Here's fact: if you're a budding writer, the last thing you want to do is to get up in the face of the rare person who knows the true story behind the illusory "success", and is out of all things in this world, a blogger. Online. Where everything spreads like wildfire. But I'll hold my tongue, until I read it in its entirety as painful as that's going to be on me, because I believe people do need to know the truth before committing money to it and TMS doesn't believe in censorship, and it will be covered. Trust.
Although one last thing, if anyone hasn't read this review and interview, the part where she mentions needing writing to remain the "heart", undermines all brilliant writers everywhere who, in their commitment to their craft, start their writing day from anywhere from 5 AM and clock in their 8 hours, because that's what it really takes. Discipline. It's one of the hardest things out there, which, judging from the book, you could hardly tell. Kudos to the promotional team, however, whoever they may be. Watch this space for more information on self publication, the process, why it's becoming more common in Pakistan (first there was K. Yousaf's What If, published through Amazon's CreateSpace service, and now its Khadija Khan's The Mind of Q, published through Lulu.com which was recently launched at Kuch Khaas) and how to differentiate a self published book from a traditionally published one through its words alone. You don't even have to look at the spine; the quality or lack thereof, will jump from the page.
For further information and words of wisdom from publication and media on their thoughts on self publication, vanity publication and print on demand, see this, this and this.
True, there have been the odd success stories but those have been few and far between. Most self published books are mostly poorly written and edited, and mark a clear difference from the professionalism of traditional publishers. We're already victim to scores of bad lit in today's literature; do we really need narcissistic and deluded, self-dubbed "writers" to add to the pain?
The long tirade on self publishing will follow in my next post.
Edited to Add: As the author of The News article linked in my post, commented below, the article linked was indeed an interview with the author and coverage on the book launch itself. My humble apologies for making it appear otherwise.
Edited to Add: As the author of The News article linked in my post, commented below, the article linked was indeed an interview with the author and coverage on the book launch itself. My humble apologies for making it appear otherwise.
10 comments:
blog was a bit vague: do you mean to say this book, the one recently launched, is self published, and it is completely undeserving of the press notice it has received?
Have you read it yourself, and what did you make of it?
oh and one more thing, this bit here:
the part where she mentions needing writing to remain the "heart", undermines all brilliant writers everywhere who, in their commitment to their craft, start their writing day from anywhere from 5 AM and clock in their 8 hours,
do you mean to say this is just a product of some vain frenzy, written by one with no concept of literary structure etc, as opposed to the solid work that goes into putting together a piece of work that at least qualifies for a decent read once its all done?
Tyvek, for starters thanks for commenting. Agreed that it's a bit hazy and it was entirely intentional :)
Look, I have no problems with self published books. I started reading the book and then several pages in, wondered if the book had even been edited...the structure; the grammar, the style...it was all over the place. That's when I read the spine, googled Lulu and realized how it was published and then followed that up with a review of (vanity / PoD) self publication.
A more specific review will follow, but this was a yowl of frustration.
And to address your second comment, yes. That is exactly what I mean. A clarification and review will be up shortly, sigh.
Oh sorry, I should have followed up on this much earlier.
Thank you for your reply, too. I have no way of knowing what an editor might make or bring to a publishing endeavor, in my case its the writing where the proof is in the pudding. I would say, in fact, this press notice reminds irresistibly of that old story, the emperors new clothes! You have immortal fools like that Osman Butt chap praising something to the skies in the paper(heaven knows who let him loose in there), and other following in his footsteps because the facts of the matter are, any publication that gets the sort of PR this one has got itself will be a social byword, if nothing else, in this particular country. Obviously because vanity pays, when the pool is very small and the fish are very big :)
A real writer doesn't really require an editor, I think. But this book couldn't really be up to much even WITH editorial support all over it. You have to know what you're about, when it comes to writing. Apart from the deep necessity of having read much(so you know how books are written, and WHY: for entertainment, albeit intellectual), you need natural talent, how could you dispense with it in the arts?
Perhaps the author could give it another shot with another book, but I suppose its a foregone conclusion, really.
Not sure about the requiring an editor part, although I will say this: writing itself definitely requires editing and it takes a smart writer to know how to self edit. Khair, any writer who knows how the craft works, advocates revisions upon revisions upon revisions. The first draft is just that: the first draft. Q reads like it's a first draft. At best.
I do agree with you, concerning PR but then that's kinda the case anywhere really. Although if a book's as bad as this one--in more established markets like the US and UK--it wouldn't stand a chance...PR machine or no PR machine. Khair, don't think it would even get any PR to begin with.
All I feel is that if and when she writes a new book; the author in question that is, maybe she should consider getting it traditionally published. There will usually be more style and substance attributed to that, but of course she can't, because traditional publishers no matter the state of the industry, still have standards. And this one does not fit that bill, sorry. Comparisons to Thomas Hardy and Virginia Woolf severely underestimate them both as writers; instead of serving as a compliment to the author in question, the statement becomes an insult to the compared authors.
Tyvek, have you ever considered writing for The Missing Slate? If you haven't, do. :)
Lol, and there you have it, Ms Piracha :) If my writing is on a level higher than this book we have discussed, and I am good enough for The Missing Slate..I thought something about that name rang a bell and lo and behold: The Missing Slate itself is "aiming for an exclusive interview" with this very author of this very book.
Where does this leave us, my friend! This is too ironic. Whoever is behind the PR of this this book, I want to work for them!!
Hahahaha! That was before any one of us had read the book, and before we'd made the lulu-pod connection; suffice to say, the interview idea has been cast aside. The idea behind it had been that it would help get a new author out there, which is what we need to do...of course, not at the expense of our readers. So, there is that.
You won't find her mentioned anywhere in the first issue, although you might read a scathing review in #2, although I make no promises. We are doing a hmm...a related issue, but more than that would be giving things away.
I had no idea going in, that she'd had a book launch and it had been covered by 3 different papers, so yes, kudos to her PR team whoever they are. :)
Maryam, I chanced upon this article when I was off googling myself [read: being the 'immortal fool', read also: trying to check online source to provide to The News reps], and, well - I don't understand how, even after we HAD a telephonic conversation where you had your proverbial panties in a twist over Khadija Khan's book, you managed to misquote this as a REVIEW of the novel, whereas any fifth grader would be able to testify that this is a review of her launch at Kuch Khaas followed by an interview with the author. Also, as a friend and colleague, shame on you for not correcting this mistake even when mr. tyvek500 attempted to disparage my writing style.
Now on to you, tyvek. 'Immortal soul'? Really? Brother, you do not belong at the Missing Slate [or any publication really], you belong in a Back-To-Basics English course - time to say hello to basic grammar and punctuation. Also, I was 'let loose' in the publication by several trusted and well-experienced editors, but your opinion [who are you, again?] is well-noted. Also, please get your facts straight before pointing fingers at someone - there was no PR to speak of except that of Kuch Khaas - which again had no vested interest in the novel save for encouraging and supporting her - to say that Kishwar Naheed was fed words into her mouth is rather facile, and it is people like you [and in turn, the author of this post] who are responsible for the immense bout of negativity thrown someone's way anytime someone even ATTEMPTS to do something worthy of applause - no matter HOW flawed the actual product might be. Finally, Maryam, I was in no way involved as a 'promotional team' member, nor do I have any affiliation or vested interest with either Khadija or her book. I read it, I didn't like it, I didn't feel the need to write several thousand blog posts on it.
She's published at 23 - self or not. Are either of you?
Yeah. Didn't think so.
Obi, you have a right to your opinion but really, when you threw out that last line, you do realize that she was published by paying the Print on Demand publisher, who didn't go through the book at all, and took the money? Because that's the concept. That's what I took offence against, especially set up against any self respecting author who wouldn't pay an online publisher to print their work, without going through an editorial process.
Also, nobody insinuated that you were in any way or form, part of the PR team. I certainly didn't and neither has tyvek500 from what I can tell.
Just sayin'.
You are free to disagree.
Peace,
MP
As a follow up from my original response and this time aimed squarely at tyvek, whom I seemed to have missed writing this earlier to. Obi is a friend and a great editor, having worked with him for 4 years. What was missing from this post was the fact that I spoke to him later, whereupon he clarified that he didn't like the book any better than I did.
The fact that this post wasn't amended to reflect that is a grave failing on my part, for which I sincerely apologize both to Obi and to readers of this blog.
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