Just as I suspected and have been talking about lately: the bone of contention is sloppy writing and sloppy presentation. I loved the 12 point font comment. In all the thousands of books I have read, not a single adult book has been printed in a 12 font??? It's too big and it looks child-like.
And editing/revision, well, I have already said enough about that. Lord knows I have had a misplaced comma or a typo or two, even an accidental mistep with a word -- it happens when you are in the throes. Editing will fix all that, but it takes a fair amount of education, patience, and practice ... and isn't your book worth it?
I also think everyone who plans to write should know a thing or two about literary theory. It can only help.
Nothing new here. It was about what I expected. I have to wonder how many self-published books some of these people have actually read. I always get the feeling that they're basing their opinions on just one or two books they happened to glance through, or they're just echoing what others in their field have said about the subject. No doubt, there are tons of bad self-published books, but to say that all self-pubbed books are unworthy because they're not "real" published is unfair.
The greatest argument against reviewing self-published books is that there are too many books from traditional publishers to begin with, so reviewers have to draw the line somewhere or they'll never get through the pile. But a lot of those comments seem like basic snobbery - the most maddening is the statement, "If it was good enough it would find a publisher," which is a fantasy.
It is certaonly more of the smae, even compared to previous reports from the same source. But there is an uncomfortable combionation of truth in the rareness but truly idiosyncratic excellence of some self-published books. Not everyone will take the trouble to search the haystak even for a golden needle ;)
4 comments:
Just as I suspected and have been talking about lately: the bone of contention is sloppy writing and sloppy presentation. I loved the 12 point font comment. In all the thousands of books I have read, not a single adult book has been printed in a 12 font??? It's too big and it looks child-like.
And editing/revision, well, I have already said enough about that. Lord knows I have had a misplaced comma or a typo or two, even an accidental mistep with a word -- it happens when you are in the throes. Editing will fix all that, but it takes a fair amount of education, patience, and practice ... and isn't your book worth it?
I also think everyone who plans to write should know a thing or two about literary theory. It can only help.
Nothing new here. It was about what I expected. I have to wonder how many self-published books some of these people have actually read. I always get the feeling that they're basing their opinions on just one or two books they happened to glance through, or they're just echoing what others in their field have said about the subject.
No doubt, there are tons of bad self-published books, but to say that all self-pubbed books are unworthy because they're not "real" published is unfair.
The greatest argument against reviewing self-published books is that there are too many books from traditional publishers to begin with, so reviewers have to draw the line somewhere or they'll never get through the pile. But a lot of those comments seem like basic snobbery - the most maddening is the statement, "If it was good enough it would find a publisher," which is a fantasy.
It is certaonly more of the smae, even compared to previous reports from the same source. But there is an uncomfortable combionation of truth in the rareness but truly idiosyncratic excellence of some self-published books. Not everyone will take the trouble to search the haystak even for a golden needle ;)
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