Writing Changes

I did a blog on what started me to write.  (And that was a long time ago). Over the years many things about writing have changed. There used to be maybe seven or eight big New York publishers. Many of those are gone and others have been bought out. Now, we have many small publishers. Most of them are e-publishers or do both.  It’s opened up the market to self-published authors. Is this a good thing?

I think it is. It gives writers a chance to get the book of their heart published. It may not fit in a particular genre, or it covers three of four genres. The large publishers aren’t open to many of these books and some of them are great books. It also gives an author a chance to bring back their backlist, which has been sitting there dormant for years. And it opens up opportunities for editors, copy editors, cover designers and formatters.

The negative is that not everyone who self-publishes puts out a polished book. They write it in a couple of weeks, read it through or have their friend read it through, maybe design their own cover and put it up for sale. Often the readers feel cheated because of poorly developed plot and characters, multiple spelling and grammar mistakes and even poor formatting.

Writers who want to publish a well-written polished book spend the mony on editors, cover designers, formatters and maybe also pay to get a hard copy.  These provide the reader with a good read and meet the promise the writer puts on the back cover.
  
There have been other changes too – new genres, new book size and new e-readers. What about changes in the basics of writing itself? That’s another blog. Check back for that one.
I’d love to hear your thoughts about the changes in writing and publishing.