Publishing is not for the squeamish and Graywolf offers $12,000.00 advance

You are a purchasing agent for a large corporation or a secretary or a mid-level manager, or you are a waiter, a teacher, a used car salesperson. You took the job twelve years ago or fifteen years ago or twenty years ago, just out of college where you earned a degree in English or history or accounting or teaching. But what you really want to be, what you've always wanted to be, is a writer.

You wrote the first few chapters of your novel on your lunch hour but soon had to start getting up early to write and spend evenings and weekends at the computer. You realized early on that it's not quite as easy to write a novel as you thought it would be. You took some writing classes and joined a writing group. You wrote some short stories and even got a couple published and won a fairly prestigious literary prize. You gave up on the novel you were writing to write what you were told would sell, genre fiction, a murder mystery that transcends it's genre. It took you seven years to write it but when it was done it was really quite good. You had a few friends read it and they loved it. You even had a critique done for which you spend a big chunk of money and followed most of the editor's suggestions.

You sent out queries to a number of agents and publishers and got no response or a form rejection--unbelievable after how hard you've worked. You sent out more queries and tried a number of regional small presses. You got a new, small publishing company to pick up the book, no advance, no book tour and you have to pay for review copies but you are getting twelve percent royalties and are assured that the distributor is one of the best in the industry, whatever that means.

The publisher says the distributor will peddle your book to book stores and of course your book will be available on Amazon.com and through Barnesandnoble.com. No book tour is fine with you because you really don't want to have to speak in front of large groups of people. You might have to go to a couple of conferences to sit at the publisher's table with your book. That's fine so long as you don't have to travel too far and stay overnight anywhere because the publisher won't pay for it--aren't they supposed to cover travel expenses?

Okay, the book is being published. The initial print run is five thousand copies. You are calculating your royalties and it seems pretty good. The publisher will send pre-publication review copies to pre-review companies to get quotes to put on the jacket and in the distributor's catalog, so a second printing will be a sure thing, right? You'll be able to quit your day job and live off the royalties with maybe a part-time job on the side until your next book comes out after which its easy street, you can devote all your time to writing. Or maybe you can move to someplace like the Philippines where life is easy and cheap and you can spend all your time writing the next book.

Suddenly your publisher wants revisions. Lots of revisions. But you were done with this manuscript. You have started the next one. You don't have time to spend going over the manuscript another time. But you do it and send back the revisions. Another round of revisions and a bit of a nasty rejoinder from the editor when you complain. You consider scrapping the deal but the book will be out any day, right? But months pass before you get the galleys and now they expect you to go over the galleys to be sure there are no errors—isn't that their job? Then the review copies go out and you are told the book will be in the distributor's fall catalog eight months from now. Eight months! How can it take eight more months? Then production is pushed back six month but the publisher won't tell you why. The book will come out spring of the following year. By then almost two years will have passed since you signed on with the publisher. You are still working as a purchasing agent for the large corporation. Progress on the second book is slow and you wonder why you even bother.

Then the book comes out. You get a couple good reviews in the local paper, your friend at the library says the reserve list for your book is through the roof and the library system is buying twenty-five more copies. You watch the numbers on Amazon.com jump around. You're anxiously awaiting your first royalty check and the announcement that they will be doing a second run of ten thousand this time. But the royalty check, when it comes months later, is seven hundred dollars and you are at over a million and half in Amazon's ranking down from three hundred and seventy-five thousand and you realize you don't really know what these numbers mean. There are no more reviews because the book has been out for six months and it is old news. The publisher hasn't even asked you to sit at their table at another conference after the first one when you complained that you had to drive five hours to get there and the motel was going to cost sixty-five dollars, and you declined a book tour at five independent books stores in New York and New England arranged by the distributor—your book is set in Connecticut--because you already said you didn't want to do a book tour and the publisher wasn't going to pay expenses.

So now what?

Now you readjust your expectations and take a look at why you are writing. If you are writing to make it big, unless you are brilliant, you might be better off buying lottery tickets—Oprah no longer champions undiscovered, living writers the way she once did. If you are writing to make a living that will allow you to keep writing, you will probably have to live modestly and work a part-time job with benefits if you can find it until you have at least four or five books out and have developed a readership. Or you could become a career writer.

I wrote about the writing life in my last post. Anonymous, a career writer, commented that he/she made a living writing magazine pieces, articles for newspapers, advertising copy, pieces for medical journals and has worked as an editor and copywriter. One can also become a technical writer writing manuals and instruction booklets or maybe even ghost write for other writers. One can also teach writing classes or become a consultant or develop a blog with a readership and host advertising to bring in some revenue. There are lots of ways to make a living writing if what you want to do is write. It is a lot of hard work and constant hustle at least early on if you work freelance. For those who don't enjoy this kind of writing and want to write fiction or “creative” non-fiction, writing as a job may leave the reservoir dry.

Many people who have started their own businesses—even the ones who are successful--report that if they'd known what they were getting into, they never would have done it. I am in touch with many fiction writers who are very upset to be disillusioned by the whole process. They don't actually come out and say that they never would have started writing had they known how difficult it is to earn a living as a novelist but the frustration level speaks volumes. Somehow they got the idea that it should be easier, that if they found someone willing to publish their novel, the rest would fall into place. But writing the novel is the easy part, the hard work comes once you have that contract signed. Much of the work for making a success of a first book falls to the author. That's the simple reality—publishing is not for the squeamish.




Sept 1 - Oct 1 2008 deadline: Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize Submission Guidelines: A $12,000 advance and publication by Graywolf in 2010 will be awarded to the best previously unpublished, full-length work of literary nonfiction by a writer not yet established in the genre. Robert Polito will serve as the judge.

Graywolf Press's prose guidelines can be found at Prose Submission Guidelines.

On the writing life

I recently spoke with a would-be writer who had produced something less than 20,000 word, the first he had written as a writer. He wanted to get a publisher to tell him if his words were any good or if he should just hang it up. Less then 20,000 words. He contacted four publishers and was ultimately referred to The Queue. I spoke to him about the writing life.

The writing life is what writers like to write about when they aren't writing what they really want to be writing or should be writing. Those who can, do; those who are stuck, write about whatever they can, the writing life being a favorite.

The writing life means something different to every writer but one thing is probably common to us all. Writing defines our lives in ways that demand a tremendous sacrifice of time and money. We give up time with spouses, kids and friends to devote hours everyday to writing. If all is going well, we crave the time spent writing. We have created a habit, an addiction, that must be fed. Dry spells mean we loose the habit and we are often despondent when this happens.

I live with a writer and I call myself a writer between long periods of dormancy. I have three novels on my computer hard drive and have won a couple of significant competitions. I have one publishing credit beyond this blog--a short story published as part of the prize for one of the competitions I won. For a lot of writers, writing demands the time and energy that could be used to pursue other careers. That choice can mean a life on the edge of poverty without savings, without health insurance. Periods of dormancy for me have coincided with periods of seeking to build a career--retail management, computer programming. Being poor gets old.

For twenty years, from the time I decided I would write, I have taken hundreds of hours of classes, spent hundreds of hours reading what a writer needs to read, devoted hundreds of hours in writing groups, reading other writers' work and listening to mine be dissected. I've spend thousands of dollars on classes, on books, on paper and ink, on paid editors to critique my work. I have probably paid hundreds of thousands of dollars on the opportunity costs of choosing jobs that would not interfere with my writing.

A friend once said that being married is a choice one has to make every day--he's a guy of course, most women only have to choose about once a week. I think being a writer is a choice we make everyday. It's a choice we agonize over and when we choose otherwise we feel a profound sense of loss.

Lazy days of summer

Now that most of the bugs have left and I can enjoy my deck overlooking wetland and woods and a small sluggish river that wends its way past our place here in beautiful northwestern Wisconsin, I am wont to let things slide. Okay, I am wont to let things slide anyway. I have never had trouble relaxing. I count it as one of the great pleasures of living and a key to happiness. Relaxing, not letting things slide. Letting things slide can actually undermine relaxation. In the back of my mind there is a nagging spark, a synapse that keeps firing, telling me there is something else I should be going.

Blogging is what I should be doing today. But it is 68 degrees, a slight bit overcast, with just enough of a breeze to stir up the heady fragrance of pine, cut grass and sodden vegetation (one has to love the smell of sodden vegetation to live so close to a slow moving stream with stagnant backwaters)--the perfect conditions for taking a pillow out to the glider, or maybe hanging my Mexican string hammock between the poles of the clothesline, grabbing my half-read Richard Russo's The Risk Pool--man that man can write--and lolling away the better part of the day.

But I have work to do. I'm supposed to be blogging twice a week, a standard I set for myself so it is sometimes easy to let it slide. Too easy. Is it really so important to The Queue, the company I represent, that I blog regularly? Don't people already have enough to read without me asking them to pop in and see what I have to offer as an adjunct to our business--the business of helping writers improve their writing?

My goal for this blog is that it will become a place writers come to for information, inspiration and entertainment. I'd like to be able to provide a one stop timely source for what's coming up for writers in the way of conferences and contests--two months out so we have some time to plan. I'd like to provide information on the craft of writing and resources to help us improve our skills, stay motivated, find the right agent or publisher, find an audience, market our books ....

I'd like this blog to showcase short pieces of writing from my readers--excerpts, short poems, essays, lists, musings, whatever--to help inspire us to keep at it. Writing is its own reward.

And I'd like to entertain or to inspire writers to seek out entertainment. The playful, open and relaxed mind can not help but produce great and lovely ideas. All work and no play squeezes our minds into hard little rocks that rattle in our skulls when we move our heads!

Relaxing and reading on a lovely summer day is my entertainment. So really, I am obliged to let things slide once in awhile.

Luckily, with a good book and a good loll in the sun, I can shut off, for short times, that nagging spark at the back of my mind that interferes with my relaxation . Just the other day I let myself take half an hour to drift off to sleep on the glider in the sun, my book on the ground beside me, only to become aware of a wet canine tongue lapping at my nose. My sleep was so deep that I had to struggle awake. I walked around the entire yard looking for a dog that didn't exist before I realized the slobbering tongue was part of a dream. Hmm, I wonder ....

Relax, let things slide for a little while, you're allowed!!

Another September competition and the importance of not going it alone

Here is a competition for our wild west loving, short story writing friends.

Deadline: Sept 15, 2008, Tony Hillerman Mystery Short Story Contest, Co-sponsored by Cowboys & Indians magazine, Seeking 2500 word unpublished mystery short stories set in the Western or Southwestern United States, Story must include at least one cowboy and/or Native American character, Prize: $1500 and publication in the March issue of the magazine.

The importance of not going it alone.

This short piece about the importance of not going it alone as a writer was submitted to me anonymously. I have often wondered if most writers are introverts. I know I am which makes it hard for me to connect with other people in most areas of my life. Were it not for The Loft, a terrific writing organization in Minneapolis that offers top notch writing classes, and a writing group that I came upon serendipitously, I would probably still be going it alone.

Don't Climb the Mountain Alone by Anonymous

I'm not a mountain climber, but I assume that if I were to take up the sport I would need a lot of help learning the skills needed to be successful. Would any novice climber in their right mind ever tackled the Matterhorn, K2 or Everest alone and without instruction, practice and support? I don't think so. So what makes us think we can write a novel all by ourselves?

Arrogance, ignorance and unfettered enthusiasm. That's my excuse, and that's why my first book languished in a box in my closet for years before I realized that I could not learn to write from books alone. I needed real, live help in the form of classes and other writers.

As with climbing where there are a lot of people involved in a successful ascent--sponsors, outfitters, fellow climbers, guides, Sherpas--there should be many people involved in the writing process from the beginning--writing instructors, classmates, writing groups, critical readers and editors. One can claim all of the glory when the book is finished, but every experienced author knows that the completion of a book is never a solo ascent. That's why most books include, and should include, an acknowledgments page.

I can't stress enough the importance of taking classes, joining a writer's groups and getting critical evaluations. The writing classes and writing groups I've been a part of have helped me tremendously to rewrite my first novel and to draft, revise and revise again my second and now my third novel. I have learned in classes and from fellow writers how to distinguish premise, plot and story, create setting, write description, balance expositions with scenes and dialogue, develop dynamic and believable characters, maintain voice and point of view, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. And I have honed these skills of my craft by seeking out critical evaluations from readers and paid editors.

I advise any new writer who has not taken writing classes to enroll ASAP. If no classes are available in your area, check out on-line classes.

I would advise any emerging writer not part of a writer's group to find a group or create a group. Meet every week or at least twice a month, and push each other to contribute regularly.

The writer's group I joined five years ago has grown and shrunk over almost 20 years from as few as three to as many as eight members. We email each other our chapters at least two days before our meeting so that everyone will have time to print the pages, read them critically and make notes in the margins and at the end. On group night, we go over each work carefully. We're critical, yet supportive and we have a lot of fun.

Everyone in our group is working on a novel length manuscript but we submit short stories and other pieces of writing to the group as well. We get advise on agencies and publishers to query, how to write queries and synopses, we share information on conferences and contests and we help each other deal with reject and celebrate triumphs.

You can find writing groups through local writing programs and classes, at coffee shops and sometimes at your local library. Or you can create your own group by posting notices at these locations. Meet in member's homes or at coffee shops or the library. If you can't find a writing group in your area, look for a group on-line.

Take my advice, don't try to climb the mountain alone. It's more fun with other writers who understand the writer's life, the life you have chosen.

Class link
Class link
Group link
Group link

Links provided here for on-line classes and groups have not been vetted. Research any website thoroughly before enrolling. Other classes and groups can be found by searching on "Writing Classes" and "Writers Groups"

Dennis Cass: "Everybody’s a marketing genius."

Reading Under the Covers is a Bella Stander's blog subtitled, Commentary on Writing, Publishing & a Bunch of Other Stuff. Bella is a publishing industry writer, speaker and connector based in Denver, Colorado, according to her Blogger profile. She has been blogging since 2005. On Monday, July 21 she posted an interview with Dennis Cass of Book Launch 2.0 fame.

If you have not seen Book Launch 2.0, it is a wonderful example of what is an internet phenomenon--short video clips that are so engaging they spread like wildfire and can circumnavigate the earth in a matter of minutes. BL 2.0 is not a book trailer (short video clips advertising an author's new book viewable on publisher's and author's websites as well as on Amazon.com or Barnesandnoble.com) because it does not mention the title of the Cass's book (HEAD CASE: How I Almost Lost My Mind Trying to Understand My Brain). The clip did translate into sales for Cass's books however. Accoring to Cass, the clip was an experiment that proved to be quite successful.

Dennis Cass is a past student of Ian Leask. Ian is the founder of Scarletta Press and The Queue. A British transplant, Ian has been part of the literary scene in Minneapolis for over twenty years, has been teaching writing courses for almost that long, providing private manuscript consultation and is a producer/host for KFAI radio's Write On! Radio. Ian sends his congratulations to Dennis Cass.

Check out the interview then go out and find yourself a video making friend!!