The seven deadly sins of a self-published writer by Michele Brenton

1. Lust.

This can be a serious pitfall for a writer. Too much of what my mother's side of the family used to refer to as 'sexy-frolics' can undermine an otherwise excellent book. What constitutes too much is a matter of opinion and varies from genre to genre. Get it right and all is well, get it wrong and it is as bad as over-salting a meal - nobody will swallow it.

2. Gluttony.

The gluttonous writer wallows and drowns in multitudinous frothy, rococco, endlessly imaginative adjectives and never uses one syllable words when multisyllabic options are available. You may notice this style is very hard to read. Sometimes what the writer does not say makes their work all the more powerful. Less can be so much more.

3. Greed.

The greedy writer clocks up the word count with a gleam in their fanatical eye; they stack up the pages and shelve finished book after finished book. In their rush to churn out yet another title for their Kindle listings they fail to notice that quantity does not equal quality and maybe if they slowed down and chewed for longer, the content may develop more taste and become more satisfying.

4. Sloth.

The slothful writer leaves undone what should be done. Often the greedy writer believes they are the diametric opposite of the slothful writer. But they fail to realise that as the titles stack up little jobs get left undone; such trifles (to them) as thorough editing and careful formatting. Plot holes are left gaping and strange grammatical contortions produce incomprehensible or even laughably strained sentences. Many an excellent book has been spoiled by the want of a good solid edit or six. As the proverbial rhyme with its history going back as far as the 14th century so neatly puts it:

For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the message was lost.
For want of a message the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

5. Wrath.

This is a sneaky sin hovering in the background waiting to get its chance to burst out and cause as much kerfuffle as possible. It frequently pops up on review pages where writers may find it irresistible. When someone criticises their literary child a rage boils in their breast and the urge is to defend hotly any negative comment no matter how innocuous. If you are tempted thus, take a day or two to cool down and then refuse to be drawn into defensiveness. No good can ever come from wandering down this path.

6. Envy.

When famous faces land themselves massive advances for ghost-written books or even for books they very rarely write themselves it is tempting to envy them. They are seemingly scooping up the gravy for nothing more than already being famous. Less fortunate mortals need to struggle to get their books noticed and the odds are against obtaining even a modest advance these days. But these are the times when all writers should be extremely pleased. Every time a publisher puts out a book of this sort and every time it becomes a bestseller (and they usually do) it means a nice big profit. Which means the publisher lives to fight another day and to publish the many, many literary books which otherwise may not have been feasible.
Unless you were about to publish the exact same book as the famous face they have not taken anything from you by getting their book published. Envy can demoralise and disempower the envious one while the envied person never knows and would not be bothered if they did know. Save your energies for positive thinking and productive writing.

7. Pride.

Now and then a writer gets thoroughly uppity and full of pride. Then they sit down and write a blog post full of rules to tell other writers how to behave. What a cheek! I hope I'd never be so presumptuous...

oops! :)