Some Unsolicited Advice for Aspiring Writers:
You Are Not an Exception to the Rule
If this sounds way harsh, let me explain what I mean, and where this comes from. As an author who got a book published at a relatively young age, I get a lot of questions from young(er) writers about how that happened, and a lot of those questions seem to be searching for some kind of loophole in the normal publishing process. They want to know the shortcuts, the secrets, the path of least resistance. Hereâs the truth: unless youâre a celebrity, there are no loopholes, no shortcuts, no secrets. Thereâs just the same process everybody else goes through, and a lot mistakes to make along the way. The biggest mistake you can make is tricking yourself into thinking that the publishing industry and the craft of writing are going to be somehow different or easier for you than they are for everyone else.Â
Spoiler alert: theyâre not.Â
I donât think people fall into this trap because theyâre arrogant. I think they fall into this trap because they just want to be published writers so badly and it seems almost impossible when youâre looking at it from the outside. The natural inclination is to hope for a lucky break. But if youâre really serious about writing, the smarter thing to do is accept that youâre going to have to go through the same rigmarole as everybody else. Iâve talked a lot about this under the writing advice tag and the publishing tag (and I encourage you to peruse those if youâre curious about the art and the industry), but I want to answer a lot of the questions I get from aspiring authors in the same place. It probably wonât be what you want to hear, but it will (I hope) improve your odds of success.Â
Is it true that many writers donât publish their first book?
Yes. I donât have statistics, but I would actually venture a guess that most writers donât publish their first book, and thatâs because first books usually arenât ready for readers. Writing is an art and a craft and you canât expect to write something brilliant the first time you pick up a pen. Your first novel will probably be garbage (mine certainly was), and years later you will be so glad you didnât publish it, because you were simply too young and too new to the publishing game to have any idea how embarrassing it would be five years later. Most published writers I talk to wrote several books before they felt like they had one worth an agentâs/readerâs time. I wrote five. It took ten years. Thatâs not unusual.
Do I really need to do revisions and get beta readers?
Yes. If there is one thing I could say to all aspiring writers, it would be âDo not underestimate the importance of revision.â A first draft is never perfect (nor is the last, but thatâs another conversation), even if itâs your tenth novel. Your job as a writer is not only to put a story down on paper, but to reread that story with a critical eye and rewrite it as many times as you have to until you have the best possible version. My debut novel (not my first novel) went through forty-five drafts, all told, and I did a dozen of those drafts before I even started querying. Revision is not optional. Itâs essential, for everyone.
Whatâs the best way to get an agentâs attention?
Write something worth reading and follow the rules. Nothing makes agents angrier than writers who think the rules of the publishing industry just donât apply to them. Donât send letters to agents who arenât accepting queries or arenât looking for books in your genre. Donât sent them pages if they didnât ask. Donât ambush them in an elevator at a conference when theyâre not on the clock. Agents hate this kind of thing and it is a surefire way to guarantee they will not offer you representation. Donât be obnoxious. Let your work speak for itself.Â
How do I avoid getting rejected?
You canât. Everyone who wants to publish their writing gets rejected, and you have to learn not to take it personally, because 99% of the time it isnât personal. Agents offer to represent writers whose work theyâre passionate aboutâand as the writer, you wouldnât want anything less. Think of it this way: how many books have you read that you liked but wouldnât want to read over and over again? Agents face the same dilemma when thinking about who they want to represent. Because theyâre going to have to work on that book for years, theyâre only going to offer to represent things they really love. And what one agent doesnât love another one might. Variety is the spice of life. (However, if youâve done hundreds of submissions and gotten nothing but rejections, it might be time to consider revising your query letter or your book or both.) Hereâs the other thing to remember: you will continue to get rejected even after you have representation and after youâve published your first book. Destroy the fantasy that getting an agent or a book deal means instant, uncomplicated success. Youâll still be fighting an uphill battle; youâll just have someone on your side.
Does it really take years to get a book published?Â
Absolutely. Excluding the years it takes to learn to write anything worth publishing in the first place, most books still take years to go from first draft to pub day, and thatâs because youâll be querying agents, doing revisions with your agent, submitting to editors, negotiating contracts, doing more revisions with your editor, doing more revisions with a copy editor, looking at (and often revising) cover art, helping put together a marketing plan, etc. There are also a lot of factors in a bookâs release date that the author has no control over. What else is on the publisherâs list for that year, for instance, or what other big books are slated for publication. If youâre a debut author, you donât want to be competing with Jennifer Egan. Thereâs no fast track, and trust me, you wouldnât want one.
Can I make a living writing?
Donât count on it. Most authors make a lot less than you probably think they do, and even if you get a sizable advance, that money is going to be paid out in installments over literally years, and you donât make any royalties until your publisher makes back your advance. Many authors never make royalties at all for that reason. Iâm certainly not going to see any anytime soon, and thatâs on a book thatâs been out a year already and even hit the bestseller list in the UK. Let me be clear: Iâm not complaining about the size of my advance, because it was incredibly generous. Iâm trying to illustrate how money in publishing works. Unless youâre James Patterson, sales are probably going to be disappointing and itâs probably not going to be a steady source of income. Plan on having another job.
What can I do to make this easier?
Educate yourself. There are no shortcuts in publishing, and this is one of those things you, like everybody else, have to do if you want to have any hope of success. You have to learn about the industry and learn what normal is precisely because youâre not an exception to the rule. Take writing classes and workshops and find some beta readers. Follow published writers and agents and editors online and learn the dos and donâts of query letters, conferences, submissions, etc. Attend a publishing institute if you can. Do the research to find which agents represent the kind of stuff you write. Do the research to find out what else is out there in the world that might be comparable to what youâre writing. Learn about why you might want to hire a publicist and how to put together a decent website. Give yourself every advantage you can, not by trying to beat the system, but by learning how the system works.
There are a dozen other questions I could include here, but I think you probably get the point by now. If you really want to make a career for yourself as a traditionally published writer, itâs going to require a lot of work, a lot of commitment, a lot of disappointment, and probably years of your life before you have anything to show for it. Are there exceptions to every rule? Of course. But odds are you probably arenât one of them, and your chances of success will be much better if you donât buy into that fantasy. You have to put the same time and effort in as everybody else. No loopholes, no shortcuts.Â
Hereâs the last thing Iâll say: Donât rush yourself. The 21st century has fostered a culture of overachieving which has led people to believe they need to have six college classes under their belt by the time they finish high school and have their whole life figured out by the time theyâre old enough to rent a car. Writing simply does not work that way. Writing requires a glacial sort of patience. And yes, it can be devastating to have to wait so long and work so hard to even get a shot at something you want so badly. Believe me, I get it. Writing is hard. But if youâre doing it for the right reasonâwhich is that you have stories you desperately want to share with the world but not until theyâre good enough that you can be really proud of themâall that waiting and all that frustration and all that disappointment will be worth it, and you will not want to go looking for loopholes.Â
