IT PAYS TO BE KIND
Writers need to be kind to each other. Criticism should always be constructive, but some people in the book business are so up themselves that they see nothing wrong in giving both barrels to a new writer's attempts to write a book.
A university professor – let's call him Michael – once approached me to ask if we would publish his novel. He'd been awarded a grant, his book had appeared... and then flopped. In the end, he actually bought back the few remaining copies. Now, he wanted to self-publish it under the Comely Bank Publishing imprint, as well as a sequel. I disliked Michael's books – I thought they were pretentious junk – but that was just my taste and publishers don't just publish stuff they'd read themselves. I even designed new, (and I thought) better covers. Then at the last minute Michael took his manuscripts off to some other publisher. It happens.
I whiled some time away during the covid pandemic writing a self-publishing guide for beginners. I asked Michael for one of those testimonial quotes that appear on book covers to tell the reader that what's inside is wonderful. I'd written similar stuff for his, but Michael refused. He said the book was full of examples from my own experience and was therefore just self-publicity. Perhaps that applies to all writers and other 'creative artists' in one sense or another.
I pointed out that writers are expected to help each other, and to scratch each others' backs. But Michael said that, as an academic, he believed he should always be honest with his students, and began to get cross that I might have deceived him by not being similarly honest about his novels. He was talking rubbish, of course: the relationship between publisher or editor with an author is not that of teacher/student. Then Michael tried to apologise, but it was of those 'apologies' where the person isn't really apologising, they're trying to justify their actions. Michael's apology just made him look worse.
There is nothing to be gained by being cruel to a writer. Writers take plenty of kickings, and they're used to rejections, failures and knock-backs, so one more made no difference. Blocking all contact with Michael, I began a new, more relaxed, phase of my life.
A university professor – let's call him Michael – once approached me to ask if we would publish his novel. He'd been awarded a grant, his book had appeared... and then flopped. In the end, he actually bought back the few remaining copies. Now, he wanted to self-publish it under the Comely Bank Publishing imprint, as well as a sequel. I disliked Michael's books – I thought they were pretentious junk – but that was just my taste and publishers don't just publish stuff they'd read themselves. I even designed new, (and I thought) better covers. Then at the last minute Michael took his manuscripts off to some other publisher. It happens.
I whiled some time away during the covid pandemic writing a self-publishing guide for beginners. I asked Michael for one of those testimonial quotes that appear on book covers to tell the reader that what's inside is wonderful. I'd written similar stuff for his, but Michael refused. He said the book was full of examples from my own experience and was therefore just self-publicity. Perhaps that applies to all writers and other 'creative artists' in one sense or another.
I pointed out that writers are expected to help each other, and to scratch each others' backs. But Michael said that, as an academic, he believed he should always be honest with his students, and began to get cross that I might have deceived him by not being similarly honest about his novels. He was talking rubbish, of course: the relationship between publisher or editor with an author is not that of teacher/student. Then Michael tried to apologise, but it was of those 'apologies' where the person isn't really apologising, they're trying to justify their actions. Michael's apology just made him look worse.
There is nothing to be gained by being cruel to a writer. Writers take plenty of kickings, and they're used to rejections, failures and knock-backs, so one more made no difference. Blocking all contact with Michael, I began a new, more relaxed, phase of my life.
THe beginner's guide to self-publishing
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So, in a spirit of trying to be kind to writers, here's the book that 'Michael' was so snooty about. Please remember it was published back in 2020, and a lot has happened since then. There are new forms of social media, and Amazon now invite uploaded ebooks to their Kindle platform as well as Word documents. Smashwords has literally sold out. I'm not sure I'd recommend it now. And of course it's become even harder to get published conventionally. An updated edition is required.
But here's the original in the meantime. I've reduced the price to just 59 pence. Just click on the image on the right. and you'll be taken to the download page. |
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