For the Love of Writing Novels

New year, and hopefully, a new attitude.

The same old doubts creep in from time to time and there are times when I wonder why I even bother. Still, my resolution for '07 is to publish something. It might not be a novel, but maybe I can push a short story through somewhere. I was bombarded all November by Writer's Digest to submit another Short-short for their annual contest (which, regrettably, I let slip past without a submission). I plan to do another one this year, though, and maybe set my sights on finishing that short piece for Glimmertrain. Glimmertrain's rejected me ten times. Might as well make it eleven.

I've finally gotten 'Golden Hour' back in the mail, last week. They're not able to market it right now, or so the letter said. One of the reasons cited in the rather detailed letter was that the MS was still too long and that unfortunately the book doesn't quite fit into the genre that I'd indicated in my query letter. There was more, but since this is a public blog, I'll withhold the rest for personal reasons. I showed the letter to an editor friend at the paper on Wednesday and she deciphered the meaning for me. This was basically what she told me:

"They're saying that they can't find a slot for it because it's a hybrid genre and they're a hard sell. It's still too long and needs a lot more editing, " she said, and went on to tell me that if I were to get some more of my short stories published and fatten my writer's resume a little more, that would help. "Publication on web sites doesn't count with these folks," she said. "For them, it's paid-for hard copy that matters."

Essentially, the publishers won't take a chance on me because I'm still not a proven writer.

Well, hell, I knew that.

So I guess I'm going to be pounding out a bunch of short stories in the meantime and submitting those. My editor pal said to try and get them into some small pub's that won't pay much but can be considered a publishing credit. Amass enough of those, and I'll gain more credit as a writer. Right now I just don't have enough 'experience' to bring to the table.

Makes sense, even though I don't like it.

This subject came up recently on Writer's Beat, in one of the threads where writers can ask for help on writing and the 'dance' thereof. Since 'Golden Hour's' untimely return to me, this subject has really hit home, so I probably ranted on about it a little more than I should have. So, I decided to write more about that subject here today.

It scares writers when they hear this stuff - about just how hard it is to get published - and it can dissuade them from even trying. But still, they need to hear the truth from someone who is going through it. The odds on actually getting a novel sold aren't good.

There are seven million writers out there doing the same exact thing I'm doing. At least half of them are far more experienced than I am and even THEY are getting rejections right and left. Another thing, too; even if you manage to publish a novel, chances are 70% or greater than you'll make next to nothing on your first sale. $6,000 is about the average advance on a first novel from a previously unpublished author. The rest depends on percentage of overall sales (3%-8% for you) and your agent's cut taken out of that (usually around 30%).

Why is this?

Because 90% of most novels just don't do well. Most of them never become bestsellers. If you're going to make any money, it will come from a 3rd or 4th book, and that's only if your first two do well enough that the publisher gets a modest return on them.

In retrospect, maybe I bit off more than I could reasonably chew by trying to sell a novel before selling short stories first. My problem is that I still can't write a decent short story to save my hide. In a novel, you have room to stretch out and let the plot build slowly, plus time to build your characters and so on. A short story has a limited amount of space and it focuses on one incident or a 'slice of life' that must make a point and make it fast. I'm beginning to believe that the reason I can't write a good short is because I can't think in terms of microcosm. Encapsulation of a plot in such a short space may not be possible given the way my mind works. Today it occurred to me that maybe writing and submitting a bunch of short stories isn't the way to go, at least for me.

Writer's Digest has a contest for self-published books every year (they bombard me with invitations for that, too) and I think I might just clean up 'Golden Hour' and self-publish it, or maybe finish up 'The River' and do that one through Xlibris. It will cost me about a grand, but I have the money, so I might as well give it a go. At least I can accomplish one goal: give Mom a book that I've written - one that's in actual print, not in email or website form. I can submit as many self-published books to WD as I want. A winner of this particular contest gets to meet with actual publishers and marketers who will take a look at it and see if it can be mass-produced via paperback. There's a cash prize, too, but that's only part of the whole enchilada. The meeting with the publishers face-to-face is what I want. This may be the way to get my foot in the door, even if it's the back door.

I'm not getting any younger and 40 is looming nigh. I wanted to be published by the time I reached forty and it still might be possible, just in a way I hadn't given any serious consideration to before. I hate it, though. To me, PODs are small-time, a vanity-oriented way of publishing. But I can't keep avoiding it altogether. It might be time to reconsider.

That's it for now. Not only is it time for an attitude adjustment, it's time for a goal-adjustment as well.

Until later,

Jill