tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5704943052235281766.post5098294150031565358..comments2024-03-29T05:45:39.184-06:00Comments on Blood-Red Pencil: What Makes a Book Marketable? #2Danihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14471919576687777886noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5704943052235281766.post-10642990311288941302009-11-29T06:19:07.471-07:002009-11-29T06:19:07.471-07:00I get that economics influencee how much one can s...I get that economics influencee how much one can spend on editing (and promoting and and and) a book, but the worst place, wrong place to cut corners and save pennies is in the editing process. <br /><br />The final product has to be god - and a good editor helps to achieve this. The coolest cover, the best PR, brilliant use of social networking and book signings galore will not (ultimately) translate into dollars if teh product is weak... maybe initially, but readers aren't dumb, reviewers aren't dumb, librarians aren't dumb. Word will get out if the story is dull, if the characters are flat, if the dialogue like you know, sucks...<br /><br />And people may forgive one or two typos, but poorly constructed sentences, incorrect spelling, absent punctuation marks and the like will turn off readers and it will be very difficult to win them back.<br /><br />Cheers, Jill<br />"Blood and Groom" is now in stores!<br />www.jilledmondson.comJillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05152599507268946811noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5704943052235281766.post-65698654008888450562009-11-28T15:56:22.140-07:002009-11-28T15:56:22.140-07:00I agree. Editing is not the place to cut corners. ...I agree. Editing is not the place to cut corners. I can't stand a poorly edited book. Why read it, when there are better ones out there?<br /><br />Morgan Mandel<br />http://morganmandel.blogspot.comMorgan Mandelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10118929301591850918noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5704943052235281766.post-4784087107540328602009-11-28T09:15:37.484-07:002009-11-28T09:15:37.484-07:00I totally agree! It seems an author's earlier...I totally agree! It seems an author's earlier books have the most heart and intuition. Once they are the churn-out-a-few-books-a-year-writers their plots become unbelievable and their characters stale. Since I have limited time to read, I choose to read authors' earlier works and save myself the agony of experiencing their downfall.Mindyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15182293568554955242noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5704943052235281766.post-74742450682383574782009-11-28T07:36:07.438-07:002009-11-28T07:36:07.438-07:00I've had this complaint about multiple books i...I've had this complaint about multiple books in a series. The word count gets too long. Harry Potter went from being a manageable book for young people to a long and winding couple of books that looked as if the editor was afraid to cut a single word. Didn't affect her sales-but I wasn't thrilled with the length and pithy prose.<br /><br />I hear time and time again from other writers that we are expected to be far more polished BEFORE we publish. I think it is because we must be able to edit well due to the changes in the publishing industry. I don't know. I have at 3 CPs, I continue to study my craft on-line at on my own, and I'm building a beta reader group for my future novels. <br /><br />None of my efforts will guarantee publishing success. But I'd like to believe they make achieving that goal more attainable.Christinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05383099148014297450noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5704943052235281766.post-62190892434694344392009-11-28T06:12:19.094-07:002009-11-28T06:12:19.094-07:00I had a similar experience with an author back in ...I had a similar experience with an author back in the 1990s. Her first book was awesome, her second was good, third so-so, and fourth downright awful. I stopped reading after that. Part of the problem might have been less rigorous editing on the later books. (The constant repetition of words and phrases was a clue to that.) More than that, the first book must have been a labor of love, while it seemed like she was just grinding out the later ones because she had to. It was like the author stopped caring about the story. As a reader, so did I. It was sad, because her first book especially showed how much potential the she had.Anjhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12247612996397058730noreply@blogger.com