Over the last couple weeks in the workshops here, a number of professional writers and I have been trying (during side discussions) to come up with reasons why an idea won’t work. Novelist Scott William Carter (who was my co-instructor at the New Tech workshop) and I talked this over and then I started to ask others about it and the discussions continued with no result other than positive. So I figured I would open it up here and see what comes. Since this group is diverse and at all levels in both belief in myths and also the impact of the changes of this new world of publishing, I figure this might get interesting.
At the moment neither Scott or I are saying that this is the way to do it. Just opening to feedback on the idea.
THE IDEA
Step One: Novelist finished a new manuscript that is NOT under contract, NOT an option book in any way for an existing contract. Just a brand new book for the writer. (Again, this is a novel.)
Step Two: Novelist gets the manuscript into shape with some first readers and maybe a good copyedit, then launches it on electronic sites and gets it through a POD publisher such as CreateSpace, which will give you cheap author’s copies in their $39 pro program. (Step two could take up to three months or so, especially with the proofing and the time involved in the POD process.)
Step Three: Do a short three page synopsis of the book, then put a copy of the trade paperback book with the synopsis and a cover letter into a flat rate priority envelope and mail to an editor with a #10 SASE. Be clear to the editor that the book is up on both electronic publishing and POD under your own press name, but you would be glad to pull it down if the publisher is interested in making an offer. (Do NOT say sales numbers or any such thing like that. And if you book doesn’t look professional and have good back cover copy, don’t bother.)
Step Four: If the publisher makes an offer, by then you will have some sales history on the book to see how it is selling. (Traditional publishers offers often take six months to a year to come to an author after submission.)
If an offer does come in you have some math to do. Figure if a traditional publisher makes an offer and you can work a good contract, you will sign over control of the book for about eight years. You will get the traditional publisher’s push, sure, but figure what your book would make in electronic and POD if you kept it for eight years and then balance the offer from the publisher with the projected income you will make over eight years on your own. (Easy math. For example, if your book is selling for $4.99 electronically and selling 25 copies per month TOTAL across ALL electronic sites, and also selling 5 copies POD per month at a $3.00 average income, your income per month is about $102.50. Or about $1,230.00 per year or just under $10,000 for eight years. If a publisher offers you $10,000 or anything close, you have a real decision to make.)
Note: Many fiction authors are going to feel they want to be published by a traditional publishing house no matter how well their book is selling through their own press. Fine, this idea does not block that either. Just don’t do the math and go with the traditional publisher.
UPSIDES
Upside #1: You are making some money while your novel is under submission. And growing readers. Maybe not many, but some, and if all traditional publishers turn you down, you are still making money even at very, very low levels of sales and gaining a readership. (This solves the biggest complaint I have heard about publishing these days, how editors are so slow to respond or never respond, which is beyond rude in my opinion, but seems to be almost normal now.)
Upside #2: Editors hate to toss a book away, so instead of tossing your submission away if it doesn’t fit (all you have sent along is a #10 SASE for a response and you say in your cover letter they can keep the book), they will toss your book into a free pile in the office. Those books are there for anyone to take. Someone in the office picks it up, likes it and either becomes a fan, or writes you about the book. Both are positive. Or they donate it to a used bookstore and a fan finds it there. And buys more of your other work. Again, positive. Again, anyone working as an editor hates tossing away a book. So your free copy to the editor will find a home eventually.
Upside #3: If you are good at blurbs and back cover copy, the editor will see it on your book and be able to use what you have written, which will save them time in writing them (Yes, editors write blurbs and back cover copy). If your book looks professional, she can use it to convince the sales force and others. (Don’t expect or demand they use your cover or anything. Again, be willing and say so in the cover letter that if they want the book, you will be willing to pull your edition down before their edition appears if you can come to an agreement in the contract.)
Upside #4: Editors are more willing to read books over manuscripts any day, and if you have it up electronically, tell the editor in the cover letter that if she is interested, you will also be glad to send her the book electronically, either by download or a coupon system. You will have also done a copyedit and some cleaning on the book before publishing it, so the editor will be reading in her world what seems to be a very clean submission copy.
Upside #5: Your book might start selling more copies than you imagined. If that happened, no offer from New York short of six figures would offset your income. If you book is selling very well and an editor makes an offer, you tell them your numbers and their offer might just go up. If the offer doesn’t, just keep selling it yourself and turn down the traditional offer. Again, both sides of that are positive for the writer.
There are more upsides on this, but those are the major ones.
Downside
Downside #1: Running into an editor who still thinks that all self-published or small-published books are garbage. There are still a few left since this new world is changing so fast. The editor won’t remember you, so that won’t matter. The editor will then just toss the book into the free pile and ignore your submission. Your book might find another editor in the building from that pile, or worst case a new fan in a used bookstore. Not much of a downside. Very minor.
Downside #2: Slightly more cost per submission. When you figure toner costs and paper costs for a regular submission and compare them to the price of an author copy through CreateSpace, your costs will be about $1.50 more per submission. Minor downside considering that a fan will find the book at some point in the process if the book is rejected and you might make more sales.
Downside #3: If you suck at cover design and back cover copy, and I mean really suck, it might hurt your submission to editors instead of help by presenting them a clean and professional product. That is a controllable downside and again minor. Just make sure you have someone who can help you with understanding covers and blurbs.
That’s all that a bunch of us, all selling professional writers, could see on the downside, which bothers me a great deal. I keep thinking there should be more downside to this. Anyone?
Everything is Changing Fast
This might be one of the ways of the future world of submissions. In fact, unless someone can come up with more downsides on this, I sure can’t see why this wouldn’t be a major way of doing things in the future. It allows writers to make some money on their novel while it is under submission and while editors in large publishers are going through their long process in buying a book. It allows authors to test-run a book to see response and judge the value over a long haul for the book. And it allows editors to use some of the package to help in their sales if you are good at putting a book together in a professional manner.
It is a balanced approach that uses both your own publishing venture and traditional publishers, without any real waste of time. Win/win as far as I can see for novelists.
Comments? Problems? More upsides?
This new world of publishing has certainly become a great deal of fun.
Laura and Dean, I really do see your points, and I see why if you are established in the current system there are huge advantages to staying with the current system.
For me, the publishing world is just plain odd. I have run my own business, been a consultant, been an employee, worked at a start up, etc. etc. I have always paid close attention to how the money is actually made. Nothing in my experience works like the publishing industry. It’s very strange, and to be honest, I don’t know if that is a good or bad thing. That’s why when I read authors blogs I am rather shocked.
I am not advocating that any author should change how they run their business, but I do think that, for many, this is a great time to re-examine assumptions.
BTW, if Konrath sees a 1000% increase in sales by lowering the price to $2.99, he would be stupid not take advantage. That doesn’t mean 2.99 is right for all authors, in all situations.
Dean wrote: “I am very down at the moment on writers as a class, mostly because I am disgusted at the number of writers who not only not question simple things like the agent myth, but who defend it even though they don’t have a clue only because it has become a belief system. Or they are too lazy to take any kind of business control over their own money. If they can’t even question the simple act of hiring an agent to make sure they make a correct decision, how can I expect them to even think through some of these more complex issues of self-publishing.”
This kind of thing goes in all directions on all streets.
One thing that’s struck me in recent months is, for example, the increasing number of professional writers talking about how they’re going to succeed at self-publishing… When at least some of the writers in question are terrible at business. And, um, virtually EVERYTHING but writing the book itself is BUSINESS in self-publishing (even, to some extent, deciding on cover art/design, since the cover needs to “speak” to the target audience). A percentage of writers anticipating success in self-publisheing are people who are disorganized, poor at follow-up, have poor computer skills (ex. the sort of person who is annually defeated by the standard online renewal system in a writers organization), don’t read or understand contracts, don’t track income or examine royalties statements or agency statements, are uncomfortable (even unwilling to) doing business for themselves in publishing rather than via an agent, don’t know how to tell which of their e-rights are under contract and which are in their possession, etc…
Similarly, I see an astounding quantity of misinformation about how publishing works being promulgated and repeated by aspiring writers rejecting the professional publishing model in favor of self-publishing. Choosing self-publishing is fine if someone actually knows what they’re talking about… but it’s just silly if one’s decisions are based on fabricated nonsense about how the publishing industry actually functions. And, again, I wonder how well someone’s business sense and skills will function, as a self-publisher, if they’ve not even managed to accurately research how the business traditionally works.
To be honest, I also meet writers and aspiring writers who I think should definitely have an agent–precisely because their business skills are so weak that they’re probably be better off having almost anyone else (as long as the person isn’t a crook) making their submissions for them.
There are also, of course, some writers making some stunningly ill-informed choices RE e-publishing, suching as signing away rights for a pittance and for egregious contractual terms. Because just as scammers have always been attracted to publishing, because it’s full of ambitious people with absolutely terrible business sense, so will scammers be attracted to e-publishing, for exactly the same reasons.
Even if you aren’t planning to self publish in any form, I think would be pretty valuable to learn what options are currently avaiable, not just for the publishing, but for editing, proof, cover etc.
Roguecyber said, “Even if you aren’t planning to self publish in any form, I think would be pretty valuable to learn what options are currently avaiable, not just for the publishing, but for editing, proof, cover etc.”
Oh, heavens, YES! Well said. At this point in time anyone who has closed a door to either side of this world of publishing is just being purposefully blind. Or a staunch member of the Church of Luddite. Not a good plan for making decisions in this fast-changing world.
Roguecyber wrote: “For me, the publishing world is just plain odd. ”
Oh, the publishing world is odd for EVERYONE. I don’t think I know anyone who’s ever gotten into it (or learned about it from those of us in it) who has NOT repeatedly said, “No way. Seriously? NO. You’re pulling my leg. That makes NO SENSE.” (g)
Laura, you are completely correct, and not only about writers! There should be required classes in business and finance in the public school system. People should be taught these things in school, yet the only class I took before college was Economics, and that slept though! I cannot tell you how many people I have watched fail simply because they didn’t know how to run a business.
Unfortunately, most of what I know run counter to how the publishing world works. It’s completely baffling to me. I don’t mean how it works, I understand that, but WHY, why did it get this way? Why have most writers given complete control over to their agents? Why don’t more writers want to control the supply chain to maximize their profits? (and now a more dangerous question) Why do editors work for the publisher, rather than for the writer? Who’s “product” are they improving?
I know the answer to most of those questions is that authors typically aren’t good business people and that the final product is the creation of the publisher not the author. Do authors want it to be that way? They must or they would change things. Is it that they crave the soft reward of having a publisher validate their work more than the hard reward of a big pay check and creative control? Or is it really that for most authors they desperately need a publish to make them not “such”.
Again, please take everything I say with a grain of salt, you guys and gals know far more about this business than I do.
I asked these same questions, Roguecyber, as to why this business was so crazy when I came in solidly in the early 1980s. So I started studying the history of writers and publishing to find out why some of this silliness and stupid business exists. For example, did you know the returns system was started by publishers in the depression to help bookstores survive, and of course now no bookstore would let that go and no publisher dares go out alone with non-returns other than on a limited basis, so we have a system set up where no bookstore has to take responsibility for the product on their shelves.
Did you know that few if any agents existed until after WWII in publishing, and then they were used by writers to get into the movie and new television industry and not much else.
Did you know that in this world of shifting distribution of books, that there has already been two major distribution collapses in publishing, one around 1958 and the other in the mid 1990′s to around 2000. Both caused massive changes in writer’s lives and costs thousands of writers their careers, but I have a hunch both earlier collapses and changes will pale by the time the dust settles on this one going on now.
As to why writers don’t want to take responsibility for their own careers, that’s an art myth that’s been around for about a hundred years. Nothing explains why writers let agents have all their money and the paperwork with that money ahead of seeing it themselves. That is just too stupid a trend to ever be explained away by history. Just know it has been standard for about forty years now. And heaven only knows how many billions have been stolen from writers in that time.
Yikes, typos!! That’s what I get for writing quickly as I am leaving the office.
Couple of quick thoughts I had, catching up on all of this.
In Mike Resnick and Barry Malzburg’s SFWA newsletter series, they made an interesting comment on the importance of advances. Their thought was, sizable advances are important to the author because they encourage the publisher to print larger quantities of the book. A publisher who pays a $4000 advance tends to (paraphrasing them) print enough books to pay back the costs they have accrued, and no more unless it does really, really well. They also limit the marketing dollars being spent, because they know the book will likely sell enough copies to break even without marketing. If on the other hand they pay a $100k advance, they are going to print a LOT more books, and most likely put a lot more effort into marketing the book – because they need to make back that advance, so they push the work much harder.
On 27 books a minute… Well, the AAP estimates book sales at about $25 billion dollars, and tracks somewhere between 2/3 and 3/4 of the total market depending upon whom you ask. Fiction represents something like an eighth of that. So there’s around $3-4 billion spent on fiction books in the US each year, at an average price of maybe $10-12 a book. That’s at least 300 MILLION fiction books sold each year, one for every citizen in the country. It is competitive, but it doesn’t take a huge slice of that to do pretty well.
Thanks again for the engaging back and forth here, esp Laura and Dean – your comments are serious food for thought.
Roguecyber, I know what you mean. Even as a teen, I found it baffling that I had to learn algorithms and how to calculate pi, neither of which has ever once come in handy in my adult life… but there wasn’t a single lesson offered in my entire school on things I actually needed to know SOON after leaving school, such as how to balance a checkbook, or plan a household or small business budget, or fill out a 1040-EZ tax form, or read a payroll statement. I thought it made sense that we had to study the Constitution and how the electoral college works… but WHY didn’t anyone teach us, as we were approaching age 18, how to register to vote and fill out an election ballot? (I was in my first polling box for so long, my waiting father thought I had fallen asleep and got worried. I couldn’t understand what I was supposed to do with the materials given to me–the card, the thing you slide it into, the hole puncher. It is NOT self-explanatory. So I wondered why, in HALF A YEAR of civics class… THIS had NEVER been mentioned!)
There are books about publishing that explain some of its history and why things are the way they are. I can’t name any off the top of my head, but I know they’re out there–since I read some of them, many moons ago, and I assume others have been released since then. The overall explanation is exactly what C.E. Petit said here a few weeks ago, along the lines (I paraphrase very loosely) of there being no “publishing industry,” but instead just a jumble of customs and practices engaged in chaotically by a bunch of disparate entities.
Just had another idea bubble….
Entrepreneurial is a buzz word you hear a lot in software and “new media”. A lot of what Dean has been writing about in “Killing the Sacred Cows” is pointing out how the publishing business has NOT been entrepreneurial (a word I can’t spell without help). Now Dean is writing about how to make the transition, because it’s something he has been doing for years. hmm…
Related new item, Jeff Jarvis of City University of New York, just got a grant to teach “entrepreneurial journalism”. When will we start hearing about the “entrepreneurial novelist”? Or is he already here and named Konrath?
Roguecyber, I agree, but I would never use that word because I can’t spell it either. (grin) Sure sounds good as a buzz word, though, doesn’t it?
But shortening the phrase “entrepreneurial-writer” wouldn’t work either because then you would become an e-writer and that has a different meaning these days. (grin)
Dean, Roguecyber, I think the term you’re looking for is “indie writer” — much easier to spell, with lots of flexibility in the definition.
(Of course, it also suggests that anyone who’s not “indie” is “captured” or some-such, but I digress..)
L
Lynw, Slight logical fallacy there, while many “entrepreneurial novelists” are indie writers, there are many indie writers that are not “entrepreneurial novelists”. Also an entrepreneurial novelist could publish through traditional methods. I would say that several of the big brand authors, Nora Roberts and James Patterson for example, have thought and acted like entrepreneurs within the traditional publishing model.
Dean, I have to ask here. You’ve got 90 novels behind you (more now?). By now, I am guessing you have a pretty good idea when a novel is “baked” and ready for addition to your bakery.
For a beginning novelist, besides just validation, publishers offered writers at least a sense of when a novel was ready to be read. If it was bought, it was ready. If you shopped it around to thirty publishers and no one bought it, well, maybe it needs more work.
In a new world where you think it’s a good idea to self-publish and *then* shop the novel around, how is the newer writer to know when the novel is actually ready for prime time? Sending the darn thing out is a scary enough prospect by itself, but knowing when to send it out is…Gah. I don’t even know where to start.
Any suggestions?
I am not an author… But I have a couple ideas. I agree that Dean probably knows when his work is ready. He also has Kristine. Also with Dean’s idea from this post, the intention is that the book really isn’t ready for publishing. You are just using self pub to promote yourself and get a “real publishing deal”. (and hopefully make a little money on the side)
But here are some ideas….
Easy idea: Find a number of trusted first readers. Tell them sternly to be harsh, critical and brutal. When they don’t throw things at you, your book is “ready”.
Costly Idea: There are experts in this field. Hire one or more! CreateSpace and oDesk have editorial services. There are a number of author bloggers that sell some form of editorial service. Warning: this idea is ripe for abuse so be careful and research throughly.
Interesting Idea: Go on GoodReads or Selfari, find a group that would be appropriate for your book. Contact the moderator and ask if they or someone they in that group would want an advanced copy to review. See if they hate it or love it.
The impression I am getting is that you *are* putting the book up at least hoping that it is ready for publishing. Remember, Dean mentioned that if the offer you get isn’t good enough to make up for the sales you would make yourself, you refuse the offer. That implies that you want your book good enough to sell. Heck, just sending the POD copy to publishers implies that the book had better be good enough to sell.
I’m thinking that cultivating some sort of “first reader” group is one good idea as well. I already review/get reviewed on OWW and Critters, but the process tends to result in only a couple reviews on the former and takes quite a while on the latter. I’m thinking I need something a bit different, where I can get a cluster of first readers willing to read and able to give strong feedback.
Or maybe there’s a better way, which is sorta why I asked.
Kevin,
I hesitated in answering this question because my answer is never popular or understood, even though I have said it in many ways over the different Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing chapters.
Your question assumes a couple things. First off, another person’s or a number of people’s opinion about your book is valuable. Second, if you do believe another person’s opinion about your book, you have the skills to “fix” or “polish” or rewrite your book without doing more damage than good. You don’t and I know that because you are asking this question. Honestly is that simple.
So my direct and blunt response is this: “What does it matter?”
You only become a better writer by continuing to learn and studying other writer’s and how they wrote and then writing the next story or novel. Focusing on a piece of writing already done is just silly at best and a time-waster at worst.
So back to my blunt response. “What does it matter if a book isn’t up to someone else’s standards?” All that matters is that you did the best you could do at this point in your skill set. Does my first published novel need work? Oh, heaven’s yes, but who cares? I sure don’t. If I hadn’t taken a chance with that book I wouldn’t have these other books behind it, I would still be “polishing” my novel and making it worse.
So stop worrying about what other people think of you. Do the best book you can and then either mail it or self-publish it or do both. Your choice. But if you really want to be a long-term professional writer, you need to work on the next project.
I HATE Roguecyber’s suggestion beyond a few trusted first readers to find mistakes and typos. If you ask a trusted reader to be harsh and critical, they would tear classic books apart, let alone what you write. DON’T DO THAT!!!. And for heaven’s sake stay away from group reads and workshops for help in “fixing your book.”
In other words, if you want to be a fiction writer, if you want to be an artist, grow a backbone and believe in your own work, believe in your own skill, and keep learning and writing the next story and the next book. Stop looking for some sort of magic wand saying your work is good. Editors are just people, workshops are deadly, and if you tell a first reader to be harsh, you’ll never write anything worth writing.
See why I was so hesitant on answering this question? You need to read all my Sacred Cows chapters if you still want to after this. I go much deeper into all this rewriting, fixing, and workshop myths.
Sorry to be so blunt. I am just starting to HATE this thinking that the value of any New York publisher is as stamp of approval. That is so silly for so many reasons I can’t begin to explain it. Maybe I need to take it on in a chapter as a myth. Remember, I used to be a major editor. And trust me, you don’t want me stamping anything with any approval stamp.
Please don’t apologize.
That advice you say is so unpopular? It’s because it is liberating, and liberation is frightening. I know, because I’m feeling it a bit, and understand the source.
But next to your comments about the first million words being apprenticeship work, I think that’s one of the most important pieces of advice I’ve seen you write here. And you’ve written plenty of good advice.
Thank you.
Dean, By group at GoodReads or Selfari I was not talking about a writers group. Both sites have a groups feature where readers can self organize by interest, for example YA, Paranormal Romance, Fantasy, Space Opera, lefties, Sword and Lazer, etc. I was thinking that not only might you get some interesting feedback but that there is the off chance they love the book, and you get another 1K or so readers (depending on the group).
Personally I have never been in a “writers group” other than writing classes, and I find the idea kinda silly. Unless the group was filled with published writers, what possible advice could they provide? THEY AREN’T PUBLISHED EITHER.
If a writer is very nervous about their work, getting some sort of professional advice might be helpful (I agree that it could be very harmful). It’s very common in most other professions to “buddy” up with someone with actual experience, you can ignore everything they say, but they might notice something you missed. I look at it more like a paid untrustworthy second reader. Maybe I have developed an unusually thick skin over YEARS of professional experience by constantly arguing for a particular way of doing things. I have been told many times I am weird.
Finally I was absolutely NOT talking about a stamp of approval. I agree that’s silly.
I had a workshop I helped start get really angry at me one day when they discovered that I only used the workshop as a deadline. I would write a story per week, then mail it to an editor, then turn it into the workshop. A couple of them demanded why I was “wasting their time” by not caring about their response and how to help fix my story. I told them simply I didn’t feel like I was wasting their time. I was giving them stories to read (more than most in the workshop were doing) and I liked their audience reaction. Only thing that mattered to me, right from moment one for some reason. And I always knew that if a few of them got in a fight over my story, chances were it would sell. I figured if a bunch of beginning writers like I was at the time all loved it, I was doomed. That was usually the case it turned out.
One story the workshop told me had no hope and what was I thinking giving it to them. It sold on the market I had sent it to before turning it in, the first time out.
You must trust your own work. Sure, we all have a lot to learn. I know I do. And I love learning. I learned a ton the last two weeks teaching these workshops. A ton. And I am learning every day. But that does not mean that desire to learn and get better stops me from putting my work in front of real readers. If they buy it, fine. If they don’t, fine. I’m working on the next story and couldn’t care. Because I am a writer, a person who writes.
Thanks, Kevin, glad I didn’t make you angry with that. Always a risk being blunt like that.
Re: trusted readers. I have some (about four) and I serve as a trusted reader for a couple of author friends. They are radically different than the writer’s groups Dean describes, though.
I use my ‘trusted readers’ in two circumstances. The first is when I’m looking for proofreading and immediate audience reaction. I’ve picked people who can say, “I liked this and here’s why” or “I didn’t like this and here’s why” and that’s pretty much the extent of their criticism. I have yet to meaningfully alter a story in this circumstance.
The second is when I finish a story and go, “this feels like crap. It doesn’t feel like it’s working right and I should throw it out.” If my trusted readers agree, the story goes into the inactive file and I start the next one. I have yet to pull any stories out of that archive, by the way, but maybe some day one of those ideas will tug at me again…
When I serve as a ‘trusted reader’ it’s more as a friend assisting a friend. It’s usually early in the process, actually, because I’m pretty good at plotting and so my two author friends tend to bounce their outlines off of me so I can point out the flaws before they get too far into it. If/when they show the penultimate draft to them, I’ll do a similar review but that’s pretty much the extent of it. I’m not trying to make them “better writers” or make their story better. I’m just serving as eyes to say, “how the heck could she have walked in the door when five pages ago (and an hour ago story time) she was clear across the country?”
I think, though, that what makes these cases different than what Dean’s opposing is that I and my author friends generally trust our own work. Sure, there’s fear involved in submitting stuff, but we don’t let it manifest in constantly polishing something (with help) looking for perfection.
Dean already knows all of this, but others might not.
I used to be one of those unpublished guys who thought he had to polish the shit out of everything. I used to polish the same manuscripts over and over and over to the point my eyes would cross and the words would devolve into cold mush on the page. I couldn’t tell if I was making things better or worse, but I’d bought into the old saw that one must re-write endlessly to make manuscripts “good,” and I kept wondering why nothing ever sold — or even got a personalized response from an editor. Just form rejections out the butt.
When I came back to serious fiction writing (after a very long lapse) I considered carefully how to newly approach new work. What major changes could I make in my process? I felt rather desperate. I didn’t want to endure further years of bupkus.
Dean was still doing his Strange New Worlds web board at that time, and one heretical point he kept pushing for those of us on the board was: do not polish! Also, do not let the writing group dictate the story. Ergo, no story could be “fixed” by a writing group, they could only offer opinions. All of which were subjective and had an equal chance of hurting, as well as helping, the story.
It sounded bass ackwards compared to conventional wisdom, but like Luke in the cockpit of his X-Wing, I listened to Obi Wan and turned off my targetting computer.
Sales were not instant. No way. But within a year I began to get some personalized rejections from markets which had NEVER sent me anything personalized before. And I started getting Honorable Mention on every MS I sent to Writers of the Future.
Then, I was a Finalist with Writers of the Future, and personalized rejections became more common than not. Then, I won Writers of the Future — with a manuscript I sent out cold, no re-writes and no group feedback. Oh wow! Was it a fluke??
Two months later I sold my Finalist, which had had some group feedback, but in that instance I carefully parsed the feedback. I kept in the parts I felt essential to the story, but did make a few changes that quickened the story pace. In this story’s case I was still ‘using the Force’ as it were: letting that instinct down in the seat of my pants tell me where to go with things.
My third sale was a story I took to Dean’s workshop with Denise Little — a story I wrote in two days, over a combined 7 hours. No terrible polishing, no group feedback other than what I got from Denise and Dean, which was, “Nice one, this will sell.” So I changed nothing, sent it out, and it did sell.
Latest sale — that’s four sales in 12 months — I had zero confidence in. Zero. It was an old manuscript that I’d originally written in 2002 and which I liked very much, but had never completed because I could never figured out how to end it. I dredged it up in 2009 and, using the mantra of, ‘no targetting computer!’ I re-drafted the thing.
Sale.
I’m absolutely convinced that Dean is on to something when he advises people to not slavishly follow the advice of their writing groups or let polishing become more important than forging new prose. This is not a slam on writing groups. I love all of the people in my Alpha group, many of whom are also Dean’s grads from his workshops, and we all use each other to bounce things off of. But I think we all also more or less imbibed the idea that voice in story is king, that voice rarely survives horrendous re-writes or polishing, and that successful writing usually requires a single, strong pilot who is in command of his or her wheel, knows where the ship should go, and doesn’t let ten different pairs of hands grab hold and wrench the ship off course.
Well said, Brad.
And actually thinking of those of us who talk about some of this stuff as a little band of rebels fighting against the myths of the huge empire is about right. I sure get shot at enough. Not hiding in some ice cave though. (grin)
New post coming soon. Been having some interesting times on a book.
Thanks again, Brad.
Cheers
Dean
Brad’s comment actually got me to thinking about something Dean said at the recent marketing workshop in Lincoln City (he actually signed it in the front of my copy of Hard Rain): Always have fun writing. It seems simple, and maybe even simplistic, but I think that just might be the secret.
You tap into that state of mind and you tab into the subconscious. That’s where all of our story telling ability comes from. It’s built up over your entire lifetime. We just need to get out of its way. Trust the process and don’t create an unneccessary bottleneck by rewriting. Life gets in the way of your writing enough without you helping it.
So, I’m doing Nano for the first time this year and I’m going to have a hell of a good time bending this novel and this month to my will. I would suggest everyone else take up the challenge and have some fun too.
Except Dean. To challenge Dean we’d have create National Novel Writing Week. Or maybe National Novel Writing Weekend. (grin)
Many, many books written by literary authors that most people have read were written in a weekend, which would just send English professors into commas if they actually thought about it. (grin) I have never written one that fast. My fastest for a full 90,000 word novel is six days. I also did a 70,000 word one in six days and two other novels of around 90,000 in seven days each. I have decided I am too old for that silliness now. Remember, I don’t type that fast, so that is a LOT of hours in one week. (grin) All four books are sold to New York and in print.
However, since word length is becoming less of an issue with the changing price structures and electronic and POD books, I have always loved the 50,000 word length for novels and I could do one of those in a week easy, even with my advanced age. (grin)
I realize you’ve already said this idea is for novels, not short stories. That raises the question: what about short story collections?
I have a lot of short story ideas in a common setting. In my mind, I clearly see them as a collection, not individual stories. In fact, I think they’re weakened as individual stories, because the setting develops further as I write new stories. Even though I’ve been developing the setting sporadically for well over a decade, I still learn something new about it with each story. By the fifth story, it’s a much richer place than where I started, and it’s growing; but at the same time, that fifth story assumes some knowledge of the setting provided in the earlier stories. When I’m writing it, I don’t think about explaining those details again, because I (as my own first reader) already know those things. And since I’m already a wordy cuss, the last thing I need is an excuse to include MORE details in each story.
I’ve been planning to submit these to short story markets, because that’s what you do with short stories, right? But in my mind, it has always been a collection (or maybe sort of an episodic novel). I even can clearly see the ideal cover art, and a perfect cover blurb. (Sadly, I don’t yet have an ideal title. I have a title, but I’m not sure I like it yet.) Now you’ve got me wondering if I should try a self-publishing approach — especially after all the comments about having backbone and belief and confidence. These are stories I believe in. In part, I’m writing them because they’re stories I want to read, and I don’t find anyone writing any more.
Another reason why I’m questioning my assumptions after this discussion… I have a decent full time job. I’m not looking to make a living as a writer, I’m just looking to write. It’s a matter of pride and ego more than money: I’d like readers to enjoy my stories and tell me so. Not that I’d turn down money, but that’s not my first or second motivator. To me, that lines up well with your advice to write what you believe in and then put it out there.
Thought-provoking discussion. Thanks! Now I have work through those thoughts…
Martin, zero issue on doing a collection in my opinion, but then you won’t be able to send them out to magazines. Magazines are very “first publication” focused for the most part. So keep that in mind.
But you could send out the collection to book publishers to see what they say. A very, very long shot these days, but stranger things have happened. Good luck with it.
Loving all these posts, and the comments, even if I am months behind. I don’t see this stuff as frightening. I see it as empowering. I’m like you, Dean, in that when I see something new that interests me, I want to learn about it and do it. I don’t want to be taken care of, I want to have my hands in it top to bottom.
I think where most new writers get frightened is that they haven’t the slightest idea how to build COMMUNITY.
Since the advent of Twitter and Facebook (and MySpace before that), we have the unprecedented ability to form connections. A lot of people who aren’t already active on these platforms don’t understand how to reach a wide audience. They don’t know that it’s really deceptively simple, though difficult to execute really well.
I have two podcasts, one for nearly five years now, and another going for two. This has helped me connect with a wide audience. I’ve taken part in that Web 2.0 or New Media culture, commenting on blogs, calling voicemails to other podcasts, engaging an audience. I’ve produced audio dramas in this space. I’ve made connections with authors who are active in this space, such as Dan Sawyer and Nathan Lowell. It’s become a real community of people creating products for each other to enjoy.
To the new writer who just wants to be published? Yeah, this brave new world can be daunting. To those of us that have been watching this “New Media” revolution develop? Our thought is, “it’s about damn time!”