Comments on: This Novel Sucks! Why is it Selling? http://writeabetternovel.net/this-novel-sucks-why-is-it-selling/ Practical wisdom for novelists and other storytellers Thu, 19 Apr 2012 03:32:54 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Lisa Kenney http://writeabetternovel.net/this-novel-sucks-why-is-it-selling/comment-page-1/#comment-20 Lisa Kenney Wed, 21 May 2008 00:01:51 +0000 http://truevoice-blog.com/?p=28#comment-20 <p>"it's the erroneous confusion of money with quality that's at the root of the problem."</p> <p>You've summed it up beautifully. Excellent post and thank you for the food for thought.</p> “it’s the erroneous confusion of money with quality that’s at the root of the problem.”

You’ve summed it up beautifully. Excellent post and thank you for the food for thought.

]]> By: Bill http://writeabetternovel.net/this-novel-sucks-why-is-it-selling/comment-page-1/#comment-21 Bill Tue, 20 May 2008 20:47:03 +0000 http://truevoice-blog.com/?p=28#comment-21 <p>True. The other side of "bad" is worth a mention. But I don't think bad literary cult books pose the same false threat to developing fiction writers as bad best-sellers do. Newbies don't really see them as the competition. They rarely make money, and like it or not, it's the erroneous confusion of money with quality that's at the root of the problem.</p> True. The other side of “bad” is worth a mention. But I don’t think bad literary cult books pose the same false threat to developing fiction writers as bad best-sellers do. Newbies don’t really see them as the competition. They rarely make money, and like it or not, it’s the erroneous confusion of money with quality that’s at the root of the problem.

]]> By: Lisa Kenney http://writeabetternovel.net/this-novel-sucks-why-is-it-selling/comment-page-1/#comment-22 Lisa Kenney Tue, 20 May 2008 17:32:20 +0000 http://truevoice-blog.com/?p=28#comment-22 <p>"Good" has become a completely relative term in our culture and I like your food analogy. At the risk of sounding like a totally pompous ass, I have to say that if it's popular in America, it probably ain't good in terms of quality or artistic merit. All you need to do is take a look at the most popular television shows, the food we eat, the books we read and the movies we watch. But in keeping with your food analogy, we also have an elitist "emperor has no clothes" side to the coin. People will spend a fortune to for haute cuisine in a trendy restaurant. In much the same way, I think there are literary lions who could write a grocery list and there would be reviews in the New Yorker, whether the book is truly any "good" or not. Somewhere in the middle lie many undiscovered gems. The authors may not have been well paid, they may not have sold many books and they may not even be published, but the work is good. Whether or not a book is commercially or financially successful typically has zero relevance to whether or not it's good. Some are and some aren't.</p> “Good” has become a completely relative term in our culture and I like your food analogy. At the risk of sounding like a totally pompous ass, I have to say that if it’s popular in America, it probably ain’t good in terms of quality or artistic merit. All you need to do is take a look at the most popular television shows, the food we eat, the books we read and the movies we watch. But in keeping with your food analogy, we also have an elitist “emperor has no clothes” side to the coin. People will spend a fortune to for haute cuisine in a trendy restaurant. In much the same way, I think there are literary lions who could write a grocery list and there would be reviews in the New Yorker, whether the book is truly any “good” or not. Somewhere in the middle lie many undiscovered gems. The authors may not have been well paid, they may not have sold many books and they may not even be published, but the work is good. Whether or not a book is commercially or financially successful typically has zero relevance to whether or not it’s good. Some are and some aren’t.

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