Quality Control
I’ve been hesitant to post this because as an aspiring writer I could come off as a little self-serving. But something has been playing on my mind lately and that’s book quality. You hear a lot (if you know where to listen) about the decline in quality from a writer (or band). Often the first release is touted as their greatest work and it all just slides downhill from there.
Up-and-coming writers have to work so hard on their debut novels. There’s so much blood, sweat and tears in a single draft the faint of heart simply never make their way through. These debut novels can take years to perfect and get published. Then the pressure is on to release another, and another, and another… The quality is bound to slide when you turn an artist into a production line.
Take Monster-Blood Tattoo (D.M. Cornish) as an example. Two years elapsed between the release of book one (Foundling) and book two (Lamplighter). I’ll confess, I was a little impatient. I wanted to get my hands on book two as soon as I was done with book one, if not sooner. But I had to wait, just like the rest of the world and guess what? Book two was brilliant. It was well worth the wait. If it had been churned out in half the time it would have been less than half as good. So I’m waiting for book three (Factotum) as patiently as I can.
Another part of the problem is the big-name effect. Publishers will pounce on a new title by the big-name, established writers and I can understand why. They have a track record. They are established as guaranteed sellers.
Set aside, for a moment, the fact I’m a person who would very much like to be published.
As a reader, I end up disappointed. Some of the best books I’ve read have been from new writers, people who have been required to earn that shelf space.
Do you know what I think would be awesome? Hold every manuscript to the same standard you would require from a debut author. Yes, that would mean writers have to work harder. Some may burn out after only a few books. But others will thrive and do you know what else? The books we read will improve tremendously.