Comments on: The First Step to a Quality Book–A Doubleday Editor Turned Author Speaks

By: Top Picks Thursday 02-21-2013 « The Author Chronicles

Top Picks Thursday 02-21-2013 « The Author Chronicles — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 18:06:51 +0000

[…] Summer Hayes brings us Great Graphic Novels for Teens Top Ten (part 2), while J.E. Fishman explains that book quality is subjective, determined by the expectations of the reader. […]

By: lythya

lythya — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 09:03:54 +0000

In reply to Tahlia Newland. My point with this was that pitching is a great way to learn people's expectations to your own plot.

By: lythya

lythya — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 09:03:26 +0000

In reply to Tahlia Newland.

The thing is that with a lot of genres we expect something unexpected. So that’s only good, with the twists I mean.
I find that the advice from “Save the Cat” works. I tried it just a few times: pitching to other people and seeing their reactions. The funny thing is that I made five picthes and my mom liked three of them. She was really up beat about them. My brother was the opposite and told me to ditch exactly those – in other words, back to the drawing board!

By: Tahlia Newland

Tahlia Newland — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 03:10:52 +0000

Good point, but readers don’t know if they want something until they have experienced it first. If you always write what you think readers want, nothing new will emerge. Readers will be stuck with reading the same old formulas, like what the trad publishers are churning out. My approach is to give readers what they expect in a genre in the broad sense, but with a twist of something new, something unlike anything they’ve read before. That’s my personal flavour, (the metaphysical twist) and it’s what inspires me as a writer. If I felt I had to write exactly what readers expect (a lot of it is pretty mindless in the urban fantasy genre) I wouldn’t write at all. Where’s the interest in writing a book that you can read a million of. As a reader, I also want to be surprised with the unexpected.
It’s important to balance this perspective with the other side. We should never ignore our readers, but we are equally foolish if we ignore what is in our heart and soul because that is what gives spark to our writing.

By: Writing What Readers Want | Evangeline Holland

Writing What Readers Want | Evangeline Holland — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 02:36:32 +0000

[…] further rumination when I read today’s guest post on Kristen Lamb’s blog titled The First Step to a Quality Book. The guest post was written by a former Doubleday editor and to sum it up, Fishman declares […]

By: Tamara LeBlanc

Tamara LeBlanc — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 23:42:31 +0000

Totally loved this post, Kristen! And, Joel, what great info!!
Satisfying Reader expectation is like finding the holy grail…we all strive for it, but hope that in obtaining it we don’t end up like that Nazi in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, under a pile of dust.
I want to make my readers happy enough to greedily read all of my novels, not just one. So quality is key.
Have a great evening!
Tamara

By: Daniel Escurel Occeno

Daniel Escurel Occeno — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 22:46:34 +0000

Since you are a former editor of a house, which I had wanted to be published with and because I like writing stories for children on teaching how to be better athletes, I have a serious question. I published “Making the Team” for a journalism JUCO magazine, but I want it in a picture book. How important is targeting the house? Some believe like I do to get published by the best, you almost have to write the novel for one person – the editor deciding if the house will run with the novel and they will spend millions on the marketing. – Daniel

By: colonialist

colonialist — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 19:30:27 +0000

Useful stuff, as always.

By: MonaKarel

MonaKarel — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 16:55:53 +0000

As much as we worry about point of view and spelling and grammar, our readers want to be entertained. So we can produce the most brilliantly written book on the face of the earth and strive for the goal of selling a hundred books. Maybe it’s not fair but it is reality.

By: Debra Brown

Debra Brown — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 16:41:26 +0000

Sorry, I know this is a place to comment on the post above, but I can’t find any other contact method. I went to read the Conference agenda and got a malware warning. Not being all that bright, I didn’t know what to do, so I left the page. Please inform? Thanks.