As the Brits Say –Mind the Gap! The fact is that there are more avenues for writers to publish their work now than ever. As ever though, there are two sides to this coin:
- Bad writers slipping through the net
- Good writers finding a home
- A quality read
- Something put together reasonably well with a beginning, middle and end and a coherent story
- Getting exactly what it says on the tin i.e. the fear, suspense, escapism inherent, respectively, in horror, crime, fantasy.
- The odd grammatical sentence
- decent spelling
- Believable characters
- Plot
- A satisfying ending
- A satisfying beginning, middle and ending
- Any consistency or standards
- £6.99 in the hopes that there’s going to be some visible standard
Quite the slippery slope. And what of the writers? Are you just after a sale on Amazon? Or do you want to be read? But I think the real question here is ‘Will a reader stick with your work long enough to appreciate it?’ And in my experience, this is where a writer requires an editor. They are their bridge to the reader. And without one, Mind The Gap indeed. Laura Miller has recently written a superb blog on this very subject if you’d care to read further. Signing Off, Nicola (Editorial Manager)
If you require the services of a professional editor, Nicola Perry can be found at The Story Studios. She primarily works with intermediate writers.
Editors will never become redundant. The reason for self-publishing is simple. There is a market for self-publishing.There is a lot of money to be had in self-publishing. Think of all the deluded wanna-be writers who think there writing is good enough, and should be recognized. When in fact their writing is probably sub-standard. No-one likes rejection. This can lead to desperate attempts to be published at any cost. And it will cost them financially, if they choose vanity publishers, or to self-publish privately. Aspiring authors should realise it is fatal to publish without an editor.
Great comment. there's definitely a debate that needs to happen here.
Anyone that self-publishes must be extremely vain or misguided. All the great authors had a confidant or a good friend to give an honest opinion of their work.. I refuse to believe that a genius could self-publish without leaving serious omissions or blatant errors in their work. There are to many aspects that make up a good novel to leave anything to chance.That is why It is critical to have a good editor. I am amazed at the so-called increasing popularity of self-publishing. I believe this increase is due to many deluded wanna-be writers, or aspiring authors who have received rejection slips from agents or publishers. Self-publishing will guarantee a lot of poor quality writing reaches the public domain. Self-publishing raises some serious questions. What percentage of self-published noveilsts are best-sellers? How many self-published authors have had some success? How many authors self-publish for a second time? How are agents, publishers going to combat this new trend? Will self-publishing eventually decline, if statistics prove very few authors are successful? Who gains most out of self-publishing?