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What Should Writers Do With Rejections?

October 28, 2014

Dealing With the Burning of Your Dreams

Because I attend a lot of writers’ group meetings, I frequently meet other people who tell me they’ve also written a book.

It happened again recently. This particular man went on to say he had been disappointed in his search for an agent to represent him.

Obviously trying to go the traditional publishing route, he had queried a respectable agent, who told him his writing was actually quite sound … but he wouldn’t represent the book.

The agent said there wasn’t a large enough market for it.

I got to read his first chapter and it wasn’t bad at all. Being the indie-author advocate that I am, we got into a discussion about self-publishing and I suggested he give it a try. He said he wasn’t sure now about any of it any more … he was reconsidering whether his work was worth publishing at all.

I left feeling very sorry for his disappointed state of mind, because it was all based on that single rejection.

Agents and editors often act as if they can predict the future, but their job is to sell books, not write them. They make judgments, not always about whether the work is good or not, but on whether they think they can sell it.

If they’re not supremely confident in their ability to do that, for whatever reason, they’ll tell you it’s not marketable and send you on your way.

And quite often they’re wrong.

Consider This
One of my favorite books, William Golding’s Lord of the Flies was rejected twenty-one times. One publisher actually called it “absurd and uninteresting fantasy which was rubbish and dull.”

I have to wonder what that publisher said when Golding won the Pulitzer Prize in literature.

J.K. Rowling’s first Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone story was rejected twelve times before being bought by Bloomsbury in London … and then only because the CEOs daughter loved it!

Margaret Mitchell’s classic Gone with the Wind was rejected thirty-eight times before she finally got an acceptance. It became a best seller by the time the first reviews appeared in the newspaper.

A young lady many folks still haven’t heard of, by the name of Amanda Hocking, wrote a whole series of vampire romances that were flatly rejected by publishing houses.

So, the 27-year-old writer published them herself. She sells them online as eBooks, most for 99-cents.

Now, vampire romance is not a genre that interests me but, before you walk away laughing, consider that she sells about 100,000 per month and keeps a significant percentage of the sale price. She’s now a multi-millionaire.

Ray Bradbury, another of my favorite authors, also faced numerous rejections in his career. His sales increased slowly until he finally sold a story entitled “The Lake” that actually made him cry himself when he read it. It was then he realized what so many good writers discover.

He wasn’t writing for others, he was writing for himself.

Even Stephen King, who today could sell virtually anything he writes, once collected rejection letters. He’s quoted as saying he “pounded a nail into the wall” in his room to collect them.

He also went on to say eventually “the nail in my wall would no longer support the weight of the rejections impaled upon it. So I replaced the nail with a spike and went on writing.”

Whether you’re still trying to go the traditional route, or finally planning to immerse yourself in self-publishing, those are comments well worth remembering: Write for yourself.

Impale the rejections on a spike and keep writing.

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You can find my books as eBooks or paperback on Amazon, or at Barnes & Noble. You’re also invited to visit my web site, BROKEN GLASS, or like my Book of Face page. You can also follow my shorter ramblings on The Twitter.

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Comments posted below will be read, greatly appreciated and perhaps even answered.

Tags:book marketing, indie writers, self-publishing
Posted in Award-Winning Fiction, Independent Publishing, Traditional Publishing | 4 Comments »

Why Pay It Forward?

October 3, 2014

I’m getting ready to go to the seventh annual Rochester Writers’ Conference at Oakland University tomorrow … an event I look forward to every year. Over the years I’ve found it a great way to bone up on the basics of the business, while I network with other writers and industry professionals.

Early Fall on the Oakland University Campus, Rochester, Michigan

The Seventh Annual
Rochester Writers’ Conference
Saturday, October 3, 2014
Oakland University

A good conference, which this one always proves to be, can offer an interesting inside look at the craft of writing.

In fact, if you’re a newbie, or just new to writing conferences, I suggest you start with a smaller, local conference like this. It’s less expensive and much less intimidating than big, national multi-day events, but you can still make vital connections.

As much as I may think I know, I learn something every year. You may only occasionally meet a literary agent but, and probably more importantly, you get to network with other local authors.

But I won’t lie to you; it can be an exhausting experience. There are a lot of choices to make and a lot of ground to cover in a day.

Good Writing is Hard Work
Good writing is very hard work, but the journey is worth it. Why do I say that? Well, the answer could be as simple as “writers write.”

Every fiction author I’ve ever met says pretty much the same thing. They all write to tell a story, make an esoteric point, chronicle an era or expound on an event. Some say they actually write to please their readers.

But I think they really write for the same reason I do … the joy of the writing process itself.

It’s for those almost mystical and ethereal moments when the all the hard work you put in finally allows the muse to spit a few words from your brain onto the page … in the process creating something exciting and new.

Publishing Has Changed
Publishing has produced its own exciting, dynamic story arc since I first submitted a story for consideration … way back when I was seventeen (to give yourself some idea of just how long ago that was, think pterodactyls).

Back then, except for the monthly magazines that bought a lot of fiction, we all knew that in order to be published in a book, you had to pitch a traditional publisher.

After I decided (much to my sweet bride’s dismay) to take an early retirement from my nine-to-whenever corporate marketing job, I thought, OK, pitch to a publisher, that’s writing, too … I can do that. How hard can it be?

Of course, I soon discovered that in order for that to happen I first had to secure an agent, since no large publisher would deign to talk to me without one.

However, at my age, finding an agent willing to take a chance on my writing was tough. I suspect every one I contacted really wanted to find an erudite thirty-something with many, many years of writing time ahead of him.

They probably didn’t see me fitting into their picture of a nice, long, sustained collaboration. Which was ultimately fine with me because, conversely, I didn’t feel like I had the time to search for someone who would.

Since self-publishing was quickly becoming the new pathway for getting noticed, as good, entrepreneurial indie authors made ever more assured strides in the marketplace, I decided to join them. I became a published indie author.

Once I made up my mind I was an indie, my path was set. Good things have followed, and I don’t regret it.

But why a conference?

You Will Get Energized
The real answer is why the hell not? It may sound like an obvious statement, but where else can you meet so many people at varying stages in their writing careers?

I find that writers, as a group, are very supportive. If you sit at tables with people you don’t know and make an effort to say hello, it’s easy to meet others who are not only willing to talk, but are willing to offer help and advice for any problems you encounter.

It’s one of the reasons I write this blog in the first place.

Call it paying it forward. I’ve already met others who’ve been there before and who were ready to go out of their way to help me as I tried to figure out some of the rough spots, so why shouldn’t I pass it along to everyone I can?

Besides, there’s nothing more infectious than a bunch of people all excited about the same thing.

My brother-in-law, whom I affectionately call Little Brother, does it with his buddies and baseball. I go to a writing conference with an ear to listen, because I guarantee there will be speakers who seem to be talking directly to me.

You might attend a session on how to query an editor, create dynamic characters, or even self-publish; or how to effectively use social media, as I’ve talked about here so often.

You might even find one on exactly how to pitch to that publisher you’ve been salivating over … and those sessions can be just as interesting as college classes. Sometimes even better.

The only difference … there are no tests … and everyone wins.

Excited now? I am. I can hardly wait for tomorrow!

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Comments posted below will be read, greatly appreciated and perhaps even answered.

Tags:indie writers, Rochester Writer's Conference, self-publishing
Posted in Award-Winning Fiction, Independent Publishing, Self-Published | 2 Comments »

Do You Know The Secret Truth About Writing?

August 21, 2014

Another writing blogger, whose scribblings I often enjoy, pointed out in one of his musings a while back that with all the articles, novels, e-books and blogs available today, more words are being written now than ever before.

As he also pointed out, a lot of that writing can be summed up in one word … forgettable.

Sadly, I agree with him.

I’ve seen a lot of things written by the new surge of independent, self-published authors that are not only forgettable, they’re often trite, badly formatted, poorly written and downright boring.

I suppose that’s why my local library didn’t want my books in their collection when I first asked if I could donate them.

Two of the four books are award-winners. All have received 5-Star reviews. But folks at the library hadn’t read a single word, and they were adamant in wanting nothing to do with them.

They said “no” because I was an indie author, and that … at least in their minds … put me in that nefarious one-word category where they dump the work of a lot of indie authors:

Bad.

Looking For a Reason
I don’t blame the library for their early reluctance. Unfortunately, a lot of the writing being done by indie authors is just plain terrible, and they had no reason to believe otherwise about mine.

That is, not until Kirkus Reviews … a venue they both know and respect … had good things to say about my novel.

I’m happy to say the library has now accepted my donation. I’ve even registered for their Local Author Fair this fall … a venue where they ask authors to come, sign some books and promote the library.

It started me thinking. A lot of writing by non-traditional authors is bad. Not all of it, but enough to leave that kind of sour, negative impression of anything related to indie … even with the explosion of non-traditional publishing in recent years.

Why is that?

OK … it’s just my opinion, but I think it goes deeper than not having a cadre of editors to fix things. I think too many indies are still trying to follow the simplistic rules laid down to them as gospel when they were in school. Rules dictated by instructors who never came close to having a best-seller to brag about.

They listen to the kind of pablum that continues to be handed-out, or worse … sold … in writing classes and the myriad writing publications, but their work doesn’t get any better.

Why?

To Write You Have To Read
I believe it’s primarily because they never actually read the works they admire, and reading is the key.

I don’t mean just reading the words. I mean reading the story again-and-again to understand, at an intrinsic level, why it works. To get stronger as a writer that kind of analysis is crucial.

Why does the dialogue seem like real conversation? How does the author’s description evoke a reaction from all your senses? Why do you find the main protagonist, or any of the characters at all, memorable? How did the author actually make you see the scene?

Conversely, if the story was bad, why was it bad? Where, exactly, did it fall apart?

Most writer wannabes never read stories like that … with the intention of finding out why they admire them. If they did, they would discover the great secret truth about writing. Pretty words and grammatically correct sentences don’t mean a thing.

It’s All About Storytelling
Storytelling is the secret truth about good fiction writing. It’s never been about pretty words and grammar (sorry again, Mrs. Bliss, but it’s true) … because no matter how perfect the body looks, it’s the engine under the hood that makes the car move.

That’s not to say you don’t need to understand grammar and spelling and proper formatting. You most certainly do. However, most of what they teach you in school, or in books on writing, could be summed up quite simply as bodywork.

It’s all right, as far as it goes … but I’m telling you here and now it doesn’t matter how pretty the car looks (or how perfect your sentences are). The vehicle may seem pretty, but if the engine just doesn’t work you’re not going anywhere.

Good storytelling is the engine of good writing.

I’ll say it again, because it’s the most important thing you can learn as a writer. It’s the storytelling that matters most.

People like a story that makes them laugh or makes them cry, that thrills them … or scares them out of their minds. People want to FEEL something when they read your stories. If the engine doesn’t work, your readers aren’t going anywhere with you. In fact, they may never travel in one of your stories again.

It’s why I enjoy reading Stephen King. Some people don’t like the genre in which he writes, but in every case, even in the few stories I really don’t care for myself, his writing clearly displays his most wonderful skill: HE KNOWS HOW TO TELL A DAMN STORY.

If you want to write, learn to pay attention to things like that. It’s not easy. For some, it may be the hardest thing you do.

Don’t get me wrong. Writing doesn’t have to be painful. Writing should be fun, and it should be magical … for the person banging on the keyboard and for the people who read it.

With a bit of luck, and the concerted effort it takes to read and analyze the things you like, your own writing can discover the magic. It’s the “concerted effort” part that brings dismay, and some degree of hesitation, to many … but it does pay off and I guarantee you’ll have a smile on your face when it does.

Better yet, so will your readers.