self-publishing

When Self-Publishing Fails

Angela11 Comments

What do you do? Did you self-publish, only to find that the platform you used has serious formatting issues?

I have not self-published, as I am keeping my stories locked up tight; for the time being. But I am aware of several self-publishing companies that cater to the writer who wants to be published, and this is the best route. I did not say easiest route, because it is not.

I know Lulu, Blurb, and Createspace are very popular. Wattpad has been getting a lot of attention lately. I know Amazon offers self-publishing, but I have been seeing a lot of fall-out from their pricing and restrictions. The latest is that Amazon is selling merchandise for $0.01 and the sellers cannot do anything about it.

I have read some terrific stories from self-publishers. But I do take offense when a self-publisher wants to blame their shoddy skill of the very difficult English language on their self publisher.

Keep in mind; no matter how chopped up the story was; when your emails are just as chopped up; I am not going to believe this is a server/platform issue.

I have read about 3 horrible stories (yes, horrible) that I could not even read again no matter what the payment was.

I guess what I am saying is this: I wish these self-publishing websites had a way to tell that a story is pure crap and just refuse to publish it. Is the all-mighty dollar worth so much that these companies will publish anything as long as they are getting some kind of profit?

Oh, how the writers of days-gone-by are turning in their graves.

So I guess I would personally like to apologize to Maya Angelou, Emily Dickinson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and F. Scott Fitzgerald, not to mention so many others.

Reading Things you Would Really Rather Not…

Angela3 Comments

…I have been doing a lot of this lately.  Being about halfway done with my MBA has me reading textbooks, data, statistics, charts and graphs, and the occasional book written on leadership.  I am happy with how far I have gotten so far, and that I made the decision to take this journey for myself.

I just always seem to forget how much time I do not have for reading, until I am no longer able to do it.  It just took me a month to finish a book I could have read in one day. A month! Anyone who knows me knows that me needing a month to finish the book means one of two things; either the book was absolutely horrible, or I was just too busy.

Luckily I have gained the courage to stop reading horrible books. You know what I mean, right? You start reading a book, and it is terrible, yet you feel terribly guilty for leaving a book unfinished. I have finished my fair share of not-so-great books because I was not brave enough to close it without ever knowing how it ended. Well not anymore. Not for me. I have finally started to realize the value of my time, and it is much too valuable to read some of the garbage I have come across lately.  It almost makes me feel sad to think of the number of books I have not been able to finish lately. Did you see my blog post (okay, rant!) on self-publishing? You may want to check it out. It’s right here: https://booksandopinions.com/2014/08/05/do-you-self-publish/

I have a stack of books I want to read, sitting next to my stack of school books. I have a few days break between classes, and am wondering how many books I can get read in that amount of time. I am not a fan of wishing my time away, but I cannot wait until it gets closer to the holiday season, and I have some extended time available to do my favorite thing: sit in a reclining chair with a good book, my cat, and read myself into oblivion.