Sometimes Reading a Bad Novel is a Good Thing

It’s been six months since I self-published by debut novel, Storm Orphans. To say sales have been disappointing would be an understatement. Although I haven’t kept an exact count, I’m almost positive the number of sales is less than 100 so far. Hugh Howey, curse you.

Despite the lack of sales, I’m still confident that Storm Orphans is a good book. It’s fast-paced, exciting, and tells a thoroughly engaging story of surviving in a post-apocalyptic world where your neighbor is more likely to try to eat you than to say hello. True, no one is going to compare it to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn or The Grapes of Wrath in terms of impact on the literary front, but I prefer to think of my book as one of those punk bands I liked in high school. The fewer kids that knew their music and had one of their albums, the cooler it made me to be a fan. I wonder how many albums Dead Kennedys or Black Flag sold. Probably not very many.

I read a lot. Most of what I read is the same type of stuff I like to write, sci-fi and horror. Occasionally I’ll pick up some crime, fantasy, or non-fiction just to mix things up. Last night I finished reading a book that was nominated for both the Hugo and a Nebula award. That’s some pretty high praise and so I was expecting a lot. By the time I got through the first hundred pages, I was wondering what the folks that submitted those nominations were smoking the night they chose this book. I’m betting it wasn't legal. Nothing in the next 230 pages changed my mind. The characters were one-dimensional and unlikable. The dialogue was juvenile and the plot downright silly in several places. I just don’t know what those readers saw in it. But you know what? I’m glad I read it. In fact, I recommend that anyone who fancies him or herself a writer pick up a similar book once in awhile.

I’m not suggesting you subject yourself to reading one of the thousands of self-published hodgepodges of clichés, typos, misspellings, and grammar so tortuous only a German dentist could enjoy it that can be found all over Amazon these days. I've picked up quite a few of those online in the past year and dropped every one of them long before I got to its end. Reading one of those cover to cover is too much to ask of anyone. But I am suggesting that sometimes reading a book that just isn't very good is actually good for you.

In my case, I walk away from that reading experience with three things. First, it proves my work can stack up with the most critically acclaimed stuff out there in the sci-fi/horror market today even if I can’t get any of the known critical outlets to even consider reviewing it. Second, just as you can learn from your mistakes, you can also learn from someone else’s. As respected as the author of that book clearly is, he made a number of errors in the writing of that book that I’ll be that much more careful not to make as I write my next one. And finally, it reiterated the logic of a decision I’d already made before I even bought the book. I’ll be pursuing a traditional publishing route once my work-in-progress is complete. Not only do I need the publicity, I’m now that much more confident that my books can hold their own on the same B&N shelves as those of my more illustrious colleagues.