A new writer in my area recently announced to various groups on Facebook that he had published a mystery. What caught me was the title, which I won’t list, for his sake and mine. It included wording I have in a work-in-progress title, so of course it caught my eye.

I almost bought it.

That is, until I found his post saying he had a fulltime job, and this book was his hobby, and that he didn’t have enough money to hire an editor so excuse any mistakes. That convinced me not to buy the book.

For him to compromise his effort into the book does not mean I compromise the quality I wish to read.

All too often, writers tell me both in confidentiality and in the open on social media (big mistake), that they cannot afford an editor, don’t have the time to workshop a book through a group, don’t have the  years to wait to get traditionally published, or they are anxious to get a book out in short order, for any of a zillion reasons.

A lot of writers get on social media and whine about how long it takes. They complain about not being able to afford editors. “Does anyone know of a good editor at a reasonable cost?” (A request that’s rather insulting to editors everywhere.)

What happened to the day that we sweated over a manuscript until it was as pristine as it could be? And why is self-publishing better than traditional other than being faster? For every self-published author making a few thousand, there are thousands not making a couple hundred, so I tune out the “earn more money faster while keeping rights” argument.

Publishing should not be your driving force in writing. Writing well should be.

What if you don’t know grammar? Then learn it.
What if you aren’t good with dialogue? Then learn it.
What if you have a saggy middle? Then fix it.

Editors are not substitutes for you taking the time to learn how to write. They should polish already good writing. Editors are not a quicker route to publication. And you don’t self-publish your book because you don’t have the patience for traditional. You choose deliberately and give both a thousand percent. So you publish, then what?

Just saying, to be a serious writer, you have to absorb the creative art of the process and crave to take your time to do it well. Slow down. Learn and study. Don’t look at the publishing. Look at becoming good, regardless how long that takes.