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Self-publishing will destroy the book industry in the end. They used to weld all this power, and they’d print any garbage that a big-name writer from twenty years ago produced...even if it was 3rd-rate stuff.

I had a long career in the publishing business, both as inhouse editor and as an author -- published by HarperCollins and Simon&Schuster.

At this point, I struggle with the whole idea of e-publishing, because I'm not a techie, and because ebooks say to me they were rejected first by publishing houses. Why? They are almost always in need of a professional edit.

I know someone with good ideas and talent who published thru the Amazon program. They "edited" for him, charged him $1200. I don't have the heart to tell him how terrible his book is. But I'll say it here.

Professional editing starts with manuscript evaluation. Is your concept interesting? Does your idea have commercial appeal? Have you thought it through? Can it hold a reader's attention? What might you add or omit to bring the story to life? Do you know how to weave it correctly? Or are you dropping stitches, leaving loopholes, losing the readers' interest? Evaluation is basically a lengthy discussion between author and editor before a final or semifinal draft is written. You are not going to get anything like that from the Amazon Anaconda, that wraps itself around your work and your heart and grinds it to nothing. They really do not care about writing and writers. They care about grabbing market share and putting legit publishing houses out of business.

Bezos hired Larry Kirshbaum, former prez of TimeWarner, to supervise their takeover of the publishing world. I had breakfast with Larry at Rockefeller Center years ago, nice fellow very smart, very money driven. He is doing a great job for them. But for authors? And for books? I have my doubts.

In my experience, self-published books are ALWAYS overwritten. Amateur and wannabe authors think editing is moving commas around. They rush to publication with perfect comma use but little concept of shaping and weaving their manuscripts into tightly written. well crafted stories that readers cannot put down. Instead, we read a few pages and forget to read the rest. Nothing to compel our interest.

Sad, because some of these books would be good reads if they were edited by professionals. And I don't mean your neighbor who teaches writing in college. I mean professionals.

I've heard that some ebooks are very good. Could be. But how did they get that way?