I once heard someone say that there was no point in writing a book if it wasn’t going to be published. That said book could not live up to its full potential if it wasn’t read. I was, perhaps, a bit surprised to hear myself reply and ask about writing for its own sake. After all, I’m an agent. Naturally, I want to sell books. Evenso, I felt there was something missing in the equation. Is it a failure if a book never sells? Or could it be that I’m actually treading back on the old question of art vs. commerce.
It got me thinking about how I measure success. I don’t think it should be dependent on the end product and/or the size of the deal. For me, it could be discovering a new talent. Or perhaps being able to call a client with their first sale (that is such a rush). Or cracking a new subsidiary market. Maybe it’s having a client’s book make a national bestseller list. I suppose it could be watching a client accept a RITA. Could there even be fulfillment in finishing off a pile of submissions?
What naturally follows is to ask where does success lie for a writer? Perhaps we should consider the aspect of writing as therapy. Some people may explore an idea in order to learn something about themselves or to expiate something internal in a way that allows them positive growth. One might also think of writing as teacher. How many people publish their first novel rather than the second, third, or fourteenth? If the last book allows the writer to learn a level of writing craft they had not previously obtained, then it contributes to the next book and therefore to a potential eventual sale. And what about the book as an experience in and of itself. Is there some measure of success in simply making the attempt and completing the journey?
Less thematically, let’s think on examples: (1) An author who spends ten years writing manuscript after manuscript, each one better than the last, and is finally published once and only once; (2) A writer who never is published despite sending out materials but who finds completion in the act of writing; (3) A writer who publishes a book once a year for many decades but never makes the bestseller list; (4) A writer who publishes their first book to great acclaim and makes the New York Times list but never writes anything publishable again. There are, of course, many other combinations. Are any of the books written by these people failures? I submit that they are not.
In the pursuit of writing it can be so very easy to get caught up in publication as the ultimate goal. So much emphasis is put upon focusing on the market and chasing trends. Or the secret handshake that separates the published from the unpublished. We need to remember that every writer’s journey is different. You need to define your own success.
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I think success evolves, depending on where you are in your career. Let’s say you are published. You take one step at a time. Finish that manuscript, submit, get an agent, sell, make the lists, your publisher wants more and offers more contracts, you get invited to be in anthologies, you get asked for quotes–each one has its own high, rush, and own rate of success.
For those who aren’t published, they succeed with every manuscript they finish. They succeed with every submission, no matter the results. They succeed by taking classes and learning the craft. They are taking the steps to get there, and each is its own success.
Chey
I think the measure of success also is a reflection of your own expectations and desires. I know some people who write because they love the process- they don’t care if anyone reads it. Others feel if it isn’t read then they weren’t heard.
IMHO, you have to measure success by what you as the writer have some control over. You can’t control the market- you can do your part to turn out the best book possible.
I’m a mentor in a program for young writers, and my mentee wrote to me saying that her goal was to be published. That, to her, was success. To me the fact that this brilliant seventeen-year-old had started AND finished a full length novel was already a success. I am trying to tell her that now – that even though the novel she wrote may never be published she has achieved something very special. I hope I can convince her that she has succeeded in doing something extraordinary – and in that, has found success.
I think success is personal gratification above all, and I hope I can convince my mentee that gratification can, like Chey so aptly pointed out above, come in steps.
I’m with Cheyenne, the journey is full of successes. And I think it’s important to celebrate the steps. Preferably with chocolate.
Seriously, if the only thing that “counts” is being #1 on the NYT bestseller list, you could have a long and illustrious career and feel like a failure. Which is nuts. Also, where do you go from there?
Terrific article, Jennifer,
I can’t say that being sucessful as a writer isn’t a goal, but thus far, the sucesses are pretty exciting… just getting a book deal is amazing…
My first book just came out, and now I’m feeling the rush of seeing it online and I do the happy dance… Now I’m on to the next one, see what comes of that. 
Personally, I write novels because I want people to read them – to be moved, entertained, whatever by my stories. If I thought there was no chance of them ever being published, I probably wouldn’t bother. I enjoy the work, but I wouldn’t put out all that effort just to put it the result in a drawer.
But that’s just me. For some people writing is an end in itself.
Writing can be many things to many people. Many people enjoy writing journals, for instance, including many writers who also write for publication – but very few of those people would expect their journals to be published. Is that writing pointless? Of course not. It serves a purpose to the person who does it.
All writing serves a purpose for the writer. That purpose may be therapy, anger management, amusement, escape, work (copywriters are writers too!) or any number of things, including a burning need to tell a story. If it serves that purpose, it is, by definition, successful. And if it makes you better at the craft of writing (as it can hardly fail to do) then it is also successful on that level as it makes you better able to achieve whatever other ends you have – including publication.
And, of course, with any long-term goal, you have to celebrate the steps along the way, or you would go do-lally. Should have heard me squeal when I got a request for a full, recently!
FWIW, Imelda
Several years ago a novel I wrote placed second in a rather prestigious writing contest. It garnished some surprising editorial interest. Sadly, just weeks after the award, my two sons came diagnosed with autism. During the struggles that followed, I lost sight of my dream for a good many years, and never followed up on the contacts that little fliration with success afforded me.
But you know what? Writing kept me going. While I couldn’t concentrate on refining my novel manuscript at the time, I was always able to journal.
When we were up for days on end because our children had forgotten how to sleep, words made the dawn feel so much closer. When I mourned for the dream children I’d lost at the same time I came to love the children I had–words gave me a safe place to cry and a quiet way to celebrate.
When the old friends drifted away because they just didn’t know what to say, the words shored me up and kept me company.
While I’ve long since reached the point where I felt able to separate autism from the boys who my sons are, I’ve spent a lot of time musing over the bitter irony that the words that shored me up against the pain hold no such magic for my children.
Getting paid for what I write is nice when it happens. But having words as my sanctuary is better.
The fiction writer inside of me is slowly coming out to play again, and something is flowing out of my keyboard beyond tragedy and despair.(YEAH!)
What a timely entry yours from my little vantage point in Belle Hell.
Publishing success is the area I am still working towards, but my writing success isn’t just that I enjoy it tremendously (I do), but that my library has grown by one book that I take down from time to time so I can read it. It is funny, it is moving, it has a complex plot which continues to surprise me, it keeps me on the edge of my seat.
And I wrote it.
Yes, I want to share it with the world, I want to see people other than a small number of beta-readers to enjoy it with me, but in the meantime, there is one more book in the world I enjoy to read, and that’s a reward all by itself. Even if I moan about the loose-leaf folder.
I LOVE this post! I come from a different world of art, and it really puzzles me that I’ve never met an ‘amateur’ writer who wanted to stay an amateur. What happened to the word ‘amateur’? It used to be a noble word that meant you pursued your art for pleasure, and that your passion was unsullied by the ’stain’ of money. Remember when the Olympics were only open to amateurs?
Plenty of people paint with no intention of ever seeking to sell their work. Plenty of people learn to play the piano without ever intending to pursue a professional career. Plenty of adults take up figure skating, martial arts and ballet for the sheer love of the sport.
I just find it so puzzling. Why does no one write just because they love the written word?