High Maintenance Authors: Authors Need to Be Tech Savvy, or Risk Being Annoying
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Well into the second decade of the twenty-first century, I continue to be amazed by authors who have not but succeeded in mastering simple laptop competencies I got within the overdue eighties and early Nineties, and computer systems have modified plenty because. I can understand being 12 months or two at the back, but a decade or two in the back of authors is sort of a demise sentence for the sale of their books. Following are a few, to me largely fantastic, examples of actual life memories of high preservation authors I have ever dealt with or heard approximately from others. But, unfortunately, they have to turn out to be high renovation because they have allowed themselves to fall behind the instances. He is a poet who keeps writing his poems on a typewriter and uses white-out and correction ribbons.
He then snail mails his typed poems to numerous print guides-newspapers and magazines. However, does not get responses. He wonders why. He then asks his buddies to help him submit his lyrics. He says he cannot afford a computer when they advocate he purchase a laptop to submit his lyrics electronically (because nobody desires to retype them). If he wants his poems posted, he cannot afford not to shop for a PC.
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An author wants an editor to proofread his work. This creator sends his Word doc manuscript to the editor double-spaced; most effective, the writer has not found out how to use the double-spacing function in Word, so on the crease of each line, he has hit return twice. The editor is then pressured to dispose of all the paragraph symbols before he can edit the manuscript. A creator sends emails to e-book reviewers, editors, or anyone else demanding to speak to a live person each time due to the fact he desires to realize a way to put up his book for assessment or enhancement, even when the commands are genuinely imprinted on the reviewer or editor’s internet site. The creator does not want to make an effort to study the website (notwithstanding the truth that a cell phone call will take longer).
A writer wants an editor to proofread her manuscript. The editor requests that she ship it as a Word file and email it to him. However, she no longer knows the way to send an attachment. So, rather than ask her teenage granddaughter for assistance, she prints the entire manuscript and emails it to the editor, who then consents to use his red pen and make corrections to it. The editor emails the manuscript returned to the author, who then makes the corrections in the Word file; however, she finally ends up with several typos in the e-book. She is not an excellent proofreader and makes mistakes the editor could no longer have made in correcting the document. A creator desires to post her manuscript to a writer, but she would not recognize how to place a header on the manuscript. Hence, she writes to her agent repeatedly,
asking her easy computer inquiries to assist her in formatting her manuscript. Finally, the agent explains that there’s a Help feature in Word to show her how to do the entirety. Eventually, the agent gives up on seeking to represent this writer. Trust me, those are all actual life examples. And authors who behave this way will force crazy the book reviewers, retailers, editors, publishers, printers, and all of us they ask for assistance. If you’re one of these authors, please be aware that your lack of PC competencies isn’t the fault, precedence, subject, or responsibility of others. We are not laptop teachers, and we’ve enough to do while not having to get on the cell phone with you and spend an hour attempting to help you figure out the way to pay for a provider online or explain to you the way we do business.
We would really like to spend the time to be pleasant and chat with you for an hour. However, we’ve got dozens, even hundreds of customers. That’s why we’ve websites that provide facts about the sector instead of one man or woman at a time. It’s no longer personal that we do not need to speak with you on the telephone or alternate a dozen emails with you. We have lots to do and can not provide you with that personal interest. Please remember that your expectation that we do so makes you a “High Maintenance Author.”
Granted, a valid query occurs every now and then when an internet site has a malfunction or something is unclear. An email question is suitable in those instances, and even a cell phone name is a rare example. But normally, you’re wasting your time by not being responsible or self-sufficient enough to find a way to do matters for yourself. At the same time, the instructions are clear, or what wishes to be accomplished falls underneath the Computers one zero one category. For instance, when you need to understand
how your book review is published, you do not want to send an email asking. Instead, look at the internet site and click where it says “Reviews,” then click on wherein it says “Alphabetical through Author.” If your name is Mary Smith, appear below “S” until you find “Smith, Mary.” Now that you’ve found your call click on it, and you may find your e-book evaluation. Remember something referred to as the Card Catalogue they used to have approximately two decades ago in libraries? It works like that; it’s alphabetical.