Things Readers Hate by Agatho Mystery
THE VOICE OF SOUTHWEST WRITERS Vol. 30, No. 11 November 2013 www.southwestwriters.com Things Readers Hate by Agatho Mystery he editor/publisher's raison d'etre, at most publishing 1. An ambiguous ending. Lord, do readers hate an unre- companies, is to bring revenue into the company. That solved ending. Even when a new series is getting started, T may sound a little bloodless and corporate, but the each book has to be a complete whole. Minor threads can be way we generate revenue is by signing up promising new left unresolved (to be picked up in future books), but most writers while also trying to make a buck on writers whose readers can't stand being left at the edge of a cliff. They get work has a proven history of selling. Bankrupt publishers even more frustrated when they feel that the author or pub- don't do the world any good, and I've never apologized for lisher is sending them the message, "If you want to find out being a businessman as well as an editor. what happens, you'll have to buy the next book." (See point #5.) But things get a little tricky in the editor's head. On the one hand, we are looking for manuscripts that, in our opinion, What this means, ultimately, is that writers have to separate will be purchased by a reading public with literally hundreds character from plot in series books. The immediate plot has of thousands of other options. On the other hand, though, to be resolved, while uber-arcs can continue from book to there's a part of us that sees ourselves as opinion leaders.
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