One upshot of the new digital age of self publishing on Kindle etc is the accompanying blog review posts.
The internet has turned the whole world into one big schoolyard, and if you don't believe me check out this link to Big Al's books and pals blog.
The blog is a review of a self published Kindle book by an English born, American based writer-atist called Jacqueline Howett. No, I've never heard of her either. But if Ms Howett was planning a long, successful career as a digital author she may be about to be disappointed.
The review is slight. The book in question is some sort of suspense romance involving a girl marrying the captain of a merchant ship. What the reviewer is upset about the most is the sloppy presentation of the book: it is full of grammatical errors and typos. What follows is an increasingly hostile exchange between the reviewer, the author and a host of other people who follow the blog. Ms Howett's comments are now getting pinged round the world via the interweb, facebook and twitter.
In part this seems to prove the point that self publishing isn't for everyone. It also suggests that if you are self publishing then you should employ some sort of editor or seek professional advice before you hit the send button. Publishing a novel can be hard in the traditional world, it's even tougher on the digi-sphere. Careers that might have lasted a few years might now only take seconds to unwind.
Andy Warhol's 'famous for fifteen minutes' is looking like an awful long time.
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