• Home
    • About Us
  • Services
  • Portfolio
    • Ghostwriting
    • Editing
    • Critiques
    • Formatting
    • My Byline
    • Testimonials
  • Free Reads
  • Reviews
  • Events
  • Blog
  • Contact
HEN HOUSE PUBLISHING
  • Home
    • About Us
  • Services
  • Portfolio
    • Ghostwriting
    • Editing
    • Critiques
    • Formatting
    • My Byline
    • Testimonials
  • Free Reads
  • Reviews
  • Events
  • Blog
  • Contact

Hens Lay Eggs

food for thought

Almost speechless

3/26/2019

 
I came across this guy, Dana Derricks, through a recommendation by someone whose business savvy I admire and trust. I was flabbergasted and disappointed.

For those who don't know this guy, Dana Derricks is an author who, according to him, has been featured on Forbes, Amazon, and a bunch of other authoritative sites as the epitome of authorial success. He claims to be able to teach anyone how to write and produce an absolutely wonderful book within a week. 

He hosts workshops and coaches people in his proprietary method. OK, so perhaps you can write a book in a week. Will it be any good? (By the way, I couldn't find his books listed on Amazon, the 800 lb. gorilla of publishing.)

Yep, one week. Let's break this down. If you work 8 hours for five days--40 hours--on your manuscript doing nothing but producing content and you manage to produce 1,000 words of content per hour, you'll have 40,000 words by the end of that week. Will that content be any good? Research shows that the average writer needs 3 hours and 20 minutes to draft, edit, revise, and polish 1,000 words of content.

According to Derricks, one's ability to write simply doesn't matter. He declares authors don't need ghostwriters or editors, because all those folks do is dilute your message and drain your bank account. Apparently, it doesn't matter whether your book is filled with language use errors of if it's poorly written. Ghostwriters and editors are evil scammers whose main goal in life is to perpetuate the myth of their indispensability and soak thousands of dollars from their clients.

You don't need 'em, folks. Right?

I could post some unedited excerpts of the manuscripts that cross my desk to illustrate, but that wouldn't be ethical. 

I cannot overstate my disgust. 

What do you do if you're not good at something? You hire someone who is good at that something, because that competence has value. I could state that no one needs a plumber. You can learn to fix your own leaky pipes. You don't need an automotive mechanic to diagnose and correct that strange knock-knock-whir-squealing noise in your engine. Why bother with a doctor? Or a photographer? Or a landscaper? Or a horse trainer? If you're not good at writing, then you hire a ghostwriter. If you're good at writing (or even if you aren't and have already written something), then you hire an editor to refine and improve your work.

So, rather than merely rail about how every author needs an editor, here's one example I will post. I wrote this untitled snippet as part of an online interview for a ghostwriting position. I had one hour to produce original content in the paranormal romance genre. Specifications: write in the present tense, first person point of view for both the male and female protagonists, 500 words each. Follow the link to see what I came up with. It's not been altered in any way since I threw it together: what you see is raw fiction straight from mind to keyboard produced at a potential client's demand.

The objective of the test was to hook the reader, hold the reader's interest, and make the reader want to read more. Only you can decide whether I succeeded. Regardless, it needs editing.

I flatter myself as being pretty good at what I do and believe that competence has value.

#HenHousePublishing #HollyBargoBooks

Comments are closed.

    Share!

    Picture

    Author

    Hard boiled, scrambled, over easy, and sunny side up: eggs are the musings of Holly Bargo, the pseudonym for the author.

    Follow
    Karen (Holly)

    Blog Swaps
    View Guest Author Posts
    Looking for a place to swap blogs? Holly Bargo at Hen House Publishing is happy to reciprocate Blog Swaps in 2019.
    For more information: 
    Email Us

    Get Your Copy of
    Hen House Publishing Blog via Email:

    Delivered by FeedBurner


    Categories

    All
    Books By Holly Bargo
    Egg Reviews
    Events
    Guest Author
    Interviews
    Mfrw
    Mfrwauthor
    #MFRWHooks
    Reviews
    #SpringfieldOHBookFair
    Status
    #WinterBookFair

    Share

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015

HOME | ABOUT US | SERVICES | PORTFOLIO | TESTIMONIALS | BOOK CATALOG | FREE READS | BLOG | EVENTS | CONTACT
Copyright © 2015 - 2023
  • Home
    • About Us
  • Services
  • Portfolio
    • Ghostwriting
    • Editing
    • Critiques
    • Formatting
    • My Byline
    • Testimonials
  • Free Reads
  • Reviews
  • Events
  • Blog
  • Contact