(no subject)

[randomsome1.livejournal.com]

I know we all like to grouch about the slipshod editing in LKH's recent books--but how much of it is really the editor's fault? Yes, it's their job, but there're only so many typos a poor soul's brain can handle before it melts down. Imagine trying to correct hundreds of pages of text that looks anything like her "sneak peeks." Now imagine doing so within a relatively short period of time, all while knowing that this crazy woman has an ego the size of Micah's wang and that she, the super-speshul Big Name Author, isn't good at taking crit/rejection. Scary as hell, isn't it?

Likewise, this was recently posted at the Writer Beware blog:

Editors are congenial souls, for the most part, who don't mind taking a pen and fixing the occasional typo, or incorrect tense usage, or subject-verb agreement. Anyone can make a boo-boo from time to time. Writers are expected to make such boo-boos RARELY. They're expected to use spell-check, and to proofread their work with great attention. But nobody is perfect, and editors understand this.

That said, editors just don't have time to give your manuscript a close read and red-pencil every line. Getting your manuscript relatively error-free is YOUR job as the author. It's NOT the editor's job.

So in all likelihood, it's not so much that the editor's shitty, it's that dear Laurell has broken them. It may be a miracle that the books come out as error-free as they do.

*isn't excusing "diety," but still wonders how bad the sex scenes were before editing*

Comments

[klmorgan.livejournal.com]

I think what I was going for is that she isn't nearly as big as some of the other things being released at the same time, and that her books aren't as wildly successful as some would have us believe.

I think MPE exagerrates her success as well -- certainly when it comes to quality of the books, but that's a given.

But if you're curious as to why she's still considered successful (while she still is), it might help to compare her sales to people within her genre. Even when she was at the top of her game, I doubt she would have outsold the two names you listed before.

And I'm still curious how long it takes or what it takes to go from "big draw" to "big joke."

As long as it takes for enough people to stop buying her to the point where the publisher isn't getting a return on its investment.

You mentioned before how Stephen King sells not because everybody "runs out and buys his books," but because he has a loyal fanbase. That's gold to a publisher. Those are garunteed sales. A publisher would rather bank on a sure thing, even if it's a sure thing in slow decline, than take risks on what could be a great talent that the public might not cotton to. The public has declared it liked LKH. Her publishers will continue to back her until her fanbase dwindles to the point where those garunteed sales aren't enough to return the publisher's investment.

And I wonder if that will ever happen. LKH may prove me wrong in her case, but many authors are big names and big jokes at the same time. We don't have to look much farther than Anne Rice. Declining talent? Check. One or two major books she's never quite surpassed in sales in the books since? Yup. Craziness? Many, many tales, and one Amazon.com fiasco she will never live down. Really weird and disgusting, fairly pointless book content? Let's see, we have incestuous rapes, a fairly uninspired S&M trilogy, and Lestat sucking on a used tampon -- pick your poison. Does she still sell?

You bet. Backlist is strong, and she had a bestseller last year.

Fanbases don't die out easily. And even if the old guard -- like people in this community -- leave in disgust at her new trends, there's a new wave of readers who are reading the "bad" books first, and her older stuff later. They're not hugely let down by her new choices, because it wasn't a surprise. I bet they keep buying her books.

But again, LKH may prove me wrong. I guess we just have to sit back and see.

[randomsome1.livejournal.com]

Oh GOD, the Beauty triogy. I'm still amazed at how godawful it is.


Meh. The thing with LKH's decline is that it's taking a while. Without an explosion of batshittery a la Anne Rice, I'll eventually get bored by her antics. And yes, there's really no accounting for the tastes of some people. :P