I have to admit that I was surprised by some of the responses to last week’s discussion about queries. There’s so much angst out there as authors struggle to find agents that some writers adopt an ends-justify-the-means mindset and think there’s something wrong the entire process if their queries don’t work.
But as I said in the comments section of Thursday’s post, every successful debut book should be viewed on the order of a minor miracle. It’s like throwing a manuscript across a river of paper-eating snakes and crocodiles and hoping that all the pages reach the other side. Success is hard and rare, and there is an incredible array of obstacles along the way.
Success is not the default, and success does not come easily.
And yet so many aspiring authors don’t approach the business in this fashion. They expect success. They feel that they’ve earned success simply by completing a novel they think is good. And they feel that if they are not easily finding success something is wrong.
Then you start hearing things like agents don’t know what they’re doing, the query process is stupid, the publishing industry is going down the tubes because they won’t publish MY book, etc. etc.
The system is not perfect, but it’s also not broken. In fact it’s working precisely as it should: It’s winnowing tens of thousands of projects down to the few that are published. There are far more novels out there than can realistically be sold to publishers. Far, far, far, far more. To paraphrase Sean Lindsay, there are too many writers and not enough readers. Getting published is not supposed to be easy.
If there were a more effective system of winnowing down thousands of submissions than referrals and query letters I’d love love love nothing more than to find it and use it (and Jennifer Jackson agrees). But in order to decide if I’m interested in taking a look at a manuscript I need to know two things: what the book is about and whether the author can write well. And I need to know those things as quickly as possible because I have a million other things to do. That’s precisely the point and function of a query letter. If the query did not exist, God would have to invent it.
It’s not fun to be winnowed. But don’t blame the winnowers. Just keep at it. And while you’re at it, try and enjoy the process. Life’s too short.
Please respect the system. It’s there for a reason.
It’s hard not to go through bouts of bitterness from time to time as a writer. Sadly, agents tend to be the object of our angst by virtue of occupying the next rung up in the literary food chain.
A few years into the writing process, I’ve finally begun to relax a little and enjoy the process itself rather than obsessing on publication. It might not have improved my writing, but it’s certainly made it more fun to do. Keep up the great work, Nathan.
In the UK, agents usually ask you to send your cover letter (query), synopsis, and first three chapters — all by post. The whole thing usually costs at least £3, double that if you include an SAE. It is a big cost for any writer if you query even ten agents.
Often my submissions have been returned back to me, unopened, since the agent isn’t accepting new clients. (And yes, I did check the website before sending).
So to me, the US system seems far more expedient and writer friendly. Hope the UK follows suit!
Is it just me or does The Bachelor offer a fabulous analogy to the whole finding-a-debut-writer proces…particularly when writers who get dumped at the query complain, “But he didn’t get a chance to know me!”
Very good post, Nathan.
Here’s the flipside:
Be a bookseller with a major chain. You read books every day not just because you love to read, but also to have recommendations ready.
Enter the author who wrote the next big thing. They brag how they’ve passed up the publishing world and gone with a small, independent “subsidized” (i.e. self) publisher who recognizes the power of their story. They claim their independence, but probably the publishing world said “no” for a reason.
This author ends up with me because I read the most in the store and he’s not taking “no” from other booksellers. He hands me a copy of his book (not to keep and preview, but just to look at – he can’t afford to lose money on a single copy). I ask if he wants objective feedback, since he’s so certain he’s going to outsell Stephen King, he adamantly agrees.
It doesn’t matter if the story is great: the cover most likely looks awful and the blurb on the back reads like a bad movie trailer (“In a world…”). The author does not want to hear that and pushes to have me take a chance on him. To appease him, I look the book up in the system.
The book is most likely listed as a POD, the publisher does not take returns so we can’t order it into the store even if I wanted to take a chance on it : any unsold copies become trash when we do book pulls.
However, the author does not understand that and becomes abusive claiming that big chains are ruining the creative world. When I finally give in and read the first chapter on the spot, he becomes even more indignant because I point out that he needs an editor to tighten up his opening pages: pages that make or break a book regardless on how good it is. Most likely, his sentence structure makes me wince and I’m confused by a logic error or two.
In the end, he leaves in a huff – especially if I give him the name and number of a writer’s group that could assist him through the publishing process.
In a few weeks, a caller special orders 5 copies of this book (most likely leaving a wrong number) and an unknowing bookseller orders them. After 20 days, the unclaimed books make it to the bookshelf where they sit for 90 days before being pulled and marked down. They sit on the mark down table for 20 days before being trashed.
The publishing process is there for a reason. If the query letter doesn’t grab, then the book isn’t going to either. The process isn’t perfect, but it does weed out the writer’s who can’t tell a story – no matter how compelling.
Aspiring authors need to get into a writers group where they’re told the truth: if they have a story to tell the group will support them through the process. If they don’t have a story to tell, they can stop and think before trying again.
I left the bookselling world to teach, but plan to go back in a year or so and I don’t expect it to have changed in the time I’ve been gone.
Thanks for that breakdown, Lee. Very interesting to hear things from the other side.
Your twitter entry says “Getting published is not supposed to be easy.”
That’s an interesting way of looking at it, and not surprising since you’re on the publishing end of it. It’s different from my perspective. To me, getting a great idea is not supposed to be easy. Developing it in interesting and unique ways is not supposed to be easy. Writing in clear, clean, interesting, arresting language is not supposed to be easy. Once we’ve managed all that, finding a publisher is supposed to be easy. To me, this whole rigmarole is like spending three years in law school only to find that you have to cross an obstacle course to get to the bar exam.
nonich-
It is hard coming up with a good idea, it’s hard writing a novel, it’s hard to find an agent, it’s hard to find a publisher, it’s hard for the publisher to convince booksellers to take on the book in the numbers they want, it’s hard for the bookseller to sell the book, it’s hard for a book to become a bestseller.
It’s one big obstacle course in which you have to beat out other books every step of the way. To use a sports metaphor, it’s March Madness with a 1,000,000 book field. Make it to the next round and there are 500,000. Make it to the next round and there are 250,000. And you have to win every game.
I find thinking about statistics of success too worrying, since it’s impossible for me to control, anyway. So I try to concentrate on writing the best story I can.
Nathan said:
“To use a sports metaphor, it’s March Madness with a 1,000,000 book field. Make it to the next round and there are 500,000. Make it to the next round and there are 250,000. And you have to win every game.”
You forgot to mention that all the while your first book is playing the game, you MUST be working on your second book to have ready should your first book makes it to a bookseller’s hand.
At least in the mystery genre (my favorite) where series are the norm, it helps tremendously if the bookseller can say: “And book 2 is due out in 8 months!” Unknown authors are tough to sell – even by hand – and very few readers will take chances on them. If the book is in hardback, it’s near-impossible to sell…unless the bookseller knows that another one is on the way. For some reason, readers will take chances if they believe the publisher is also willing to take chances.
Years ago, I heard a well-known romance writer (Jayne Ann Krentz, I think?) say how she always had one book in editing, one book in the process of writing, two or three query letters out for various books, and several more ideas perking in her inspiration folder.
I would add to that, you should also be reading in the genre that you’re writing for.
Great post! I do understand the bouts of bitterness that all writers go through, but the process does work, even if it doesn’t work for all of us.
I think some writers need to realize that the process is long and hard and that success is not a guarantee.
And I’m saying all of this as an unpublished, unagented writer. 😛
I’ve not had success with the query yet, but I do understand the need for some type of system to narrow down the playing field. All books written won’t be published, that’s a fact. Writers will just have to deal with that. It’s okay to be frustrated at times, but take that energy and use it to write the next novel.
Or DON’T keep at it, after a point, no? Find something else you love and can actually succeed at?
In reading through a list of new books on fictionwise.com (my favourite eBook seller), I recognized another part of the frustration.
SO many of the books listed sound just like everything else. “Her boyfriend broke up with her so she hired a guy to pretend to be him but now she’s in love with him.” “He’s a normal guy until the criminals assume he has something they want.”
It’s frustrating, I must admit, to read through these blurbs. We’re told as writers that the industry wants something new and exciting, and yet from what I see in this new books list, that’s not what they’re publishing.
Now, is that because:
– these are short blurbs and the books really ARE different? (Perhaps, but I’m not wasting my money to find out.)
– the industry picks the best of what is submitted, and these are the best?
– something else is going on?
I don’t know, and it won’t stop me writing my books the way I want to because, as Bill Womack said earlier, that’s the only way it’s fun for me. But it’s interesting nonetheless.
Heather
I rarely feel bitterness as a writer. I’ve been a working artist for much of my life and I get it. It’s tough out there.
But as a customer, a reader, I often get bitter. I’m sick to death of a thousand average books that all sound alike. For instance, right now it’s urban fantasy: this genre that I love to read has been hijacked by the “tough-chick-alternate-being” protagonist. Yawn. True, they sell. I realize this. But soon they won’t, and I feel like the authors, agents, and editors will be blindsided by it when it happens. Until then they throw out look-alike after look-alike.
Because the publishers can only, or will only, publish X amount of books, dumbing down of the art form, especially in genre fiction, is occurring at an astounding rate. (Ok, maybe I feel a bit defensive as a writer, too, but mostly as a reader who often has a hard time finding really great books that appeal to me. I’ve bought 0 books on my past three trips to the bookstore. Zip.)
So to me one part of the business that’s broken is the marketing angle. Other businesses have ways to figure out what’s the next thing. It’s not like Coke throws a new energy drink out there without market research. Even film makers, probably the closest art form to books marketing-wise, do market research before investing millions on a movie. But what’s the market research process for books?
Also true: it’s hampered by excessive go-to-market times.
So publishing isn’t broken–especially on the agent end, no. But I think certain aspects of publishing need updating, especially product marketing and placement, and the technology/processes to cut lead times.
A while back agent Peter Rubie (or is it Rubin?) had a lengthy blog post about writers and writing and he said something brutal that struck me as important and true. He said, basically: no one deserves to be published.
What he was suggesting was that writing a novel that’s good or very good, or, I suppose, even great, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be published or even going to be successful if it does get published.
As someone who finally fought onto the novel-publishing wagon then got rather abruptly kicked off it 2 or 3 books later, I can attest that there are an awful lot of factors involved in getting published that have little or nothing to do with having written a “good book.” You can, as I was, get great blurbs and fairly good reviews (I say fairly good because there just weren’t that many of them, but the majority were glowing), but still not gain much traction in the marketplace.
Nathan’s absolutely right here. It’s all uphill and when you do finally get published, it gets even steeper.
So you either change your focus or work harder. Or quit. And the world won’t much give a damn if you quit.
Excellent post.
Yes, we all feel bitter sometimes, but some writers take it too far.
Get over it. Maybe some writers’ writing ability really are shitty and they should find something else to turn to.
If you want to be a writer, you will NOT give up and keep going at it. Quit being so bitter, stop blaming agents, and look at your own writings more often.