Recently, a colleague handed me a book on communications she got
\nat a seminar on that topic from the speaker.<\/p>\n
I flipped through it and immediately thought of a comment I read
\nin a book review once: “This is a book that should never have
\nbeen written.”<\/p>\n
And increasingly, in this era of self-promoters and CreateSpace,
\nthe rise of books that should never have been written — or
\npublished — is increasing at a tremendous rate.<\/p>\n
I call these works — most not worth the paper they\u2019re printed on
\nor the price of a Kindle download — “flimsy books.”<\/p>\n
And I urge you to neither read, buy, nor heaven forbid, write and
\npublish such books.<\/p>\n
They are 9 times out of 10 a waste of both the writer’s and the
\nreader’s time, effort, and money.<\/p>\n
Why?<\/p>\n
Because these flimsy books have a number of characteristics in
\ncommon, which make them good for lining bird cages or starting
\nfires in the fireplace — but not so good for actually reading.<\/p>\n
>> To begin with, flimsy books are actually flimsy. That doesn’t
\nmake them bad in itself, but is an identifying trait.<\/p>\n
When you see a flimsy book, your first impression is that it’s a
\npamphlet, not a book. And actually, that is essentially the case.<\/p>\n
The communications book I was given has barely 50 pages with text
\non them … and the page size is small.<\/p>\n
Reason: Authors of flimsy books are more interested in having a
\npublished book for use as a marketing tool or to enhance their
\nreputation, rather than writing a good book.<\/p>\n
So they tend to dash them off quickly, often without much effort,
\nthought, research, or editing.<\/p>\n
>> Second, the vast majority of books I am referring to as
\n“flimsy” are self-published, more often than not today on
\nCreateSpace.<\/p>\n
Again, that doesn’t make them bad in itself.<\/p>\n
However, anyone who has written a book for a big publishing house
\nknows that those books almost always get a lot more attention to
\ndetail — especially in the editing, proofreading, and production
\nprocess — than self-published books.<\/p>\n
My editors at these publishing houses are tough, and don’t let me
\nget away with being lazy or doing a half-assed job, or being
\nunclear or incomplete.<\/p>\n
Most self-published authors I know don’t hire a copy editor, and
\nso their books lack this essential quality control.<\/p>\n
“Submitting a book for publication is also submitting to the
\ndiscipline of the market,” says my Facebook friend WC.<\/p>\n
“Indeed, there are worthy self-published books, but I tend to
\nagree that added prestige is given when books are published by a
\nmajor publisher.”<\/p>\n
>> Third, you don’t get much for your money with flimsy books.<\/p>\n
The flimsy communications book I am using as an example is, as I
\nsaid, barely 50 pages and less than 15,000 words total.<\/p>\n
By comparison, my average 200 to 300-page trade paperback for the
\nbig publishers is 80,000 to 100,000 words — so the buyer gets 5
\nto 6 times more content than in a typical flimsy book.<\/p>\n
>> Fourth, as mentioned in my first point above, the motivation
\nfor publishing a flimsy book is more often than not marketing —
\neither to sell for maximum profit with minimal effort … or to
\nserve as a sales or reputation-building tool.<\/p>\n
As Dr. Jeffrey Lant notes: “A book is a brochure that will never
\nbe thrown away.”<\/p>\n
>> Fifth, most flimsy books I review are — uh, how can I put this
\n— just not very good.<\/p>\n
It is painfully obvious that they have not been fact-checked,
\nproofed, researched, or written with careful attention.<\/p>\n
In so many flimsy books, the writing is disorganized, the text
\nmeanders and is full of pointless digressions, and the coverage
\nof the topic is woefully incomplete — with much of the key
\ninformation missing.<\/p>\n
But — why am I complaining? Why bother to protest? Is there
\nreally any harm caused by the growing practice of writing,
\npublishing, and selling flimsy books?<\/p>\n
Answer: Yes — some. And here’s why I think the world would be
\nbetter off without so many — or even any — flimsy books….<\/p>\n
Reason number one: The existence of flimsy books cheapens the
\nvalue of real books.<\/p>\n
When I started writing books in 1981, having a book published was
\nprestigious. But flimsy books make people think less of books and
\nauthors.<\/p>\n
Reason number two: People write and publish flimsy books to
\nconvince others they are experts.<\/p>\n
To write a 300-page book that is vetted by a top publishing house
\ndoes require some expertise or at least a lot of research.<\/p>\n
Writing a flimsy book, not so much.<\/p>\n
Reason number three: Flimsy books are a major source of “content
\npollution” — which I loosely define as books, reports, courses,
\nand other materials that, to put it charitably, should never have
\nseen the light of day.<\/p>\n
You may disagree. But that’s the way I see it.<\/p>\n
Before you ask or say anything, yes, I have written a few
\nbooks that are small and slim.<\/p>\n
But, of my 95 published books, I have written many that are
\n200, 300, or 400 pages — and in one case 800 pages.<\/p>\n
So my average book is indeed a real book, and not a flimsy
\npamphlet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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