It's Terrible. It's Not Mine, But It's Terrible.

This forum seemed about the right one for the topic at hand, but please don't be shy about telling me differently.

Here is the thing: there is a gal I know - a new acquaintance of mine - who is in the midst of a big media push for her newest self-published novel. She has self-published several books already, and I've heard her mention once or twice that if this doesn't work, she probably will just throw in the towel for good.

Anyway, so I test-drove a couple of the sample chapters she's got available, and it's just... it's pretty dreadful. I won't yarn and gossip about the particulars, but that about sums it up.

So normally, I would make a point of going to her book-signings for a show of moral support. (I don't know her too well, but I've trooped out for several traditionally-published people in our group, and would not like to be the kind of person who only waves pom-poms for people with big-name agents and Random House contracts.)

However, I am afraid that if I go to her soiree, I will either be expected to gush and rave about the book in question, or else have a copy pushed into my hands and a read-and-review promise extracted. I wish, wish, wish it was still in draft form so that I could make some significant positively-spun suggestions, but it's officially printed and Amazon'd and out there in the world - so as of now, the only options are to either show up and be supportive, or else join the dozens or hundreds of her other local acquaintances who aren't buying/reading/promoting her book and haven't told her why.

I don't know. Telling somebody they smell bad is hard enough, and they are just one hot shower away from perfect natural charisma. What do you do when some lonely soul has fixed their stink in stone, and is still wondering why nobody wants to dance?

thothguard51 said:

Tell her you would go but a lap-dancing gig cam e up and it's worth several hundred dollars and well, the baby does need new shoes and the older one braces...

Works for me...

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Ha! Nobody'd buy the lapdance excuse unless I was the one buying, but I will do exactly that: "I sure am sorry to miss your shindig, but I just got word that there's a fresh dead steer out on 287, and you know kids these days don't feed themselves...!"

(Many thanks too, defyalllogic: wisdom and good taste in equal parts! She must surely have workshopped her manuscript before putting it out into the world, and if she didn't take suggestions on board before, who am I to worry about it now?)

Hey, thanks so much for the good thoughts, y'all (and for Vicky Pollard, who makes me laugh *every* time I see her!)

I think I will still steer clear of "suggesting" for this current book, cuz again, it's done and printed and can't be fixed, but as it happens, I did just see on her website that she's got a sequel in the works - I'll keep a sharp eye out for it in our club meetings and see if I can't give some helpful feedback there.

And thank my lucky stars I'm not boring the daylights out of innocent children in the meantime...!