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What do I do if no one will publish my book? There are as many answers to this question as there are people willing to answer it. Here are some of ours: 1. If you’re serious about your writing, that is, if you genuinely enjoy writing and are not doing it purely to get rich and famous, you’ll forget about the book that did not sell and write another. And if necessary, another. With each book you’ll become a better writer and you may come back to that book some day with more insight and skill. You may bastardize parts of it for other novels. If you happen to succeed with another book, you may even sell it later, once you have a reputation. You’d be surprised how many writers’ second books were actually their first. You have to look at your first book as apprentice work no matter what the disappointment of not seeing it get published. Like any professional, you have to view those first few years of writing as time put in to learn your craft. It is disappointing, for some writers even heartbreaking, to give up on a project that has taken up two years of your life, but you wouldn’t expect to be a doctor or a lawyer after your first two years college. Why underestimate the apprenticeship of a writer? 2. If you have taken a few years to write a book, then presumably you’ve learned some other things along the way. You’ve learned that fewer people are buying books but that there are more books than ever being published. You’ve learned most writers are disappointed in their careers and only a very few can be considered ‘successful’ by the standards of the business world. This should help dispel the notion that there is something wrong with you; that because your book did not get published, that you are some kind of failure. You’ve learned that writing can be a very isolated life so that if you’re going to continue, you need to fortify yourself. Some people get a writer’s group together; some attend writer’s conferences. Both will put you in touch with a community of other writers. Poets are always sending their work out to magazines (or should be). Smart fiction writers attempt to get excerpts published as short stories. Publications in little magazines give you credentials. Credentials give you confidence. Some writers perform their work wherever and whenever possible, which enables them to understand that what your audience enjoys and what New York editors want to buy are two different things. Whatever works for you. What’s important is that you retain the pleasure you take in the writing, that you do not hang your self worth on someone’s decision to publish you, which in real terms boils down to investing many thousands of dollars and at least a year of time and trouble in your book. 3. It’s also important to scrutinize your battle plan for getting published. Have you been submitting to the right agents? Has your agent been submitting to editors who are best for your type of book? Are you beginning to accumulate rejection letters that are saying the same things? If so, do you see any merit in rewriting? Is it time to start sending your book to small presses? Are you researching what these small presses actually publish so that you are not wasting time on pointless submissions? Is your book dated? Editors can smell a book that’s been kicking around for years. Are you still attempting to place a book that takes place in 1997 when the story might seem fresher if updated to the present? Are you yourself getting tired of the process and would you like to get to work on a new project that you’re excited about? Do you really want to keep writing or are you putting off a career change? 4. Under certain limited circumstances, it may make sense to publish yourself. Here are three examples: More great writing tools in: CATEGORY: Writing / Reference / Memoir / The Novel
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| Copyright 2005 Marge Piercy | ||||||
