Reading time: About 1 minute
This is my weekly installment of “writing about writing,” in which I scan the world for material to help other writers. Today I discuss a post about bad advice for writers…
Have you ever received bad advice about your writing or about the publishing industry?
Odds are high the answer is yes.
Perhaps because most people can read, they fancy themselves experts on anything to do with books. That’s why I enjoyed a recent post on Anne Allen’s website, where she addresses 10 pieces of bad advice new writers often receive from unhelpful friends.
Please, read the whole piece,
But here’s a summmary of her 10 winners/losers for writing advice:
- Land a publishing contract and you can quit your day job.
- Everybody out there wants to steal your fabulous plot, so keep it a secret!
- When you have talent, spelling and grammar don’t matter.
- You wrote a whole book; it deserves to be published!
- Query agents to get feedback.
- Start with genre fiction, because it’s easy to write.
- Write what’s selling.
- You can launch a career with one book.
- Don’t pay an expensive editor; just self-publish and get feedback from reviews.
- Don’t waste time on short fiction: it doesn’t pay.
By the way, I think tip #1 is the most important advice to ignore…
