**smack** Thank You, Ma’am, May I Have Another?
I encountered an old blog entry from Miss Snark that lambasted author’s blogs as pointless wastes of time; her opinion being that writers should focus on writing good books that sell because anything else is self-defeating procrastination. Obviously I’m paraphrasing, I wouldn’t presume to speak for Madame Snarkiness, but I believe that was the gist. Other items likely to appear on her “Why bother?” list include book tours, writer’s conferences, writer’s forums and any extra effort that might be considered helpful or inspirational to other aspiring authors. Please note that I am in no way down on a woman who could influence so many of her followers to proclaim themselves nitwits, I am merely trying to set a tone.
For those of you who may not know, Miss Snark is a literary agent who is widely reputed as knowing her way around the publishing industry. In other words: Miss Snark’s words have weight. Her blog full of tasty tidbits has been retired, but is archived and running at http://misssnark.blogspot.com/ if you’re interested.
The point of today’s entry is to illustrate the importance of going one’s own way.
For the sake of argument, let’s say there are two schools of thought in publishing: traditional and unconventional. Yes, yes, it’s possible to lean left, right or center of either, but dang it, right now we’re sticking with just the two. Go nitpick on someone else’s website if you don’t like it.
Ahem… two schools. Traditionalists tend to stick with what they know because it’s comfortable, something they understand well and something with which they have had some measure of success. “This is how we do it because this is how it works,” might be their mantra. Being backed by a solid track record implies stability and builds confidence. In the fifties, the feeling this generated was equivalent to the warm fuzzies.
The Unconventional, however, are the mavericks, the rogues: the scary, unpredictable people our mothers always warned us about. These people dream in a whole different color palette and they like it. People in this category run the gamut from the woman in clown pants arguing with a trash can to visionaries like Leonardo Da Vinci and Howard Hughes. “What if it doesn’t work? What if people laugh?” are not thoughts that occur to The Unconventional because they’re too busy doing their own thing to care.
Sit back for a moment and get comfortable: we’re going to have a little history lesson. Once upon a time, a literary agent’s primary function was that of salesperson; this was back in the day when there were still individual publishing companies, as opposed to the global media industry we have now. Agents once had the luxury of being specialists, but as time went on and competition grew (across the nation, around the world), they have had to expand their services to include editing, marketing and who knows what else in order to give their authors a snowball’s chance in Death Valley. Facts are facts: fewer editors responsible for more books means the promotions slack has to be picked up somewhere, typically by the agent, but now the author is starting to feel it too.
Let’s go back to the illustrious Miss Snark and her “Why bother?” platform. I can see her point; authors always need to write in order to have a product to sell. However, I strongly disagree that that is the be all, end all of the author’s existence. The publishing world is not static: change will always be a part of life. Gone are the days when authors can expect extensive promotional support from their publishers, they may even go through multiple editors or publicists in the span of getting one book published without anyone batting an eye. Remember this everyone: there is no loyalty to the author or the book, only the money. Bottom line. So how can anyone imply that marketing and publicity done by the author on his or her own behalf is not of tantamount importance? Publishers are constantly trying to cut costs, whether by trying to deny authors advances for their work or refusing to accept returns from bookstores, just as retailers are experimenting with online sales and eBooks. As time changes the landscape and innovations occur, the author must adapt.
What does an author do in the face of such turbulence? Well, if you really care about succeeding in this industry, you get creative. You don’t sit back and trust that others are going to wave their magic wand and “poof” there’s your book at #1 on the NY Times bestseller list (unless you’ve specifically paid people to ensure this happens). An innovator is proactive, someone who understands that research and brainstorming are key. It is only when you understand the playing field that you can effectively make plans and plans are what you need. Part of the research should include an inventory of yourself. If this sounds trite, bear with me. Do you enjoy speaking in public? Are you an effective speaker or do you put people to sleep? If the answers are not favorable, maybe a book tour isn’t the best venue for you. These kinds of things can be fixed of course by joining something like Toastmasters, but it’s something about yourself of which you should be aware before making plans. Does you book contain a topic or product that might be of interest to businesses or a certain population segment or industry? Perhaps you could contact these people and see if they would be interested in endorsing your book to their groups or purchasing multiple copies from you directly. Writers are creative by definition: use it and make things happen for yourself. You are the one in charge of your career. You are your own best advocate. In spite of critics like Miss Snark, I choose to contribute to this blog because I believe it will have a positive impact on my career. At the end of the day, my opinion is the only one that matters because I have to live with the consequences, as will you.
It’s time to re-train your brain and forget what you learned in high school:
Don’t allow yourself to be limited by fear of the unknown.
Don’t change to fit in; make the world change to fit you.
Now, where are my clown pants?