Is writing so easy?

[Derekk]

Nowadays everybody is a writer. Some people write poems, other write short narratives or long novels and most of them think they are talented and good at it. There are many ways to publish everything on internet but where goes the quality? There are hundreds of indie authors which is not bad at all but how many of them are real writers? According to my experience i think that no more than 5% write something that really worth buying it. What is your percentage?

[Betsy the Quilter]

I've moved this from the Bazaar...and I'm in discussion about where it should end up.

Derekk, I think you'll find that the members here think the percentage is slightly higher.

Betsy

[Gerald]

Derekk, I think you'll find that the members here think the percentage is slightly higher.

Definitely.

Of the 50-odd Kindle books I've read, I reckon less than 5 were of "poor quality" (as in, I didn't enjoy them or was irritated by them). Therefore, 90% were of good / acceptable quality. I would say that around 50% were of "professional" quality.

[greenpen]

Nowadays everybody is a writer. Some people write poems, other write short narratives or long novels and most of them think they are talented and good at it. There are many ways to publish everything on internet but where goes the quality? There are hundreds of indie authors which is not bad at all but how many of them are real writers? According to my experience i think that no more than 5% write something that really worth buying it. What is your percentage?

Some of us don't think we are good at it at all. Some of us are trying to improve ourselves. I'm a real writer, thank you very much. I've sold copies of my e books, so it stands to reason I must be a real writer of some kind. I think my stuff is worth buying or I wouldn't have invested so much time and energy in working at my craft. I have no real interest in statistics because they lie.
I am here because I submitted stuff to various publishing houses and small prints following their rules. Nobody even bothered to return my SAE or utilise my email addy. Yes, I am a writer, and I have a growing number of people buying my stuff because it's available to them, whereas it wasn't before, through no fault of mine. If you want to find out what's really worth buying, you know how:-)

[keithdbz]

Writing is not easy, and not everyone can do it, but everyone has a story to tell. Whether they put the time and effort into meticulously choosing each word or turn of phrase is up to debate. I don't care how your work has made it into the world, if you write everyday, than I consider you a writer. Because that's what writers do, they write.

[greenpen]

Writing is not easy, and not everyone can do it, but everyone has a story to tell. Whether they put the time and effort into meticulously choosing each word or turn of phrase is up to debate. I don't care how your work has made it into the world, if you write everyday, than I consider you a writer. Because that's what writers do, they write.

Hear, hear! I agree with you 100%

[Rin]

There are hundreds of indie authors which is not bad at all but how many of them are real writers? According to my experience i think that no more than 5% write something that really worth buying it. What is your percentage?

How do you qualify "real writer"? Some styles appeal to some people, other styles appeal to other people - just because you don't like something doesn't mean others won't.

Quality is also subjective - a lot of people can't or won't read the classics as they find the text a chore to read, but will consume anything written in lighter language.

[Dara England]

I wouldn't call writing easy. Sure, there are times when the words seem to flow onto the page by themselves but just as often I have moments when writing a scene feels like working out an algebra problem. And actually finishing anything is the hardest part of all for me.

[John Hartness]

c'mon kids, you're all smarter than to feed the obvious trolls.

At 6'1 and 280 lbs, I'm as real as they get. I move a lot of water when I get in the pool, so my reality is unquestioned. 

[greenpen]

c'mon kids, you're all smarter than to feed the obvious trolls.

At 6'1 and 280 lbs, I'm as real as they get. I move a lot of water when I get in the pool, so my reality is unquestioned. 

OUCH! OUCH! OUCH! I just pinched myself. I'm real all right. Not half as real as you though, John:-)

[Steve Silkin]

Is writing so easy?

"No sooner is the ink dry on the page than I find it execrable." - Samuel Beckett

"No one ever said it better." - Paul Auster

[greenpen]

He soon went offline when he saw what was coming his way:-)

[Lynn ODell]

There are 370 reviews on my blog. While some are commercially published, for the sake of this post, I'm going to pretend they are all Indie.

1 & 2 Stars = 9%
3 Stars = 22%
4 Stars = 40%
5 Stars = 28%

The one and two star review percentage would be higher, except that I quite often just wasn't able to get to the halfway point I require to write a review.

Averaging all of that, I would say that 50% publish 'good' or 'great' books, with another 20 to 25% that could if they had an editor (not just for grammar and punctuation, but also for content).

I think the rest all have potential. Many just need to learn more about their craft before publishing. I don't mean they need to hire an editor. I have had to turn down editing projects for some authors who submit books that are simply not ready. I mean they need to read more, perhaps take some classes, etc.

Writing is not easy, but if the drive and imagination are there, it can be learned.

[Betsy the Quilter]

Folks,

troll is a four letter word here on KindleBoards.  Let's not go there.

Betsy

[vrabinec]

Nowadays everybody is a writer. Some people write poems, other write short narratives or long novels and most of them think they are talented and good at it. There are many ways to publish everything on internet but where goes the quality? There are hundreds of indie authors which is not bad at all but how many of them are real writers? According to my experience i think that no more than 5% write something that really worth buying it. What is your percentage?

No, writing is not easy. Allow me to illustrate on your question some of the things that go into writing.

The sentence "Nowadays everybody is a writer." Doesn't truly convey what you're trying to say here, I'm guessing. Since there are obviously illiterate people about, and you don't include yourself in the scope of the people who consider themselves writers, then your sentence exaggerates a little too much. A more effective sentence would qualify it somewhat and include something to limit the breadth of the inclusive set. Something like "it seems as though." And the colloquiallism "Nowadays" when used on a forum which is frequented by non-American member is going to go over some people's heads. Also, since you seem to be implying that a majority of the people who refer to themselves as writers, actually aren't, then the verb "is" is a bit weak. You really should go with something a little stronger. Maybe "pass themselves off as" I would have gone with "These days, it seems as though everyone passes himself off as a writer."

The second sentence is a little more difficult. "Some people write poems" is a little too specific, because poems conveys the sense that they write completed pomes when if fact they probably also write incomplete poems. I would go with "poetry" in lieu of "poems". Also, the "people" in "Some people" is understood. It's obvious from the first sentence that you're talking about people, so I'd drop that and go with "Some write poetry," to start the sentence. The next part is a little convoluted. "other" is singular. You're talking about a group of people, so it really should be "others." You've got the repetetive "write," but that's not too distracting, so let's leave it in there. The word "narratives" is ambiguous in this case. A narrative is a part of some larger work. Since your next item on the list is "novels" I think you can safely go with "short stories," which is what I'm assuming you meant. The "long" in long novels is odd. A novel is by its very nature longer than short stories, so I think you were trying to convey the sense that people write everything from short pieces to very long epics, but since you didn't set that up with an "everything from".."to long novels", it doesn't really work. Following that, you are missing a punctuation mark. Probably a comma, but since I'm not sure how that second sentence was intended, it may also be a semi-colon. The last part of that is redundant. "talented" and "good at it" are really the same thing. You're wasting words. I'd pick one. If it was my sentence, I'd go with "Some scribble poetry, others everything from short stories to epics, and most of them think they're talented.

The third sentence is quite convoluted. The "There are many way to publish on the internet" isn't really clear. It's obvious that there are many ways to put your words on the internet, but I think you mean to imply that it is easy to put your work on the internet and sell it for a price, rather than to say that there are many ways to do it. And I'm also pretty sure that you don't mean to confine it to "the internet," since it's just as easy to go the POD route (print on demand). I would have gone with something simple like "It's easy to publish." The next part of the sentence is a little off. "goes" is a verb of motion. "Quality" is typically defined by volume rather than motion. Something has more quality or less quality. It doesn't have up, down, left, or right. I would have expounded a bit and gone with something like "Since it's so easy to publish, what happens to the quality of the work?"

That's just the first three sentences, and they would have to be polished several times before I decided whether or not to publish them. As to your other question, I don't know the ratio of bad writing to good, but I believe readers have the option to return books they aren't pleased with, and some things will be "worth" buying for some, while they won't be worth it for others. What I'd do is read the samples and the blurbs, and decide from those whether you think something is or isn't worthy of putting down good money for.

[greenpen]

"I should have kept shtumm when I saw him in book bazaar:-( It's all my fault." The greenpen says, whilst looking parapet of suspicious looking bridge.

[anne_holly]

This question keeps coming up, and I don't know why.

I don't care - at all - who calls themselves what. I don't care that there's a flood of books published. Sure, it might hurt business, I guess, if there is a total jungle of books in the market, but I am sure people can find the good ones. I feel badly for readers who stumble on a bad one, but I know they are bright enough, usually, to find what they will like. If they don't, they can return them and complain, right?

If people wish to publish and can - fine. They want to call themselves writers? Double fine. Doesn't change how I see myself, which is what I am concerned about. Literacy being at the massive rate it is, I'm not really surprised that the numbers of writers keep growing. If it makes them and their readers happy, all the power to them.

It does me no harm and no foul.