A couple of months ago, I posted about Seth Godin’s book The Dip.
Last week, one of his blog posts really hit home for me because Godin used a novelist analogy. So I wanted to share it with you all (if you haven’t read it already):
In his post, Hope and the Magic Lottery, he made this really good point:
“[...] the fledgling author, the one who has been turned down by ten agents and then copies his manuscript and fedexes it to twenty large publishing houses — what is he hoping for, exactly? Perhaps he’s hoping to win the magic lottery, to be the one piece of slush chosen out of a million (literally a million!) that goes on to be published and revered.
You deserve better than the dashed hopes of a magic lottery.
There’s a hard work alternative to the magic lottery, one in which you can incrementally lay the groundwork and integrate into the system you say you want to work with. And yet instead of doing that work, our instinct is to demonize the person that wants to take away our ticket, to confuse the math of the situation (there are very few glass slippers available) with someone trying to slam the door in your faith/face.”
I think this is the first time I’ve actually seen a novelist analogy on his blog, but it’s very true. How many of us know of aspiring writers who think of publishers and agents as the enemy or who have become jaded because they haven’t gotten published?
Being in this industry is not for tender-hearted. You have to know going in that just because you write something there is no guarantee that it will get published. You write because you want to tell a story. You write because it’s your passion. You write because it’s something you cannot do.
Be sure go over and read the rest of the post. Lots of great gems of inspiration there.
Do you think some writers do hit a magic lottery? Is it really luck? Or do you think hard work always prevails?
I think some do get lucky just as with all things in life, but for most of us it is hard work. I think that for some writers they start as those wanting to win that magic lottery but the true writers quickly realize that hard work is the only ticket to the big win!!
I think that when you do the hard work of writing, day after day, you’re in a much better position to experience those “lucky moments” of being in the right place with your writing at the right time.
Great post Karen! This is soooo true.
Someone once asked me, “What if you did all this work to write a book that never gets published. Would you still do it?” And I thought Absolutely!
It’s not “just” about getting published. It’s escaping to a world I created and writing a story I love. It’s so exciting to fall in love with my characters and lay in bed at night, unable to sleep, imagining what they are going to do next.
That’s the thrill of writing! Getting published is just the icing on the cake. :)
Jeannine: I think you’re right. When I started writing I really thought it was be *easier* than what it really was. But then I started to *focus* on why I was writing in the first place (wanting to tell a story) and that helped me get based back in reality.
Andrea: Yes, perseverance and working consistently as a writer you can make your own “luck.”
Hi Sylvia! Writing is one of the things that brings me joy and when it starts to get overwhelming, I know it’s time to step back and reassess. Publishing is definitely a goal but at this point in my journey, it’s icing on the cake for sure.
I think you have to work hard. You have to figure out how to take your work from good to great. But after that, I do believe, like Andrea said, a lot of it is right place, right time. My agent requested my full manuscript because one of her clients had recently told her she was thinking about writing a verse novel. She’d never read one. When I queried her, she was curious. Right place, right time.
Lisa: Such a great story of hard work and timing in action. This is why you just have to write what you love — do the hard work and grow as a writer — then you be “ready” when that kismet hits your door!
Yes, I do think some hit the right time with the right agent with the right idea. But I think that happens fewer and farther between just hard work and perseverance.
I prefer to think of it as “serendipity” – everything falling into place at the right time, for the right people at that moment. Luck seems a little “too” random in this case, because I do think that talent is involved.
I pretty much took all the pressure off myself when I decided to start posting some of my work online for free. If I never get traditionally published, no big deal, because people will still have seen/read my stories. And if my work isn’t accepted at a trad. house for some reason, I have no problem self-publishing, which makes me a little more patient with the whole trad. publishing industry, I think. I’ll have self-pubbed books available to my readers while submitting to trad houses, so it’s not like I’m just sitting around waiting, and I’m not writing novels that will never go anywhere – most will be published in some form eventually.
That’s not for everyone, obviously, but for me, it helped put my priorities in order and take the pressure off. :-)
Sounds like there is some excellent advice in there! I think hard work definitely preveals. That belief is what keeps me going. But I also know for a fact that some people do just get lucky. I mean come on, some of the books I’ve read are terrible and had to have been published on pure luck! Unfortunately, such is the way of things.
Thank you for the link, Karen. This is a great advice.
I think publishing does require a smidgen of luck. But, through hard work, you can increase your chances. Sometimes, a great manuscript might get rejected because the timing isn’t right. If you persevere, however, “luck” will happen.
Laura: Writers can sometimes hit that “lucky” spot when they query an agent with a manuscript that agent is looking for — this is why it’s so important to do research.
Jamie: I like that idea of serendipity. I think this is what a lot of people perceive as luck when they read articles about debut writers hitting it big. But usually 9 out of 10 times, those authors really worked hard over several years — so while the overnight sensation does sound great — it’s usually the end result of a long journey. I love your attitude though. Best of luck to you!
Heather and Sandy: You two agree with the other commenters about the combo of “luck” and “hard work.” I too believe it can be a combo but without the hard work, the “luck” may be harder to come by.
Great comments everyone! Thanks for the conversation.