Author Unknown, Author Undaunted
 Anonymous GG
 (Reviewer - Rebecca Brown)
 2003 1stBooks Library
 ISBN: 1410733599

The Secret Lives of POD Authors, & the process of taking a book from the mind onto paper & into the world.

The only books by anonymous authors I've ever opened have been preternaturally sleazy. So I was not exactly thrilled when Author Unknown, Author Undaunted came across my transom, however, the subtitle caught my eye, as I've been there done that. It suggests the trials & tribulations of a Little Red Riding Hood in the herd of Big Bad Wolves of publishing.

So be prepared for a bumptious read. For this is in no way a how-to book. It's a rambling, often amusing, sometimes vague, frequently incomplete, personal introduction to this author's world of ideas about writing books, & meeting the people & the companies who will publish them. GG is a self-published author who writes that she writes because she has to, in narrative prose that is often charming, girlish & intimate.

The other facet to this little book is Part IV, by far the longest section, in which GG includes the answers to a questionnaire she had people fill out at Book Expos. Some are from fellow authors, others from founders of the POD world. While the answers are interesting enough, most remind me that like actors without scripts who are about as tongue-tied as the rest of us, writers without time to rewrite are that way too.

While I often liked the way this GG writes, she really, really needs an editor to coach her on how to finish her books. She does not, however, believe in editors ... & it shows! It's not that how she writes is awkward or bad, far from it! It's just that where her writing needs to be taut, it's flabby; where details need to be given, they are omitted. & she has a lot to learn about presentation.

On Page 12 she explains her philosophy about the process of finishing a book, & those 75 words reverberated in my mind for the rest of her work & when I was done, I sat back both amused & bemused. Exactly what was this book about? One writer's life? Tidbits about the self-publishing world? What did I learn?

Throughout Author Unknown, Author Undaunted GG mentions all the other books she has in print with a variety of POD publishers. It is up to the Reader to ferret out their titles & hunt them up because none are on Amazon.com.

There is a clunky inelegance to the finished product, & it's not nearly as eye-opening as its PR intimates. It is a good cautionary tale for beginning authors.
(10/19/03)

Rebecca