Archive for the ‘self-publishing’ Category
Misleading statements
Remember that previously published author I mentioned critiquing two days ago? Well, I only got a few pages into the submission when I stopped. There was no way this writing could have been published. Just way too many beginner mistakes.
So, being me, I went and did some research. His book is on amazon, but it’s through iUniverse – so he self-published.
Now, I have no issues with self-publishing. However, I think it’s misleading to state that you’re published or have been published without explaining that it was self-publishing.
Why?
While I tend to rant about the degradation in quality writing getting published these days, there is a minimum level of quality that has, at least for the moment, been maintained. This level of quality tends to be non-existent in most (although not all) self-published pieces.
I have read some self-published work, and, like people, the quality varies. But when you say “I’m published” there is a certain level of expectation on the quality of writing you are getting. In my opinion, self-publishing hasn’t proven out that level of quality yet. Whether it should do so is a seperate question. As long as people understand that it’s self-publishing, I think the expectation changes accordingly.
I finished my critique and submitted it yesterday morning. It ended up being about 6 pages, including excertps that I was commenting on. Hopefully he won’t be offended by the volume of edits, after all he specifically stated he wanted to make this the best possible.
We’ll see….
First Novel and Big Bucks
Wow. It’s almost like Christopher Paolini all over again. I just read a story about The Lace Reader. The author is a first time author. She and her husband self-published the book. It did so well, it caught the interest of a publishing company who bought the book for $2 million. Did I mention: WOW? Really big WOW!!
Here’s the full article in the Boston Globe.
aahhh…if only…