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Can You Read?

A. E. Lowan

Forum Mom
Leadership
Don't ever assume that being a published author is easy.
If it were easy, everybody'd do it. But pain fades, chicks dig scars, and glory is forever. In my mind, publishing is immortality. Writing itself is, too, but it gets you fewer drinks at the pub. ;)
 
There’s definitely more genre stuff in self published works for sure, seeing as some niches are ‘not commercial’ to start with. I don’t think it makes a difference at this point, just maybe the overall writing quality is better in trad published stuff because it has to go through the wringer a bit more before it gets out into the world.
I'll go with yes and no on this one.

There are a lot of indie books out there. And a lot of them are terrible. It's all too easy to hit publish and release something that might not even qualify as a complete first draft.

However, those books tend to sink to the bottom of Amazon, to never see the light of day again. There are also plenty of books out there, written and published by indie authors that are as good, if not better than the average stuff trad publishers put out. Those books are also indistinguishable from trad books. These are people like Will Wight, who write great books (if they're your thing). Many of them use editors, though not all do. So it's not necessary. What is necessary is to have a desire to put out a book as good as something a trad publisher puts out, and a process to get there.

even small press or micro publishers like us (soon to be ;) ),
Is there something you want to share with us...?
 

dollyt8

Troubadour
Ten years ago, I would read 800 page novels in a matter of a couple days. Then when I started working full-time I just stopped reading. I've only really been reading again for a couple months, and I'm definitely slower than I used to be. I have a hard time concentrating and I struggle with it, but I'm getting back into it slowly.
 

A. E. Lowan

Forum Mom
Leadership
Ten years ago, I would read 800 page novels in a matter of a couple days. Then when I started working full-time I just stopped reading. I've only really been reading again for a couple months, and I'm definitely slower than I used to be. I have a hard time concentrating and I struggle with it, but I'm getting back into it slowly.
That's what kills me about the whole thing. I'm hyperlexic and I have hypergraphia. I'm literally built to eat books, and then spit them out again in new and (hopefully) interesting forms. The words are coming back, thank heavens. Slowly, but they're coming back and I'm making notes and scenelettes and the next book is going to be awesome sexy.

Now if I could only read. We have so many amazingly talented friends and I feel like not only am I missing out, I'm also letting you down.

And I think that hurts the most of all.
 

Saigonnus

Auror
I have gone through a few years of not reading much, but recently started rereading L.E. Moddessit's Magic of Recluse books; and it's been going well. I just haven't been as diligent as I once was since the pandemic.
 

JBCrowson

Inkling
We have so many amazingly talented friends and I feel like not only am I missing out, I'm also letting you down.

And I think that hurts the most of all.
Don't beat yourself up too hard. Friends understand and cut you slack when you need it, just like you do them. (But if I ever ask you to read my book, I'll expect a 20 page report the next day, right ;)).
 

Kalipso

Dreamer
As a kid, I used to love reading. When I started getting older, things happened and I stopped having fun doing much of anything, including reading. Recently, I got back into reading every day, and I try to read at least ten pages a day (which isn't much). I wouldn't be too hard on yourself. Things happen.

I think the hardest part of reading for me is that my memory has somehow become awful, even for things outside of reading. Unless they appear frequently, I will forget characters, and when they're brought up again, I can remember the name but not the person. Not sure why.
 

Gurkhal

Auror
Since I am on sick leave I try to read but I feel like I don't read nearly as much as I'd like. :( So I'm probably more of a mediocre reader than a reading god. I wish I was a reading god though because there's so much I'd like to read.
 

ixris

Scribe
I used to read two books simultaneously - one at home for before bed reading and one that sat on my desk at work for my breaks, and I'd churn them about the same pace.

When things went sideways in 2020 we were also buying a house, up in the air about what my job was doing re when we'd be back full time (spoilers: never - our contract is that most of the workforce has hybrid privileges now), and I was starting my meds. EVERYTHING went just absolutely into the fan.

I kind of fell out of touch with what was being published, too, which is something that really fascinates me. I love stories, so even if I never read the book, I probably want to know the premise. So I decided probably end of 2023 that I just wanted to read even 3 books this year. I started with short story anthologies. I could get my feet wet, kind of inch my way through at my own pace and still feel like I was finishing stories.

What really turned things around for me was that my partner got a job, so I could spend money on recent books (since I have audio processing issues (no audio books) and crap eyesight + absolutely stunning amounts of clumsiness (so no tablet reading) I'm kind of happiest with paper books). And then for my birthday I bought myself a bookshelf JUST for my books and saw how MANY are on my TBR shelf. (haha. hahahaha. haha. oops.)

I also started picking the next book to read the moment I was finished reading and noting my last book. This means I don't have to have decision fatigue the next day. I can just pick up the next thing that sounded good to Yesterday Me and start having at.

It's working OK for me right now. So far I'm at 15 books read this year (WAY more than I thought I'd log), most of which were novels (one true crime / history, one novella), and I feel like it's easier to keep picking at my reading, especially if I give a book an earnest go and feel like I'm allowed to drop it like it's hot if it's doing nothing for me (something I rarely did pre-2020).
 
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