Sue Grafton: "The universe will come to your aid."

[spindlegirl]

Originally Posted by tompe

But it is lazy to publish a book that is not ready for publishing.

I still do not get it. And from what I have heard she is right. If you write good enough you will find a publisher.

I agree. And nowadays it is harder to get past the scrutiny of people who have already read stuff for free (via loans, etc). The days of "blind buying" are circling the drain. It's up to the writer to find their niche market and sell themselves by being good authors.

I have read some books that (in my subjective opinion) were stinkers, and would subsequently see posts from them on various places, complaining that their books weren't selling well "after all their hard work". The customer has to like the fruits of their labours. Working hard in and of itself doesn't guarantee anything when it comes to fiction.

So yes, she is right, and she said it bluntly.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by spindlegirl

I agree. And nowadays it is harder to get past the scrutiny of people who have already read stuff for free (via loans, etc). The days of "blind buying" are circling the drain. It's up to the writer to find their niche market and sell themselves by being good authors.

I have read some books that (in my subjective opinion) were stinkers, and would subsequently see posts from them on various places, complaining that their books weren't selling well "after all their hard work". The customer has to like the fruits of their labours. Working hard in and of itself doesn't guarantee anything when it comes to fiction.

So yes, she is right, and she said it bluntly.

How does that make her right? I've read a lot of books put out by traditional publishers that were complete crap too, it doesn't guarantee anything. Is someone like Courtney Milan who self publishes, but hires editors and stuff lazy? I don't think so.

[spindlegirl]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

How does that make her right? I've read a lot of books put out by traditional publishers that were complete crap too, it doesn't guarantee anything. Is someone like Courtney Milan who self publishes, but hires editors and stuff lazy? I don't think so.

Oh absolutely. I wasn't really addressing the self-pub vs trad. pub, i was simply addressing the whole "the universe will come to your aid".... I pretty much agree with her point about working hard and honing your craft. I ignored the bit about self-publishing.

I most certainly don't think self-published authors are lazy. I have a tidy collection in calibre of Smashwords books that I've quite enjoyed on that front.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by spindlegirl

Oh absolutely. I wasn't really addressing the self-pub vs trad. pub, i was simply addressing the whole "the universe will come to your aid".... I pretty much agree with her point about working hard and honing your craft. I ignored the bit about self-publishing.

I most certainly don't think self-published authors are lazy. I have a tidy collection in calibre of Smashwords books that I've quite enjoyed on that front.

My bad, I read what you said wrong. I agree either route involves a lot of hard work to be successful.

[spindlegirl]

No worries.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Catlady

My take:

Self-publishing seems to be more about marketing than about quality writing. Too many so-called authors seem to be devoting an awful lot of time and energy to self-promotion, not to improving their writing skills.

Seems to me this shows that a lot of self pubbed authors do a better job of marketing themselves than trad pubbed authors and their publishers are doing. We have no way of knowing how much time and energy any author spends improving their skills.

[QuantumIguana]

Quit worrying about publication and master your craft. If you have a good story to tell and if you write it well, the Universe will come to your aid. Don’t self-publish. That’s as good as admitting you’re too lazy to do the hard work.

She's right only about the part writing better. She's wrong about the universe coming to your aid. It doesn't. It reminds me of the fable to the grasshopper and the ant. The grasshopper might have said that the universe comes to your aid, the ant certainly wouldn't have said it. Publishers do reject good stories. For her to be right, it must be the case that all good stories will eventually be picked up by a publisher. But the publishers aren't infallible. Every time you read and enjoy a self-published book, you prove her wrong.

Her calling self-published authors lazy is idiotic. Both the author who sumbits their work to a publisher and the author self-publishes have both done work, we can't assume the latter did not put time and effort into it. But the self-published author has to do the marketing themselves, and that's not for the lazy.

[Muckraker]

If you have a good story to tell and if you write it well, the Universe will come to your aid.

I didn't know the Universe manifests as interns sifting through slush-piles.

Publication is fully dependent on people. People are imperfect, unreliable, and not prone to making the "best" choices when their paychecks are on the line.

Her statement implies that the absolute worst scrap of "professionally" published material is better than the absolute best manuscript sitting in a trunk in a dead man's storage locker.

She ignores the fact that at some point the writer focused on improving themselves and getting professionally published will be forced to spend quite a bit of time writing query letters, licking stamps, and managing the whole process of submitting a manuscript to a publisher. How is that different than a writer focused on improving themselves and then taking the steps to publish their own work?

Like major movie studios, publishing houses exist to make money. What she is saying is no different than advising the creators of the Blair Witch Project that their time would have been better spent polishing the script and putting its future in the hands of a movie studio that just released a remake of Herbie Goes Bananas.

The Universe is just as fickle as the Humans inhabiting it and I certainly won't spend my whole life waiting on something so notoriously unreliable and unpunctual.

[RHWright]

Publishing (indy, trad, or otherwise) has become so marketing-driven that writers on all sides can, and some have, become lazy. As long as there's enough of a hook to sell it, it seems to go out there, regardless of quality.

I think we would all like to see authors hone their craft, improve it, and put out the best stories possible. This is not always the case, regardless of publishing channel.

I think there is a tendency in self-pub to rush product out without covering the basics, both in terms of writing and production. In years past, the traditional route may have provided enough challenges and feedback to help authors improve before finding publication. I doubt this is any longer the case, if it ever was more than an isolated practice.

I think there are good and bad writers out there in all channels. I don't think many publishers act as arbiters of quality, but are more focused on calculated marketing decisions.

The takeaway on this, despite Grafton being a little off-kilter in her views on self-publishing, is that just because the tools of publishing are more easily and affordably available, it doesn't mean you are ready to publish. Writing is hard work. It is work to just do it. It is work to make it good. It is work to make it better. With self-pub, add on all the tasks of design, publishing, and marketing. And just because technology has made them easier to do, doesn't mean they are easy to do.

I think Grafton is off on much of her point. But when you are a hard-working professional at something, I bet it can be annoying to see others take the lazy way out and claim their work has equal merit. (And I am not saying self-pub is being lazy. Not at all.) So to see all these "published authors" flitting about with sub-standard books must be a little grating.

Any author who puts in the time, work, and effort to be a true professional should be proud of themselves, no matter how they are published. I could name a few "professional" writers who are hardly worthy of the name, too.

[david_e]

.....

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by sabredog

I doubt they would ever have been traditionally published by the BPH's, who pick and chose those authors they expect to get massive returns from.

Each of the big six publish thousands of books every year, large numbers of which haven't the slightest chance of generating massive returns. Here are a few quickly chosen Penguin titles:

The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten: 100 Experiments for the Armchair Philosopher

A Field Guide to Radiation

Unknown Quantity: A Real and Imaginary History of Algebra

Yes, they are non-fiction. It's in the nature of fiction that almost any publishable book could be a surprise best-seller. An exception would be new translations of old literature. Here's one from Random House I just found and now plan to read:

Doctor Zhivago


It could be correct that advances and massive rewrites are the past, and copy-edited-only solitary authors are the future. If so, from where I read, that's bad.

If those big publishers really are dinosaurs, it may just be that I'll be reading more books from university publishing houses.

[BeccaPrice]

actually, that book about the history of algebra sounds interesting...

[SteveEisenberg]

.....

[carld]

Originally Posted by BeccaPrice

actually, that book about the history of algebra sounds interesting...

I was just going to say that. Too bad it isn't available as an ebook.

[sabredog]

Originally Posted by david_e

And she is absolutely correct.

Publishing is a business whose sole and singular purpose is to make money. If they can't make money on it, it's crap to them.

That is certainly the attitude they have and damn what the customers are demanding and expecting. All the while they fight rearguard actions defending antiquated entrenched business models.

For those authors who are rejected as non money making assets, self publishing is the new and better option.

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

Each of the big six publish thousands of books every year, large numbers of which haven't the slightest chance of generating massive returns...

and thus not much income for the author of those books.

Did you follow the link below at all? Sums up pretty much mine and apparently other members thoughts about the matter.

http://www.hughhowey.com/my-favorite...rafton-novels/

Originally Posted by BeccaPrice

actually, that book about the history of algebra sounds interesting...

Look out coming to a movie screen near you.....