Self-Publishing: Why It’s Often Treated with Suspicion

 Have you fallen asleep or put a book down because you found it boring? The story wasn’t moving fast enough; the characters seemed flat—not people, just cut-outs; you were left wondering where did this character come from? First, you put it down as poor editing—you’re right. That’s only half of it—it’s really poor writing. The editor was “trying to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear”, so to speak. That doesn’t happen often. More than likely, it was a self-published book that was not properly edited.

It is not my intention to damn self-publishing. Far from it—it is the only sure way for an author to get a work into print. It is cheap and fast and, with a little work, it can be as good as any work published by “the Big Six”. The operative phase here is “with a little work”. This goes beyond an attractive cover and a nice picture of the author. This means having, usually paying, a professional editor to work over your writing. This editor must look at and beyond grammatical and spelling errors (those should have been caught by the author). This editor will analyze the story arc, character development and make sure everything is brought to a final, believable conclusion. A final note—a spouse, a parent or other relative rarely makes a good final editor. This editor should not be biased by relationship or friendship.