6 January, 2014
(If you read my blog last week, you’ll have been reminded that there can never be enough proofreading: “never” was written “ever” – a reversal of my intention. And today I received an email ad “Sale of the year” and under that “2013.” It’s usually the biggest font that doesn’t get careful attention.)
Yes, it’s a new year, but how much different am I than I was the day before it began? All my habits and psychological structures aren’t going to vanish while I sleep, even if I’m not partying with everyone around me. That said, I do hope and wish and struggle to change. So I’ll wish you all the stamina, confidence, drive, and trust that the support you need will show promptly to keep your writing moving forward.
I received this email from a client today: Nowhere in my entire life have I worked so hard on an extracurricular activity as I have this writing project – even getting a doctorate degree was easier. . . . She has written a beautiful memoir of growing up in the idyllic farm life of a Mennonite community. Followed by domestic violence. And escape and maturity. A good arc, to use writing-class jargon.
After my read-through and advice, she set about editing. I suggested when she was ready to submit to an agent I’d had a good phone connection with. Rejected. She’s continuing to edit and has an agent interested in looking. She has just shifted her deadline for submitting from December 31 to end of January so she can complete the editing – even though she has (wisely) recognized it’s a process that has no end.
The other email that set me thinking this morning was an invitation (via Joel Friedlander whose daily email you should be reading if you’re interested in self-publishing or in the marketing regimen of commercial publishing) to an online four week class on marketing for authors at a cost of $197.
In the shower I was cogitating (while being mindful that California is in a draught) how hard the writing life is now because everyone needs to be marketing their own work, whether independently or commercially published. The common advice is: Start marketing six months before your book is done. (Not that one can predict when that might be.)
Most of the places I hang out with writers and the publishing community, the conversation is about marketing. (People like Joel do talk, in passing, about the importance a professional editor. Even Mark Coker, founder of SmashWords – the first major e-publishing service – addressed it recently.) And marketing is what writers hear predominantly at workshops, teleseminars, and conferences.
February 13-16 I’ll be at the San Francisco Writers Conference again offering free 10-minute editorial consultations. Most of the people who talk with me are concerned about perfecting their pitch to agents, who are wandering around looking for clients. That really is the heart of the conference. Yes there are inspirational speakers (two of my favorites this year: Chitra Divakaruni, for depth of language and imagination, and NoViolet Buloway, for shifts in perspective that bring you up in the middle of the vitality of a place you couldn’t imagine, much less desire to visit).
I also talk with people about structure and the quality of their writing, as well as how to bypass their productive logjams and the publication process. This year I’ve been assigned again to moderate a panel of editors on “How to Make Your Writing Rejection-Proof.” That gives you a flavor of the marketing of the conference. There is no way to accomplish that, of course – it depends as much on agents’ health and sex life and level of multitasking while reading your submission (or their interns’ or assistants’) as it does your brilliance and skill and imagination.
There are workshops in “pitchcraft” and many opportunities to pitch agents formally and informally, including 51 minutes of “speed dating” during which you can give your pitch up to 17 agents in 3-minute sessions – if their lines are short (yes, that does generate anxiety among attendees). And there are workshops on self-publishing – a reality finally acknowledged by the conference organizers a couple of years ago.
There are some programs oriented to craft of course. And this year I’ll be offering the most fundamental –building an outline for efficiency (and editorial collaboration).
Educating yourself about the industry and the craft is also part of the hard and time-consuming work for writers. But to keep you motivated, here’s the way my client concluded her email: I wish I could make it my full time work.
That’s why I’m in the game.
Until next time, delight in the process.
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