A follow-up...

[sleigh]

So... I did reply to the fellow whose letter sparked yesterday's post. I thought I might give you my reply, since while the first paragraph gives him his answer, I went off on a tangent based on something else he'd said in the missive. For the purposes of anonymity, we'll call the gentleman "Bob" here:

************
Bob --

I read the letter that you gave to Andy Miller and me, and I'm sorry but I've no interest in collaboration -- and that has nothing to do with you or your idea. The truth is (and I suspect it's true of most writers) that it's not ideas I lack, it's the time to write up all the ideas and stories of my own that I already have. So -- I must decline.

I do want to comment on one thing you said in the letter. You stated: "From writing workshops [I have attended, I know that] first time writers almost have no shot with publishers." I don't know what writing workshops you've attended or what the presenters might have told you, but that's an utterly false statement, in my opinion. That's the kind of scare tactic scam artists use when they're trying to get you to pay for publishing your book through a vanity press, or to pay them to be your 'book doctor' or your 'professional editor,' or to pay them a reading fee before they'll consider 'representing' you.

Here's the truth: The publishers are *ALWAYS* looking for new writers, and each and every editor I know is open to (and actively looking for) new voices.

There are no 'odds' in publishing. Publishing is not a lottery. If your manuscript is riddled with grammatical and spelling errors, if it's not in proper manuscript form, if your characters are wooden, if your dialogue is flat, if your setting is flat and generic, if your plot is thin, if there's no proper tension or conflict, if there's no satisfying resolution, if you're re-telling a story they've heard a thousand times before no better than anyone else has told it, if you simply haven't followed the submission guidelines... If any of those things are true, well, then your chance of selling to a publisher is exactly ZERO. It won't matter who you send it to or how many times you send it out: it's not going to sell.

But... if you hand them a professional-looking manuscript with vivid, believable characters that we care about and empathize with, and those characters are moving in a well-realized and solid setting, and you wrap all that in a plot that shimmers with proper tension and conflict and comes to a rousing, proper conclusion, and if your prose voice is sparkling and unique... Well, then I'd say your odds are in the 90% range that you'll get an offer. The trick to getting published is very simple: write a great story that knocks the socks off the editors who read it. If you do that, I guarantee that you'll sell it somewhere -- and it doesn't matter whether you're a new writer or a well-established one.

It's very simple. It's just not very easy. I wish you luck!


Best, Steve

*************

I wasn't as blunt as I could have been. If I were to judge his writing ability from his letter (which may be unfair), I would say that until he has a much better grasp of the rules of the English language (or finds someone who's willing to fix the technical problems), he will remain in the first category. (See the brackets inside the quotation from the letter? Those words weren't there...) That's leaving aside any consideration of his ability to create characters, dialog, setting, plot, theme, voice, style, etc.

Today's question: was I too easy on him, or somewhere close to right? (I don't think 'too harsh' is an option, but if you think differently, say so...) I always agonize over these things... I want to be encouraging to new writers, having been one once, but I also want them to understand reality.

Comments

[octoberdreaming.livejournal.com]

I think that's a very nice, encouraging letter. It says, "No, I'm not interested in your idea, but you've got a chance to write it yourself." with some insight into what publishers *really* look for. I used to hear that bit about "first-time writers have no chance at publishing" all the time when I was new, so maybe this will dispel at least one myth for the guy.

[sleigh.livejournal.com]

Maybe. Maybe not. :-)

[barbarienne.livejournal.com]

I think it was a proper dose of reality, administered kindly. You gave him far more respect than he was entitled to, and displayed a good deal more patience than I would have in the same situation.

(My hairdresser of many years approached me with the same offer one time. Because he is a pal, I had to be nice. So I said, "I tell you what. Why don't you scribble down those ideas in rough form, nothing formal, and I'll write them up properly." He agreed. Ten years later, I haven't received any pages from him, and he hasn't brought it up again.)

[sleigh.livejournal.com]

Somehow, that doesn't surprise me...

[jbru.livejournal.com]

I would say you were just right, bordering on a touch too easy. I may have added a sentence about how his letter, for example, would not get past any editor because of specific flaws and that if he was serious about this path, he should improve his writing skills.

[sleigh.livejournal.com]

I thought about it, then decided it sounded too snide.

[braider.livejournal.com]

It would have been.

[spaceoperadiva.livejournal.com]

I think you were very gracious with him, far beyond what he could reasonably expect.

The thing that bewilders me (and I am *not* whinging about my own stuff here) is that occasionally (okay, rarely, but still it happens) I see something that someone has written that's comparable or better than things on the bookstore shelves and yet they can't sell it or find an agent to sell it for them. I don't know if it's a lack of ability to query/market oneself correctly or some strange market forces at work that lower mortals don't understand or some flaw in these works that I'm not seeing. I think this happens even more with people who are less dispassionate about their friends' writing and it gives the impression that there are evil forces at work suppressing lovely books for nefarious causes.

[sleigh.livejournal.com]

Hmm... I'm well aware (because I loath doing queries and synopses) that the ability to write effective fiction and the ability to write compelling queries are two different skills -- and that may well explain why those good manuscripts remain unsold: a mediocre query ends the process.

I think another factor might be that while far too many slush manuscripts have essentially zero chance of acceptance for one reason or another, very very few are of "I really must buy this if I at all can" caliber. A lot more manuscripts are in the 'solid and pretty good' range, and occasionally they hit the right editor at the right time and are bought (and show up on the shelves) but mostly they don't. Maybe that's what you're seeing?

And, of course, we all think that our manuscript is of the stellar variety! :-)

[barbarienne.livejournal.com]

A large number of books are bought on spec, which is to say that they aren't written yet when they're bought (I speak of books from established authors. First novels, by contrast, almost always have to be finished before anyone is willing to buy them).

It's easy for an author to turn in a sub-par novel that's been bought on spec: push up the deadline, burn down his house, lose a family member, change her body chemistry so her meds aren't as effective, break a wrist, buy into his own hype, have a baby, get a new day job, lose a day job...

The possibilities are endless, and they all add up to "Until an author signs with a publisher, they have infinite time to work on their books." Producing quality output on deadline is harder, and the ability to maintain consistent quality book after book is rare. Even the best, most professional authors will have an "off" book sometimes.

But the publisher isn't going to reject these books because they're not amazing. The schedule is planned, and it's MUCH cheaper and easier to put out a sub-par book by a known author than to cancel the book and replace it with a better one from an unknown.

Consider also that one reader's shit is another reader's shinola. There are many well-known authors who some people feel have gone into the deep end of the suckitude pool, yet they still have rabid fanbases who snap up their books regardless. You and I might be saying "this book sucks," but the editor and publishing house are saying, "We make a fat wad of cash on this author."

[hrimcealde.livejournal.com]

it won't hurt you, will it, if he goes on dreaming that he will be a great author?

I think what you said was fine. Some people are not meant to live in reality, and the more you try to show them the truth, the angrier they get at you. You think you're doing him a favor; maybe he doesn't see it that way.

[braider.livejournal.com]

That was a very good first letter; unless he tries to pursue it further with you, there is no need for a smack-down.

[octoberdreaming.livejournal.com]

By the way, I have a new take on this one... My two uncles, whom I love dearly, gave me a book last year called "Stolen Steers". It's by a man local to the Houston area (I haven't read it yet), and my uncles adore this book. Guess why they gave me the book?
...

They want me to turn it into a screenplay and send it off to Hollywood. *headdesk* I love my uncles.

[cornellbox.livejournal.com]

I think that your experience as a teacher really shows through this letter. I thought you were very clear in the way you redirected the whole conversation, and tried to educate him and provide information which offered him a way forward, even though it was markedly different from what he initially came to you for.

I imagine it's possible that he could take it the wrong way and see that as a brush-off and a refusal on your part to answer proposal.

[andpuff.livejournal.com]

I think you were significantly more helpful than I would have been while saying pretty much exactly the same thing. ("Sweetie, ideas I've got; it's time I'm short of. And if you want to be published, write a good book.")(Now I'm officially old, I'm calling everyone 'sweetie'.)

The odds are good that he won't believe you and continue to think that his inability to get something read is due to a vast publishing conspiracy against new authors rather than a lack of talent and/or perseverance but it's also possible he's one of the few who'll listen and understand what you've so clearly explained. In the first case, nothing you could have said would have helped and in the second, you win all the cookies!