3 ms·

> One or two drafts is not enough, even for experienced established novelists. cough Elmore Leonard cough cough Robert Heinlein cough > Not to mention that,

by sacado2 10y ago

> One or two drafts is not enough, even for experienced established novelists. cough Elmore Leonard cough cough Robert Heinlein cough > Not to mention that, once self-published, a book is highly unlikely to be re-published by a traditional publisher, especially for a first-time author. That's a good thing. I think more writers should be in a "fire an forget" mode, i.e write a book, self-publish it, have readers or not, and move on to the next story. Rinse and repeat until you are able to write good stories. I think it's much better for self-esteem to be able to think "I already wrote 5 novels. Most are shit but, hey, it's getting better and better every time" than "argh, I have to write that first novel from scratch, for the fifth time. I'm fed up with it. I've been working on it for 10 years. I feel like I won't ever finish it. Maybe this writing thing is not for me".

vgt 10y ago
If you can write a great novel in one or two drafts, more power to you. I mentioned that it's not an absolute rule, especially for established experienced authors. However, if you're an aspiring novelist, and you are frustrated that agents are not responding to your query letters with 5 pages of manuscript, and you've only done one or two drafts, there's a good chance that your book just isn't ready. The other point I make is that the self-publishing industry allows for books that are objectively "not ready to enter the market" to enter the market, and at a ratio that overwhelms books that ARE objectively ready. This skews the market.
- sacado2 10y ago
  Yes, that's true, but I think self-publishing authors (at least on the ebook market) adapted. Amazon is very good on this market. More often than not, if you want to make money in that niche, you better publish series with a free first episode. If your book sucks, the reader will put it back very fast. Nobody will buy your series, and your book will quickly get lost in the abyss of amazon's search engines. So, it kinda works. People who know you will be able to download your awful book, while innocent anonymous amazon customers will never find it by accident. > However, if you're an aspiring novelist, and you are frustrated that agents are not responding to your query letters with 5 pages of manuscript, and you've only done one or two drafts, there's a good chance that your book just isn't ready. Yes, but the question is : is it worth keeping working on that book or is it better to forget and start working on a new one ? There is no definitive answer, but abandoning forever the first novel I ever wrote was the best decision in my writer life. YMMV.

by sacado2 10y ago

vgt 10y ago

If you can write a great novel in one or two drafts, more power to you. I mentioned that it's not an absolute rule, especially for established experienced authors. However, if you're an aspiring novelist, and you are frustrated that agents are not responding to your query letters with 5 pages of manuscript, and you've only done one or two drafts, there's a good chance that your book just isn't ready. The other point I make is that the self-publishing industry allows for books that are objectively "not ready to enter the market" to enter the market, and at a ratio that overwhelms books that ARE objectively ready. This skews the market.

sacado2 10y ago
Yes, that's true, but I think self-publishing authors (at least on the ebook market) adapted. Amazon is very good on this market. More often than not, if you want to make money in that niche, you better publish series with a free first episode. If your book sucks, the reader will put it back very fast. Nobody will buy your series, and your book will quickly get lost in the abyss of amazon's search engines. So, it kinda works. People who know you will be able to download your awful book, while innocent anonymous amazon customers will never find it by accident. > However, if you're an aspiring novelist, and you are frustrated that agents are not responding to your query letters with 5 pages of manuscript, and you've only done one or two drafts, there's a good chance that your book just isn't ready. Yes, but the question is : is it worth keeping working on that book or is it better to forget and start working on a new one ? There is no definitive answer, but abandoning forever the first novel I ever wrote was the best decision in my writer life. YMMV.