Sometimes It’s Just Business
By Bryn Greenwood | January 29, 2018 |
Photo by Martin Fisch
January is always a time of new beginnings, but that means it’s a time of endings, too. Both of those things make January a time of advice–asking for it and dispensing it. As someone who has run a few laps in publishing, 2018 is feeling like my turn to give advice. What do I do about my agent who no longer returns my phone calls? Should I self-publish this? What happens if my editor doesn’t like my partial? How do I say no to these revisions?
I don’t have the answers to all of the publishing questions. Some of them I couldn’t even answer when I was asking them. Others I’ve never had to ask. Increasingly, though, I’m discovering that all my advice is premised on one belief. The writing is the writing, and everything else is just business. Whenever I’ve struggled to make a decision or to hold it all together in times of publishing difficulty, this is the truth I come back to.
The terrifying reality about publishing–as with so many things in life–is that there is no safety net. There are no guarantees in the business of writing. When I finished writing All the Ugly and Wonderful Things, I sent it to my agent. He read the first few chapters and nothing further. We exchanged a few emails about my publishing career, and it became obvious to me that we were about to part ways over what I was convinced was the best book I’d ever written.
It wasn’t just my agent who wasn’t sold on the book. The publisher of my two small press books didn’t want it either. From a business point of view, maybe I should have listened to them. Maybe I should have abandoned that book and started another. Instead I turned my back on both those relationships and kept trying to find a home for the book nobody seemed to want. There was nothing rational in my decision, because over a hundred agents rejected the book. Despite the very low odds of success, I found a new agent, who sold that unwanted book at auction.
Here’s the funny thing about working so hard to achieve my life’s dream: 20 years of failure did not prepare me for success. I didn’t even know what it would be like to have a publishing career, instead of a writing hobby, but by May of 2017, I’d made the New York Times bestseller list and earned out my advance. Everything should have been smooth sailing from there, right?
Feeling like I had turned a corner in my writing career, I sent a partial manuscript to my agent and my editor. Their response was not encouraging. The words “too weird” were used. More importantly, the words “not the right follow up to All the Ugly and Wonderful Things” were used. I came away from the conversation deflated, not knowing what my next steps should be.
Honestly, there was a temptation to follow my heart again. I’m incredibly stubborn, and it wouldn’t have been out of character for me to ignore the advice of both agent and editor. I could have gone on writing a book that nobody but me believed in, but during those days of uncertainty, I reminded myself that writing and publishing are two separate realities.
I only had to choose which rubric I was going to use to make my decision. Was this a writing decision or a business decision? Ultimately, it was a business decision. I loved the book that was too weird and not the right follow up, but it wasn’t the only project I was capable of loving. So I set it aside and chose one that I also felt passionately about, but that was thematically more suitable as a follow up book. As I near completion on that manuscript and prepare to send it to my agent, I feel confident in two things: I put my heart into writing the best book I could and I made the best decision I could under the circumstances.
The important thing, though, is that I know both of these decision processes are valid. Pursuing writing as a business can lead us to pragmatic choices that further our careers and keep rooves over our heads. Writing for the pure joy of writing is also a valid choice that can lead us to take chances on books nobody else believes in. Plus, it’s a good position to fall back to when the business of publishing disappoints you. You don’t need an agent or a book contract to write. Plenty of fantastic books have been written by people with neither.
What’s the hardest decision you’ve had to make between business and writing? How do you keep yourself focused on the writing when you’re stressed about your publishing path?
BRYN GREENWOOD (she/her) is a fourth-generation Kansan, one of seven sisters, and the daughter of a mostly reformed drug dealer. She is the NYT bestselling author of The Reckless Oath We Made, All the Ugly and Wonderful Things, Last Will, and Lie Lay Lain. She lives in Lawrence, Kansas.
Bryn, I’m glad you followed your heart with ‘All the Ugly and Wonderful Things’. Not only for the success you found with it, but for the experience I had reading it. And I also applaud you for making hard decisions. As an unpublished author, your example here means a great deal to me. The toughest decision I’ve made so far in my writing life was to ‘divorce’ an agent who no longer felt like a fit. We’d become good friends, so it was emotional. but in the end, it was purely a business decision. It was about the books. Thank you for talking about this today, and for sharing your wisdom and experience. It’s greatly appreciated.
Divorcing an agent can be nearly as emotional as ending a marriage. It’s incredibly hard to separate the business from the personal. Good luck!
Oh, my. I had no idea this book went through so much to reach all of us. One of the few five-star ratings I’ve given was for your book. As a never-had-an-agent, on-my-fourth-complete-rewrite author, this post sings to me. Thank you for sharing your experience, your story, thoughts, and all those other nuggets that raised me up today. Thank you.
Thank you for reading! It was very much a long haul. Good luck with the revisions!
I had the same thing happen. I pitched a book to my beloved agent that I adored. It was supposed to be my breakout from another genre I wasn’t succeeding in. She loved the idea and the writing, hated the full synopsis, and the heroine’s journey. She said she couldn’t sell it if she didn’t believe in the story. Fair enough. That was about three years ago. I went back to my regularly scheduled genre, sold a new series to a small imprint of a big publisher. The first book did very well. Two books later, after writing five books in a single year to keep up with demands and suffering serious burnout and depression, they cancelled the rest of my contract. Back to my agent, who encouraged me to break out of the genre (which is tight and growing tighter for mid listers like me), and is so sure I have the voice and the talent to do just that. So I pitched her another new story idea. She loved it, loved the synopsis, and said she’d need a full manuscript to sell it, which I am writing. Yet I am writing with sheer terror that it will be another dead end. This certainly is a crazy business, and the business end of it crushes the very thing that drives it—creativity, new ideas, tender and tempestuous writerly spirits. At this point, I’m just trying to write the best book I can, yet another Book of My Heart (aren’t they all?). We’ll see where it goes from there. Thank you for your post today, Bryn—made me feel far braver, and much less alone!
Ooof, that sounds like an incredibly tough journey to take. And yes, the business of publishing can crush the creative side of the writing. I think this is why I always have secret projects. Books that will probably never be published but that give me personal joy. Sometimes a book is both, though. A personal joy and a commercial success.
All the Ugly and Wonderful Things happens to be on my “to read” stack. When I hear the struggles behind success stories, I’m encouraged to keep writing. Thank you for sharing.
And it’s important to remember that so much of it is luck. I wish there were guarantees that hard work and talent would pay off.
“The writing is the writing, and everything else is just business.” Thanks much for this distinction. Simple and vital. I greatly appreciate hearing your voice here at WU, Bryn.
Sometimes I feel like I need this as a tattoo, because I don’t always remember it in the dark hours of writing and worrying.
The shaping of writing careers and the publishing of books is as much an art form as writing them. All of those are also complex processes and influenced by a huge number of factors. Agents and editors can be right, partially right or wrong.
Authors can too. In the end, though, readers do not see the struggles that go on behind the scene. They see only the pages, the stories that unfold in their imaginations (or not). Good agents, editors and authors ultimately bow to that, I find. When I’m glad I read the novel in my hands, I know the art and business both have worked.
I think that’s sometimes the difficulty for writers. We don’t always see all the layers of decisions that agents and editors make. We just see our decisions and our efforts. This is why I feel like communication with my agent is so huge, so I can understand how her process is different from mine.
What a great topic. Thanks for your transparency about the process after you’ve been published.
Last year, I signed a two-book contract for books that will be coming out next year, January and November. The first book was the one proposed, of course, but for the second, I had to submit three proposals. I had two more manuscripts already written, so I proposed those two, knowing that one would never fly with the particular house I’m publishing with first because of the content. The other I was fairly sure they would be interested in, but I wasn’t 100% sure I didn’t want to try to place it elsewhere.
The third proposal was something I had not yet written but as I worked on it I got more and more excited about writing. But they weren’t interested in that one because it didn’t seem like it was “an Erin Bartels book.” I wondered what an Erin Bartels book was and how it had so quickly been defined, since nothing of mine is actually out yet. :) But in a way, they were right, and I knew it. So I shelved that one.
Ultimately, they wanted the second manuscript that was already written, the one I had thought about shopping elsewhere. In fact, they were actually quite excited about it, especially the VP of sales. Which got me excited about publishing it with them. You have to have the sales force in your corner.
The proposal for the finished manuscript that wasn’t up their alley will definitely find some other publisher someday, I think. It’s with my agent now, awaiting her editorial advice.
And the unloved proposal for the book not yet written? It actually ended up rather providential that it didn’t get contracted. The subject matter, which had seemed ripe for humor (aside: maybe that’s why they didn’t think it was my brand…) has turned rather serious with some big international news items, and the way I was envisioning it just wouldn’t work in today’s environment.
And now I am starting a new MS, hopefully snug within the “Erin Bartels brand.” We’ll see, I guess.
Pitches are always so hard! Especially when they’re for books you haven’t even begun writing. How can you know what the book is going to be like? Will it be your brand? (Not gonna lie: coming from cattle country, I’m spooked when people in publishing talk about my brand. Owwwww.)
Great advice, Bryn. Discerning what is best for you as a writer and you as a professional businessperson and finding the balance is never an easy process. I, too, left an agent and a publisher (after 17 books!) and that was one of the hardest decisions I had to make — but ultimately became easier when they put their business cards on the table and my plans didn’t match. It was a risk, but one I was willing to take for my creative sanity. It worked out and I was lucky to find an agent who liked my work who matched me with an editor who I work well with. But it WAS a risk because I’m the major breadwinner of the family and I have to think about the business of writing as much as the creativity of writing. Good luck on your follow-up book!
I imagine the decisions only get harder and harder to make, the longer you have a relationship and the longer you’ve relied on your writing income. Makes it difficult to break away. I feel it myself, just as someone who has no domestic partner. It makes my choices more serious, because there’s no backup.
Bryn, thank you for sharing the difficult journey for ATUAWT. So happy it’s reached the people it has (including me). You are so right that except for the writing, everything else is business. I’m pegged a science writer but I’m trying to break out of that box as a novelist. But who knows where this journey will lead me. I loved the unexpected doors that have opened, the ideas I love bearing fruit. Sometimes you have to wait a long time. My first trade book is 10 yrs in the making :) Less than a 100 words, I joke that I polished a couplet every couple of years.
The hardest thing I’ve done is walk away from a writing project that I really, really liked (it was a science topic :) but did not love enough to take it on with what the offer was. Never mind that the books of my heart will probably pay me pennies. But that’s the difference between love and like. I’m willing to sacrifice for love.
Sometimes love and money coincide, but not always. I hope you eventually get to write the things you love for the money you deserve.
Hi, Bryn:
It’s somewhat difficult to join this discussion without either airing dirty laundry or coming across as bitter. Therefore I”m simply going to say “I feel ya,” I think this is a wonderful post and thanks a million for sharing it, and congratulations on not just withstanding the struggle or merely surviving but prevailing.
I will say that praising the publishing industry for the genuinely wonderful books it manages not just to publish but successfully market (not the same thing at all), is a bit like cheering the victory parade while the dead and wounded still litter the battlefield.
HA! I totally get the dirty laundry element. It’s such a small business, you have to be careful. Whenever I’m celebrating for myself or another writer, I’m often aware that it’s like the Olympics. There are the athletes on the awards podium, and then there are the ones who got carted off on a stretcher. (Remember “the agony of defeat”?) Or the ones who never made it there at all, because they didn’t have the same opportunities or resources.
Thank you Bryn, for sharing this. I read All the Ugly and Wonderful Things last June and it was one of the most memorable books I’ve read. It inspired my own creative endeavors in a way that no other piece of writing ever has. It was life changing for me. I’m so glad you did not give up on it. Good luck with what follows, and keep listening to the voice that knows.
Thank you for reading! I’m so glad to hear that it inspired you to keep working.
Thank you Bryn.
My debut novel will be published in June and I am neck deep in the business of writing. The statement, “The writing is the writing, and everything else is just business,” is a breath of fresh air and reminds me to keep my perspective.
Ooooh, you’re in for some exciting times, but probably a few terrifying moments, too. Good luck!
Thanks for sharing this, Bryn. I happened to be writing a guest post that reflects similar experiences, and was so glad to have your post pop into my email. I think it’s so important to share these incredibly vulnerable times…The image of ‘no safety net’ gave me goosebumps – meaning, for me, it hit deeply and importantly. One of the ways I’ve coped is to have ‘no finish line’ – for several years I seriously set aside the longing to be published in order to free myself to focus on my work. It was wonderful, and it caused my work and my skills in polishing my work, to blossom. Eventually, of course, the need to submit arose. And it’s quite a balancing act to keep the joy while managing the vicissitudes of the business part of the work. Again, heartfelt thanks!
Thank you Bryn for sharing your experience. All the Ugly and Wonderful Things will go down as one of my all time favorite books. I wrote a glowing review on Goodreads and Amazon. I also wrote a novel that is about relationship abuse — and boy do I get some harsh reviews! But, it was the story I was compelled to write. I was not able to get an agent or publisher, so I published it myself. I am just glad to have it out there. Maybe my next book that I am working on now will find a traditional publisher. In any case, what I agree with you about is that we have a choice. Each choice can be made individually and each success is not measured by the validation of others, or their approval — but by our own hearts. I followed my heart, I wrote a book that is very challenging and makes us question our own culpability. Thank you so much for your post here, and especially for giving us Wavy and Kellen and All the Ugly and Wonderful Things.