24 Things No One Tells You About Book Publishing

[Brian G Turner]

Novelist Curtis Sittenfeld provides his 24 short insights:
24 Things No One Tells You About Book Publishing

I especially like these:

14. If you tell readers a book is autobiographical, they will try to find ways it isn’t. If you tell them it’s not autobiographical, they will try to find ways it is.

17. If someone asks what you do and you don’t feel like getting into it, insert the word freelance before the word writer, and they will inquire about nothing more.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

insert the word freelance before the word writer, and they will inquire about nothing more.

or wannabe

Blurbs achieve almost nothing

I decided they might be a good way to DELIBERATELY put people off. I don't want someone to buy under false prentices and give bad review simply because they'd hate that KIND of book no matter how good?

9. The older you are when your first book is published, the less gratuitous resentment will be directed at you.

I'm pretty safe then.

faking fluency with or interest in forms of social media that don’t do it for you is much harder than making up dialogue for imaginary characters.

Absolutely. I wish it didn't exist. Still, actually most readers never use it!