Book Nook: Ten Things I Hate About Your Book

The desire to be a published author is high. Many Americans believe that they have the next best American novel in them. And many may have it. Yet many aspiring authors fail to get published. Why is that? What keeps them from being published?

I had a chance to interview Charley Brindley, author of the new book, Ten Things I Hate About Your Book. In this book, Brindley outlines the ten most common mistakes that keeps an aspiring author from being published and how to prevent it.

What makes it hard for aspiring authors to break into the market?
Computers and the Internet make it easy for anyone to write a novel. However, as it has been for the past hundred years or more, a writer must connect with an established publisher to have any hope of becoming a best-selling author. Big name publishers do not accept unsolicited manuscripts from unknown writers; they must be filtered through literary agents. These agents are flooded with hundreds of thousands of manuscripts every year.

It takes a unique storyline, sparkling prose, compelling characters and an engaging writing style to make it to the top of these agents’ slush piles. If one’s story does make it into the hands of an agent, then he or she has three paragraphs to capture the interest of the agent.

Why did you write your book (and how did you choose your title)?
I wrote my first novel, 'Hannibal’s Elephant Girl', twenty years ago. As soon as I finished editing, I began sending query letters to literary agents. Most did not reply at all, a few replied, saying my story didn’t fit their list. Fewer still gave blunt criticism; too much setup, stock characters, bland dialogue, etc.

I taped my rejection letters to the wall and continued to send out new queries. Seeing the process would take longer than I expected, I began my second book, 'Raji', which became a four-volume series. Once again, I queried agents, pitching my new book. My wall became papered with rejection letters—over six hundred in all.

As it turned out, the stark bits of criticism penciled in at the bottom of some of the rejection form letters served me well in sharpening my writing skills.

A year ago I decided to document the most often repeated agents’ ‘advice’. Reading behind those curt zingers, I could interpret, ‘This is what I hate about your book’ and hence, the title, 'Ten Things I Hate About Your Book'.

After I wrote about the top ten most hated items, I added twenty-six more lessor offences.

What is one thing that might surprise aspiring authors about how to find success?
In a word, ‘Amazon’.

There are hundreds of on-line companies who will publish a book—for a fee. There are a few who will do it at no charge, however, there is no marketing support. Amazon will not only publish your book for free, they will give you a worldwide marketplace. Through Kindle Direct Publishing, a writer can publish a digital version of his or her book, as well as a paperback version, at no cost. Within a day or two the new book is available to the entire planet, all the writer has to do is announce it.

I have twenty-four novels on Amazon, in twenty-one languages, with six more on the way.

A bit of caution about agents. If an agent wants to charge a fee to represent your book to publishers, it’s more than likely that they make their living from authors, not from selling books.