What Your Writer’s Resume Says About Your Chances for Recognition
By Sharon Bially | December 8, 2014 |
Lately, a new mantra has caught on: “There’s no better time to be a writer.” Not only has self-publishing helped open the doors to so many aspiring authors, but the online world has created more opportunities than ever before to build a platform, network and self-promote.
From a schmoozing and promotion perspective, anything seems possible. We can have conversations with Jodi Picoult on Twitter, send Facebook messages to Paulo Coehlo and mingle with top agents and editors right here on Writer Unboxed.
All of which is wonderfully democratic and very much in the spirit of the camaraderie and connectedness that defines our times. But it has also created a whole new realm for potential missteps and frustration.
Along with the sense that anything’s possible has come – for lack of a better term – a sense of entitlement. With the perceived level playing field the digital age has created, the notion that having written and published a book, any book, means we’re eligible to be considered by any and all gatekeepers to widespread recognition, from Oprah to the The New York Times.
Although we long for this to be true, and perhaps it should be, it simply isn’t. Take a look, for example, at this painfully eye-opening article by Washington Post book reviewer Ron Charles called, “No, I Do Not Want to Read Your Self-Published Book.” (Ouch!)
What is true, at least for the most part, is that while most books sent in to the venerable gatekeepers of recognition will indeed wind up in the shredder without so much as a glance no matter how good they are, there are certain criteria that do make a difference.
Your publisher and its efforts to distinguish your book from the slush pile help a lot. And on the side of “things authors can control,” there is, quite simply, your resume as a writer.
For instance, I recently had the privilege of publicizing a beautiful memoir called Leaving the Pink House by the editor-in-chief of Ploughshares, Ladette Randolph. In addition to her highly visible and respected position, Ladette has been acquiring editor at the University of Nebraska Press and is the recipient of a Nebraska Book Award, a Rona Jaffe grant, a Pushcart Prize and a Virginia Faulkner award. She’s had numerous short stories published, some of which were reprinted in Best New American Voices.
So I was excited but not all that surprised when the editor of O, the Oprah Magazine responded to my email pitch about Leaving the Pink House and asked to see a copy. Ultimately, the book was given a well-deserved, glowing review there and – in a completely unexpected development — wound up being listed last month on Oprah’s Huffington Post blog as one of “6 Books to Take Home For the Holiday Weekend.” But first, it had to get in the Oprah door.
I’ve seen similar situations pan out for other authors with impressive writer’s resumes: Alden Jones — New American Fiction Prize winner, gold IPPY recipient and writing adjunct at Emerson College — and Edgar-nominee Kate Flora are two good examples. On the flip side, I’ve watched despairingly as superbly-crafted books with little or no resume behind them have been passed over time and again by top (and even mid-level) media outlets.
This means that if recognition and visibility are important to you, you’ll need to invest time and energy not only in your craft, but also, into building your writer’s resume.
While not everyone will become a top literary magazine editor or get nominated for an Edgar, there are plenty of other steps you can take. In the age of social networking and connectivity they may seem stodgy and old-school, but they’re among the sacred things in this industry that haven’t changed. They include:
- Getting an MFA
- Publishing short stories in literary magazines.
- Teaching writing at a respected organization or university.
- Having a career with a literary organization like a magazine, agency, or nonprofit, or a publisher.
- Submitting your work for prizes.
- Seeking blurbs and endorsements from established authors.
Notably, prizes have a tremendous amount of cachet and submitting for them is something everybody can do. For self-published authors prizes can make all the difference.
Finally, in a paradoxical twist, media coverage itself is an impressive resume item. Which brings us right back to square one…
Sharon Bially (@SharonBially) is the founder and president of BookSavvy PR, a public relations firm devoted to authors and books. Author of the novel Veronica’s Nap, she’s a member of the Director’s Circle at Grub Street, Inc., the nation’s largest independent writing center, and writes occasionally for the Grub Street Daily.
Hi Sharon: I run an authors group in Pound Ridge, NY and we have more self-pubbed members than traditionally pubbed (some indie-pubbed). And the self-pubbed have very short bios. You suggest “literary magazines.” My question is how does a serious writer break into literary magazines without writing or academic credentials already established? Would you be able to give us a few names of lit magazines that you know to be open to new writers who don’t have MFAs or a list of previously published short stories? Thank you!
Paula, you should check out Duotrope for lists of places to submit short stories and poems.
Hi Paula –
I think that breaking into literary magazines is a lot different than the media scenario I described. Yes, the MFA or the prior publications help. But so does good, old-fashioned GOOD writing possibly vetted by a blurb or two from some established authors who have given feedback on drafts. Those blurbs go a long way in cover letters / queries.
There are plenty of organizations where you can meet and take workshops or classes with established authors, get to know them and develop relationships with them where you’d feel comfortable asking for blurbs. Gotham in NY (and online); Grub Street in Boston (also coming to the online world soon) and writing centers in cities around the U.S.
Good luck!
-Sharon
Sharon, this post is a refreshing taste of reality. It makes sense, and in this world of short-form thinking and texting and tweeting, that’s a very good thing.
Sharon-
Square one.
I’d like to say something about gatekeepers. As a New York agent of long standing, I suppose I qualify. But the term “gatekeeper” suggests that my job is to keep people out. The opposite is true. I only get paid if I usher people in.
So why don’t I do that daily, profusely? Because I know the bar is high to acceptance by print publishers (much higher than you think), and that in turn is because the bar is set even higher by book consumers.
One may wonder who set me and the other gatekeepers up as the judges? What qualifies us when we can be wrong or get behind writing that you feel is awful?
Even Payton Manning throws incomplete passes. Not every track on every album by U-2 is a timeless great. (Not that I’m comparing myself to those guys, mind you.) But experience does count and hard as it may be to accept, the quality and/or commercial viability of a project is not the author’s to determine. It is an analysis made by others, most especially by readers.
What the writing resumes you describe, Sharon, say to me is not only that those writers spent time building up their resumes, but that they spent time becoming excellent writers. For sure their resumes make the publicist’s job easier but they also make their written work itself easier to read and appreciate.
Square one, as you say. Thanks.
Thanks for weighing in, Don! Yes, agents are key gatekeepers, and the first in line, so to speak. In fact, I was thinking of pointing that out in the post but decided not to stray from it’s central ‘media’ focus.
Also very true: “What the writing resumes you describe, Sharon, say to me is not only that those writers spent time building up their resumes, but that they spent time becoming excellent writers.”
That is the bottom line challenge for all, and in a crowded market, credentials to back it up become quintessential.
Hi Don!
With respect, when it comes to actually making a living writing books, I’m looking at this from a perspective that forces me to disagree with you. Editors are busy people, who do an absolutely stupid amount of reading in looking for new writers. As Don notes, they only make money when they usher people in, not keep them away.
All of that said–an editor probably won’t even glance at your resume unless they like your manuscript.
The story comes first. The story comes first because the audience comes first. They are the ultimate arbiters of your success or failure in a commercial sense, and editors are generally pretty good at finding things that audiences might like.
Granted, a hundred other factors can come into play. PR (good and bad), various popularity contests, celebrity endorsements. But at the end of the day, the best endorsement you can possibly have is a reader who is so excited about your work that they call their friend and say, “YOU HAVE GOT TO READ THIS!”
Thousands of fans doing that is a better endorsement than Oprah. Way more reliable, way more likely, and within the control of the writer.
Know your audience and do good work. Everything else comes a distant second.
I don’t have an MFA (I was kicked out of the Professional Writing MFA program I was in, actually). I didn’t rack up any professional endorsements. In fact, I didn’t get anything on the above list accomplished.
What I did do was write a good story. (You know. For a newbie.)
It was the first of a series that has been ongoing since 2000, with sixteen novels (the last four of which have been New York Times #1 best-sellers), an anthology of short stories, translations into about twenty languages (you go Donald Maass Literary Agency!), audiobooks, a role-playing game, a television series, and multiple fan film-making groups. I’ve been making a living as a full-time professional writer since about 2004. I’ve written a NYT Best-selling high fantasy series, did an original Spider-Man novel for Marvel, and I’m about to publish the first book of a new Steampunk fantasy series.
Story first. Audience first. The rest? If you can make time.
I have a question, Sharon.
I double majored in English with a writing concentration and communications in undergrad and have been writing professionally for more years than I care to admit. Do you think I need an MFA?
There are two ideological camps. The first side is very pro-MFA, while the other also appreciates life experience.
Just curious.
Thank you.
Hi Karen – that is the eternal debate, isn’t it: MFA, or no MFA? An an MFA is just one route to to take in the credential-building process, and the process doesn’t necessarily need to include every step I’ve listed: we all have to cobble our lives and careers together in the way that makes the most sense to us individually. If you don’t have an MFA but need a starting point for building credibility, there are many of options out there.
As I mentioned in my comment to Paula:
“Yes, the MFA or the prior publications help. But so does good, old-fashioned GOOD writing possibly vetted by a blurb or two from some established authors who have given feedback on drafts. Those blurbs go a long way in cover letters / queries.
There are plenty of organizations where you can meet and take workshops or classes with established authors, get to know them and develop relationships with them where you’d feel comfortable asking for blurbs. Gotham in NY (and online); Grub Street in Boston (also coming to the online world soon) and writing centers in cities around the U.S.”
One thing I forgot to mention, Paula: some MFA-alternative programs are now starting to crop up. I believe Writers Digest did an article about them in it’s September issue?… I’ll have to double check. The one I’m most familiar with is through Grub Street in Boston (www.grubstreet.org) and is called The Novel Incubator. It’s a very intensive, year-long program one evening a week plus some weekends. There may now be an online option too — I’m not sure.
Thank for your this helpful advice, Sharon.
This year I sent out 8 short stories and entered 11 contests.
Some publishing houses list the literary magazines they read on their submission guideline page — these magazines usually have national distribution.
Sharon–
Thank you for your realpolitik summary of facts of the writing life. They are facts well known to indie writers–I mean well known to indie writers who aren’t foolish enough to feel what you call–“for lack of a better word”–a sense of entitlement.
But what I’m especially grateful to you for is the link to Ron Charles’ Washington Post article (“No, I don’t want to read your self-published book”). In it, Charles tells us that the Post gets about 150 traditionally published books a day. These are all books written by people who found agents, who in turn found publishers for the books, etc.
Anyone who isn’t delusional knows better than to send an indie book to a high-profile publication for review. Or for that matter to most low-profile publications. Those indie writers who are delusional mail off their tomes like letters to Santa, visions of sugar-plums dancing in their heads.
In such an atmosphere, a rational person can hardly fault a publicist for “culling the herd” in search of writers with backstory resumes, with credentials that can serve to tee up books for promotion.
But for me, Ron Charles’ piece is important for this reason: Charles tells us that–understandably–many of the 150 books per day delivered to The Washington Post never get reviewed. What this fact of life does for me, as an indie writer, is to argue against jumping through the hoops on your list–getting an MFA, publishing short stories in little magazines, teaching writing at a respected organization or university, etc. When agented, commercially published work is usually not reviewed, why would I do any of the stodgy, old-school things you say remain sacred in the publishing world?
I don’t say what you recommend is without value. But I do think that, these days, serendipity, chance, talent, luck, influential contacts and timing are far more important than they have been in the past. Add to this a facility in manipulating social media.
Case in point? Self-published megastar Colleen Hoover. Correct me if I’m wrong, but none of what you recommend applies to her. Does this just mean she’s the exception that proves the rule? I don’t think so: success stories in publishing–traditional or indie–are all exceptions.
It may be a comfort to believe that playing by the old-school rules can significantly improve a writer’s chances for success. Certainly, the advice is music to the ears of MFA programs, a cottage industry if ever there was one. But I am more and more skeptical. And I’m more than ever convinced that writing good books, and lots of them is about the only way for any writer to improve the odds.
Barry – wow, thanks for these thoughts! The Ron Charles article fueled a very heated debate in the Writer Unboxed Facebook Group when I posted it. It definitely hits not one, but many nerves!
But be careful! You said, “When agented, commercially published work is usually not reviewed, why would I do any of the stodgy, old-school things you say remain sacred in the publishing world?”
Two myths to dispel here:
1) Reviews are not everything, and either are A-list media outlets. There are plenty of ways to get exposure with the right know-how and hard work. I successfully do so for authors from all walks of life every day! (With apologies in advance for the self-plug, check out the BookSavvy PR Facebook page where I post every media clip I generate for authors, from self-published to nationally acclaimed.)
2) Most agented, commercially published work DOES get reviewed when authors and their publishers or publicists seek reviews. Just not necessarily by Ron Charles! Or in the New York Times, L.A. Times, etc. But there are many other options…
-Sharon
Sharon–
Thanks very much for your reply. I have no doubt that you make honest, conscientious and professional efforts to promote the work of all your clients. And you are certainly right in saying that “reviews are not everything, and either are [I think you mean neither are] A-list media outlets.” But I’m sure you would agree they are the most important–why else would you make so much of your coup in snagging recognition with Oprah Winfrey’s media conglomerate?
You’re also right when you say there are many other places and ways to get reviews. Again, my case in point is Colleen Hoover. This young mother-of-three Texas writer seems to have hit it big when she got high fives from a well-known book blogger. But none of it happened because Hoover pursued the old-boy-network school of credential-gathering you recommend. It happened because she wrote a great book, and got extremely lucky.
One last thing, and then I promise to shut up (at least for now). You say you “post every media clip I generate for authors” on your Book Savvy PR Facebook page. Can you offer any reliable quantitative data to show how effective these efforts are? I ask because I have contacted media firms about marketing my work. The replies emphasize lots of impressive-sounding stats about numbers of readers at this or that site where marketing will take place. But when I then ask for some evidence that this exposure has led to sales, I’m told that, no, there is no such information.
I am waiting for the day (but not holding my breath) when a marketer will operate on the author agent model. Instead of taking on lots of clients and relying on volume, she will make shrewd decisions about which books are going to be most marketable. Then, she will contract with the author for an initial start-up fee, but with most of her marketer’s compensation to come from a percentage of royalties. Maybe as much as 50 percent, half for the writer, half for the marketer. Why is this unreasonable?
But as I say, I’m not holding my breath.
Long ago when I was an independent poetry publisher (in the days before digital books) one of my authors got himself a double-page spread in the Melbourne Sun, about as mainstream as you could get in Australia in those days. This did not result in even one sale.
Of course it was poetry, and everyone knows poetry doesn’t sell, right? Therefore agents won’t touch it and neither will most big publishers. The truth in those days was that it sold slowly, by word of mouth, through ads and reviews in literary magazines, and at spoken word events.
Interestingly enough, in this digital age, it sells through social media, blogs, and online poetry communities.
B.A. in English at the University of Akron
MFA from Malone College in Canton, Ohio
(Levels I, II, & II) Fiction Writing at Gotham Writers
(Level II) Novel Writing at Gotham Writers
(Level I & II) Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing at Gotham Writers
1st Place, Short Story for New Writers, Glimmer Train 2009
1st Place, Lorian Hemingway Short Story Competition 2009
3rd Place, Tom Howard/John H. Reid Short Story Contest 2009
6th Place, The Writer’s Digest 11th Annual Short Short Story Competition 2010
2 Short Stories accepted by Wildsound in 2011 and another in 2012
2nd place in Short Story and 1st place in Flash Fiction at The Bridport Prize 2012
1st place Narrative Magazine Story Contest 2013
Whew, I think that’ll cover it.
Unfortunately, none of that information applies to me, but it was fun writing it.
I never really thought about writers having a resume.
I knew there was a reason why I liked you, Sharon.
One for the archives.
Thanks for the smile, Brian!
The reality is harsh, but people need to hear it, myself included. Just because you can upload a Word document to Amazon doesn’t mean you should.
Well. Thank goodness for the horror genre.
Great post!
Yes. If you want to live in an ivory tower with your MFA and teach others to live in an ivory tower to get their MFAs who will then keep this incredibly small world going, this is absolutely the way to go.
For amusement one year, I submitted my CV to various universities for their ‘visiting writer’ or other positions. Didn’t even get a response most of the time. Then I’d check who did get the job and their ‘qualifications’. Pretty much what you listed. But selling millions of books to readers, being on all the bestseller lists (NY Times, PW, WSJ, USA Today, etc.), making a living writing (not teaching writing) for a quarter of a century, being on the cutting edge of digital publishing, starting a publishing company the earned seven figures within 18 months, having #1 selling series in various genres– all, apparently mean nothing. And aren’t on your list.
By the way– if you want a blurb from me, drop me a line.