I always knew I had a flair for arranging words on paper, but I never tried writing fiction until the rainy afternoon I decided to see if I could write a romance novel. Several months later, without any training or encouragement (apart from the articles I read online) and without telling anyone but my husband, I had done it. And a major New York publisher–the first and only one I queried–bought the manuscript. Without revisions.
I wrote and sold that novel, which went on to win both a Romantic Times award and a HOLT Medallion, without even breathing hard. It was a gift from God; everything just settled perfectly into place. Even the sales were good.
Maybe some of you are experiencing sizzles of jealousy in your bellies right now. Would you feel better if I told you that my second, third, and fourth manuscripts were soundly rejected by my publisher? And that the fifth sold only after extensive revisions and that it required further revision after the sale? Oh, yeah–this time, I suffered. This time, I worked. So maybe now you’re thinking that by paying these “dues”, I have moved a little closer to deserving my success.
In training for military service, men and women are routinely “broken” so that they may be rebuilt. Similarly, there’s a pretty solid consensus among romance writers that anyone who aspires to be a “real” author must run a soul-shattering gauntlet before she can be worthy of publication. She must work tirelessly at her craft. She must participate in critique groups and enter contests and attend conferences to prove how serious she is about her writing. And then, when the time is right and she has suffered sufficiently for her art, she will be rewarded with a contract. All she has to do is want it badly enough to do whatever it takes for as long as it takes.
If real life would just stick to that script, we’d all be happy. But most people who want to be published and who make an honest effort toward that end will never achieve their dream. You might labor for ten years without ever seeing a contract. And maybe you’ll feel cheated. But publication is not handed out to every talented person who works hard and stands patiently in line until it’s her turn to sell. Even if you’re a good writer, there’s no guarantee you’ll hit the right editor with the right story at the right time.
I’m not saying it’s all about luck. But no matter how talented and dedicated we are, there will always be circumstances in this business that we cannot control. That’s why it bothers me when those who have “made it” sniff that they have worked hard to earn their published status and that writers who take “shortcuts” like self-publishing or signing contracts with small publishers or e-publishers don’t deserve to sit at the Published Authors’ table. That attitude might be more understandable if it could be demonstrated that talent and hard work always result in publication. But can’t most of us point to a friend who is worthy of publication yet keeps getting passed over?
This class-consciousness among romance writers is not merely unattractive, it’s unhealthy for all of us. What purpose does it serve, other than to over-inflate some egos and trample others? If publication is not granted to everyone who deserves it, then maybe we shouldn’t brag or apologize about how hard we have or haven’t worked and how long we have or haven’t waited.
And maybe we should quit using publication as a yardstick for measuring each other’s talent and work ethic.
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Good post and for the most part I agree. There’s a lot of really good innovative books being published by small presses. I’ve read some good self-published books as well. Having said that, however, I draw the line at vanity press books. To me, vanity presses are like cheating. There are no controls in place and sometimes people are fooled. (I won’t even get into the PublishAmerica issue.)
The size or type of publisher not making a difference is an idea I can get behind. But, self publishing is a different beast. Seems to me there’s a difference between self publishing – which is being printed, not published – and going with a small or ebook publisher – which absolutely counts as being published. I’d say lumping these ideas together does an injustice to small presses.
Are most self-published books junk? I believe so. But I can’t look at a self-published author and know whether she’s a good writer or not. Some self-published books are good but just can’t find a market. And others do eventually snag the attention of traditional publishers. That’s why I don’t think we should sniff at self-published writers. It’s the books that should be judged.
I struggle with this topic.
The fact that my grandmother can self publish a family history that is of no interest to anyone but our family leads me to think that self publishing does not an author make. However, there have been great works of fiction that began as self published works. In the end I suppose the readers and sellers will decide the value of self published novels. And isn’t that how it should be?
Brenda, I couldn’t agree more. Where’s the cabbagepatch smiley when I need it?
Everyone’s journey will be different. There IS no set script, duration, or rule. And the whole “class” mentality? Please.
Who among us can sit on the Literary Board on High and look down our noses on the rest of the publishing world? Not a one.
I don’t care for Vanity publishers, that being said, but there are some books out there which are making it. Or being picked-up by other publishers. And isn’t that amazing?
Not every talented writer might be published, but I still believe that those who persevere will make it.
The journey will shape the person, but the destination will transform them.
Grins*
Great post, Brenda. *insert thumbs-up smilie* here.:mrgreen:
Oops, that last comment was from me.
Brenda,
You wrote:”I’m not saying it’s all about luck. But no matter how talented and dedicated we are, there will always be circumstances in this business that we cannot control.”
This says it all. Some things ARE beyond our control. Yours words “And maybe we should quit using publication as a yardstick for measuring each other’s talent and work ethic,” really hit home as well. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!
It makes no difference where you publish, when you write something, published or not, you are the author of that work. I’m the author of my grocery list. Does it interest anyone else? No. I’m still the author. If your grandmother goes to the trouble of self-publishing your family history – she’s the author, no matter how much interest it creates that title can’t be taken away from her.
If your book sells to a traditional publisher and sells ten copies, while another self-publishes and sells a thousand copies does that make her less of an author because she self-published? Or you less of an author because yours didn’t sell?
I agree that there is a lot of trash self-published – but I’ve also read trash published through traditional means. That IMO it’s trash shouldn’t make either writer less of an author.
Great post Brenda.
As someone who’s been the rounds as multi-rejected unpublished nobody
I can honestly say it doesn’t bother me. In fact, my local RWA chapter could care less if we’re e-pubbed or an NYT listed author. We’re all authors. We’re all facing the same writing struggles regardless of the outcome. You should see our huge congratulations when someone sells, regardless of publisher.
The only time I ever see this as a problem is when people get upset about the term recognized publisher. And that’s an industry standard voted on and approved by RWA. I know my published friends who are members of PAN wished they’d been at the PRO-retreat last year. It was incredible. One of my published CPs was so mad. She’s still mad. I just laugh at her and say I’d take her contract and her advance and trade spots with her any day.
Our local paper finally did a story last weekend about one of our multi-published with a NYC house authors. They have stories about self-pubbed and small press people ALL THE TIME. The reporter even asked me if the author was vanity press pubbed. When I told her no, she’d had back to back multi-book contracts with a NYC publisher, the reporter was stunned.
I could look at this the way I do because I am a multi-rejected unpublished writer who’s been on the request, revision, rejection merry-go-round several times. Maybe it’s because I haven’t sought publication with an unrecognized publisher. I have a good friend who’s multi-published in e-book and I think this does bother her, but I figure it’s a matter of time before sales are high enough for her publisher to be recognized. I don’t think of her any less because she went the e-book route. In fact, I think she’s an amazing author who wrote books NYC wouldn’t touch but readers download them like crazy. She’s building a name for herself. And when she does publish with a NYC house, they’re going to love her numbers.
Lovely post. Elitism is humbug and mainly to boost the ego of the elitist.
But in my mind I do make one distinction. The money should be flowing one way $–> from the publisher to the–>$ published, for me to consider somebody truly “published.”
Otherwise all it would take to become published is the ability to pay Kinkos to run off a copy or two.
There’s something else to consider, too. Elitism aside, are we doing new authors any favors by behaving as if vanity publishing is precisely the same as writing for a royalty-paying publisher? Sure, there are probably some wonderful gems being printed by vanity presses– but wouldn’t those authors be better off trying to actually make money off their gems, rather than enriching a vanity press? Unfortunately, as Lee Goldberg recently pointed out on his blog, the odds of making money in vanity publishing are extremely small, no matter how terrific the book is.
I’m not saying we should treat vanity press authors like dirt or spit on them, mind you. Heaven forbid. I’m all for treating other writers with tact and courtesy, no matter what they write and how they publish it. But the old adage Monica cited, that money should flow from the publisher to the author, rather than the other way around, is a good one. By suggesting that vanity-pubbed authors’ books are just as good as a book published by a royalty-paying publisher, might we confuse new authors, thus making them more likely to opt for a vanity press without fully exploring better options?
By suggesting that vanity-pubbed authors’ books are just as good as a book published by a royalty-paying publisher, might we confuse new authors, thus making them more likely to opt for a vanity press without fully exploring better options?
Yes, Ellen. That’s why I’m not suggesting anything of the kind.
On the whole, I believe self-published books tend to be of extremely poor quality. I don’t recommend that authors self-publish; I’d rather see them keep working at their craft and submitting to royalty-paying publishers. But when writers do self-publish, I don’t like to see them sneered at. It bothers me that people make snap judgments about the quality of someone’s work when all they know about it is that it was self-published.
Hey, if any of you want to ridicule bad books, come sit by me and let’s have some laughs. But let’s not judge individual writers until we’ve actually had a look at what they’ve written.
Great post. It’s particularly appropriate given what is happening in the industry right now. I guess it’s the ugly side of human nature to want to feel ’superior’ to others. Truly a shame.
Thanks Brenda. Great post
Yeesh. I have two friends with POD books that I consider excellent reads and know of a few whose POD got them the publicity they needed to get the NAME recognition they needed to get a publishing contract from a Brick and Mortar Publisher. So. I can’t agree with the negative take on Vanity\POD published works. Someday (she says with pomp and attitude) I am going to vanity publish my annual Christmas Letters – - and people will be knocking down my door to get a copy
On suffering, hmmm – it was a fun ride for me so I can’t complain. I’m weird that way, though.
On the futility of it. Can’t agree there, either. A great book will get published. You HAVE to believe that or why even start down that road. If you have a good manuscript and not published – well luck is a factor because there are a LOT of good manuscripts not published yet. Competition is fierce.
POD is a nebulous term. I have absolutely nothing against POD-type books, since my publisher produces them too. But my POD-type paperback is from a royalty-paying publisher, not a vanity press. Which means the money flows from the publisher to me, rather than the other way around.
As I said above, there may very well be some brilliant gems from vanity presses, but they will tend to get lost amidst the less-brilliant vanity pubbed books. And they are unfortunately not very likely to sell enough copies to get an author noticed by major publishers. (See Lee Goldberg’s blog for iUniverse figures.) I’d think selling to a small, royalty-paying press would be a better way for most of us to get noticed. But I could certainly be biased:-).
Anybody who musters the discipline to write, write some more and finish a book deserves respect. (I know several people who have been members of writers groups for years and never finish a single manuscript.) I respect everyone who is doing whatever they can to make their publishing dreams come true. Some of us have a longer journey on the road. Others may fall short, but at least they make the effort.
That said, I do think that there is an elemental difference between paying to self-publish our books or paying to have someone else publish them and signing with a royalty-paying publisher who takes on all those costs themselves.
I knew before I submitted that Medallion was a small, independent company who didn’t yet have mass distribution. (They weren’t RWA-recognized when I signed.) However, they are an advance and royalty-paying publisher. Having been rejected via form letter by HqSil, I chose to submit to Medallion and take the chance.
I’m darned glad that I did. My advance wasn’t huge, but the amount of advertising and promotion has been phenomenal. Distribution has increased since I was first published. To borrow an old cliche: From tiny acorns, mighty oak trees grow. That’s my experience with this smaller company.
Mary Stella – I’ve been very impressed by the money Medallion is throwing behind its authors in the form of publicity!
Thank you for saying this, Brenda. It is so rare (and awesome!) for a published author to say stuff like this. You’re very generous.
Not generous, Cindy; just practical.
I’d like to thank everyone who commented on this post. It was fun chatting with you.
Wonderful post!
First: I am reminded of Julia Cameron while reading some of this; in The Artist’s Way, she addresses the myth that artists have to Suffer For Their Art. It’s a myth, and a persistently damaging one, because our culture largely doesn’t value the creative life as it should.
Second: Getting published is a combination of hard work, persistence, and luck- but it is true that the harder you work, the more luck you get. It’s ridiculous to deny small presses and small-press authors their place at the table; small presses provide an opportunity for new authors to cut their teeth and make their bones as well as a congenial ground for less-conventional works.
However, small presses are not vanity presses. Self-publishing occasionally turns up a gem, that’s true, but it’s still vanity publishing and the editorial oversight is less than none, not to mention the submission requirement is “anyone who has cash”. This is not congenial to good, well-written and well-edited work. Which is what gets people published. I think it’s quite reasonable to leave vanity presses to themselves and welcome any small royalty-paying publisher to the family. It is usually pretty clear which publishers are vanity and which aren’t.
Mh. Rant finished. Thank you for the wonderful post!
Brenda, I couldn’t agree with you more. Pooh pooing other author’s achievements just because they didn’t hone their craft’ for fifty years, prior to getting published, is just plain snobbery.
There are many brilliant writers out there whose work will never see the light of day. People in the fantastic position of being published by big houses, should be grateful for what they’ve got, and not throw their dummy out of the pram, just because somebody else didn’t work as hard as they did, to get where they are.
Loved the blog on publishing, Brenda. Took the words outta my mouth.
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