Short & Sweet Reasons Why You Need an Editor
So without further ado . . .
Lagging sales just might be your fault. Or not. But it might.
Readers are fickle, and what sold yesterday might not sell today. Everyone jumps on the latest "Paleo Vampire Transformer finds love with Backwoods Awkward Nuclear Space Genius" trend, and all of a sudden, the market has a glut of the stuff.
Or . . . maybe nobody's written that plot, and there's a reason for it.
A decent editor might be able to tell you how to make your plot stand out as unique. Or they might point out how your plot is SO unique that it's incomprehensible to the average human.
At the very least, they can make sure your lagging sales aren't due to a high error rate because of a lack of editing. A surprising number of new authors blame readers when the real issue is that they've not had their books edited.
Once in a while, it's the reader. But every once in a while . . . it's not.
Lagging sales just might be your fault. Or not. But it might.
Readers are fickle, and what sold yesterday might not sell today. Everyone jumps on the latest "Paleo Vampire Transformer finds love with Backwoods Awkward Nuclear Space Genius" trend, and all of a sudden, the market has a glut of the stuff.
Or . . . maybe nobody's written that plot, and there's a reason for it.
A decent editor might be able to tell you how to make your plot stand out as unique. Or they might point out how your plot is SO unique that it's incomprehensible to the average human.
At the very least, they can make sure your lagging sales aren't due to a high error rate because of a lack of editing. A surprising number of new authors blame readers when the real issue is that they've not had their books edited.
Once in a while, it's the reader. But every once in a while . . . it's not.
My buying rate is inversely proportional to the number of typos in the book description and the Look Inside, and reviews mentioning further problems in basic competence. I don't even make it to plot and characters - because I can't read. Having been conditioned by a lifetime of books where sentences say something and spelling is consistent with norms of the period and country, I just can't get my head around things that make me work too hard. Maybe younger people can, but there are plenty of offerings that don't have these problems.
ReplyDeleteI can handle a very wide variety of styles, and older spellings, and well-created neologisms, so it's not that.
But I worry about carelessness. To use an old-fashioned expression, it doesn't bode well.
I also worry about carelessness. It's completely different than doing one's best and still falling short.
DeleteThe "Look Inside" feature is one of the best things that has come about for online book shopping. I've seen people leave reviews for a book, based on only those first few chapters shown, and although certain authors may get indignant and shout, "This person didn't even read the whole book!" I feel those reviews are as valid as any. If I can't make it through the sample because the writing is so bad, there's no way I'd expect the book to improve. Best foot forward and all that.
Hi Lynda - yes lagging sales, might just be not engagement with potential buyers or work from the author's point of view. I'm sure an editor can help - cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteI think it's hard to market yourself, and even traditionally published authors still need to do a portion of their own marketing these days, especially if they've published with a smaller press. It's a lot of work! But when people like a product, they spread the word . . . and if they're not spreading the word, it could be due to a bad product. I just feel like every bit should help somehow.
DeleteI'm so behind on my AtoZ visits! I'll be catching up with your wonderful tour of Canada today.
Well, it's always easier to blame everyone but ourselves when something doesn't work out, innit?
ReplyDeleteOf course it is! Why blame ourselves? That only leads to the dreaded Having to Do Something About It, and nobody wants to go that route.
DeleteI'm back to continue the conversation...
ReplyDeleteLagging sales? I'm not at this stage... yet!
Whose fault? Difficult to say, I'm sure.
This is definitely a tricky area... lots of contributing factors towards lagging sales.
Ha! Welcome back!
ReplyDeleteIt's so tough to know how to market and when, and whether your audience is actually being reached. But there are some who blame everything but the quality of their book, which may be a huge contributor.