Guest Post: Emlyn Chand

Did you resolve to read more this year?  Maybe you've dubbed this year as the year you finally start your own book club.  To be successful with either of these goals, you'll need to keep that all-consuming passion for reading alive.  Here are five examples of what NOT to do.

I have been guilty of each and every one of these bibliophile misdeeds. To avoid making these mistakes, it helps to be cognizant of what they are and how they may put-off your love of reading. My list is, of course, not exhaustive. Please feel free to add other ways in which your enthusiasm for the written word has been destroyed or derailed.

1. By taking too long to finish reading a particular book - many a decent book have been utterly destroyed for me simply because I took too long to get through them. Sometimes this is because of a busy work or personal life that interferes with my time that is generally allotted to reading; others it is because I am reading the wrong book.

2. Because of reading the wrong book—what makes a book wrong? Some people say that if a book does not grab you in the first 50 pages that you should give up reading it. I don’t know if I, however, subscribe to an exact number of pages that must be read before giving up. Sometimes books get started a bit late. Jonathan Safran Foer’s “Everything is Illuminated” for example takes a while to get heated up, but once it’s there, this is one of the most incredible books.

3. Through turning your leisure activity into a chore—if reading as a hobby is very important to you, it’s best not to subject yourself to reading materials that can be deemed more as work than pleasure. A classic example of this phenomenon is graduate school. I am not suggesting that you forego higher education to maintain your zeal for the written word; rather i’d like you to understand that you may undergo a 2-, 3- or even 5- year hiatus in this instance.

4. In choosing to miss out on other activities to sit at home and read—so you’re a book-worm that probably means you, like many others who share your passion, are an introvert. That’s great, but don’t use reading as an excuse to miss out on some of the other things life has to offer, like a social life. Don’t get too caught up in the fictional realm that you forget that life exists outside of the pages of a novel!

5. Upon assigning too much meaning to fictional characters—Loved ‘Twilight’ and now find yourself pining for a boyfriend just like Edward Cullen? No man even comes close? Surprise, surprise. Never measure real people up to invented ones, everybody loses. Similarly, if you find a glimmer of someone you know in a villainous character, you may start subconsciously assigning some of the fictional player’s deeds to your real-life loved one. Don’t do it!

 

Blog Tour Notes

THE BOOK:  Alex Kosmitoras may be blind, but he can still “see” things others can’t.  When his unwanted visions of the future begin to suggest that the girl he likes could be in danger, he has no choice but to take on destiny and demand it reconsider. Get your copy today by visiting Amazon.com’s Kindle store or the eBook retailer of your choice. The paperback edition will be available on November 24 (for the author’s birthday).

THE CASH PRIZES:  Guess what? You could win a $100 Amazon gift card as part of this special blog tour. That’s right! Just leave a comment below saying something about the post you just read, and you’ll be entered into the raffle. I could win $100 too! Please help by voting for my blog in the traffic-breaker poll. To cast your vote, visit the official Farsighted blog tour page and scroll all the way to the bottom. Thank you for your help with that.

THE GIVEAWAYS:  Win 1 of 10 autographed copies of Farsighted before its paperback release by entering the giveaway on GoodReads. Perhaps you’d like an autographed postcard from the author; you can request one on her site.

THE AUTHOR:  Emlyn Chand has always loved to hear and tell stories, having emerged from the womb with a fountain pen grasped firmly in her left hand (true story). When she’s not writing, she runs a large book club in Ann Arbor and is the president of author PR firm, Novel Publicity. Emlyn loves to connect with readers and is available throughout the social media interweb. Visit www.emlynchand.com for more info. Don’t forget to say “hi” to her sun conure Ducky!

Guest Post: Jared Sandman

SECOND CHANCES

Jared Sandman’s Blogbuster Tour 2011 runs from July 1st through August 31st. His novels include Leviathan, The Wild Hunt and Dreamland, all of which are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Smashwords. His latest book, The Shadow Wolves, has just been released. Follow him on Twitter (@JaredSandman) and be entered to win one of several $25 Amazon gift cards. See rules at www.jaredsandman.com for eligibility.

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I recently read a blog post from an established novelist who shall remain nameless. He argued that every book worth publishing gets published. If one writes a good book, it will find a publisher (though he conceded it may take awhile, especially in this economic environment).

I don’t agree with this assessment. Perhaps that was true in the era of Bennett Cerf or Maxwell Perkins, but I believe a lot has changed in the industry over the past generation, not much of it favorable toward writers.

Let me tweak his premise to make it a more accurate reflection of today. Every good book finds a publisher? No, every good book finds an audience.

Publishers are worried about one criterion alone: can they make money off a specific manuscript? If the answer’s no, they have to move on. How well-written it is, how emotionally engaging, how realistic the characters are -- these are moot points. I’m not convinced the writing itself is even a secondary or tertiary factor taken into consideration, more like an ancillary afterthought.

Readers have a separate measure by which to gauge a book’s value: whether or not it’s any good. The only thing that matters to them is the story. Admittedly, it may take some time for that audience to find its way to a good book. Great stories tend to have a gravitational pull of their own, and they draw readers to them through word of mouth. With the advent of social media, bookselling has become more Darwinian. Books that are worth reading will rise to the forefront, and the forgettable dreck will be rightly ignored. Writers who produce work of merit will be able to support themselves; those who don’t, won’t.

Because a book is well-written does not guarantee it will find a publisher. Plenty of solid books have been passed over because they weren’t marketable enough or didn’t have a high-concept enough hook. These overlooked manuscripts invariably became trunk novels, left to collect dust or molder in desk drawers.

The digital revolution will breathe new life into these stories. By bypassing the industry’s self-appointed gatekeepers, writers are able to appeal directly to readers. It’s the readers who will decide which books are remembered and which are forgotten.

Publishers are only interested in producing bestsellers. While the vast majority of these “second chance” books will not bring their authors bestseller money (I wager more than a few will), a lot of them should at least earn enough to allow some writers to make a living wage. More than that, competent writers who may have abandoned their literary passions will get back in the game.

Variety like that ultimately benefits readers and literature as a whole.