Reader Greed....

Well I haven't quite fallen off the face of the planet.... I am however still quarantined and banished to the sofa with strict instructions to stay there till my leg gets better.... I was hoping to be back to work today but the interesting side effect of suddenly coming out in an all over body rash and spending most of the afternoon asleep kind of convinced me I might still be a bit poorly.

One of the things I've been doing whilst resting is, of course, reading..... which has led me to do some pondering....

I am an unashamed series addict.... after all why buy and read one book when there are three or four out there and possibly more to come.  Now here's the thing.... I've been doing a bit of digging around and am kind of astounded by the speed at which authors can put books out there.  Now I know this is the digital age, but really, 4 books in a single year for a new author?  Even some more established authors seem to be rushing forward into getting the next book out regardless.

Which leads me to ask.... is this normal, or is this down to reader greed??

Taking one of the most prolific writers of this century (and the end of the last) and someone whose books I love and have been collecting since about 1984, Sir Terry Pratchett..... who has a huge fan base, that beg and plead for more stories, who have conventions all over the world..... I still wouldn't expect to see him put out more than one title a year... I am sure that he could write and publish faster than this, but why would he? I can't see him sacrificing anything within his books just for a faster turn around.

In fact looking at my shelves, the minimum for most authors appears to be one title per year to 18 months, with fantasy and historical novels taking significantly longer (my favourite historical writer, Sharon Penman, had a huge gap between the publishing of When Christ and His Saints Slept and Time and Chance, one of her writers actually wrote to her a single line enquiring about the book which read "did Eleanor get lost in Aquitaine", but as the author explained, she had glandular fever which put her writing on hold for several years - it was worth the wait).

Going back to the M/M genre, in which I appear to be mainly stuck, I am left asking myself.... what price are we paying as readers for the speedy and frequent release of books?  Most of the books are in e-format and to be honest, in a great many I have found poor editing, continuity and little niggly issues that I am sure could be solved with a greater time spent in editing/proofing.  These aren't issues for the self published, these are issues for those publishing through some of the larger presses.  The lack of attention to detail shows and it is off putting.

There is also the big sacrifice regarding actual plot lines....... characters and plots need to develop, and whilst a particular pair of MC's or an author themselves may have a huge fan base that means what ever is put out will seemed be universally loved, there are some readers that will be put off, that will perhaps take an author or series of auto-buy.

I do love the way that the majority of the M/M authors are involved in the community, but I sometimes wonder if perhaps they need to step back for the sake of their work and not listen so much to the chants and pleadings for yet more story...