible they either don’t know what good writing is or don’t care; they just want to be published. Anybody can put words on a piece of paper or use a word processor. That’s not the definition of dedication to your craft and getting published doesn’t necessarily indicate talent.
I believe writing a good story not only requires at least a modicum of talent, it takes practice. Let me repeat that, writing a good story not only requires at least a modicum of talent, it takes practice. It also requires a willingness to look hard at your own creation and edit - either on your own or together with a decent editor. I agree with Stephanie, a good editor can make or break a book.
My experience differs from Stephanie’s in that I’ve read numerous books released by mainstream publishers that were either poorly conceived, poorly written, poorly edited, or all three. Indie authors haven’t cornered the market on bad books, that’s for damn sure.
I’d also like to discuss rejection letters. Many people mistakenly assume authors who submit work for consideration generally receive actual rejection letters. Those days are long gone. More often, a rejection letter takes the form of no response from either a publisher or a literary agent. In other words, if you don’t hear from me in X amount of time, or in, say, forever, go ahead and assume you’ve been rejected.
It’s been years since I’ve received a real rejection letter, one that actually explains why a work has been rejected, and even those I can count on three fingers. Typically, an author receives (if he or she receives anything at all) a form letter consisting of one sentence - This work does not meet our needs at this time, signed - The Agency or The Publisher. Often, there is no letter head on the half sheet of paper folded into the SASE, and no return address so the author doesn’t have a clue who’s rejecting the work, unless the author sent out a single query. Of course with email queries, no news is bad news. If you’re lucky, you might receive that one all-encompassing sentence in a form email.
Okay, just my thoughts. Stephanie never fails to make some interesting points. Here’s the original post.
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Yup, she makes some interesting points.
I’m not surprised that this is such a common topic between bloggers. It is a difficult decision for someone to give up on traditional publishing and choose to self-e-publish. It is even more difficult to tell afterwards if it was the right decision. Thanks for bringing it up on your blog!
There are definitely poorly written and edited big house pubbed books. But the expository is just something I have only gotten in self or indy pubbed books.
Interesting, Steph. The one place I almost always find it is Silhoutte Nocturne. They seem to like the - and then she went here, and then he did this - kind of writing.
Wonderful post Stephanie. I agree most authors can benefit from being paired with a good editor, if only for the experience of seeing the work through someone else’s eyes.
My problem with some of the big house publishers is not the clean, exposition free manuscripts-it’s the dull ultra repetitive content. I’ve bought many mainstream books lately I was unable to finish. The breezy meaningless dialog turned me off. (He said “Oh, shit! That’s some bad shit. How are we going to get out of this shit?” She said. “Shit I don’t know shit…)
This is the pattern: the first three chapters are strong, then the filler and formula writing kicks in so I skip ahead to the strong ending.
In their own way the large publishing houses have crafted a very predictable product.
Also, I like a deep POV, so often in fiction what’s thought and done is much more important than what was said.
Self-publishing is in it’s infancy, it’s an important part of publishing’s evolution and I fully expect it to some day deliver a masterpiece.
XXOO Kat
This is an awesome blog post on exposition http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2011/08/09/25-ways-to-make-exposition-your-bitch/
I wasn’t even aware of the term (as I’m not to most English-class-type jargon) before I started writing. I don’t mind exposition and description. Not pages and pages mind you, but a wonderfully, well-crafted description that moves the story along pulls me every time.
But I’m hearing more and more readers mention how they actually skim forward to pages with white space where they know they’ll find dialogue.
It’s definitely another one of those precarious lines wrtier walk.
How about “we writers walk”? Type much Nina? *headdesk*
I’ve read some very bad books from publishing houses that left me wondering how the heck that book got published and then sometimes you find these gems that are self published and you just have to wonder why a publishing house didn’t grab it up.
Self publishing is a great option, but it really isn’t for everyone sadly. Too many do it for their egos and it’s very transparent as soon as you read a few sentences. For writers who actually know what they’re doing and have practiced like Julia said, then it’s wonderful. I’ve actually noticed many big name authors self pubbing now. It’s changing, that’s for sure.
You know, it’s really funny. This business of whether or not someone enjoys a book. I’ve read tons of books my friends loved and I couldn’t stand them, or I just didn’t fall in love with them. Sometimes whether or not I enjoy a book just depends on what I feel like, when I’m reading the books. I’ve put a lot of stuff down recently that,had I read them a year or two ago, I know I would’ve loved. They just hit me at the wrong time. If I go back five years from now and re-read them, will I like them more? Who knows?Maybe, maybe not. It’ll just depend on my mood at the time. I’ve gone back and re-read books I’ve loved, and wonder what the heck I was thinking to keep the things so long.
Julianne - I’ve done the same thing, read a book everybody loves and thought…what on earth is everybody reading? Not the same book I am, that’s for sure! Yes, I had more patience a few years ago. Now if the writing or the story is repetitive or boring or not what I’d hoped for, I’m done.
Yes, Delilah. Regardless of whether an author self-publishes or a publishing house puts out a book, it should be the best it can be.
Great link, Nina! I don’t mind expository writing as long as it’s good. But that’s the same as any style - if the story is good, if the narrative, dialogue, action move the story forward, I’m okay.
Yup, Kat. You and Steph nailed it with this stupid adolescent dialogue.
Hi Lindsay - yes, I don’t know which is the right way to go just now in any case.
Hey, Amber. She always does!
I don’t feel there’s any excuse for a publisher or an agent to not, at least, send back a rejection form letter. To me, the ‘if you don’t hear from us we aren’t interested’ doesn’t get the job done. Sure they’re busy, who isn’t it?
And on the self pub vs the big publishers, there are writers on both sides of the fence that are good and there are writers on both sides of the fence not so good.
As you know, I’ve recycled several of my books into self publishing. It hasn’t been that great for me. I’m glad I tried it, but I’m not sure I’ll do any more.
I know, Sandra. It’s a new world with lots of good and bad and it’s pretty hard to stand out in the crowd.
I am a self-published author who uses an editor and would never dream of not doing so.
I’ve sold over 1500 books (so far) this year on Amazon. My humor, non-fiction collection of essays A WALK IN THE SNARK hit #1 on the Kindle Motherhood list in September, outranking mainstays Jenny McCarthy and Tori Spelling. I’ve been contacted (on Twitter, no less) by a top NY agent who’s reviewing my next book.
No disrespect, but this bias is getting ridiculous and old. I work with thousands of indie authors as cofounder of the Indie Book Collective ( http://indiebookcollective.com ). We vet books for every promotion, work w/ authors, and to a one, recommend authors work with professional editors, cover artists, use beta readers & reviewers, crit partners, whatever it takes to be sure their book is top notch quality before it’s ever released.
To continue to think that we simply upload our Word docs just to sell something with our name on it is ignorant at best.
Thanks for your time.
Rachel - you’re welcome here anytime. A Walk In the Snark is great. I’m also very pleased with the work I’ve self-published. There are good books and there are bad books.
Julia, As far as sticking out in a crowd. I think you’ve done a wonderful job of branding yourself. Kudos.