The Gentle Art of Making Books Readable
I’ve gotten heavily into reading fiction recently. Just figured out that over the last four weeks, I’ve finished eight novels. And that doesn’t include the samples of books that I read, searching for the one I really wanted to read at that point.
As a writer, I tend to say that I write all over the map, that is, I don’t write stories in a single genre. I’ve written fantasy of all varieties (epic, urban, historical, etc.), science fiction, mystery, straight literary, horror, as well as non-fiction.
As a reader, I read all over the map. A lot of what I’m currently reading depends on what I’m writing. If I’m writing epic fantasy, that is the last thing I want to read is more epic fantasy. Ditto SF or mystery. I’ll read anything except what I’m currently working on.
Because I am an independent publisher, I also seek out books by other indie authors. I’ve found some absolutely lovely books and authors that way, authors who are now among my favorites.
I’ve also found some books that are not to my taste. They might be perfectly fine books, and they might be someone else’s favorite author. However, that particular story didn’t work for me.
So I’m not going to judge your book harshly based on the story. Again, that might just be a question of taste.
