First of all, if anyone with the artistic abilities God saw fit to deny me ever wants to make something as cool as Kate’s drawings of Uglies characters (as created by Scott Westerfeld, who posted on my blog yesterday… pause for fangirl squealing) for Secret Society Girl books, have at it. The ones of David and Zane, especially, made me feel all nummy. I think Kate’s David has a sort of Huck Finn air, don’t you?
So the conversation two posts down has devolved into a sort of chat about writerly desperation, which is a topic I’ve covered here before, and one that Jo Leigh attacks brilliantly at today’s RTB column (as with the Kate link, above, it opens in a new window, for Gina’s — and Gina’s cat’s — reading ease).
The part I found most intersting about her column was this:
I hate to say it, but I think RWA fosters this mistaken belief. I’m not exactly sure how, but it has something to do with the competitiveness, with the rush to be published. It has less to do with a worthy apprenticeship than a race to a finish line that leaves people disheartened, depressed and/or sick with envy, none of which fosters creativity. Because the game is all about getting published now, then whoever can bestow this state is the savior. Not a partner.
Now, I’ve noticed this “race” Jo mentions. And not just in RWA. Whenever people freak out if someone mentions “average time it takes to get published” or spends time they should be using to work on their craft to comb the internet looking for absolutely meaningless statistics of acceptance rates, they are succumbing to this kind of desperation. (The statistics are an especially big pet peeve of mine. WTF, really? Here’s the only statistic you need to know about: if your book is really good, you have a good chance of getting it published. If your book is bad, you have a piss poor chance. After that, you can start applying lottery like stats.)
There is no publishing race. Or thre is, but it’s a race with as many courses, shortcuts, black holes, time warps, cheats, hacks, you name it, as the most in depth video game. Let’s present a hypothetical. Say there is a hypothetical unpublished author who has been trying with all of his or her might to get published. Say this hypothetical author has been writing manuscripts, working on her craft, etc. etc. etc., and just hasn’t gotten that lucky combo of timing whereby the right manuscript hits the right editor’s desk at just the right time. All around her, her friends are selling, and selling, and selling. Their books are coming out, books that she saw in infant stages, back when they were newbies to the publishing game, and she was their highly experienced mentor. Maybe she has an agent, even. Maybe she has dozens of contest wins. Maybe for the past few years, when she’s been at author’s booksignings, people have written, “You’re next!” inside the cover of their books.
Life is hard for this author. When is it going to be her turn? She’s been running just as hard as everyone else, and people are actually lapping her around the track! She’s lost the race, hasn’t she? There’s no way she can catch up.
Wrong. The only way she loses is if she stops running. Because one day, as this hypothetical author jogs along, watching people “lap” her, she gets a call from a publishing house that wants to strap a turbo charged rocket to her back. They want to publish her book. And not just her one book, but maybe a few more. And they want to publish it big. And they want to pay her a lot of money for it. And they want to know how fast she can write them, because they want to put them out every few months starting next year.
It doesn’t matter how far behind she was. She just got caught up. You can’t make this about a race, because not everyone is running the same course. You can’t make this about comparisons, because it’s not just apples and oranges, it’s apples, oranges, broccoli, chicken wings, and ice cream sundaes.
So strap on your blinders so you don’t see the other runners (including that one who just got taken down, beaten to a bloody pulp right there on the track, and had her books pulled from the shelves — oh wait, I’m sidestepping current issues, aren’t I?) and keep your eye on YOUR course.
April 28th, 2006 at 10:46 am
Excellent post, Diana, one that I needed to hear!
Teri
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April 28th, 2006 at 11:38 am
Really great post, Diana. Bravo.
I’ve been thinking about the desperation thing two threads down and have a confession to make. I’ve never belonged to an RWA chapter other than as a long distance member to the nearest local chapter (300 – 400 miles away) before they had an email loop, etc. (and I haven’t been a member of this chapter for several years), or as a member of an on-line chapter. Other than conferences and the current on-line support, the only contact I’ve had with romance writers is a local (next town) group that met once a month for a few years until…well, I won’t get into the until.
My point is, maybe I’ve just never been exposed to the “desperate to publish” type of writer. That doesn’t mean he or she doesn’t exist.
So I’m kind of publicly eating crow.
Cindy
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April 28th, 2006 at 11:43 am
Amen, sistah
I had a response to this but it’s so damn long I’ll just dump it on my own blog since I haven’t been able to think of a thing to say on it lately *g*
I’ll link back to you.
Well stated!
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April 28th, 2006 at 12:24 pm
Great post, Diana and it’s so true. All we can do is march to the beat of own drum, because trying to follow someone else’s career path, can only lead to madness!!!!
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April 28th, 2006 at 2:12 pm
Today’s RTB article really hit home with me, because of this statement: “I totally, if subconsciously, believed that they were doing me a favor, buying my book.”
That’s me, except in my case, it isn’t even subconscious. I believe that anyone who takes the time to show interest in my book is doing me a HUGE favor. My agent, my editor, the other editors at the house who have read my book, my CPs, my mother, my husband… There’s no end to it.
But she’s right. Private, non-publishing citizens who read it are doing me a favor, but my editor and agent (who are both incredibly fabulous, by the way) aren’t doing me a favor. They’re WORKING. That’s what they do, and their ultimate goal is to make money.
Now, my agent is also working to make ME some money (which makes her one of my favorite people in the world!), but I’ve come to the realization that I’m probably the only person involved in the production of my book who takes the entire process personally. Who feels the reverberation of every step in my heart.
This IS buisness for everyone else. I’m the only one who sees it solely as an art.
Wow. How could I not have seen this before?
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April 28th, 2006 at 5:17 pm
It is easy to fall into the belief that there are only going to be so many books published in the world. The fear is if someone else gets a contract then there will be one less space available. Writing isn’t a reality tv show.
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April 28th, 2006 at 5:22 pm
The RTB and now your post, Diana, are so on the button. Thanks.
…. now where did I put my running shoes?????
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April 28th, 2006 at 6:40 pm
Cindy, there’s no reason to publicly eat crow — some people who HAVE sen what I would call the desperation can argue that it’s not desperation.
I know someone who has been saying quite publicly in response to posts of this kind that she can’t believe people would act this way, etc., adn yet… well, let’s just say that I think she’s acting in a way that I would describe as desperate (it’s no one here! sheesh, suspicious people!) I think that she’s looking on being published as a sort of favor, in teh way that Jo and Rachel describe.
Rachel, I think that you have been “grateful” and I think that you have approached the whole process with a fair smattering of “golly gee, isnt’ it cool that my editor is THINKING about my book?” but I don’t think for one moment that you’ve let go of the business end of it. Or if you have, it’s becuase you’ve got a fine sharky agent watching your back and freeing you up to play nice with your editor. Which is the point — business acumen can rest a good deal on getting an agent to make sure the business end is held up. I don’t think that to remember this is a business we NEED to lose the wonder of the idea that other people are reading and thinking and getting involved and interested in things we’ve created. That’s still amazing. we’re participating in dream jobs and we need to be thankful for that every day. But we don’t need to be timid.
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April 29th, 2006 at 10:57 am
Diana Said: “it’s becuase you’ve got a fine sharky agent watching your back and freeing you up to play nice with your editor. Which is the point — business acumen can rest a good deal on getting an agent to make sure the business end is held up.”
Yes! Yes! Yes! I get to play nice with my editor because we don’t talk business. That doesn’t mean I don’t care about the business, my agent and I talk about it and she has my back. I’m not a shark, and I don’t want to play one, either, so this works out immensely well.
Regarding desperation, I didn’t really “see” it until I read Jo’s blog yesterday and saw her point. But I think it’s SOME people (who tend to be very verbal on-line) who make it seem like a race. I never thought getting published was a race except against me, if that makes any sense. Every goal I had was to “beat” my time, so-to-speak. I don’t consider myself in competition with other authors, I compete against myself.
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April 29th, 2006 at 11:05 am
Oh! I just had another thought. Maybe the “competition” is more in the category romances. The H/S lines DO published X number of books a month, so there is the perception that if someone fills a slot, that’s one less slot that can be filled (either for an existing author who wants to go from 2 books to 3 a year, or for a new author)
This is partly true in that there is only, say, 72 Blaze books published a year so a Blaze author averages 2 books a year, there are only 36 “slots” (I know it doesn’t quite work that way, but it’s a perception that’s partly based in reality.)
This in no way translates to the single title market. Major NY houses can publish as few or many books as they want, so they might have one release one month, then five the next. They’ll buy what they love that they think they can sell.
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April 29th, 2006 at 2:07 pm
Great Post Diana!!
Things I try to remind myself of often!!
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April 29th, 2006 at 2:51 pm
*raises hand* I’ll volunteer for the artist position (Art gallery at http://elfwood.lysator.liu.se/art/f/u/fuentes77/fuentes77.html ). I usually do fantasy art, but sometimes modern people and places are fun too.
I’ll contain my fangirl squealing for Scott Westerfeld too.
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April 30th, 2006 at 8:58 am
OMG – you’ve been inside my head with this bit!
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Say this hypothetical author has been writing manuscripts, working on her craft, etc. etc. etc., and just hasn’t gotten that lucky combo of timing whereby the right manuscript hits the right editor’s desk at just the right time. All around her, her friends are selling, and selling, and selling. Their books are coming out, books that she saw in infant stages, back when they were newbies to the publishing game, and she was their highly experienced mentor. Maybe she has an agent, even. Maybe she has dozens of contest wins. Maybe for the past few years, when she’s been at author’s booksignings, people have written, “You’re next!” inside the cover of their books.
Life is hard for this author. When is it going to be her turn? She’s been running just as hard as everyone else, and people are actually lapping her around the track!
———————————–
Especially lately when chapter members are selling something like three books a week and I have these three GH finals and an agent and….no contract.
Still waiting on that rocket booster…..
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April 30th, 2006 at 10:34 am
I can totally relate to this post, Diana. I know what you say is true, but on those bad days when the doubt demons are dancing a jig in my head, it’s hard to not think this way. Just have to keep plugging along.
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April 30th, 2006 at 7:16 pm
Great post Diana. One I think I’ll print off and out next to my computer.
Thanks!
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April 30th, 2006 at 7:30 pm
Mary linked to you–definitely a great post! It’s easy to get caught up in the competition. People get their hackles up when they find out they’re writing the same genre, as if we’re competing for slots.
But on the flip side, we also have to write a book that can compete with all the bestselling authors. We have to be good and we’re only as good as the most recent book we’ve written.
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May 1st, 2006 at 8:32 am
This is funny to me, because I don’t feel worst when people around me who have been at this less time and less hard than I have succeed. I feel worst when people whine about writing for five years and completing three books and not selling yet. ‘Cause I’ve completed 12 books (plus several partials) and have been doing this for 12 years and haven’t sold yet.
This part:
This in no way translates to the single title market.
…is unfortunately not true. I have a friend who sold a book to a major NY publisher. They raved about the book, it’s doing well (as far as I can tell from the outside, of course.) But her option book is going nowhere because they have filled all their slots in her subgenre with books by bigger-name authors. Her option period is over so she’s shopping it elsewhere.
So no, it isn’t a race. But the pie isn’t unlimited, either.
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May 1st, 2006 at 8:40 am
The pie is unlimited if your filling is good enough. It could be the toughest market in the world, but if they really really want your book, they can find a place for it.
This even works if what you’ve written is ostensibly category. I know people’s who category books were shoved together two in one and released as single titles.
Natalie, I saw you new release on the front page of Fictionwise today!
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May 2nd, 2006 at 9:15 pm
The pie is unlimited if your filling is good enough.
Well, okay, but that brings us back to the whole subjectivity thing and who decides what’s “good enough.”
Natalie, I saw you new release on the front page of Fictionwise today!
Really? Woo hoo! Five more sales! LOL
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