Apparently, American writers must produce a minimum number of pages for a new book to be considered by a publisher, even when the core ideas can fill only half of them.
Franco Folini
There is a recurring problem with American authors: apparently, writers must produce a minimum number of pages for a book to be considered by a publisher, even when the core ideas can fill only half of them. In the case of How to Build a Dinosaur: Extinction Doesn’t Have to Be Forever by Jack Horner, the mix to get to the minimum number of pages includes:
- 30% description of a great idea on how to test evolution by “recreating” a dinosaur starting from a chicken;
- 50% multiple repetitions of the same idea;
- 20% irrelevant and boring descriptions of marginal and irrelevant details.
IMHO, reducing everything to a 100-page book would make this a smaller but perfect, very enjoyable book.
It’s like mixing half a glass of Bordeaux with half a glass of water. I can’t avoid thinking how much better it would be to enjoy the pure wine, without the water!
