Customer Reviews

The 10% Solution

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Take this book and read it cover to cover. It won't take forever. Then sit down with a story you wish to polish and follow Ken's method, his 10% solution for trimming the wordiness from your prose. It works. He explains how his solution came about, how it helped him and how it can help you. Then he details the method, step by step. Lastly he demonstrates how it worked on his own writing. It made all the difference in my writing. I now keep his book next to me when I revise my writing. It's that good.

...unfortunately, the rest of the book is mud.

I do think it's worth getting, but keep this in mind:

The first 31 pages are infomercial: "Let me show you how this 10% solution will change your life!"

The second 31 pages are useful: "Follow these steps to find the padding that slows your writing" and it is helpful.

The catch is this: at the end, to show how one can be succinct, Rand includes the 500 word magazine article describing this "10% solution" process. All the info in this $5 book boils down to 500 words. The rest is fluff. Those 500 words are very valuable, helpful, and insightful words, and I'm glad I paid my penny a word, but I guess he couldn't sell a 500 word book to a publisher, so he "fluffed" it to 61 pages.

Ironic how this review can be 1000 words ... twice the length needed to describe the 10% solution.

Ken Rand's short, no-nonsense approach to editing your own work, properly applied, will do more to make your writing appear professional than anything I've seen like it. Ken's style is funny and concise. He shows you how to go through your manuscript to tighten it, emphasizing accuracy, clarity and brevity. I've been selling professionally (Analog, Realms of Fantasy, Weird Tales) for several years, and Ken's approach still managed to trim over 500 words from a 5,000 word story that later went on to sell to a pro magazine. I've bought 20 copies to give to friends and students.

Rand's methods of making a manuscript better is easy to use, easy to learn, and--most importantly--very effective. This slim volume rivals Strunk & White's "Elements of Style" in its quick "let's get to the point" method of pretty nearly instantly making any manuscript better. The real value of this book is best demonstrated by my own experience with it. After reading it, I followed Rand's method with an old story of mine which had been rejected 18 times over 5 years. Two weeks after submitting my story, it sold. I've never read a book on writing that could ever do this for me. The real beauty of this little gem is that it can do wonders for a writer. There's no guarantee that using Rand's method equals a sale, but you'll no longer get rejection slips telling you to write tighter if you use the method with an open mind. I've already bought copies for 3 friends who write and they are not finished thanking me. Blow the few bucks on this one--postage that you spend on getting rejected without it costs more.

After attending Kend Rand's writing workshop, I had to buy this book. It's an excellent investment. Though small in size (60 pages), each page is packed with valuable tips for writing and editing. It's small enough to carry around with your manuscript, yet contains most of the information found in larger books. It's a real bargain for the price!

Ken Rand's THE TEN PERCENT SOLUTION proves that sometimes big things DO come in small packages. His suggestions on how to tighten prose are gold, a definite must for new writers. I suspect even neopros who've been around for a few years will learn something from this book. Rand's practical advice is laced with anecdotes of how he learned the writing craft--fascinating reading for those who want to see how it's done. Finally, at 63 pages and less than six bucks this book is both a fast read AND a bargain.

I borrowed money to buy this book. It was worth it. The 10% solution is the first book on self-editing I have ever read that actually teaches useful techniques without having you write like the author. The 10% solution hands you a tool for self-editing that would take years to come up with on your own and is so helpful it actually does save you years of trial and error. Bravo Mr. Rand!

This little book basically rehashes a very commonplace piece of writing advice: avoid unnecessary words and vague, roundabout wording. If you've read Strunk and White, you already know the message this book was written to convey. If this is news to you, then this book might be a good purchase.

Rand's original contribution to this subject seems to be a list of words and suffixes that are likely to be found in sentences that need trimming. You put these into your word processor search function and use them to zoom in on trouble sentences. Nifty idea, but I'll probably continue to look at each sentence and decide if it needs tightening.

This book started out as a short article, and it should have stayed in that form - or become half of a chapter in a writing book. It is sadly padded out to justify its marketing as a $10 book: the font is huge, the beginning is just a bunch of autobiography and self-promotion of questionable value to writers.

I also find it strange that there are glaring mistakes here, in a book that says accuracy is the top priority in any piece of writing. Rand perpetuates a common misunderstanding of the meaning of the word "schizophrenic", and he misuses even simple grammatical terms like "passive voice" and "past tense". This is not to say that he doesn't know how to cut unneeded verbiage (which is the point of the book). He clearly does. But I'd prefer to get my advice from people who have their facts straight.

Finally, the subtitle ("Self-Editing for the Modern Writer") is a bit misleading. There is much more to self-editing (especially when it comes to fiction) than simply tightening flabby prose. Revising a draft also involves work on dramatic structure, internal consistency, description, point of view, style and voice, etc. If a beginning writer picked up this book and got the notion that the only difference between a draft and a finished story is that the latter has 10% fewer words (which is what Rand keeps saying), that would be very unfortunate.

I've not had a book published ... but I have had one rejected! I purchased Rand's book to help steer me through the publishing process now that it is written. Rand's book is concerned primarily with self-editing your work before you submit it (or re-submit it). His basic thesis is that ANY work can be reduced by 10%, and if you do it yourself, an editor will see that you write cleanly and tightly. This will save the editor a lot of work. Rand gives a number of helpful hints in how to begin cutting out 10% of unnecessary wording in your article or book.

Rand also gives encouragement to a rejected writer. There is a lot to learn in the rejection process. Don't give up.

Rand's book is short and helpful. I recommend it.

I think that simple is better and this book gives some good and simple techniques to improve your writing in the editing process.