by Bobbie Christmas
Q: I have several acquaintances who have given up writing because they could not sell their first book or two. One is a woman who wrote two excellent stories, so it is really a shame. I do not know what to tell them. Any advice?
A: If only we could sell the first book we write! Talk to many published authors, and most will tell you their first book turned out to be practice, but a future book finally got accepted. Some authors were able to sell their first or second book, but often only after selling their third, fourth, or fifth book and then going back to sell the first, once the authors aquirred a following.
If writers wrote only for the purpose of selling books, few books would be written, because a dismal percentage of books get sold to publishers, and self-published books rarely sell more than a few hundred copies.
What advice would I have for writers who stop writing because they didn’t sell their first or second story? None. Anyone who quits writing because of a little rejection is not a writer at heart. True writers write because they have a passion. They have stories, information, or opinions they feel compelled to put on paper. That’s what passion is about.
Look at Olympic athletes. They had a passion for their sport. They didn’t one day decide to high jump, practice for a few weeks, and then expect to be accepted to the Olympics. No, they spent years learning, practicing, competing, and honing their skills. Writers—serious ones—do the same. We write for years. We learn, practice, and produce multiple stories, articles, essays, or books. We may submit them and get rejections, yet we still write more. Writing isn’t an easy craft to conquer. It takes time, patience, knowledge, and dedication.
Like sports, success with writing takes a great deal of practice before reaching a level of proficiency. A strong story is a great start; following the tenets of good creative writing helps. Sometimes getting to know the right people helps too. Many writers find success by attending conferences where they pitched their books to agents or publishers seeking new clients. Even combining our writing skills with perseverance and good marketing doesn’t guarantee success in sales. Luck also plays a part. In the interim writers must learn to brush off rejection and keep going.
Most writers have faced rejection. Those who achieved success didn’t give up. I’ve been successful in selling enough of my writing to feel satisfied, but trust me, my works have been rejected more often than accepted. I recently recycled all the rejection letters I kept in a thick notebook. In this era when writers submit works through email and Submittable, most publishers and agents simply don’t respond at all, if they don’t accept a submission. Maybe no response is better than a rejection letter. At least we don’t end up with copious rejection letters to recycle.
Success? Maybe writers need to redefine the word. Simply having completed a writing project should be considered a success, because success can otherwise be temporary. I was successful in selling the first edition of Write In Style to a publisher. Ten years later I created an expanded and updated second edition, but by then my publisher had closed the imprint that bought the first edition. With much help from BookLogix, I self-published the second edition. Sales have been moderately successful, but nothing like the sales of the first edition, when my publisher distributed my book to bookstores and libraries across the country, a feat nearly impossible with self-published books.
I’ve written three more books that have received rejections, but I keep submitting them to agents and publishers, and I keep writing. I feel joy while writing. I lose all sense of time. The mere act of writing is my true success. I will keep writing as long as I am able, because I am a writer.
Writers write, which is the reason I can’t give advice to those who stop writing when they don’t meet with immediate success in selling their work.
I hope your friends don’t stop writing, though. Quitting is a foolproof way to fail.
Bobbie Christmas, book editor, author of Write In Style: Use Your Computer to Improve Your Writing, and owner of Zebra Communications, will answer your questions, too. Send them to Bobbie@zebraeditor.com. Read more Ask the Book Doctor questions and answers at www.zebraeditor.com.
