Sparrow’s Flight : The Best Bad Movie Never Made by Richard Armitt, Koru Cottage Consulting Ltd, RRP $29.99, ISBN 9780473171599

Oh dear. If you’ve ever read my Review Policy (and you probably haven’t, it’s not really that exciting) you’ll notice a comment about being happy to review self-publishing books. That’s a purposeful comment – the whole self-publishing movement is quite different these days and can produce some really interesting writing (if not totally polished). After all, what is this blog if not a bit of a digital self-publish?

Having said all of that though I do have to admit I do approach self-published books with more trepidation than books from traditional publishers. And unfortunately Sparrow’s Flight is a very good example of why.

Let’s start with the basics – why does this book look so cheap? It has no cover to speak of – it looks like an advance uncorrected proof copy, not a finished book. This isn’t helped by the basic font, the 1 1/2 line spacing, the mistake on the back cover – there is a reason why professionally produced books look professional and sell. If you’re going to publish a book and try and sell it to book stores or libraries (or readers) you need to make it look as professional as possible. Why make it harder for yourself by producing something that doesn’t live up to those standards?

But let’s face it – the worst writing can be made to look wonderful and the best writing can come in unassuming packages. That’s one of the little hopes one holds with self-published books, discovering a hidden gem. I did not get the point of Sparrow’s Flight. It’s basically a memoir of the author’s film-going life, his thought process in writing his screenplay “Sparrow’s Flight” (billed as The best bad movie never made), followed by a draft of the screenplay. There was very little compelling reading here, and this wasn’t helped by a desperate need for further proof-reading and a very firm editor’s hand. This just made reading it feel like a chore.

I’m afraid I just didn’t understand why I, as a reader, would be interested in this story and why I, as a buyer, would want to part with money for it. And it sucks that I have to say that – this is someone’s work and I don’t like being so negative about people’s work. However, the ultimate argument against self-publishing is one which is difficult to refute – if publishers don’t want to publish your book, that’s probably a good indication it might not be worth publishing. Very rarely, every now and then, a book will come along that proves that isn’t the final word. Sadly, Sparrow’s Flight is not that book.