Publishing in Chaos and the Aspiring Author
It’s been an interesting week in publishing. I feel like I ought to say something about ebooks or discounted book prices. (For reference, three new ebook readers were announced this week, and big box stores have been in a low-price war over a few bestselling books.) But, really, there’s not much for me to say. I don’t feel, as a publishing outsider, that I have anything particularly relevant to contribute.
What I can talk about with a little more authority is being an aspiring author as the publishing world is turned inside out.
It’s very easy to pay too much attention to the State of Publishing. Every day someone is talking about huge changes, arguing that the changes aren’t so huge, saying things will stay the same, or proclaiming the End of Publishing As We Know It. It’s easy to latch onto every bit of news and try to figure out how it will affect your chances of getting published, or your experience once you are published.
And there certainly are some big changes. From ebooks to recessions to restructurings, there has been a lot going on. The problem is that no one has a fully functional crystal ball. The same bit of news can be (and usually is) analyzed by two people into two opposite conclusions. As easy as it is to watch publishing news obsessively, it’s also very easy to become completely confused.
And let’s not forget discouraged. After all, if book publishing is falling apart, why even bother trying to get your novel published? Editors are picking up fewer debut authors. They’re dropping midlist authors. Agents are pickier. Ebooks will make the big publishing houses fall apart. No one will be able to make any money. And so on.
All that might be true. But it’s not going to change what I’m doing. I’ve always known having a career as a published author would be a hell of a lot of hard work, and would probably take a long time. Now it might be harder? Okay, I can deal with that. And who knows, all the doom-and-gloom might be completely wrong. It’s certainly an exciting time to be part of, however it turns out. Yes, things like promotion might be a bigger job for authors now. There are also a lot more opportunities to find and connect with readers than there used to be. I won’t say that there’s a silver lining to every cloud. There isn’t. But your attitude can make a big difference in taking advantage of what’s there instead of being weighed down by it.
My plan? Write the best damn book I can. It might get picked up by an editor and do awesome. Or it might not. Same old crap shoot as always. If it falls flat I go on to Plan B: write a better damn book. Rinse, repeat, continue as above. I keep an eye on publishing news so I stay informed, but I don’t obsess over what might happen in the future.
The biggest thing that successful authors have in common? Perseverence. That’s not going to change. So the best thing an aspiring author can do is to keep on writing, submitting, and not worrying about crossing bridges until they’re underfoot.