Writers spend a lot of time working in isolation. We’re also prone to self-doubt. We can quickly move from, “I just wrote something great! to “This is possibly the worst thing ever written, by anyone.”
When we finally find an agent who offers to represent us or an independent publisher who offers us a contract, there is a level of validation, a temporary euphoria unlike any other. We tend to think, “Someone else likes what I wrote; my writing is going to reach readers!”
[If you bother to submit to agents/publishers, you hope to find readers.]
Writers tend to be creatives, and many of us are not also business people. We love the art or our pursuit and can forget that much of publishing – the agents, the printing/selling – are business for people trying to make a living (even if most of them also love the art of it); the agents and publishers at least need to break even rather than lose money. And in publishing these days, not losing money is harder and harder to achieve.
Recently, for example, the independent publisher who had signed me to publish the first two books in my mystery series decided that he could no longer keep things afloat. He’s shuttering his business and working on returning book rights to over 30 authors.
Also in the past year a well-known author’s agency decided they were severing ties with a list of their represented authors who they deemed as not ‘financially viable…enough’.
This is tough news to get. We work so hard, think we’ve finally made another level, only to find that through no fault of our own the landscape has shifted under our feet and we’ve at least metaphorically tumbled down the hill. That’s what it can feel like. It can also feel defeating and hard to keep motivated.
How can we help ourselves when we feel discouraged?
- Take a moment to grieve: it’s a good idea to acknowledge the sense of loss that one feels when something that one has worked so hard for is suddenly gone. Like any loss, rather than ignoring it, allow for acknowledgment of it. Remember though, there is a line past which acknowledgement becomes wallowing. If you’ve quit writing for more than a few days, you need to get back to work.
- Work with other writers: I find that making myself sit down with another writer, or joining a writing group to meet once a week (even to just discuss a work in progress), can provide motivation that working alone does not. That doesn’t mean I enjoy making myself do these things, but I admit they sustain me in writing when working alone might not.
- Set new goals: the past is just that. Whatever hard work and steps you put into finding your first agent or publisher, can be re-harnessed to do the job again. The business of writing requires time and effort.
- When discouraged, remind yourself how far you’ve come: Hundreds of thousands of people are working on writing books. If you’ve gotten as far as having an agent or publisher, you’ve made it further than 90+% of them. Don’t give up now.
- A better deal is ahead: Ask most writers and they’ll tell you the more/longer they’ve been writing, the better their writing gets. As you grow in your experience you will have more to offer an agent/publisher and that will open new doors to you. Something better is on your horizon, as long as you keep working your way towards it.
One cannot publish a book that remains unwritten.
If one writes a book, it will remain unseen by others without marketing (e.g. put it out there to agents/publishers or even directly to readers.) The book that eventually is published, though, just may find an audience. And that is an incredibly satisfying feeling.
christyoslund 