Santa, the Easter Bunny, and the "Secret" to Selling Your Novel
There is no magic formula for selling your first novel.
Period.
As elusive as Big Foot, the Loch Ness Monster, and the Tooth Fairy.
I love "first sale" stories as much as the next person. But I love them because I delight in hearing about someone else achieving this dream. It's fun. Sort of like, if you're happily married, going to a wedding and feeling close to your spouse. A reminder a good marriage can be done, or why you said 'I do" in the first place. I will never again have a "first sale" and all the emotions that go with it, so it's fun to vicariously read about other people's journey.
But what I don't do is expect that their first sale story is going to have any "top secret" formula only pubbed writers know. And I have felt myself get irritated over what I see are some "scam"-seeming come-ons by authors to "let me tell you the secret to getting published; I know what editors want." Because they don't.
Look, I was a book doctor and editor and ghost writer before I became a full-time novelist. If anyone knows what editors want, it's probably me because I have been fixing other people's books for a long time. And I know there are some things you have to do:
No one wants to hear it's luck.
It's not. Not totally. It's luck, tenacity, and a lot of hard work polishing your craft. But there is no magic formula, no yellow brick road to Oz, no golden ticket into the chocolate factory.
Anyone feel differently? Got any cool first-sale stories?
Period.
As elusive as Big Foot, the Loch Ness Monster, and the Tooth Fairy.
I love "first sale" stories as much as the next person. But I love them because I delight in hearing about someone else achieving this dream. It's fun. Sort of like, if you're happily married, going to a wedding and feeling close to your spouse. A reminder a good marriage can be done, or why you said 'I do" in the first place. I will never again have a "first sale" and all the emotions that go with it, so it's fun to vicariously read about other people's journey.
But what I don't do is expect that their first sale story is going to have any "top secret" formula only pubbed writers know. And I have felt myself get irritated over what I see are some "scam"-seeming come-ons by authors to "let me tell you the secret to getting published; I know what editors want." Because they don't.
Look, I was a book doctor and editor and ghost writer before I became a full-time novelist. If anyone knows what editors want, it's probably me because I have been fixing other people's books for a long time. And I know there are some things you have to do:
- Turn in a typo-free, clean, polished manuscript
- Know your genre
- Propel your story
No one wants to hear it's luck.
It's not. Not totally. It's luck, tenacity, and a lot of hard work polishing your craft. But there is no magic formula, no yellow brick road to Oz, no golden ticket into the chocolate factory.
Anyone feel differently? Got any cool first-sale stories?
posted by Erica Orloff at 3:00 PM
4 Comments:
Hi. I think you're right about "luck" being an important part of the getting-published equation, and you're also right about no one wanting to hear that, at least people usually don't listen to me when I say the same.
I often see "luck" as being like the sum-total of many events, of many pieces of a larger scenario(s) returning or not returning a specific desired end-result and the probabilities thereof. The way many of those pieces fit together and point can't often be controlled--sometimes controlling them is physically impossible, emotionally impossible, socially impossible, monetarily impossible, or some combination of all these things and/or more things. Luck can be very elusive. But the tenacity and hard-work parts you've mentioned--a person can probably control those aspects more.
I've been repeatedly told by others that I have "no luck," which I have to agree with generally, going on my past experiences. However, luck may be a fluid thing just like many other seemingly ever-changing parts of the universe seem to be and the universe as a whole seems to be (at least to me). So, maybe luck can change. ...Or maybe I'm kidding myself (ahem).
Fran:
I agree. I was profiled in a newspaper story, and for some reason, the reporter wanted to interview my PARENTS of all things, as well as my agent and so on. After phoning my Dad and begging him not to tell any horrendously awful stories of my adolescent years or something like that, I let him talk to the reporter. And when I saw the finished article, I was really awed by something he said. Which was he felt I ascribed too much of the sales of my novels to "luck" because though my first sale happened relatively easily, I HAD been honing my craft and toiling at writing for over half my life since my teen years. So that's a big part of it. Like when someone gets a breakout role and is an "overnight" sensation in the movies and yet they've been toiling hard in obscurity forever.
BUT, I think the idea that anyone, particularly for money, can tell you the "secret" to writing what editors want is wrong and preys upon people very anxious to break in. Because while there are some things you can learn . . . it still remains a subjective, luck-based proposition.
I used to worry about the "when will I sell?" dilemna, but decided that instead of tying myself into knots over it, I would just keep writing. Which is what I'm doing now. With a little help, of course. (This is a friend of yours from Tuesday night, in case you couldn't tell...).
Luck? I've had some in my life, and sometimes I think of that old "If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all" chestnut.
So instead, I've come to the realization that the universe will sort itself out, and I'm just along for the ride.
Hey Miss T (who looks so glam with her haircut)
I hear you. Being a full-time novelist seemed like such a preposterous idea that I never really aimed for it, to be honest. I always knew there would have to be multiple things involved: talent, a really good original book to break in with or one on the fringes of a trend (when I sold Spanish Disco, chick lit was relatively new as a concept), stars in alignment, serendipity (how I landed my agent is one of those "truth is WAY stranger than fiction" humongous concidences stories), and maybe some divine intervention thrown in for good measure.
When I speak at conferences, I feel I can impart some wisdom, but I can't swear to having the keys to the kingdom. Sadly, I've seen a writer or two I respect get on the gravy train of "Buy My Writing Plan/Secrets" and I dislike it. But maybe I'm more cynical about what people like that are selling than the next person.
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