As a publisher, I’ve received a fair number of solicitations and manuscripts over the last three years. Culled from my experience, as well as conversations with my crack team, here are the 4 early warning signs of becoming a very bad writer.
Make no attempt to understand a publisher. We once received an unsolicited manuscript from a gentleman who went by the tagline, “X, the White N—–r.” I’m not kidding. We have also received a number of requests from transmen who want to publish their autobiography “to tell the real truth about becoming a man and the hardships.” Really? Guess what. We don’t publish books like that. I want to know about life past transition. But hey! Don’t bother to read our website or our books. A sure sign of becoming a bad writer is the belief that any publisher will do!
Don’t proofread what you submit. That’s a sure sign you’re a number one winner in the loser writing category.
Don’t bother to understand the difference between a copyright and a licensing right. As a matter of fact, don’t bother to understand how contracts work at all. Just assume that your publisher is a tool until proven otherwise. That way you can get pissy with your publisher to prove how radical you really are. Fight the Power! Not. Another sure sign of becoming a bad writer is a total lack of interest in understanding the legal parameters of your chosen field.
Last, but in no way least, be sure to never accept critiques of your writing. OMG!!!! MY BFF said my writing was so good. How can you hate it????!!!. You write to rewrite. Find a writer who has been writing longer than you and ask them for feedback. Be fearless. Your writing isn’t that precious. But go ahead and only request feedback from close friends and family. Ask nonwriters, too. Protect your precious ego at the expense of your writing. That’s a sure sign that you are becoming a bad writer.
The Do You Recognize the 4 Early Warning Signs of Being a Bad Writer? by Jay Sennett, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.
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Nice post. It’s really sad, the things you must sometimes see as a publisher.
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