I listened to my editor and published my first novella. Do-It-Yourself published via Kindle Direct Publishing. Both eBook and a Print On Demand edition. Multiple mistakes in sentence structure, dialog, punctuation, and every other possible error a writer can make. Even spelling, for God's sake! In short, I published, and then unpublished the worst book ever written. What would you do next?
Be grateful your book isn't getting trashed on Youtube? Being serious, though, it's probably not a bad idea to take a short break to help with some of the stress and angst you're probably feeling over this and then get back into revising and editing it. In spite of having a bit of a setback, you're still pretty close to the proverbial finish line.
My advice would depend on the answers to a few questions, if your concern is your reputation as an author: How long was the book up on Amazon? How many copies did you sell/give away? Did you get any reviews on Amazon or elsewhere? Did you use a professional editor and if so, where did you find them?
First of all, give yourself some credit. You published something and that takes guts. Indeed, sack that editor. Than I would rewrite my book because that's one of the most important things when you're trying to write a book.
Okay, the good news is that in that short of time, with that few readers, and no reviews the impact should be minimal. It sounds like your book was largely ignored (which in this particular case is a blessing), and the history your first outing as an author will go largely erased or at least unnoticed. If you do a better job the second time around, I think it's fine professionally to act as if the first time didn't happen. It's kind of like leaving a job you only stayed at for two weeks off your resume - it's not going to do you any favors and is best left off the table as a topic of discussion. I think with a much better book you could bounce back from this fairly easy, so please be kind to yourself and chalk it up to a learning experience. Speaking of learning experiences, while it is a matter debate here on the forums, my advice to you would be to get a professional editor the next time around. I know they're expensive and why spend all the money when your friend/family member is willing to do it for free, but your experience is a good example of getting what you pay for when it comes to editing. A good editor is worth their weight in gold.
Totally unrelated, but at today's price of $1289 an ounce, a 200lb hunk of man like me would be worth $4,124,800.
On the other hand, a book that bad could actually become sort of legendary. One book that achieved that sort of fame (or notoriety) was The Eye of Argon, which became a cult classic in science-fiction circles because it formed the basis of a game. A group of people would start reading the book, but the moment the reader laughed, it had to be passed on to the next person in line. A reader would seldom survive more than a couple of paragraphs. Great fun. It was a matter of some debate whether the author was actually trying to write that badly, or whether he wrote in all innocence and ineptitude and it just came out that way.
There was a legendary HP fanfic years ago called My Immortal that gained the reputation as the worst fanfiction ever written. To this day I don't think anyone's sure if it was a sincere effort or a grand joke. But recently the author (who now writes original fiction under a different penname) came out of the woodwork because there was a rumor got around that she was Lani Sarem, then author of the much maligned Handbook for Mortals. She was apparently very happy to say that she was in no way responsible for it, but that the Handbook was so bad she wanted to make sure her name wasn't associated with it.
Price of an ounce of gold on today's spot market. 200 # = 3200 oz. @ $1289/oz, that's $412800.00. However, men (and women, I presume) are weighed with avoirdupois ounces (about 28 grams per oz) and precious metals are weighed in Troy ounces (about 31 grams per oz). Since there are only 12 ounces in a Troy pound, the actual worth is really only $3092600.00. Still out of my league, though. Now, if his name is Fred or maybe Bob, or something more common than Troy - well that's a whole nuther ball of wax.
Dump your editor, start a new project, and accept that publication quality is not going to come quickly.
She might have slept with me. He might have saved me from bleeding to death in a rice paddy in Vietnam. It might have relieved all my financial worries by taking all my money for the three rounds of editing. I might have pumped up my ego and said it was ready without checking it. Lord only knows what any editor does.
I get that you're joking, but... writers should know what editors do. Editors in general, but especially their editors in specific. Especially if they're paying for the services themselves. "Editors" like yours give the profession a bad name. If someone gave you the editor's name as a recommendation, it would probably be a service to the writing world to go back to your source and say you were more than dissatisfied with the editor's work. You might save some other writer the same trouble you're going through.
I've already done that. My editor has been informed at just how unhappy I am with the work. I've even held my editor up for public outrage and scorn. Regretfully, though, I cannot sack my editor because I'd have no way to get to the grocery store.
Oh. Yeah, if you didn't pay for the editing... well, you got what you paid for. Try for a pro next time.
I have JUST discovered this book Only a few days ago, actually. I was tipped off by a fellow writer who is also a friend on Facebook. He linked me to the actual text. I tried listening to a recording of people trying to read it out loud, but couldn't really follow it very well. I think it's something a person should try to read themselves. You have to see it to believe it. Link: https://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/susan/sf/eyeargon/eyeargon.htm
Just curious. Is this thread for the purpose of coping with your failure through humor, or are you seeking advice for moving forward with better results next time?
