Great Expectations
By M.J. Rose | March 4, 2011 |
Therese here. Today’s guest is an international bestselling author of eleven novels, the oh-so-savvy M.J. Rose. M.J. founded Authorbuzz, the first marketing company for authors, and co-founded both Booktrib and Peroozal. She was also one of the founding board members of International Thriller Writers. When a scheduled guest fell through, I asked M.J. if she’d like to swing by and share some of her business wisdom with us. So happy she agreed. Enjoy!
Great Expectations
I think the single most difficult and yet liberating moment I had in publishing was when I found out that ultimately my success depended not on me or the reader, not on my talent or the responsiveness of the audience but by the vagaries of the publishing industry.
That truth was provided to me by a friend, who happens to be a very good agent, one day over lunch, when he simply said, no matter what you do for your book, you can’t make yourself a bestseller.
And he was right. Only a publishing house can get behind a book to the extent that must exist for a book to take off and become a bestseller. And it takes the whole house – from your editor all the way up to the publisher – to anoint your book and say – this is it – this is the one of the two or five or ten books this year that we are going to give “it” to – it being “the push” onto the list.
And when “it” happens – you know it. “It” authors don’t wonder if enough is being done for their books, don’t wait for phone calls that never come telling them what the print run is or if they are getting two weeks of co-op or not.
There are over 8000 novels published by traditional publishers a year. So what are the 7500 of us who aren’t already bestsellers or who are not going to be anointed this year to do?
That’s where the issue really is, isn’t it?
Caroline Leavitt is a great example – she’d written 8 novels before she found the right publisher for the right book and with a lot of hard work has a hit on her hands.
But had she been a failure before? F*ck no.
As opposed to the hundreds – or probably thousands – of writers who published their first novel the same year she did but are no longer writing at all. Some who as talented as Caroline, some even more talented (no offense, Caroline) who will never be heard from again.
The difference is “staying alive” that I mentioned in my previous comment. She fought to stay alive and did what it takes and won.
Yes, it’s great to be a bestseller and it certainly is an admirable goal. But the truth is 99% of authors won’t even have a chance at that golden ring if they don’t stay alive long enough to write the book that the publisher is going to get behind and anoint.
There are the occasional meteoritic rises to success. Every year, of the 10000+ novelists who get published, there will be five debuts that make the list because they were anointed and the system worked.
Those five aren’t worth analyzing. They are the lottery winners – the five with just the right book and just the right agent at just the right time to just the right publisher who has just the right line up with just the right foresight to make it happen.
The list of authors to pay attention to and learn from are the other 99% on the bestseller list who got there after 5, 7, 10, or 18 books. Jodi Picoult became a bestseller with her 8th. Janet Evanovitch with the her 18th. Carol O’Connell, who is one of my favorite writers, made it with her 10th.
It’s a rare author who gets anointed right off the bat.
Your goal can’t be to make yourself a bestseller – because as my friend told me at lunch and as Lee Child also said – you can’t do that yourself and you’ll just eat yourself up alive with aggravation.
But you can help write better and better books. You can become educated about marketing and promotion and do something to help your career. I can list hundreds of authors who are still in the game because they’ve embraced the realities of the marketplace.
The bottom line is if you want to keep writing you’re going to have to work with your publisher to find out where you stand and then do as much as you can to stay alive.
And to do that you have to accept to some degree that – and I say it so often it should be tattooed to my forehead – no one can buy a book they don’t know exists.
You don’t have to help your book. We’re authors not publishers. Not marketers. We got in this to write. Not to spend our advances on marketing.
But this is the business we’re in. Publishers don’t have the time or money or ability to treat every book equally. So no matter what you choose to do – at least choose.
Choose to help yourself and your book and figure out how to do it on your terms. Twitter? Facebook? Yes? No? Hire someone with part of your advance? Or leave it up to luck. Just choose.
Then you’ll never look back and wonder if you could have made a difference in your career because regret really sucks.
If you haven’t read it yet – this article might be of interest.
Thanks for a great, thought-provoking post, M.J.
Readers, you can learn more about M.J. on her website, her blog, and follow her on Facebook and Twitter.
Photo courtesy Flickr’s petecarr
M.J. Rose is the international and NYT’s bestselling author of several novels and two non-fiction books on marketing. In 2005 she founded the first marketing company for authors, AuthorBuzz, and is the co-founder of BookTrib and Peroozal. She’s a founding member of ITW.
Lots of great things to mull over here, MJ. I totally agree that market forces, luck and the “it” factor are beyond a writer’s control, so why waste energy worrying about it? We can only do what we can do.
Bottom line. We’re writers. We write. The gravy is nice, but if you get into this business to make a fortune or become a household name — you’re going to be disappointed.
But you can help write better and better books. You can become educated about marketing and promotion and do something to help your career…Choose to help yourself and your book and figure out how to do it on your terms.
That’s it. Cling to what you can do for yourself, let go the rest. And stay alive; keep writing.
Thanks for this, M.J.
This is one of the more disheartening things I’ve ever read about becoming a traditionally published author.
I realize that editors and publishers work in the world as it is, and they are all individual people doing their jobs, but as someone on the outside looking in, you have to ask . . . how did we get here? And who thinks any of this is a good idea?
Love love love this post! Thank you so much. It’s so easy for us aspiring writers to get caught up in the idea that we need to be super successful right away, or we’ll be losers forever. But, as they say, and as you reinforced, this is a marathon, not one little sprint. Race on!
Yup. I’m all for resiliency. Appreciate the honest and practical assessment.
This is fantastic. I absolutely agree: yes, we’re in this to write, but we’re also in this to connect with readers, and sell our stories because we value the time and effort in what we do. Rather than bemoaning the state of the industry that forces us to do what we think publishers are responsible for, it’s better to step up, educate ourselves… and do the footwork, both in improving our books and learning how to market them properly. Bravo!
Your opening worried me, would I have to disagree with one of my favorite authors? Happily, no. “But you can help write better and better books.” Exactly. It starts with great storytelling.
All else must be done well, true enough. But without great storytelling as a foundation, the best agenting, publishing and promo in the world won’t make a best seller.
M.J., This is superb. So many universal truths in here:
You wisely and realistically point out the “hundreds – or probably thousands – of writers who published their first novel the same year she did but are no longer writing at all.”
Oh, how often I wonder where those writers I took classes from ten years ago after their first or second novel had come out have gone! And yes, some of them seemed more talented than many of those still writing today…
“No one can buy a book they don’t know exists.”
Darn right. (As a PR pro, this, I know!)
The days of “just writing” are long over for most — but where a door closes, a window always opens.
“Only a publishing house can get behind a book to the extent that must exist for a book to take off and become a bestseller.
**cough**Amanda Hocking**cough**
Hmm, ok sure!
Christian, you should read the post Amanda wrote yesterday.
Already did. Don’t really see where she said she wasn’t a bestseller, or that she had a publishing company behind her. Did I miss something?
Definitely true, and sometimes it just depends on timing. You write the right book at the right time, and the publishers will get behind it, whereas if you’d written a year before, it might have been unsaleable. A year later, and the trend might be played out. The book didn’t change, but what the publishers wanted did.
Your post is full of a lot of great advice for writers to give their books the best shot, though.
Thanks for the reminder. At the Surrey International Writers’ Conference, one of the presenters emphasized “luck” as the key ingredient to success as a writer. Talent and perseverance are both critical, but without luck, it’s hard to be successful.
Thanks all for the kind words! You really made me feel great. And Donald you rule!
Christian – of course. And there will always be exceptions to everything. I guess I should have said 99.9% of the time. But my point wasn’t that we need or don’t need publishers – my point was we can’t judge ourselves by rules we don’t write and a market we don’t control. I self published – 12 years now – before Amanda Hocking – wrote the first ebook that got picked up by the trad publishers so no one is more pro breaking rules than me. But this article was about breaking hearts. And I wanted to talk about how we can protect ours a bit by our expectations.
I was strangely heartened by this post. Thank you.
Keeping the faith in writer-land.
Hi M.J.
I really enjoyed this post. As a debut author, it takes the pressure off and puts the pressure on.
“But you can help write better and better books. You can become educated about marketing and promotion and do something to help your career.”
Yes. I. Can.
Thanks for the inspiration.
This is really great, M.J.! And very wonderful to hear. The whole thing is to keep going. I know we all have individual books to write, and no one is going to write them the way we can…and if we don’t write them, they won’t exist. And who knows where each book will go? And how someone may treasure it!
“….found out that ultimately my success depended not on me or the reader, not on my talent or the responsiveness of the audience but by the vagaries of the publishing industry.”
As I continue to write, blog, attempt to get (one of my novels) published — this is the thing that keeps me writing everyday. It is simultaneously the most encouraging yet discouraging reality for me as a writer. It is actually very useful and reassuring to read this, name my fear….and remind myself that this is a reality of the writing life, regardless of where we are along the the writing continuum. It is the business we’re in.
With the way the publishing industry is going, there are more and more reasons to self-publish and do your own marketing. Thanks for your great blog, Becca Chopra, author of “The Chakra Diaries.”
This is one of the most down-to-earth and at the same time liberating pieces on writing I’ve read in awhile. I’ve published four non-fiction books–currently working more seriously on fiction–and I often feel I’m just at the beginning of really understanding a writer’s relationship with the marketplace. You have definitely helped me on this journey. Thank you!
[…] An important Writer Unboxed piece on what we can and can’t control as writers […]
“I can list hundreds of authors who are still in the game because they’ve embraced the realities of the marketplace.”
MJ, thanks for this true, true piece.
As artists, we don’t like to think this way. We like to think that talent alone will sustain our work. Having spent years building an acting career and having believed for some (wasted) years that all I had to do was be good at it, I now know that the sooner we understand the marketplace the better off our careers will be. Talent is important, but it’s not nearly as essential as persistence. Just ask Calvin Coolidge.
This is so honest, and shot from the hip to help others in their journeys — thank you, M.J. It is always helpful to hear truth and others’ experiences. “Keep writing” is what I take from this. And it’s true. Especially for those of us who cannot not write. Persevering on! Thank you.