The Problem With Authors Today

[david13]

It may be that editors have disappeared.
Or it may be the 'Bill Clinton' syndrome. Clinton was like so many people today, thinking that everything he did, every person he met was significant. It's a good political stance, it reeks of 'I'm Concerned About You' and I Care, or "I feel your pain", etc. But it ain't true.
The truth is much of it is just posturing, posing and of significant just to those getting the cheesy smile on the px.
Or it may be the modern day syndrome of defining 'history' as: "anything from the past". WRONG.
It's things from the past, of significance to many, or a significant number or group of people.
What you had for lunch is not "history"!, its just lunch.
What does that have to do with authors, you may ask. Just this.
Clinton's book was originally 1500 or more pages. Whew!! His editor fought with him to trim it to what 600 or 800 pages? Typical politician. A lot of hot air, a lot of fluff.
And far too many authors today are so full of themselves, so long winded, that their book runs to too many pages. Trim it down. Listen to your editor.
DO NOT go to itsy bitsy tiny print so you can cram too many words onto the pages.
Remember the attention span today is SHORTER not longer.
And remember, the older we get, the worse our eyes, we need larger print, not smaller.
Write your book, get in, get it going, say it, wrap it up, and let us move on.
If you have 2 books, write 2. Don't cram them into one.
And don't write 3 volumes on the "Historic Lunches of President Taft."
dc

[nashville_brook]

1. just wondering what inspired this observation?

any particular works?

[Sarah Ibarruri]

2. I agree. It seems everyone thinks they're an author or an interesting person.

And honestly, most people are not too interesting, most people are awful, boring writers, and in my opinion, scandal and indiscriminate sex is not fascinating.

[GoesTo11]

3. I'm one of the interesting people you refer to

without even the scandal or the indiscriminate sex. Heck, I'd settle for discriminate sex.

[catnhatnh]

4. Small print is about saving money...

I read mostly fiction but the 1000 pages of a Michener novel end to soon for me. I'd like the print larger but big ideas take lots of words.

[raccoon]

5. Another thing, proofreading must be a lost art. It's amazing how many

spelling errors, using wrong word or wrong name, pop up in books today. Much more than the books of yesteryear.

[Captain Hilts]

7. Spellcheck just doesn't do the job. nt

[Captain Hilts]

6. Read something else. I found his summary of his early life amazingly interesting. nt