Thanks to Richard Gibney for inviting me on this Blog Tour for Larysia Writes Bloghop. Larysia is a marvelous Canadian poet and author. Check out her online presence where you'll find her own writerly pet peeves. Also, please hop over and read Safie Maken-Finlay's Pet-Peeves: Other People.
1) Writers who believe their books should be #1 Bestsellers right out of the gate because they are clearly brilliant.These people tend to see nothing outside of their work and rarely have a decent editor go through their masterpiece. These are often riddled with grammar errors and muddled plot holes. They also believe a publisher will surely see the glowing beacon of their genius from a mile away, so there is no need for them to learn the marketing aspects that lesser authors (i.e. Indies) must figure out if they’re ever going to sell a book to anyone other than mom, dad, and their bff.
Look, the statistics aren’t in our favor no matter how good our writing is. With millions upon millions of books clogging up Amazon’s plumbing, you need clean manuscripts, read by betas from all walks of life. If they say something doesn’t make sense to them, it doesn’t make sense to your readers. Fix it. But if you believe something is integral to your plot, and it is not a mistake, stick by your guns.
How do I react when others refuse to listen to this advice? Grin, nod, reassure them they have a smashing success on their hands, and back away slowly.
2. Writers who give up when they find out their books aren’t brilliant and don’t sell. A bad review is like someone telling you your beautiful child is ugly. They hurt to the core. Wallow in it for about an hour, listen to emo music if you must, but then really read what the review is telling you. Some readers have great points you might use in your next effort.
Writing and self-publishing have a huge learning curve. If you don’t want to learn, then maybe you should give up. But don’t ask others to try to change your mind—to convince you that you’ll sell millions of books soon enough.
What do I say to those people who coming crying to me that they aren’t selling books? Read pet-peeve #1.
How do I know these things? I've made these mistakes myself.
Also taking part in this blog hop:
1) Writers who believe their books should be #1 Bestsellers right out of the gate because they are clearly brilliant.These people tend to see nothing outside of their work and rarely have a decent editor go through their masterpiece. These are often riddled with grammar errors and muddled plot holes. They also believe a publisher will surely see the glowing beacon of their genius from a mile away, so there is no need for them to learn the marketing aspects that lesser authors (i.e. Indies) must figure out if they’re ever going to sell a book to anyone other than mom, dad, and their bff.
Look, the statistics aren’t in our favor no matter how good our writing is. With millions upon millions of books clogging up Amazon’s plumbing, you need clean manuscripts, read by betas from all walks of life. If they say something doesn’t make sense to them, it doesn’t make sense to your readers. Fix it. But if you believe something is integral to your plot, and it is not a mistake, stick by your guns.
How do I react when others refuse to listen to this advice? Grin, nod, reassure them they have a smashing success on their hands, and back away slowly.
2. Writers who give up when they find out their books aren’t brilliant and don’t sell. A bad review is like someone telling you your beautiful child is ugly. They hurt to the core. Wallow in it for about an hour, listen to emo music if you must, but then really read what the review is telling you. Some readers have great points you might use in your next effort.
Writing and self-publishing have a huge learning curve. If you don’t want to learn, then maybe you should give up. But don’t ask others to try to change your mind—to convince you that you’ll sell millions of books soon enough.
What do I say to those people who coming crying to me that they aren’t selling books? Read pet-peeve #1.
How do I know these things? I've made these mistakes myself.
Also taking part in this blog hop:
DARIO CANNIZZARO was born in the sun-eaten Naples, Italy in 1982. He moved to Ireland in 2011, and has called it home ever since. He started writing short stories at seven, which are shamefully lost forever, but has never stopped writing since. His works have been published in Italian and English in Literary Magazines such as The Galway Review, Two Thousand Words and Chantwood Magazine. His debut book is out now - a collection of short stories called “Of Life, Death, Aliens and Zombies”, which has been compared to Vonnegut, Fante, Bukowski, and Keret. His website is https://dariowrites.com/. |