My two cents … on handling criticism(or not)
As a writer, and what’s more one who would like to be published (the subtext of successful kind of goes without saying doesn’t it? Or did I..oh never mind), I tend to check out articles, blog posts and books that can help me improve both my writing and my chances of publication.
I am more inclined to look at the “what not to do” than the “do it this way” because, I suppose, I am contrary by nature and don’t like being told what to do. However tell me what to avoid and I’ll happily figure the rest out.
When a member of a writing group I belong to posted a link labelled “What Not To Do” it was a sure thing I was going to read it. Me and about a million other people around the world (though admittedly not all from Kate’s link…) In fact the blog post in question has gone viral and the author who is the subject of the original post has probably killed her career.
So what’s all the fuss about and more importantly what, if anything, can we learn from it? Well on March 16, BooksandPals.com reviewer Big Al posted a review on his site about a book he had just read. Keep in mind this is his site and his opinion – opinion being what reviews are after all.
Big Al wasn’t rude; he wasn’t even what I would consider scathing. In fact, I thought he was quite tactful – he said he liked the story but that there were – and I quote - ’numerous proofing, typo, and grammar issues’. He gave the book two stars.
This is where it gets interesting.
Ms Howett, the author, went on the attack. She accused Big Al of not having the correct version of the book, she told him the issues were due only to formatting and had been solved, she insisted he didn’t understand her writing because she was English and not American, and even pasted three reviews from Amazon that ‘proved’ her brilliance. Basically she didn’t like getting a less than stellar review. Well who does? Let’s be honest here. Nobody likes to get a bad review – most of us however have had the good sense to take them in our stride and move on.
But Ms Howett did not stop here. When members of the public sided with Big Al (for a variety of reasons) she demanded the review be removed (evidently it was ‘discusting’ - her typo not mine). When her demand was refused she began to respond to comments with the ever charming “Fuck Off!”
So, what is there to learn from this?
For a start, if you don’t want a bad review, don’t be a writer. Or a musician. Or an artist. Or anything else creative. Anything creative is subjective and there is going to be someone, somewhere who doesn’t like your work. They are well within their rights to say so. Especially on their own website. You then have a choice of either being gracious or ungracious - and trust me one of those is going to do your career a lot more damage than the other. If you can’t figure out which one, you really are in the wrong job.
My next point is about self publishing and e-publishing. There is a fear among writers and readers that the ease with which material can be published today will dilute the quality available. I’ve always felt this was perhaps a little unfair. Where poor writing vs good writing is concerned – do we not trust readers to be able to tell the difference? Besides, if you’ll pardon the cliche, at the end of the day reading is subjective – so who is to say what is Good or not Good (and the use of the capital is deliberate). However good grammar, spelling and proofing have nothing to do with good writing.
Even the best writer can make a mistake and that is why editors exist (I may be biased I admit – sue me). Amanda Hocking recently said “Readers complaints about the editing of my books. I have hired editors. Many, many editors. And I know that I can outsource editing, but I’m clearly doing a really shitty job of picking editors. EDIT: The people hired as editors are great people who worked very hard. Which is the most frustrating thing about the continued complaints of errors in my books. I know that my books are better because of the people I hired. And I don’t understand how there can still be errors. So my remark at “shitty” is over my frustration at the situation. Not the actual editors or the work they did.” My point is that if you’ve goofed up and it shows in the final edit, suck it up and use it to ensure it doesn’t happen next time.
Ms Howett has preferred instead to alienate potential readers. They say there is no such thing as bad publicity – as someone who has worked in the media I’m not sure I agree with that, especially in this case. I have in my time read – and loved – more than a few books that have received far worse reviews than the one given by Big Al to Ms Howett. I’ve loathed books that have had stellar reviews – hell I’ll openly admit I think Macbeth is a huge snorefest. Rightly or wrongly however I am not going to read The Greek Seaman – purely because I think she did writers a huge disservice in acting like a spoiled brat.
Among the people she abused on the blog were not only readers and reviewers but editors, agents, and publishers, all of whom are likely going to put her firmly in the ‘way too hard basket’. All the things people assume about self publishing novelists not really being professional enough, she just confirmed. She just made life for those of us who are starting out and who are considering self publishing (for whatever reason) or e-publishing that much harder.
All of that said, should we burn the woman at the literary stake? Well I think she’s pretty much done that herself but I would like to hope she will try again, this time taking on board some of the criticism and trying to improve her work. Surely as writers we should all be trying to see where we can improve and polish our skills and ultimately the story we give our readers.
Criticism stings. It does however come with the territory – and if you aren’t prepared to take the good with the bad, perhaps it’s time to consider a career change.
Image: Anton from Ratatouille – Disney Pictures.
The time has come the Walrus said….
to speak of many things…blah, blah, blah. Lewis Carroll can afford to wax lyrical – he was successful in his own time. That however is not what I am here to discuss this blustery morning. The many things of which it is time to speak, revolve mainly around the world of publishing.
As a writer, obviously my goal in life is to be published. Secondary to that would be to be successful. I say secondary because if my work is not published, in some fashion, the subject of success becomes somewhat moot (can you have a moot subject? Or only a moot point? Hmmmm – it’s a good question but I’m going to assume you know what I mean.)
The challenge for a writer is of course getting a publisher to read your manuscript. Actually getting that baby on the right desk in front of the right eyes is hurdle number one. Hurdle because there are a gazillion other writers out there all trying to do the same thing. And because there are a gazillion other writers, you need to be Very Careful. Capitalisation there is deliberate by the way. If you make the slightest goof up – put your name on the wrong place on the page, have your spacing or your margins incorrectly set, or, heaven forbid, the reader doesn’t share your enthusiasm for orpahned wizards, sexually frustrated and eternally teenage vampires, or heck, even flamingo weilding little girls in dare I say it, Alice bands, your work is going to be tossed on the ever dreaded slush pile. Forget scoring a D – you are scoring an R – for REJECTED.
I would like to say here, that rejection can be a good thing. It is certainly something writers need to accept and learn from. There are many good reasons to be rejected – and twice as many good things to learn from it. The most important of all being you should be learning more about your craft each time – each rejection should in fact help you improve your craft. In some fashion. But I digress.
Over the past few days I have been researching and reading about independent publishing – for now let’s define that as self publishing and print on demand – and in particular epublishing. There is a fantastic article circulating about 26 year old Amanda Hocking and her million dollar success with ebooks. Writer Jon F Merz has also had success with ebooks and while it is not on Hocking’s level, yet, it is still worth taking note of.
Two things leapt out at me from the success of these two writers. The first was they had sidestepped the square dance a writer usually has to go through with a publisher. JK Rowling was famously rejected 20 times before Harry Potter was picked up (and don’t you feel just a bit sorry for those publishers who said ‘no’ and have been kicking themselves ever since?). Stephen King evidently was so broke when he received The Call about his breakthrough novel, Carrie, he slid down the wall in shock while listening to his agent.
Whether you are writing books, essays, songs, movies, the publisher (insert music, film, TV company if you like) holds the cards. And mostly because they hold the purse strings. Writer’s need them don’t you know? Publishers do the hard, expensive stuff: the printing, the marketing, the holding of stock, and finally the mailing out of royalty cheques. If you are a Rowling or a King you might get 25% of the cover price. If you’re a newbie, chances are that is much lower. So if you are a real newbie and you get $1/book from sales and you sell 5,000 copies – that’s $5,000. Before tax. If it took you three months of 40 hour weeks to write the book, that’s around $10/hour. And please stick with me here before you tell me off for wanting King’s paycheck – we’ll get to that in a minute.
Before I get the lecture on not doing it for the money – give me a break. Writers write because they love to write – and yes the story is more important than the dollar. But if you are writing full time and you are not worried about the money, you are either already on the best seller list or you don’t have a mortgage. Writing is my JOB – it is supposed to bring me an income. I’m too old to do the starving artist thing – I have a mortgage, three kids, two Labradors and a chocolate habit to support. Luckily I am making a living from writing for other people – so at this stage making income from book sales is not imperative – but I hope to be among those lucky enough to say they are concerned with their sales.
Ebooks – and print on demand – make sense to me. They cost next to nothing to produce, there’s no typesetting, no printing, no inventory, minimal marketing. It takes around half an hour to convert your manuscript and have it online for sale – I know, I’ve done it. And if Hocking and Merz are anything to go by, readers are buying.
This is usually where someone jumps in and says “but it’s not the same reading an e-reader.” Well I beg to differ. I love to read – and I read A LOT – and I see no difference between my Kobo and a book. Actually that’s a lie. My Kobo is lighter, easier to carry around, and I can carry 1,000 books in my handbag without requiring physical therapy . However, I also love books – actual physical books – so I have overflowing book cases still. Of the books I especially love. Of the books I like to read in the tub while I sip cold bubbly and nibble truffles ( a passtime I don’t get to indulge in nearly enough I might add). Of books I simply admire visually.
My children on the other hand only enjoy reading. They could not care less about books. All of the lovely books I bought them as children are stacked under the stairs – they prefer to read online, on e-readers, on iPods/iPads. I don’t care how they read, I care that they read – and reading they are.
Still not convinced people read ebooks? During a March 3 press event held to unveil the second generation iPad, Apple announced that its e-book store had served 100 million e-books to readers during the first 11 months of opening.
This is where it gets interesting too.
Hocking makes a really good point on her blog about that fact that just because you are self publishing, that does not mean you are going to sell a million copies. Your writing still comes under the same spotlight as if you were publishing in the traditional manner. Because it doesn’t matter if your work is being sold through a major publishing house or through a print on demand indie company or even just off your blog site – you work will only sell if readers think you are worth their time and money. And surprise, surprise if you are a newbie and you want a reader to take a gamble on your work – they are more inclined to do that if it is not going to cost them too much. Amanda Hocking sells her ebooks for around three dollars (on average) and she keeps 70% of that. People like what she writes so they rate her work, they talk about it, they share it around – and all of a sudden Amanda’s job is paying her a decent income. Merz made more in one month from e-books than he had in a year.
Any sensible publishing company is going to be watching these two writers closely. Merz already has a traditional publishing contract and I’m willing to bet they are watching what’s happening with a lot of interest to see how they can leverage this new success – and so they should. This isn’t about making publishers the bad guys – it’s about creating the opportunity to open doors for everyone.
Which brings us back to the question of money and whether or not I think I should get King’s pay cheque. Or, since I don’t write horror, Candace Bushnell’s pay cheque. Well if she’d like to donate it to the Angelique Jurd Fund for Struggling Writers, I won’t say no but no I don’t expect to make what they’re making. At this stage – I want to see if anyone is even interested in buying my work. Because if they are, that has the potential to become a card in my favour when talking with publishers.
When I put The Great Urban Ark up on Lulu.com it was interesting to look at the breakdown. The paperback is on for US$14.75 – 0f which $1 comes to me. The e-book is on for $3.99 of which $2.20 comes to me. You do the math. I don’t expect The Great Urban Ark to sell – but I do have other projects in mind that I will be approaching with the very firm intent of selling.
Of course all writers want to see their books on shelves and I am no different. I have simply come to the conclusion that seeing a physical book with a little waterproof bird from the South Pole on the spine isn’t my ultimate goal. Selling my work to people who enjoy reading it is my goal.
So what do I care how and where they read it?