Or … The joy of being a newbie writer.
July 1 marks the official release date of Rogue Gadda, the third and last book in the Dream of Asarlai series. It hasn’t even been two years since I got the email from the HarperVoyager publisher, Stephanie Smith, that began ‘Dear Nicole, I love your book…’
What a rollercoaster of a couple of years. I’ve written the other two books, edited and copyedited and proofed all three books and spent I don’t know how many hours promoting it all.
For the first thirteen months after I sold, pretty much every waking hour was given over to the Dream of Asarlai. If I wasn’t writing, I was thinking. If I wasn’t editing, I was planning promotion.
Then in August 2010, I delivered the manuscript for Rogue Gadda to the publisher and I found myself in the unique position of not knowing what I should be writing. No more deadlines. I still had work to do, based on editorial feedback, but the creative process was done.
It was at this point that I realised one of the great mistakes we make when we’re starting out on this mad journey to publication. We’re so focussed on the end result, on the dream, that we forget the joys of the present.
There ARE benefits to being an unpublished author. Sounds weird, I know, but it’s true.
For example as an unpublished author, you can write anything you want. Any genre. Any style. Any voice. Experiment. Go mad. Let the muse take you to far off lands.
Once you’ve had that first novel sale, however, you suddenly have this thing called a career, and career comes with restrictions. Publishers have expectations. They’ve signed you to contracts, established marketing plans. They’ve started to brand you, and they need that brand to continue.
Readers have expectations. They’ve invested time and money in you and now that they love your work, they want more.
So suddenly, you’re having to make decisions. Sure, that fabulous rolling epic fantasy looks GREAT, but perhaps you’re better off sticking with the urban fantasy genre you first published in. Or you want to write some short stories in your world but oops – the contract says the publisher owns the world and you can’t. Or you have a fabulous idea for a YA book but damn it – no point writing THAT until you know you’ve got more than one book, so you can establish a career as a YA writer…
Then as an unpublished author, you don’t have to worry about promoting yourself. You don’t have to spend money on creating bookmarks and posters for events. You don’t have to attend conventions to meet with folks. You don’t have to spend hours each week writing blog posts or contacting review sites or interacting with readers (and don’t think signing with a major publisher saves you from all this – IT DOESN’T!)
Then there’s the fact that as an unpublished author, you can sit back and watch the current upheavals in the publishing industry with interest but without feeling that every bookstore that closes is going to ruin your career. This might be contentious but honestly – if you don’t have to chase a major publishing contract right now, I’d suggest you don’t bother. Sit tight for a year or two, perfect your craft and wait for the dust to settle.
Does any of this mean that I’d give back my contract, or that I’m not trying for another one? Absolutely not. Being a contracted author is hard, hard work but it’s also the most fun I’ve ever had. I love my books. I love my world. I love that other people love my books and my world.
But there are days that I pine for the time when I didn’t have a contract, when I didn’t have a career to nurture and I could just write what I wanted.
Great days, my friends. Great days.
Giveaway question – if you could write anything, what would it be?
Nicole’s favourite response will win a copy of Rogue Gadda.
Rogue Gadda cookie
Connor handed it over carefully, making sure he didn’t touch her. The slightest contact of skin on skin would be enough to have his power draining into her and disappearing forever.
Gee. I think I would write legislation that prevents publishers from claiming ownership of worlds that they did not create. I’m a little bit gob smacked by that one. But then, I guess Mr King was probably right when he wrote “.. there are more worlds than these.” Great work and good luck with the next series
Yes, Richard, I find that one gob smacking, too!
This is what agents are for.
Contracts can be a dangerous thing Richard
As Rowena said this is why we love agents
Giveaway question – if you could write anything, what would it be?
The book I started enthusiastically 2 years ago but haven’t been able to get back to on account of being stuck in a trilogy!
I want you to write that too
Write everything!
I CAN write anything I want…that doesn’t mean that my feeble little brain can’t distinguish between “more likely to be commercial” and “less likely to be commercial,” so I think the unpublished aren’t EXACTLY as footloose and fancy-free as you describe.
But I’ve really enjoyed this post, thank you Nicole!
Thoraiya
That’s true – although I think you write first what you love and worry about commercialism second.
I’m an unsigned writer so I can write anything. So obviously I’d write the kind of stuff I’m writing now– There’s a bit of science fiction. There’s a bit of steam punk. There’s a bit of fantasy. (that’s just the one series) Then there’s the crystal punk (brand new genre that’s about to take off, I’m sure.)
(The first book set in the Ananake multiverse is available for free from http://www.scottjrobinson.com — sorry, but I’ve gotta take every opportunity to plug the book (-: )
Scott
Crystal punk – that’s interesting. What does it mean?
In one of the universes of my multiverse there are ‘magical’ crystals. The crystals can be manufactured in any 3d shape and when different shapes are combined they have different effects. A sphere and a cube might create heat. A cube, sphere and pyramid joined in a certain way might explode. The same 3 shapes in a different configuration might be a camera type thing. They make most of the things we have using the crystals.
The novel ‘The Brightest Light’ has been in the Baen slush pile for about 15 months.
I do write whatever I want. Most of it sits on my hard drive and never sees the light of day. Sometimes I send out stories and they’re rejected and I’m relieved. Sometimes they’re accepted and I go WHY? WHY DID YOU LIKE THAT? WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU?
But then, I wrote it, so WHAT’S WRONG WITH ME?
I don’t think my relationship with my writing is altogether a healthy thing. If I could write whatever I wanted (assuming (a) I had the time,
(b) I was good enough and (c) I don’t get the second job I’m about to apply for) it would be something along the lines of a modern, Aussie, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy in which the MC’s didn’t so much have adventures in space, but across universes, and don’t so much learn about the origins of man, but about how seemingly small (incremental) decisions can make big differences.
So nothing like the Hitchhiker’s Guide really, but, well, you know what I mean.
Chris I would say that only about 30% of what I’ve written has been published. It may even be lower than that.
I don’t know why publishers by one thing and not another. Honestly, if publishers knew what went into a best seller every book they publish would be a best seller.
LOL, like your description of the book you want to write.
Oh, I hear you Christopher – if only I knew EXACTLY what to write and who to send it too, life would be so much easier…
I’m not sure any of us have a ‘healthy’ relationship with our writing – writing is too intense a need to be considered a healthy thing to feel in psychological terms. But if it makes you happy – what the hey.
“- if you could write anything, what would it be?”
My own version of a Tolkien-esque world with as much detail, history and brilliance as his.
Given that it has taken me over two years to get my 79,000 word novel into only needing a couple more re-writes I might need to discover an anti-ageing miracle drug first.
Dan, it’s a long slow process of writing and ‘growing’ a book, especially something with as much depth as tolkien brought to his LOTR.
The joy is also in the writing of it.
Remember – there’s no time limit on this. Doesn’t matter if it’s ready now or if it takes another decade – it’s got to be ready.
My books took six years to get there, so you’ve still got a ways to go
Ah, yes – Tolkien. I have great admiration for folks who can do a world that big – I can’t.
I’m not even attempting anything so big at this stage but if I could write anything…
“The joy is also in the writing of it.”
So true.
Spent all day yesterday at the keyboard and had a great day.
Wow, Nicole, I never really thought about it that way. I am only a reader, but when I fall in love with a series (such as DoA), I really can’t wait to to read the whole kit and caboodle. I am ashamed to say that I never have thought that the authors had so much pressure. I think I am in the mind frame that you put out this wonderful story, that you have every thing already planned out. Thanks to bringing it to light for me.
As far as what would I like to write…..something that brings all my favorite genres together. Could I do a paranormal historical contemprotary futuristic sci-fi all roled into one???? I think i might have a great time trying ^_^!
Sounds like a great book Christy – I know I’d love to read it.
I would write a pile of of mostly stand-alone SF adventure books set in the universe I have been developing (slowly at first, but more rapidly now) since was 12. And I might add, if only SF sold in Australia…
It’s the old chicken and egg thing, isn’t it? Maybe if they published more SF, it would sell. But who knows – the industry is changing so rapidly, maybe this will change too
Best of luck.
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“if you could write anything, what would it be?”
It would be everything I want to write. There can never be enough time to write. So many projects are started but very few get to a finished stage. So many ideas wanting to be unleashed, regardless of their merit. Characters, plots, settings – it’s a rich sandbox but there’s just not enough time to play.
Good luck with the launch.
Thanks Pete.
I know, it’s hard to deal with all the ideas. I look at the lists I’ve made over the years of great story ideas and I weep. But it’s part of the reality of being a writer as well – you can’t sell a story that’s not finished and sometimes, you’ve got to push the ideas away to finish the one you’re working on.
I’ve had several interesting talks with the staff at my local Collins Bookstore, and with other writers, and being an author is certainly entering into odd territory. The downward slide of bricks-and-mortar bookstores in Australia, together with competition from (often self-published) e-books, the increasing amount of self-promotion that authors need to do, and the increasing tendency of publishing houses to get authors to do their own editing… well, it’s odd territory. Book publishing has always been a commercial operation, but I wonder if the commercial considerations aren’t starting to take over.
Certainly, the past decade when pretty much all the major publishers were bought up by major corporations (my publisher, HarperCollins, is a News Limited company) has had an impact. Publishing just didn’t work on the same profit margins as other businesses, but now they did. And the Global Financial Crisis has had a MASSIVE impact on retail and that’s still going on.
It’s a strange time at the moment, but that’s kinda exciting too – the fact no one knows what’s going to happen means that ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN. Should be interesting.
Hi Nicole, I enjoyed your post and put a link to it from my blog.
I was really surprised that publishers can wind up owning your worlds, so authors should be careful when reading their contracts.
If writers have to do their own editing and promotion anyway, then what is the incentive to go with a big publisher? I sometimes think that it will be reviewers rather than publishers who will end up being the gatekeepers, the ones who point towards quality, when the dust of the ebook revolution settles.
But I’m probably wrong.
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