If you go on Twitter, everyone has written a book. But.. can they really write ?
If it weren’t for self publishing, would they ever have a book ? Would they ever have a sentence in a publication ? It used to be a profession privy only for the talented, hardworking person who dedicated themselves to the craft and wouldn’t take no for an answer. It weeded out the poeple that weren’t serious or weren’t the best of the best. And if you weren’t received well, you wrote even more and worked even harder.
Only occasionally, would you read something that might be questionable to the literary field. Perhaps, it was that rare chance that they got lucky. Writers had to work for a book, a publisher and an agent, if they chose to hire one or one would take them on. Some of the best writers lined their walls with rejection notes. J.K. Rowling got about 30 no’s before her one big yes and I heard that was fluke. it was an assistant editor that just happened to pick up her unsolicited manuscript and thought it might sell. I think a lot of heads rolled after the first Harry Potter was put to press and all those editors that rejected her, then got ejected from their position.
But who knows how popular a book will be ? How can one predict a bestseller from one that’s not ? Who knows what mood the public will be in when your book hits the market ? People are fickle and it takes experts to predict trends. No one can predict the popularity of a book, movie or even TV show today.
I am an established writer, a former reporter with a by-line and all. How do you distinguish yourself from the rest ? How do you get noticed among the thousands of so called writers, or wannabes, where many can’t write at all. But then.. perhaps today it doesn’t matter. I have intelligent friends that read “Fifty Shades of Grey.” I thought the writing (if you call it that) was horrific and for someone to call her a writer is insulting to the rest of us. I couldn’t get through one paragraph, (this was after edit in a bookstore, when a publisher had taken over) without laughing and being aghast. Yet, it was a best seller and a movie was made. Go figure. So is it just about the content or does the context matter also ? Do people care more about what is written, than how it’s written ? That’s the big question. Thoughts ?
aboomersvoice 