On Quality Writing and Self-Publishing

I am committed and devoted to the idea of helping myself and other writers improve the quality of self-published content. This topic offers me many opportunities to learn more about all the aspects, agony, and awesomeness that self-publishing can be as I write to help myself and others. So. If this article is about quality in self-publishing, why are you seeing a picture of a cute ladybug? Because just as gardeners welcome ladybugs--since these tiny beetles devour the most problematic plant pests, as self-publishers, we have to be gardeners of writing. We must welcome editing and re-writing, and we have to be eager and ready to devour any and all writing "pests" that can take down the quality of our content.

There are many who believe all self-published content is of poor quality. Is it true? Of course not. But self-publishing is frowned upon by many people in academic and non-academic settings. Even though times and ideas about self-publishing are changing (as many self-published authors’ books are becoming best sellers), there are still a lot of people who believe self-published writers are people who simply cannot write well enough or produce content that is of high enough quality to be published any other way. They feel that if it were not for self-publishing, those of us who self-publish would not be published at all. Of course, this not true. Lots of self-published content is of the highest quality, and some traditionally published authors also self-publish some of their content. Yet, all self-published content still suffers from the myth/belief that if it’s self-published, it cannot be of high or even good quality.

Writing this blog is giving me a chance to present topics on anything related to writing and self-publishing, but many of my blog posts will focus on quality content. I will be encouraging new self-publishing novel writers/authors to take “quality” seriously when preparing content intended for self-publishing. This way, you will only learn as you write and as you grow as a self-publishing new novel writer. 

I will be using my blog to become part of the driving forces that can help new self-publishing novelists change at least some “naysayer” beliefs about all self-published content. It might always be true that some self-published content will always be of poor quality, but that does not and should not mean all self-published content will always be of poor quality.

As a self-publishing writer/author, where do you begin in your quest for creating quality content? For me the answer is to always begin at the beginning. That means at the idea stage, since the heart and soul of any form of written communication is the idea upon which it is based. Ideas are what will drive creation and/or development of theme/subject, as well as development of content.

How do you know when you have a good idea? There are probably millions of things I could mention or talk about here and each thing would probably be something that might help you determine whether or not you have a good idea or a good topic to write about. But, even though there might be millions of things to consider when it comes to what constitutes a good idea, for me, there are about six or maybe seven “most important things” I need to consider. Today, I’ll present my first two considerations, and in my next post, I’ll continue the list/discussion about how I know when I have a good idea.

Before deciding whether I want to spend my precious and rare “spare time” fleshing out a particular idea, what I decide to write about must be able to “pass” the following tests:

·       The idea must be about something important to me. Serving as the foundation of my topic/subject must be something important to me that I can see myself spending hours, days, weeks, months, or even years—if that what it takes, doing the research and the writing that is needed to begin and to complete the writing project. It doesn’t matter if I’m writing a fiction or non-fiction book, an article, or something else. The idea must make me want to spend time thinking about it, working with it, fleshing it out, and turning it into something that I believe prospective readers will want to read.

·         Writing on a particular idea must offer an opportunity to learn more about topics I’m interested in while also helping me solve some type of problem that will help/benefit a lot of people. Take this blog post, for instance. I decided that the topic of quality in self-publishing is so important to me—as a new self-publishing writer and author, that I can see myself spending whatever amount of time it takes to do what I can to increase my own knowledge while helping other self-publishing writers and authors—and our readers. I decided that I will provide, through my blog posts, some of my personal experiences, help and advice I've found on other sites, and hints for self-publishing writers and authors who intend to hold their content to high standards when it comes to considerations about quality.

Before choosing an idea, I must feel that the idea is one I am uniquely qualified to write about. It must resonate with me, for many different reasons. Maybe it is an idea that is linked to some experience or adventure from my life, or from the life of someone I know. I must feel “close” to the idea, and it must “speak to me.” It must say to me that I have to write about it, for one or more reasons. For example, I am now beginning the writing of my sixth novel in a collection I call “Color of Love.” I chose this name for the series/collection because I decided that each romantic story should be color-coded in the book title. Since there are so many beautiful and rich skin colors and tones associated with the magnificent and resplendent African diaspora, and since many of my stories take a look at skin color privileges and stigma, as it exists in the U.S., I wanted to place emphasis on color by giving each book a "colorful" title. 

     Other ideas I allow to become the foundation of my books, or grist for my muses, are inspired by physical and personal challenges I have either faced in my life, or that are faced by people I either know or have read about. I've found I do not have to have had personal experience with something in order to write about it, but I do have to feel I can “identify” with the primary aspects of the idea, or else it will not resonate with me. And if an idea does not resonate with me, I feel I am not uniquely qualified to write about it.

     Be sure to see my next post for more on the top of self-publishing quality, developing ideas, and other writing topics that I hope will help you become the best writer and self-publishing author that you can be.

      As always, I’m interested in your ideas about writing, self-publishing, and about how you know if/when you have a good idea. Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section under this blog post. Thanks!

I