TheBanyanTree: Of Authors, Writing and other things; Warning - lengthy

[Peter Macinnis]

On 21/11/2012 06:30, Monique Colver wrote:
> Some self-pubbed writers are hobby writers.

I'm not self-pubbed (yet, anyhow: there are several things that haven't 
yet sold that may go that way without ever appearing in hard copy).  I 
have no problem at all with self-pub, especially if your expertise is in 
Goldfish of the Gobi Desert or Antarctic parakeets or some such.  The 
world needs such stuff, but it won't ever be a commercial market.

For now, I write for traditional paper publishers. Writing is, 
nonetheless, my hobby.  It can be a lucrative one, but it's still a 
hobby.  I happen to be a hobby writer who is professional about his hobby.

My favourite publisher of the moment is less than lucrative, but they 
make beautiful books because they contribute superlative editing and 
brilliant design.  My TRUE hobby is changing how people see the world, 
so working with that publisher works for me.  Beautiful books sell and 
make the publisher money, which I get to influence minds.  Win-win!

If my hobby was making money, I would either not be writing at all, or I 
would write a diet book.  (I have the plan for the vitamin Ch diet. 
This little-known essential nutrient is found in chocolate, champagne, 
cheese, Chambertin, chorizo, chips, Chianti, Charolais chateaubriand, 
chardonnay, churros, charcuterie, champignons, chowder, chipolate, 
cherimoya, chestnuts, chablis, chicken, Chartreuse, char-grilled chops, 
cherry brandy chasers...you get the drift.  Money but no honour with 
that one.)

(Note: charcoal, chives, chutney and chicory are at present provoking 
serious chatter from the Chair of the Chollege of Chastronomy, but 
chilled chimps, chlorinated chub and chronologies have been ruled out).

OK, let's be serious: a bit about craft. I slap together a first draft, 
make a couple of strafing runs, give it a spell-check, write down what 
my themes were, then run the bulldozer over it, to eliminate non-theme 
stuff.  Next I do a critical read.

This leaves the ms littered with stubs and fossils of ineptly done 
edits, so next, I convert the text to an mp3 using TextAloud and LISTEN 
while reading, and correct sloppy wording, typos, fossils and stubs etc. 
  Another spell-check comes next before I print out a hard copy, and 
then Chris and I read it, mark it up, argue a bit, correct the ms, 
spell-check, and if there is time, listen to it again.

That's before it goes to a professional editor, but it the editor can 
now concentrate on the intricacies.  Even if the professional editor was 
left out (as for most penurious hobbyists going the self-pub route), the 
ms is none too shabby.

One of my peeves is the idiot educational administrator who says "we 
don't need books, because you can get everything you need from the 
internet".  These people don't understand books, writing, education, 
wisdom or anything.  I do web pages as well--some of my sites have 
pulled quite a few hits, so I know a bit about that side of the 
business, but I can tell you now that there was little planning, 
research, design, editing or revision in those pages.

That's the problem with some of the ebooks I see these days.  The ebooks 
we will look back on later as classics will be the ones where the author 
made the extra effort, or paid for somebody to make the effort.  All 
manuscripts need editing, design and the light touch of a canny 
independent mind.

Those craft things I listed are things we *can* all do, and *must* all 
do--even if I skip most of them with my own web pages.

peter

-- 
Peter Macinnis, Manly, the birthplace of Australian surfing
feral word herder, also herbal remedies, bespoke fish
hooks, umbrellas mended and budgerigar requisites
http://oldblockwriter.blogspot.com/