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

[Monique Colver]

There's certainly easier ways to make money. I mean, if making money is
what one wants to do.

Monique Colver
Colver Business Solutions
www.colverbusinesssolutions.com
monique.colver at gmail.com
(425) 772-6218



On Tue, Nov 20, 2012 at 3:58 PM, Peter Macinnis <
petermacinnis at ozemail.com.au> wrote:

> 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/<http://oldblockwriter.blogspot.com/>
>