Blogger: Wendy Lawton
Location: Books & Such Central Valley Office
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Yesterday I set up a worst case scenario about fickle genre fashion using the yet undiscovered (or just plain fictitious) genre, edgy Brit-lit. Here’s what I wrote:
You’ve read nothing but edgy Brit-lit your whole life. When you began to write you were told you had the perfect voice for edgy Brit-lit. You’ve written three complete edgy Brit-lit novels and you are now ready to seek an agent and get published. As you begin to put out feelers you find that the interest in edgy Brit-lit is right below inspirational techno thrillers.
What do you do?
Here were the options. Again our reader’s comments were far wiser than any I’d make here. I suggest you go back and read them. I’ll comment here:
A. You vow to never give up and you spend your days discussing the importance of your genre on every blog that will still allow you to comment. You work hard not to grow bitter. I thought it interesting that Morgan saw this as a positive. I meant it as a somewhat snarky jab at the writers who go on endlessly about the unfairness of reader’s tastes. But you know what? Morgan was right. If you are hanging out on genre-specific blogs you are building your potential audience and you are connecting with readers and enthusiasts of your genre. Good catch, Morgan.
B. You realize that story is the important thing and you test a couple of new genres to see if you can fuse your voice and story-telling style with a more recognizable genre. This is a very good thing. Bonnie said, “. . . story is what matters. It’s a powerful thing, story – and we all must learn how to respect it, bend with it, and bend it in our hands.” Yes! It doesn’t matter how long we’ve been writing, we need to keep experimenting and to keep learning how to tell the story in a new way. Genre is not important. Neither is one genre more valuable than another. It’s about the story. When storytelling was oral, the storyteller would watch his listeners and spin the story in a way that kept them enthralled. We need to “watch” our readers with the same intensity and be willing to change our delivery if necessary to keep them coming back. Don’t get stuck.
C. You put your manuscripts in a drawer , do the research on what is popular and immediately begin to write the genre that has been on the bestseller lists for the last eighteen months. I wasn’t able to convince anyone that this would be a good option. You all knew that whatever is popular today won’t be popular when you’ve finished a book, sold it and then waited for it to be published. Crystal gave a good reality check: “I do think genres are cyclical, but here’s the rub–you wait or put it into a drawer, and just as soon as you do, your drawer-genre becomes a hit and you’re not the first wave going out. Too late. Or maybe too early.” Timing is everything.
D. You self-publish all three novels. Nicole said it best, “It’s not so much the quality of writing anymore that separates royalty publishing from self-publishing (as much as it used to be anyway). It’s the ability to market to the book where royalty publishing has the edge.” How to get it into the hands of new reader is the rub.
E. You wait because you know tastes are cyclical. As Michael said in the comments, “The good news is that Brit-lit will be back again, so hang onto the manuscript and it will be your Bestseller number 3 or 4.” He’s right, things do come back into vogue. I would suggest that while you are waiting you hone your writing skills and discover new ways of telling your stories.
And maybe the best advice comes from the wildly irreverent Bonnie Grove who said, “I may opt for the unwritten option F which is to hang around Starbucks wearing an ascot, pounding furiously on my laptop and just LOOK like a writer. Latte anyone?”
Today is our last worst case scenario. We’ll discuss it tomorrow. Here it is:
All your life you wanted to be a writer. You persevered, landed an agent and then sold a book. Although that book didn’t earn back it’s advance, the publisher believed in you and offered a two-book contract. You wrote those books and, well, they didn’t break any sales records even though many readers loved them. Your publisher let your agent know that because of the sluggish market and disappointing sales numbers they won’t be able to offer another contract at this time.
What do you do?
A. You write the most amazing book of your life so that your agent can get it out there, shopping it to new publishing houses.
B. You accept the inevitable and decide that that you have three more published books than most people. Time to quit.
C. You take a step back and do some co-writing or work for hire while you wait for the market to heat up again.In the meantime you learn everything you can about building a readership.
D. You decided to self-publish and create e-books to market directly.
Which of these would you do? Please feel free to comment, choose your strategy and tell us why. Once again, if you have real world experience with this, please share.
C is the obvious answer but not necessarily a guaranteed solution. A is, forgive me, absurd because you just attempted to do that with the last three. No guarantee the results will be any different. D is always available before, during, and after your experience with getting published–it’s simply an option with no guarantees either, other than getting more stories out there. So, I guess E is my answer: write the stories, keep reaching out and establishing relationships with your social media, hand them in to your agent unless he/she decides to dump you, and be obedient to what the Lord wants from you and for you (which really supercedes all others).
Hmmm…C and D, then A? Here’s my thought: it would be hard to write “the most amazing book of my life” while my confidence is reeling from disappointment. I’d need to refresh and renew first. Co-writing would expose me to another author’s skill set (which could be very instructive), and working for hire would keep the money coming in and my name in print–both rather practical encouragements. Markets are cyclical, and this option will give me forward momentum while I plan my next step.
If my older stories are going out of print, releasing them as e-books would be an interesting experiment and maybe a way to get an advertising vehicle to actually pay me back. If their lackluster performance was really due to a slow economy, people might be willing to pay a bargain price to read them in a hot new format. If I do nothing, I make nothing. If I try this, it’s still my name going out and a bit of money coming in.
And all the while I’d be studying, learning, and planning. Response to the e-books might indicate whether the economy was to blame or whether I need to take a look at my topics, style, or branding. If I’m barking up the wrong tree, barking louder won’t improve the situation. I may need to change trees. 🙂
But then, THEN, the ideas will start coming for that really amazing book that I can write with passion!
Kudos for providing a very thought-provoking week!
I choose A. I don’t think it’s absurd. I would be a better writer with that fourth book than with my first three. I’d have learned a ton about how to write a successful book. Yeah, it’s true, I might fail — ie. publishers might choose not to pick up the book because of my sales history — but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try.
Hmm verrrry interesting.
I have no real life experience, but still I have an opinion. (I’m sure you’re all dropping dead in surprise over that one. 🙂 )
I didn’t think A was absurd at all.
I do think C is a great option.
But I also believe in aiming for the most amazing book of my life with each new book. I know if your numbers are bad with one publisher, you’ll have a hard time selling to another publisher. But I don’t see why you’d give up. It’s always been hard to publish and it always will be.
I really believe that sluggish sales are, more often than not, the author’s fault–s/he’s not writing well enough to get word-of-mouth going. For some reason the story isn’t compelling. I think we have to take responsibility for our own failures.
I know there is the God-factor involved in getting published and in sales (being in the right place at the right time). But here’s my question to those who give up on the greatest novel ever and wait for the market to heat up: What will you do when the market heats up and you have no novel because you didn’t think it was worth writing another greatest novel ever?
What good will it do you if God puts you in the right place at the right time and you aren’t prepared? Usually the right place at the right time comes along because the person has worked and worked and worked to learn what the right place is and they’re always ready so anytime is the right time for them.
I think the thing to do is take the work for hire or the ghosting jobs if you need to do that to support yourself, and then forget money and markets for your next novel. Just write the best novel ever without thinking about whether it will sell. Look for a fresh concept, a compelling conflict, and a great character and write. Don’t worry about whether the genre is hot or about your dismal sales numbers or about publishers wish lists or about market sluggishness.
Just write for the love of writing. One time you may hit it out of the park. If not, you’ve had a darned good time writing what you loved, so no harm done.
Okay, “absurd” is a little harsh, and I do agree that it’s possible that each book can be better than the last, but there’s no guarantee of that. The responses here imply that every book is going to be better than the last because of a learning curve or an understanding of the process. Guess I disagree primarily because of the process of all the available information on self-editing, craft, etc. that is preached day in and day out by the professionals on the web. If A is the answer, it seems to me the first three books were just “practice”.
I’m waffling between A and C. I love Sally’s comments regarding A. Why wouldn’t we strive to write the most amazing book of our lives, even in the wake of rejection? Sometimes that can be a powerful catalyst for a person to reevaluate their direction and goals, both in life and in writing.
That said, I think C is also a great option, especially that part about learning. Although I’m not published yet, I’ve heard published authors say they’ll never know all there is to know about this business. So why not take the lull as an opportunity to learn from those smaller writing assignments or co-writing, etc.?
Know lots of people in this situation, as writing careers are fragile even if you were once on top of the world. And there is an alternative E (or F because Nicole seems to have grabbed E already). And that’s to publish with a small or university press. The advantage over self-publishing is that the approval of an editor does confer some prestige; it can get you trade reviews, eligibility for awards, and sales to libraries. The downside is that you have less control and will likely make NO money. If you’re a literary or niche author, one who cares more about awards than sales, and your goal is to support yourself through college/university teaching, this option is for you.
They’re all viable options, depending on your personality, level of enthusiasm, support system, finances, etc.
If you’re completely burnt out, and you’re happy with what you’ve already accomplished, then B (Quit) is perfectly understandable. Some people do that, and if they can live without writing, it’s okay.
If you’re determined, patient and energetic, then (C, co-writing, work for hire) is a good way to keep your hand in and stay sharp.
If you’re REALLY energetic and boundlessly optimistic, then (D, self publishing) might be a way to get what you need while you’re waiting… and learning.
Personally, when I hit a bump in the road I took (A, write a better book). Ironically, since I aimed the book at the general market and it landed in NY the week of the stock market crash, nobody would look at it. I’m neither energetic nor optimistic, but I make up for it with stubbornness, so I wrote another book tailored to the existing CBA market and got a contract.
Point is, we’re all different. Follow your bliss. If that means writing another book, then take it to a new level of excellence and innovation and trust God to open doors. If not, don’t beat yourself up over it. Do what seems best to YOU.
Ditto – Dale Cramer. As I was reading the options, I was thinking how each one could be right for someone in some situation.
Enjoyed this series in one serving as I get caught up on my blog reading for the week!