Have any of you read Kristen Lamb’s blog? What? You haven’t? Are you a writer? You are! Then why the heck haven’t you? Seriously! That blog is full of all the information you will ever need, ever. Okay that might be a slight exaggeration, but it isn’t far off. Her blog is full of the best advice out there. So here’s the link:
http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2013/08/09/the-single-best-way-to-sell-a-lot-of-books/
Recently she had an article, The Single Best Way to Sell A Lot of Books. It was great and I had a feeling I knew what she was going to say, and Yippee for me, I did! Guess that means I’m learning! Anyway, she talks about writing a great book and that one of the major things about writing a great book is having a great beginning because most people won’t go past the 5th page if it isn’t a great beginning.
I’m struggling with that right now with one of my books. I had the beginning starting one place and the editor on it suggested that it was a bit slow. I told her I had a prologue for the book that was really fast, she said, “Then you should make that your first chapter.” And she is totally right. I absolutely should.
I know that agents and editors won’t look past the first 5 pages and if you don’t get them on the first page they won’t even go past that! It’s a tough world and a tough business, and they don’t have the time to waste on books that don’t grab them. Why should they? There are a million other books out there that will.
I recently started a very popular book and found the first chapter confusing and not very interesting. I said, “Okay, I’ll give it a few more pages.” 30 pages in, I put it down because it didn’t get any better. However, I have OCD about finishing books, so I am terribly conflicted every time I see that book, sitting on my overstuffed bookshelf, looking at my with its puppy dog eyes, okay werewolf eyes, and begging me to give it one more try. But honestly, all the other books on those overstuffed shelves stare at me as well and every time I look at “said” sad book, the other glare at me accusingly and wonder what makes that one so special when I still haven’t given them their chance. So there in lies my conflict. I wonder if it is that way for other people as well.
I just put down one book, that I have been trying to get through for a year, at the second to last chapter because I just couldn’t go any further. I tried so hard. And I liked the book, but it just was so poorly written IMO that I just couldn’t. Besides, I kind of cheated, I’ve seen the movie so I know how it ends. DON’T HATE ME! As an author I cringe saying that, but it’s true in this case.
Anyway, The fact is, if you want to sell books, you have to grab people by the lapels, shove them into a seat, duck tape them there without their knowledge and keep them so engrossed that they don’t know what time it is. And you have to do that from page one. If you don’t, you’re as good as dead. That’s the world we live in people. High octane, get the blood pumping from the first moment, or get out of the way.