Are You Self-Published, Or Do You Have a 3-Book Deal at S&S? Does It Matter, As Long As You Try? (And I Mean Really Try)
Contributor
Written by
Contributor
Written by
In which Kamy Wicoff asks She Writers to give a shout out to She Writers who pour their hearts, souls and sweat into becoming better at what they do, women who aren't afraid to try.
I am a big Crystal Bowersox fan. For those of you who don't know, Crystal is one of the last two contestants left on this season's American Idol (which in many other respects has been a pretty moribund affair), and she gives me hope that women can be heard -- can be pop stars, no less -- without stripping down to minimal amounts of clothing and rubbing babyoil all over their quads. (How about those posters for Sex in the City 2, so jarringly out of touch with these hard times? So boom, while Crystal, whose hometown of Toledo suffers 19% unemployment, is so bust.) But mostly I like Crystal because when she sings, you know she means it. I like Crystal because she's an artist, and she's an artist because she works hard. Crystal, to me, is all about fearless, unstoppable, good-old-fashioned trying. And trying, as we all know, can be very trying indeed.
As an adjective, trying refers to something which is hard to endure. As a verb, to try means to attempt to do something new. Trying to make art, whether it's music or writing, is about both. It requires an enormous amount of dedication and stamina. It can wear you down. It can beat you up. It can lay you low. It is hard to endure. But if you keep trying, keep working, keep coming back with the determination to get better, even if just a little bit, you have a much better chance of producing something the world will want to know about. Art produced without effort is rarely any good (is it ever any good?), because effort defines art. The difference between art and raw material is like the difference between a memoir and a diary -- sustained, careful and difficult labor, invested over time, expended in order to transform something promising into something good, simply cannot happen unless you are willing to try, and try, and try...and try again.
Lately there has been a lot of debate about self-publishing. Are writers who self-publish looking for an easy way out? Avoiding the hard knocks, tough questions and editorial scrutiny writers who navigate the more traditional channels have to endure? Are self-published writers somehow "less than" those writers vetted and anointed by the Big Five? Are they trying, in other words, to get out of trying as hard as they can? To me this is kind of a nonstarter. In this new world, it won't matter too much whether you got a deal with a major house, or whether you brought your book out at Kinko's. What will matter is whether you, as the writer, understand the difference between talking and writing; the difference between a sentence you can spit out at a dinner party and a sentence it takes you three months to perfect. What will matter is hard work, because in the end, as the poet and novelist Jennifer Clement put it to me over dinner on Sunday night (and surely this will be the only blogpost in history in which the president of PEN Mexico and Crystal Bowersox both appear), all that will matter is whether it's good, or not good. And work -- the willingness to try -- will be the difference. Yes, these categories are subjective. But on some level, you know it when you see it. Just like you know it, as an artist, when you've really, truly tried your best. Which is all any of us can ask of ourselves, or of each other.
She Writes is about supporting women engaged, at whatever stage and in whatever way, in the act of trying -- to write a first book, to write a first sentence, to usher one's book into the world, to keep it from disappearing from view, to balance family and art, to make something memorable today. So today, please give a shout out to a She Writer who really works her tail off. Someone who is brave. Someone who isn't afraid of to try.Share
part of the SparkPoint Studio Family
I have a suggestion: Don't say Self-Publish. Use the term Independent Author. We are independent! We are authors who are not bond by publishers and agents.
I have been both routes. My first book went the independent published route after years of being ignored by traditional publishers. After my first book was named finalist for a book award and won rave reviews I thought Hooray! and was picked up by a traditional publisher. Now I had credibility and thought I had it made.
Guess what. I had to work just as hard as a traditionally published author as I did when I was an independent author.
The traditional publisher only printed hard back and in today's economy it is very hard for an unknown to sell a $26 hardback. I had better sales when I was independently published. So I went in search of a new publisher for my third book to come out in a less expensive paperback.
I had readers waiting for my next book and Boy! I was trying! I had already decided to go the Independent (not self, Independent!) route when I did get an offer from a traditional small press. Knowing now what I didn't know when I first started out, when I looked at the contract from the traditional publisher, I made the decision TO TURN THEM DOWN! There was a variety of factors that went into my decision, which I won't go into here.
One factor, which has changed just in the last few years, it is very easy for an author to independently publish their work, publicize it (which traditional authors have to do anyway), without having to give up all their rights and share the profits.
As far as credibility: Who's approval are we out to get? Who is it that looks down on us when we decide to go forth and be indepedent authors? The publishers who had already rejected us when we submitted our work to them before going the independent route or the readers? Do the readers really care if the author is traditionally published or independent?
Great post, Kamy. I sort of live by the philosophy that it is better to learn by mistakes than regret never doing something in the first place. I just try not to make the same mistakes twice. Women need to stop beating themselves each time they fail and realize that we are are worst critics. Every one of us knows women who simply are incredible for TRYING! All the ladies at She Writes know who they are and you are incredible because some people just dream, you try to make the dream, reality.
I have a filing cabinet drawer full of rejection letters for many different projects. A friend of mine says, "bummer." I say, "are you kidding? Some of the editors have handwritten positive comments on those form rejection letters. Do you know how huge that is?" I add, "and I will listen to those comments and try again and sooner or later someone is going to pick me up." I will keep writing and keep trying.
On a different note, I was approached yesterday by someone who is self-published. She's doing quite well and asked me to consider it for one of my non-fiction pieces. I have always worried about the stigma and the cost. She explained there are many options now, and reading a post like this one from someone like Kamy makes unafraid to entertain the idea, while still querying and proposing and querying and proposing.
I always tell my brother to put on my headstone: SHE TRIED because that is my every day mantra!
With book store shelves dripping with the trash of every reality star, (think Kate Gosselin & that plastic surgery obsessed 'How To Be Famous' duo), an ex-cheating Governor's wife, or women married to Dr. Phil or Dr. Oz, and I'm sure books are on the horizon for women who have slept with Tiger Woods or John Edwards or really any Governor of any state (!), true writers like most of us have a much greater challenge in
building a fan base for our books. I took a chance for my first book, The Shadow of a Dog I Can't Forget - Poems & Prose, by going with a small publisher who loved my writing and who had published a prestigious poetry journal for many years. It was kind of win/win. They wanted to get into the Self-Publishing industry and I wanted to get my first book published, so they did a lot of stuff pro-bono and I got to learn the publishing industry making all of the decisions myself. It was grueling but fun. I learned how to design a book cover using PhotoShop, how to get book reviews, they listed my book in all the right places and put together a website for me. I now pay them a small yearly fee to maintain the website and keep the books listed and my book is going into it's 5th printing. They keep track of book sales paying me Royalty checks and now have a thriving high-end Self-Publishing biz, I think in large part because of the success with my book. I have gotten over $20,000 in writer's grants and have won a number of short story and poetry contests, so my career is a legitimate one. I am halfway through my first novel Night Surfing and I think I might go the same route with Robertson Publishing here in Los Gatos, California. I know what cover art I want and just need to find an artist to render my artistic vision. I've written a terrific back cover blurb (I used to be an Advertising Copywriter). Publishing is changing so much. All but the few best-selling authors will have to do a lot of what I'm doing anyway, even if they go with a more traditional publisher. I'm a take-charge person, so I guess this works for me. Places like SheWrites are great resources for writers. We get to support and inspire one another while keeping the integrity of writing at the forefront, away from this 'anyone-can-write-a-book' mentality thriving right now. Mary Kennedy Eastham, Author, The Shadow of a Dog I Can't Forget and the upcoming novel Night Surfing
Loved this post! One of the most liberating things I've learned as a writer is that I am one because I write and not because anyone else says so. Be that editor, publisher, whomever. That insight was so "freeing" to me. I was able to pour my heart on the page and write with abandon, morning and evening. Most days God met me there. Some days he did the writing through me. Some days I wondered how such revelations and beauty could come through my own heart and down through my hands. I would have never known they were buried there had it not been for writing. This sacred practice did so much for me, clearing away the sludge, finding the gold and rainbow within me, tapping into my inner well, allowing me to meet the real me on the page and urging me to send my words out into the world to bless and to lift.
Writing clarified my point of view, with myself, my writing and my life. I encourage each writer to not forget what you have learned about who you are through your writing. Take your own point of view,trust it above all; throw away conventional wisdom about how things "must be" or "should be" done and allow her heart to lead the way on the decision to publishing, be it self publishing or not. And I implore her to think that her work is equal to any other book that came from the big five or anywhere else if she has poured her heart, her blood sweat and tears into it and given it her all. The value of the work is not determined by whether it came from a publisher or not. Could it be that publishers are just like we are...we read what we like...and if it's not something we like, we take a pass on it? I think publishing is purely subjective to the taste of the publisher, not always something to do with the writer. Who says they should have the final word on the message each of us brings to the world?
I believe that if we write it, we are the guardian and trusteee of it and have a responsibility to make sure that whomever our words are intended for, get to read them, are blessed by and uplifted by them or are captivated by them. Should we wait until someone else says "I will publish this" or "I'll make you an offer" or do we believe in it enough to say "I will birth this into the world" and trust that it will take flight.
There is a cost either way. Do the math...you write your heart out and the publisher (like an employer) makes the big gain. You self publish and you scrape the coins from the jar or swipe the credit card and make an investment into yourself and say a prayer. One way, someone else says whether what you wrote ever gets to see a crack of daylight. The other way says you believed in yourself and your work and you took responsibility for letting it breathe in the real world. How can that be anything but smart, courageous and savvy?
Your life...your work...will you make the final decision or someone else? That's the way I see it.
Kinko's, Vervante, Lulu here I come!
"Jump and build your wings on the way down!" ~ from the book She
Sharmaine
Great, inspiring post Kamy!
I love this! Not only does it acknowledge Crystal Bowersox (who is extremely incredible in her own right), but it gives me hope that I can self publish and the world won't explode or some people won't look down on me for it. Most people don't know how hard self publishing authors work. You have do to everything if you're starting from the bottom, but you also learn so much and make so many mistakes that help you along the way; some of which will help you to ultimately get an amazing super agent. It takes time to grow though and wherever you get your start, I will applaude you for having the sheer guts to even try. Thank you for posting this!