Hello my Freaky Darlings,
Another writer recently left a comment here, asking if it was really worth while getting into the shark tank that is the publishing industry. This got me thinking. A dangerous pass time, I know.
The fact is, if you’re getting into this business to make a buck, you’ll be very disappointed. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to make enough money from my writing to pay the rent, but that’s not why I do it. I also don’t use the amount of books I’ve sold to judge my success. Because if I did that, I’d probably never get out of bed. Getting a good review from someone I’ve never met, or having someone who picked up a copy of Shadows at a second-hand book store and then goes out of their way to let me know how much they loved it, those are the things that give me the warm and fuzzies. It’s also what gets me out of bed and makes it all worth it.
I also haven’t experienced this industry as a shark tank. My experience, if anything, has been the opposite. Yes, there are one hell of a lot of us authors out there peddling our wares to an ever shrinking market, but that seems to have created a bond between most of the authors that I’ve met. There’s an amazing sense of community amongst writers out there. We’re buying each others books, doing reviews and helping to promote each other. One hand washes the other sort of thing. It’s that community, the writers that I speak to regularly, and who keep writing no matter what, that make it all worth while.
If you’re a writer, what makes it all worth it to you?
I think the first time someone said they were looking forward to buying my book, or the first time someone sent me an email saying they enjoyed reading it. Definitely the first good review. Every one of these moments just kind of made me feel amazing.
Actually, I write for the fun of it and probably would keep writing even if I never had a chance at getting published.
Thanks Cassandra. I know exactly what you mean.
I write, because I can’t help myself. The first time you see your work in print you are simply giddy. Working mostly for magazines i was totally unaware of the writer’s community, however when I turned my attention to fiction writing and joined an online writing community, it changed my life. For the first time i had complete strangers telling me what they thought of my writing.
The response was much better than i dared to hope, and the support I garnered from my peers was simply outstanding. There are so many talented writers on this planet that have yet to be noticed, but we find each other, and some of them have become writing friends for life. We help each other edit and give feedback on new work – this feedback is invaluable because it doesn’t come from your mother who says *that’s lovely darling*. It comes from someone who has nothing to gain by stroking your ego, so instead you get the gritty truth – and the feedback really is phenomenal.
The writing community may span many people, but overall it is a small community, one which I am thrilled to be a member of.
No one writes for money, but we all hope to make it into the mainstream where we sell enough to keep our passion alive. Luck is a strange thing, it favours people at random. If you don’t put yourself out there, and keep on working toward your own big dream, luck can’t find you.
I know of authors who’ve had three book deals on their first run at publishing. We will keep writing as long as publishers exist, and even then someone who loves writing would eventually self-publish if all publishers turned them down.
The world still needs scripts, magazine articles and short stories, comics even – the scope for a writer is endless. Someone who asks you *what’s the point* has obviously not looked at the big picture.
We write not because we plan on fame and fortune and movie deals (sure it doesn’t hurt to hope), but because we love to write a story, it’s our big adventure, one that puts a lift in our step and gives us a secretive grin to greet each day.
I love writing, and am not sure I could ever completely lose the desire to do it.
A new writer faces many rejections, and this gets them down. But there are many routes to the open doors, if what you’re doing isn’t working for you, try a different route by submitting to magazines and anthologies, and slowly build up your writing credibility.
What makes it all worthwhile is knowing hundreds of people have read my work, and somehow they let me into their lives, into their homes and they gave me some of their valuable time, I hope to have made that time – time well spent.
Poppet