Your Readers Are Not Stupid

Ever felt a book was bad? Why do you think it was bad?

It had spelling errors.
It had grammatical errors.
The characters acted weird all of a sudden.
The plot had holes.
The story jumped its way to the end. 
The location/profession/etc. was absolutely nonsensical. 

A few of the many reasons why readers shun a book, and finally an author. 

If you want your book to sell well, remembering this one thing would help you write better:

My Readers Are Not Stupid. They Pay For My Book Because They Think It's Worth It. 



Prove it. 

Make full use of the spell & grammar checker. Hire a professional proofreader/editor.
Talk to your characters. Make them real with real reactions.
Get your book beta-read to identify plot holes that you might have missed. 
Do your research. Talk to people. Don't just google.
Last but not the least, revise it as many times as possible till it has the same quality that your favorite book has.

Because your reader is not stupid. Respect your reader. 

Comments

  1. AnonymousNovember 28, 2011 at 1:25 AM

    I love your blog. Absolutely spot on. Some errors are hysterically funny others are just plain... well annoying errors. I have found an English teacher as a critique partner and my grammar and punctuation is having a crash course.

    One blooper that had me in hysterics a drug addict who had a heroine overdose.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Shilpa MudigantiNovember 28, 2011 at 4:07 PM

    haha...seriously? :D I would love to meet your english teacher because I am struggling with my editing for sure! And thank you so much Shirley for visiting my blog. I am glad you like it! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousNovember 28, 2011 at 4:49 PM

    Shilpa you can contact me direct at

    s.wine@xtra.co.nz

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousDecember 7, 2011 at 7:31 PM

    Nice post Shilpa. Good things for people to remember. I think a lot of people self-publish and take shrotcuts that can ruin their careers

    I joined your site through email... Google wouldn't let me sign up the other way :-(

    (That's a common problem on Blogger unfortunately)

    ReplyDelete
  5. nitin4u.nitinDecember 24, 2011 at 8:14 AM

    I completely endorse your opinion and hope that it will be taken in note by the upcoming writers....by the way just want to say something, I hope you don't mind...when you say "your english teacher"- it means your teacher from England and not teacher for English language...just wanted to share it with you

    ReplyDelete
  6. Shilpa MudigantiDecember 24, 2011 at 11:39 AM

    Jennifer - Thank you. While Self-publishing is ok, self-publishing for the sake of just pushing out the book is wrong. The book needs utmost care in editing either way it is published! Thank you for joining my site! I wonder what is wrong with the follow button.

    Indianideas - Thank you! I have a heavy "Indian" english influence which I both love and hate (Especially while writing). I will change it right away. Hope you enjoy my blog. :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. nitin4u.nitinJanuary 15, 2012 at 9:25 AM

    I really enjoy your blog...and wait to read new posts

    ReplyDelete
  8. Shilpa MudigantiJanuary 15, 2012 at 8:19 PM

    Thank you! :) I am so glad.

    ReplyDelete

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