Devoted to technical writing and technical writers

There's a hot thread happening over at Studio B's e-mail list on traditional and non-traditional publishing, started by Publishing Hacks blogger Robbie Allen. New Internet-driven paradigms for writers, technical and otherwise, are going to change many things, particularly the profit models for traditional purblishers. But one thing that's crucial for a writer's development, in my opinion, is the submission and editing process.

Self publishing offers many writers a chance to get published without having to go through the sometimes arduous and time-consuming submission process. But the end result is often, well, terrible writing. Here's why.

Writing the initial proposal forces the writer to crystalize the concept of the book, and to evaluate it's marketability. A lot of book ideas need to die an early death.

Submitting the proposal, and getting rejected, forces the writer to refine his work. Generally speaking, great writing comes through re-writes and refinements.

Once the contract is signed and the manuscript is submitted, the editorial process begins. As I said in an earlier post, writers aren't editors and editors aren't writers, but together they form a necessary whole. The editing process is a wonderful, albeit painful, step in a writer's on-the-job education.

Writers who self-publish miss out on all of the above benefits, so my advice is pursue as many venues as possible to get your work out there, but neglecting the traditional process may not be as good an idea as it seems.