And, following some self-promotional links in a couple of G+ writing communities, I decided to read some of the stuff they were self promoting. It's a book. A YA Book. I've read some pretty darn good YA stuff and have a few YA authors that I really like. Tamora Pierce being one of them. In addition, there are those who we all know who've have made it to Mainstream USA and Movie Deal Land. The cover looks amazing and professionally done... so what have I got to lose?
Here's how it went --
*reads first page* Huh?
*re-reads first page* - Oh. There are two figures here, and this is supposed to be a dream scene... it said so in the first line, so maybe the disjointedness is intentional. Wait, was this sentence referring to Red or the Other One? Two "hes" and "his's" each wearing a cloak... *head hurts.* Oh great, now there is a third un-named, hooded/cloaked figure slipping through the shadows.
*puts down Kindle. Thinks for a bit, then removes book from device.*
Call me a literary snob. Maybe my literary standards have been ingrained in me through my years as an academic who studied writing as an art. Maybe I'm the type of reader that is not the right kind of audience for this novel. Perhaps this will one day be the Jackson Pollock of YA fantasy literature and I am more appreciative of the classics.
My work may be just as bad, and when I revise my work from cover to cover, I will be just as critical.
I felt that this novel (in the first 3 pages, so it may be too much of a snap judgement, but agents and traditional publisher make just this kind of judgement) could use some MAJOR revision. Language needed to be tightened, characters needed to be fleshed out, and more time needs to be spent refining the work.
The initial "feel" that I got from the book's opening was something gothic, akin to Frankenstein or Dracula, but abrupt shifts in the focus within the sentences/paragraphs, the language of the characters' dialog, and the grammatical/punctuational errors all detracted and distracted from the mood the author tried to create. These are things I'd expect a good group of beta readers to catch. These are the things I'd expect a good agent or editor to catch.
So I did some sleuthing and my suspicions were confirmed... this was a self-pub work being distributed by Amazon. There's a reason why it's free. I felt deceived and cheated by the 4-star ratings that it has... until I saw that less than two score of readers have bothered to review it since 2009.
So, here're my questions to the published authors out there, whether you are self-published or traditionally published (and if you choose to answer them, indicate if you were a self-pub or not)-
1) What is your revision process and how many revisions did you end up going through before publishing?
2) Questions on test readers:
How many people did you ask to read your initial work and did any of them offer constructive critiques? Were there any writers in this group of readers?
If you had multiple revisions, did you have separate groups of readers for each revision?
3) Did you have a professional to edit and proof your final revision?
4) And if you are self-pub, did you try the traditional publishing options before going the self-publishing route?
Thanks for reading and thanks in advance for answering!
-JWM
1. I learned the hard way with my first book, I revise while I am writing, I revise once cover to cover and my editor does 2 cover to covers.
ReplyDelete2. I had never used Beta Readers before, however, that is something I plan to implement before my next release.
3. I had my editor who is also a professional poet edit.
4. I looked into traditional publishing options and found the process frustrating and for me not worth the trouble. I can self pub with much less hassel, however, I only publish for e-books at this point and only on Amazon. I will be releasing all my work on B&N in April this year.
Your welcome...LOL Hope it helped. :) Love the blogs!
1) How many drafts? It depends on what counts as a draft. My first novel went through three major start-to-finish edits where I added scenes, changed characters, rewrote scenes, etc. It also went through about four minor edits where I tweaked language, did proofreading, incorporated changes from my copy-editor, etc. So, was that seven drafts, three drafts, or only one since I didn't restart from a blank page? Now, what goes on in those edits is a long story and will probably be a blog entry in the near future.
ReplyDelete2) For my first novel, I used three beta readers. All three were avid readers in my genre. One was a professional non-fiction editor. One was an unpublished writer. One was just another reader. I went through two rounds of beta reading. For my second novel, I only used two of those readers, and only went through one round of beta reading. The changes required for the second novel simply weren't as severe, so I didn't feel the need to go back to them.
3) I paid for a professional copy-edit of my first novel. I'm about to hand my second one off for its copy-edit pass.
4) I did self-publish, but I did not actually try traditional publishing. I did lots of research, thought long and hard about it, and concluded that my goals for publishing were not terribly compatible with the way traditional publishing is operating today. That may change in the future, but I decided I would pursue self-publishing for at least three years before possibly changing course.
Nan and Dan - Thank you for your responses. It helps to see how others have approached the revisions/ beta reading process. :D
ReplyDelete1) One draft, two revisions. However, I get editorial review for each revision. So I write a draft, send it to the editor. Editor sends back comments and corrections. Sometimes - rarely - those warrant major rewrites, but most often it's just tweaking. One of my common foibles is insufficient internal viewpoint (getting into the character's head so the reader can see what s/he is thinking and feeling), so my editor is working heavily with me on that aspect of craft. Then I send the revised material back to the editor, who sends it back to me. Then I publish. Actually, that's not quite true, because the material gets a quick proofread before it goes up, a last check for random typos the editor missed on the two passes.
ReplyDelete2) I don't really use beta readers, although I know folks who do quite well with it. I prefer to employ a professional editor at this stage in my writing.
3) Yes - see above.
4) I have been traditionally published. I haven't bothered submitting to traditional publishers in quite a while, though. In the present climate, I don't think the rights grabs used in major publishers' contracts are conducive to a long writing career, and their advances and ebook royalty percentages are low enough I'm pretty much guaranteed to make more from self publishing my work. That may change (if I get better known, therefore get better offers and have the clout to get bad contract clauses removed). But for now, that's where I am at.