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  • I Wrote a Book!

    This sort of SC is specific to bookstores, but I am curious to see how many other people have dealt with them.

    We have a lot of local authors who apply to us to carry their titles. No problem. Most are lovely people who admit they know little about marketing their own books and I am happy to help them.

    But there's always a few who strut in, toss their book on the Help Desk, and declare, "I WROTE A BOOK!"

    Hey, me too! But I am actually revising mine for the third time and am submitting to agents and not paying to self-publish.

    Seriously, I skim through every book that is dropped off for consideration and 99% are done by vanity publishers, and 99% of those suck. Seriously. Not going through a real publisher means no rejection slips and less work but it also means NO EDITOR.

    I know it is silly and petty but this really annoys me. When people ask what I do I tell them I am a writer (who works at a bookstore to pay the bills) but I don't act all high and mighty about it. Anyone can write, the secret to actually being a writer is to stick with it through all the rejections and criticism.
    https://www.facebook.com/authorpatriciacorrell/

  • #2
    i agree completely; egos aren't destroyed when no one reviews and gives their honest opinion. (maybe he's some cheapskate who thinks in the short term...?)

    so what if you (him) wrote a book? there are plenty in print that suck so badly, they resemble a literary black hole, rather than a form of entertainment/informative print, and i'm with you on this one; my powers sense the overwhelming suckage from afar.
    look! it's ghengis khan!
    Sorry, but while I can do many things, extracting heads from anuses isn't one of them. (so sayeth the irv)

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    • #3
      Luckily at B&N none of those decisions are made on a store level. If someone does ask about it, we refer them to the community relations manager who can get them some info on how to submit to the distribution center.

      At the DC I get a lot of small/self-published stuff from the vendor reps to do cover scans and commentary for the website. Sometimes I'll be copying the commentary from the book jacket and I'm just typing along...I type really fast and I don't really *read* what I'm typing as I do it, but some of this stuff makes NO SENSE at all and I just stop in my tracks and have to go back and see if I did it right. *sigh* it's never just that I skipped a line...it really does read like that...

      I once did the commentary for a *writing guide* and the short little paragraph on the back had no less than *five* mistakes -punctuation, misspelling, completely wrong word...and often we're talking stuff that spell check would catch...makes my inner proofreader very sad.

      One problem we did have was people who self-published ordering in 25 copies of their book "for themselves" and then not buying them. Invariably they were not returnable and then we'd be stuck with them.
      I don't go in for ancient wisdom
      I don't believe just 'cause ideas are tenacious
      It means that they're worthy - Tim Minchin, "White Wine in the Sun"

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      • #4
        Quoth AnaKhouri View Post
        Seriously, I skim through every book that is dropped off for consideration and 99% are done by vanity publishers, and 99% of those suck. Seriously. Not going through a real publisher means no rejection slips and less work but it also means NO EDITOR.
        But hey! Publish America thinks your book should get the chance it deserves!

        Ever hear the story of Atlanta Nights?

        Quoth AnaKhouri View Post
        I know it is silly and petty but this really annoys me. When people ask what I do I tell them I am a writer (who works at a bookstore to pay the bills) but I don't act all high and mighty about it. Anyone can write, the secret to actually being a writer is to stick with it through all the rejections and criticism.
        Good luck with it. Being a writer's husband gives me the opportunity to do it all vicariously. "Yes, dear, they have held you manuscript for almost two years... just relax... you'll know soon enough... it made it through the slush pile, remember, so someone else thinks it's good too..."

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        • #5
          Quoth AnaKhouri View Post
          Seriously, I skim through every book that is dropped off for consideration and 99% are done by vanity publishers, and 99% of those suck. Seriously. Not going through a real publisher means no rejection slips and less work but it also means NO EDITOR.
          So thats why Eragon sucks donkey balls!!

          But still I have to wonder about the selections that we get in the shipments. I mean, it boggles the mind that we get some doozies.

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          • #6
            Quoth Hon'ya-chan View Post
            So thats why Eragon sucks donkey balls!!

            But still I have to wonder about the selections that we get in the shipments. I mean, it boggles the mind that we get some doozies.
            I really hate to do this to you, but Eregon had an editor. I don't think they actually dared to touch it, but they were there. They bore witness to the sophmoric effort that it was, and let it pass into the hands of the unsuspecting public, plagiarism and all intact.

            Those books stand as testament to the fact that who you know is more important than actual merit.

            ^-.-^
            Faith is about what you do. It's about aspiring to be better and nobler and kinder than you are. It's about making sacrifices for the good of others. - Dresden

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            • #7
              I wrote a book when I was four with my mum transcribing. I drew the pictures myself. It's horrid but will you sell it anyway?
              How was I supposed to know someone was slipping you Birth Control in the food I've been making for you lately?

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              • #8
                I've been thinking about writing a book. Countless people have told me that I really should based upon my writing styles as seen in all of my English papers. I've got a great idea for one but I just don't know how to start.

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                • #9
                  Hey, to be fair, Eragon was written by a young man. I've read stories that were far worse than that. The important thing to remember about writing is that you actually need to be a GOOD WRITER. Most people really aren't. Oh, and you need a good story too. My mom belongs to a writer's club, and I love her dearly, but her stories need a lot of work. I help her through it as much as possible, but some of them just need to be scrapped and redone. She's very good about taking the criticism though, and it's just a little writer's club where they have monthly writing contests and meet to become better at writing. It's cute.
                  Jim: Fact: Bears eat beets. Bears. Beets. Battlestar Gallactica.
                  Dwight: Bears don't eat bee... Hey! What are you doing?
                  The Office

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                  • #10
                    I wrote a book too! It's a counting book about a puppy and a day in his life. My daughter loves it! I had to use clip art graphics 'cos I can't draw a straight line with a ruler (much less a puppy), but she doesn't care. LOL

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                    • #11
                      It boils down to one simple thing. Self published does not always = crap. Corporation published does not always = quality.

                      And yes, Eragon sucked donkey balls. Age had nothing to do with it. Everyone goes through learning and polishing and improving when it comes to writing...or anything....but good lord, it doesn't need to be published.
                      My dollhouse blog.

                      Blog about life

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                      • #12
                        Eragon was also a low reading level... Those are never literary masterpieces...

                        I'm not trying to say it was the greatest book ever, because even I found it nearly bad enough to put down, but considering how young the author was... I say good for him.
                        Jim: Fact: Bears eat beets. Bears. Beets. Battlestar Gallactica.
                        Dwight: Bears don't eat bee... Hey! What are you doing?
                        The Office

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                        • #13
                          Quoth AnaKhouri View Post
                          Seriously, I skim through every book that is dropped off for consideration and 99% are done by vanity publishers, and 99% of those suck. Seriously. Not going through a real publisher means no rejection slips and less work but it also means NO EDITOR.
                          I think that is a low estimate. American publishers come out with 60000 new titles year and most of those suck. They deserve credit for taking the risks they do. If you can't get a publisher your book really needs work.
                          Proud to be a Walmart virgin.

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                          • #14
                            Hasting's was different. Local authors can put their books in to be sold, but we did it on consignment. One of them is a very good friend of mine, and I know I'm more that a little biased, but he's actually a very good writer. One of the others though, I almost choked him once. He's a lawyer (to anybody around ABQ, the "Rattlesnake Lawyer" might ring a bell) and thinks he's a writer. I skimmed one of his books and OY VEY! He had a signing once when I was GSMing and needed to add his books into our inventory. The jerk stands there a proceeds to tell me how to do it. Yes, thank you, Mr. Asshat, but I am quite capable of doing this myself, kthanxby. ><

                            Quoth Shabo View Post
                            Eragon was also a low reading level... Those are never literary masterpieces...
                            You mean for kids? So was Harry Potter, but it's at least readable for adults, too. Just because it's a kid book doesn't mean that it can't have a decent vocabulary.
                            It's floating wicker propelled by fire!

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                            • #15
                              The thing I've noticed is, there's all this bullshit on the shelves that's just the same as the bullshit next to it, yet you hear about the truly good authors who recall they could wallpaper their house with rejection letters...why is this so?

                              I join the ranks of those on here who have a novel under their belt. I'm not looking for publishers because I want to get out as much of the fun part (writing) as I can before I start the soul-destroying search for any person vaguely interested.

                              All I want to do in life is write. I don't want to do anything else. Does anyone know of any easy-to-get-into jobs that involve writing, perhaps with a modicum of creativity once in a while?
                              "...Muhuh? *blink-blink* >_O *roll over* ZZZzzz......"

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