Which Brings Us Back to Staying Alive

The promotion conversation continues over David Montgomery's blog at and at Murderati there's a great interview with Neil Nyren where the issue of authors and marketing is discussed.

Both blogs made me sit down and write this out:

I think the single most difficult and yet liberating moment I had in publishing was when I found out that ultimately my success depended not on me or the reader, not on my talent or the responsiveness of the audience but by the vagaries of the publishing industry.

That truth was provided to me by a friend, who happens to be a very good agent, one day over lunch, when he simply said, no matter what you do for your book, you can’t make yourself a bestseller.

And he was right. It’s the same thing Lee Child mentions in the comments at Crime Fiction blog Only a publishing house can get behind a book to the extent that must exist for a book to take off and become a bestseller. And it takes the whole house – from your editor all the way up to the publisher  - to anoint your book and say – this is it – this is the one of the two or five or ten books this year that we are going to give “it” to – it being the push” onto the list.

And when “it” happens – you know it. “It” authors don’t wonder if enough is being done for their books, don’t wait for phone calls that never come telling them what the print run is or if they are getting two weeks of co-op or not.

Since most of us here are novelists or deal with fiction – lets stay with fiction. There are over 8000 novels published by traditional publishers a year. So what are the 7500 of us who aren’t already bestsellers or who are not going to be anointed this year to do?

That’s where the issue really is, isn’t it?

Lee also mentions Joe Konrath as someone who has done everything possible to make himself a superstar and yet isn’t a bestseller yet.

I could argue there quite a few things he still could do but for the sake of the argument, Lee’s right – he’s a great example. (Sorry, Joe.)

Has he failed? Fuck no.

He is still being published. He is still getting paid to write novels. As opposed to the hundreds  - or probably thousands – of writers who published their first novel the same year Joe did but are no longer writing at all. Some who as talented as Joe, some even more talented (no offense, Joe) who will never be heard from again.

The difference is  “staying alive” that I mentioned in my previous comment. Joe is fighting to stay alive and doing what it takes and he’s winning.

Yes, it’s great to be a bestseller and it certainly is an admirable goal. But the truth is 99% of authors won’t even have a chance at that golden ring if they don’t stay alive long enough to write the book that the publisher is going to get behind and anoint.

There are the occasional meteoritic rises to success. Every year, of the 8000+ novelists who get published, there will be five debuts that make the list because they were anointed and the system worked.

Those five aren’t worth analyzing. They are the lottery winners – the five with just the right book and just the right agent at just the right time to just the right publisher who has just the right line up with just the right foresight to make it happen.

The list of authors to pay attention to and learn from are the other 99% on the bestseller list who got there after 5, 7, 10, or 18 books. Jodi Picoult became a bestseller with her 8th. Janet Evanovitch with the her18th. Carol O’Connell, who is one of my favorite writers, made it last year with her 10th.

It’s a rare author who gets anointed right off the bat.

Your goal can’t be to make yourself a bestseller – because as my friend told me at lunch and as Lee said – you can’t do that yourself and you’ll just eat yourself up alive with aggravation.

But you can help write better and better books. You can become educated about marketing and promotion and do something to help your career. Joe Konrath has done it. I’ve done it. I can list hundreds of authors who are still in the game because they’ve embraced the realities of the marketplace.

The bottom line is if you want a to keep writing you’re going to have to work with your publisher to find out where you stand and then do as much as you can to stay alive.

And to do that you have to accept to some degree that – and I say it so often it should be tattooed to my forehead – no one can buy a book they don’t know exists.

You don’t have to help your book. We’re authors not publishers. Not marketers. We got in this to write. Not to spend our advances on marketing. But this is the business we’re in. Publishers don’t have the time or money or ability to treat every book equally. So no matter what you choose to do – at least choose. Then you’ll never look back and wonder if you could have made a difference in your career because regret really sucks.

Comments

[Lyn LeJeune]

Man! do I agree with you. First, that regret sucks. I've always told my kids never to regret anything you do (unless you have hurt someone on purpose), to take it as a learning experience and grow your life. So, when I started writing I did what all the "sages" and agents, etc. recommend: build your resume. I had many short stories published in academic and non-academic publications, wrote a book, sent out to agents, got two good agents but no sale, then wrote another 2 books and now have a third agent and have my fingers crossed because, yes, the vagaries of publishing and it's all a crap shoot (that may be why my latest and best novel takes place at the Texas Hold'em tables). I went back and took my most loved book, rewrote, then contact the New Orleans Public Library Foundation, published the book (see amazon.com where the book is in both of our names, Lyn LeJeune and The New Orleans Public Library Foundation) and donated all the royalties to NOLA to help rebuild the public libraries. So, I did two things...and I'm feeling good; on the one hand my fate is in my hands, on the other my fate is in the hands of, well, fate and the reviewers, publishers, all who will roundly ignore a new writer no matter how good she is!!!!
Lyn LeJeune at www.beatitudesinneworleans.blogspot.com and I'm even giving some books away to anyone who loves New Orleans. Contact me at [email protected] merci! it's a novel about and for NOLA

[Jersey Jack]

Amen, MJ. So many new authors are in denial about this. They think promotion is about ego.

[David J. Montgomery]

Great post, MJ.

One of the things that really annoys me about book promotion is when authors use inappropriate times and places to attempt to push their book. One of the most important lessons that authors need to learn, I think, is that there's a right time and a right way to promote yourself -- and doing it the wrong way can do a lot of harm to your image.

[Jeff Nordstedt]

I love this!

[M.J]

No kidding David. It annoys me too!!

[Katharine Weber]

There is a difference between talking about one's book and talking about oneself. There are writers who really don't get that.

And as with anything we feel passionate about -- politics, movies, our pets and children -- let alone our new book -- it is a social liability if every conversation anyone has with you inevitably leads to the beloved subject at hand. One key to being socially graceful in general is the ability to be interested as well as interesting. If you are always talking about your book in some way, it's hard for anyone to know that you are interested in other people's stuff.

[Christine Fletcher]

Thank you for this post. I've got pre-pub nerves like you wouldn't believe (actually, I'm sure you would) and I needed to read this. And re-read it. In fact, I'm going to print it out and put it on my desk. And keep moving forward.

[spyscribbler]

Have you ever considered writing a post entitled, "What In the World Else Joe Could Do to Market His Books?"

Seriously. For those of us who look to him as the everything-possible-one-could-do guy, what more should we add to our list?

Or was I the only one who's jaw dropped? And thought, dear God, I have to do more than that?

[Zoe Winters]

Great post! And, hahaha I love that you said "fuck" in your blog!

[Binnie Brennan]

Thanks for your insight, MJ. THe rules of the marketplace are changing so rapidly; we have to stay on top of these changes in order to survive.