There Is A Need For Education

When the self-publishing/e-book revolution started, I began seeing a trend in authors and the quality of their writing. Then conferences started catering more to this group of writers, the trend became worse. But then, when Covid-19 hit, that trend exploded beyond belief. Now, the majority of submissions I see are rejections due to this issue. So what is it? Writers are simply lacking knowledge of how to write and the business of writing. 

What I am seeing are stories that "tick all of the boxes" of what should go into a story, but simply lack the quality of a book worthy of being published. I can see the authors doing what they were told to do, but really are not able to execute the story properly.  I see the same with their knowledge of what individuals do in the publishing business, or even the steps it takes to create a novel I have explained this before using this model, but I do think it might be time to bring it up again. 

Below is what is known as Bloom's Taxonomy. This is something individuals in education have worked from as they create curriculum and instruction within their classrooms. 

As individuals move up the model, they are becoming more proficient in that skill. Right now, writers are falling in the lower two and maybe three levels. Let's talk about this in terms of writing a standard contemporary romance. 

A writer at that lower level has read traditional contemporary romances and, if the writer sees one sitting on a book shelf, the writer could identify it. The writer could probably tell you the terms commonly associated with this genre. 

When the writer starts their novel, the odds are the story might be finished, but the reading of it clearly shows that there is something substantial missing. 

Moving to the second level of UNDERSTANDING, the writer has moved a bit further in his or her understanding. The story is not missing anything, but it is clear that the writer is "just going through the motions." Often, stories like this will use writing techniques simply because someone told them it works, but not really knowing why it should be used. Writing will be very formulaic, almost as if this is a fill in the blank worksheet.

We don't get to writing this "might" (and I say that very loosely) have a book being worthy of being published. These will be starter novels. Success as a writer beyond this point will not happen unless the author can move further up the pyramid. These authors are probably able to know why they use those writing techniques, however, being able to duplicate that process from novel to novel will likely be inconsistent. 

It isn't until the author gets to the ANALYZE level that the writer can start to show success. These authors have the ability to watch trends, adjust their writing and be able to apply those skills to their new Work In Progress.

I know I have taken a while to explain this, but I think it is important to understand where I am going to in this post. For many in the current writing population, they are simply looking things up on the Internet, and gambling on A) finding a quality piece of information; and B) being able to understand that skill. This current population are also learning from people who haven't figured it out either. It is a case of the blind leading the blind.

I would also add that for many, they see "the ability" to self-publish and think the process is simply that easy. For some of these authors, they have taken this approach because of the number of rejections they have received and are now blaming the publishers for not appreciating their work.

The reality of all of this is that we need to bring back teaching people how to write. We need to teach people how to study GOOD pieces of literature to understand what those authors have done and why it works. We need to bring back education of how publishing really works, including the roles of individuals in the business, the strengths and weaknesses of any approach, and certainly, the reality of how much money people can make in this business.