Thursday, February 9, 2012

I'm a Reader too!

I think this is going to be a continuation about my other posts on "Self Publishing vs. Traditional Publishing" I was also going to go off on a tangent about the economy but decided against it.
There are a great many self publishers out there, including myself now, but we need to remember that it's not always  about the money, but about keeping our readers happy and giving them quality books.
I love to read! And even though I'm a devoted Stephen King fan, I decided last year that I would support new authors by buying their books and reading them. But...
If I am going to spend money on a book,
 (which I rarely do,I normally tell everyone, I want this book or that book, for my birthday or Christmas, including the Stephen King ones.)
 I want the book to be worth the money I put out!
Since I am new to all the writing, self publishing thing, I have no right to hand out advice, but as a reader, now that's a different story...
I know you wrote the book, I know you want to get it out there and let others read it, but stop for a moment and read it yourself!
I know I am nit picky, but I don't want to spend money on a book and in the first chapter find 6 mistakes. I don't like to have to read a sentence over and over, trying to figure out what the writer is trying to say, because they have a word in there, that shouldn't even be in there.
I make the mistakes also when I write, hear becomes here, and know sometimes ends up as no, and my biggest mistake is HIS which always seems to be HI, I mean I will read back through mine and it will say "Hi green car was really blue" Huh? Yeah I do that all the time, but I am my biggest critic and will read back through what I wrote at least 10 times to make sure it makes sense and sometimes I will have someone else read through it too and that's all I'm asking. Before you upload it and hit publish, read through it and make sure it makes sense. As self publishers we don't have the luxury of agents and editors and proofreaders, so we need to do that ourselves or have a friend or family member do it.
Take pride in your work, make people want to buy more. Be your worst critic and your biggest fan!


You can find my other rants about self publishing vs. traditional publishing here;
http://karensdifferentcorners.wordpress.com/2012/02/08/now-i-know/#comment-37 
And here;
http://differentcornersinmylife.blogspot.com/2012/02/am-i-cheating.html

4 comments:

  1. I am my biggest critic, that's for sure. My writing partner is my biggest fan. lol

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Miranda! My best friend of the past 18 years is my biggest fan. She's an English Lit.professor and a writing instructor, so I always make sure I dot my i's and cross my T's lol! But I have told her I won't make her proofread what i write, so she's happy!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Couldn't agree with you more about reading and re-reading before publishing. Actually, I think paying for a professional editor is money well-spent on something that has my name attached to it. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Bridgette
    In our current economy many can't afford the professional editor, but that shouldn't stop us from taking pride in our work and rereading it or asking a friend or family member to read through it for us.

    ReplyDelete

Leave a comment. I'd love to hear your viewpoint