Day 21: Reading - What's the last book you read?

My Project: 365 Creative Writing Prompts

Day 21: Reading – What’s the last book you read?

There was a time that I happily spend my lunchtime in a bookstore, walking between the racks, sampling several books. 

When I received a Kindle for Christmas, I switched to electronic reading. Reluctantly at first, because I prefer a real book over an ebook, but gradually real books disappeared and I used my Kindle full-time.

While I enjoy holding a book and turning pages, the kind of books I prefer (over 500 pages) are rather heavy to carry and expensive. In comparison, a Kindle weighs hardly anything and the ebooks are cheaper than real books.

With ebooks I did have a problem though ... what would I read next? If I knew what I wanted to read the solution was simple ... I would go on Amazon and read the synopsis of the book along with the first few pages. But if I didn’t have a clue what to read next, what did I do then?

A friend recommended that I subscribe to book recommendations. In the beginning, I poured over this email list every day, but day after day I didn’t see anything of interest. Soon I stopped looking and just deleted the email. 

For some reason, I opened the email last Wednesday and on top of the list I found ‘The Alchemist’.

I remembered all the hype that was made around this book, so I headed over to Amazon. The reviews were contradicting, some readers gave the book a raving 5-star review, other gave it 1 star and called it rambling and drawn out rubbish.

What I liked about the author Paulo Coelho is that he dared to admit in his forward that when ‘The Alchemist’ was first published in Brazil it was a flop. Only a handful of copies were sold and his publisher canceled his contract.

What happened next was sheer coincidence. An American bought the book in Brazil and took it to an American publisher who accepted it. But what if the American buying the book in Brazil wasn’t a coincidence but a rather carefully orchestrated set-up?

Every author, literally agent and publisher knows that to get readers to buy a book one must create a buzz. What if Paulo Coelho did just that?

Being a man of considerable means (even back then), what if he arranged with his publisher that he would invest several million in a publicity campaign? He certainly had the money and the political and showbiz connections to do so.

After that, the tale of ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’ comes to mind. The critics raved about the book, reader’s curiosity was tickled and they bought the book. If the critics gave it a thumbs up then it must be good, right? 

What if but a small minority actually dared to voice that the book was in actual fact rubbish, but nobody believed it because everyone else loved it?

I fell for it too. My curiosity got the better of me and I bought the book. In my opinion, it was not the best book I’ve ever read but I finished it and found it inspirational with a surprise ending.

I would give 'The Alchemist' a 3-star rating.

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Day 18: Writing – Is self-publishing a good idea?

My Project: 365 Creative Writing Prompts Write something about writing

Day 18: Writing – Is self-publishing a good idea?

Writers are notorious procrastinators. When an idea for a novel is shiny and new they are filled with enthusiasm and scribble (or type) with fire in their hearts and in their fingers, but as time marches on and chapters fail to materialize they’ll use any excuse not to write.

It’s too cold, it’s too hot, they’re tired from working all day, the house needs cleaning, the lawn needs mowing ... you name it and they’ll use it.

Some of them, with every intention to write, sit down and fire up their computer only to stare at the screen or keyboard. From there they’re just minutes away of getting up to make a cup of tea, take the dog for a walk, play with the cat, or do something else that for one reason or another can’t wait.

Me, I’ve given up on novel writing. I wrote and self-published three novels and two children’s books and while I have a forth novel in the making, it’s gathering dust. I just don’t have the motivation anymore to continue writing.

I tried reading a few self-published works and they were bad. Not just bad, they were awful and I thought ... is my work as bad as theirs? No wonder self-publishing has such a bad reputation. So, if and when I decide to continue to write on my fourth novel, I will try to find a literary agent and if I fail, I will shelf the project. If they don’t think it’s good enough, if nobody wants it, then it obviously isn’t good enough for publication.

Every day I see self-published writers promoting their work, tooting their horn about how good, unique or interesting their book is. And I wonder ... did these people even try to find an agent/publisher? If they spend half as much time trying to get published mainstream as they do trying to convince readers to buy their book, maybe, just maybe their work might have been picked up by an agent.

Other than the content of those self-published books, the covers bother me equally. All too often I see book covers with half naked men, showing off their pecks, muscled arms and iron board flat stomachs. Is this what is supposed to make me buy a book? Do these self-published writers think that because some guy is on the cover I’m going to like the story they’ve written?

Other books sport such a plain and boring cover that I don’t even give them a second look. I’m sure you’re familiar with the saying ‘You can’t judge a book by its cover’ ... but this is total baloney. If this saying was true, then why do not all books have white covers with black lettering or black covers with white lettering?

Fact of the matter is, book covers are important, they are very important. You should see how publishers agonize over the right cover for a book. The picture, the colors, the title, the font of the lettering ... idea after idea is presented and rejected until the right combination is found.

While I understand that writers are proud of their work, I don’t like them bragging about it or announcing how many copies they’ve sold or their Amazon rank.

In comparison, I’m reading ‘The Alchemist’ now and what I liked about this author right away is that he was honest enough to state in his foreword that when ‘The Alchemist’ was first published it was a flop. The book didn’t sell, and his publisher canceled his contract. By sheer coincidence the book found another publisher and this time it was a success.

Something that always strikes me when I read a book is that the author has several people to thank. People who helped them in their research, people who supported them and pushed them to keep going, people who read the first draft of a manuscript and suggested changes, and most noteworthy of all, they thank their editor.

A good editor is worth his weight in gold. He will take an ordinary story and make it good, he will a good story and make it brilliant. This and the above mentioned is precisely what self-published writers lack ... they don’t have someone to read their manuscript and give them honest feedback. Writers invariably have fragile feelings and don’t take well to criticism. In turn, family and friends often don’t dare to voice their true opinion.

While there are undoubtedly good self-published books out there, the majority of those I have tried to read should never have seen the light of day.

Feel free to comment. I’d love to hear from you.

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