Things I Wish Authors Knew

In my mere 4 years in this industry, I’ve discovered many things are not as I expected them to be. I believed everyone who stepped foot in this industry was driven by passion for storytelling and authentically motivated to support writers in becoming authors. Like as is often the way when following your passions into a career, and like in most of the arts industry, I fell victim to romanticism.
I realise now, that my perception was an utopian ideal, not a reality.

The more I experience and expose myself to within this industry, the more I witness how wrought it is with players who abuse their power, whether that is from lack of understanding or from egocentric motivation, the result is still the same - creativity is devalued and creatives are taken advantage of.

I believe integrity and transparency are the keystones to success in the arts industry and there is just so much that creatives need to know to ensure their venture into an authorship career retains integrity.

As I venture forth, I am going to begin to share things that I wish authors knew.

I may later come back to revise idea’s I share, and this is because ideas change with experience. I am not afraid to admit something I believe today may become irrelevant next month. But, I want to give back to the community I belong to, and sharing my journey is one small way I can hopefully do that.

The first ‘wisdom’ I wish more beginner authors knew is this:

Never make the hunger for an acceptance letter make you desperate.

As I write this, I realise this is also a message to myself and anyone who is on a quest to achieve their dream.

The major power dynamic in the publishing industry is contained within the immense struggle authors endure to receive THE acceptance letter. We pin the entirety of our works value on that validation.

Recently, I was asked why I don’t self-publish, for me, it is the hunger for that validation. I put the acceptance letter on a pedestal that winks down at me and promises me: “if you get this, your self-doubt will be gone, you won’t feel imposture syndrome anymore and you’ll have full confidence in your work. You don’t believe you can do it well enough on your own, you need me, you won’t ever feel your successful without this.”
Although I know the chances are, I’ll still have doubt and imposture syndrome, I still firmly believe the validation letter will help me. And I’m not ashamed of that. I leave room for the fact that this ethos could change, but right now, its true for me, and that – is okay!  

But all the hours and years of mulling, planning, fixing and re-fixing… all the late nights and early mornings, all the pockets of time we fight to steal for pouring our heart and imagination into a work… becomes pinned to an acceptance letter. It is genuinely one of the most elating experiences an author can receive in their life.

And that, dear fellow writers, is what all too often puts us at a disadvantage strait from the start.

We want that external validation so badly, that we overlook whether the publisher is the right match.
We neglect to look beyond the success of the acceptance letter.

What good is it if the life’s blood you’ve poured into you work is accepted but you find no audience, make less than 10 sales in the first few months and then one a year ever after? What use is receiving a publishing deal if you still feel entirely alone in all your marketing? What use is it if your arc copies are mass delivered to readers who don’t even enjoy your themes, genres and styles, therefore leaving you disappointing reviews?

Authors, without your work, a publishing house cannot exist.
Publishers need books to publish, they cannot make their profits unless they have a product to provide.

Do not let your struggle to be accepted promote you to relinquish your power to a badge of industry that is undeserving of your work.

The mark of success in a publishing house is not witnessed by the number of books they produce or how many years they’ve been in business.
It isn’t in how many followers they have or how pretty their website looks, nor is it the list of accomplishments for their staff.

It’s how many people have read and reviewed the titles they produce, how often and how well the authors talk about the team working with them and how many engaged followers their authors have.

When you are looking for who to send your manuscript to, see who has published with them, reach out to the authors, and ask them about their success. There are more authors than there are publishing houses, and it is up to the author community to work together to change the face of this industry, you have so much more power than you realise because you can choose who you want to work with.
We forget this during the heartbreak of trying to be seen, we lose sight of what our goals are beyond the acceptance letter because we fall victim to our desperation.

If your friend was in a bad relationship that gave them nothing valuable in return and they only entered into it because they spent so long trying to find anyone who’d accept them and feared they’d never find anyone else, what would you tell them? I think a publishing deal is almost as personal and it deserves at least the same amount of self-respect you would give to a long term partnership.

Authors, I urge you to stop giving your power away to publishers who don’t respect your integrity as a writer, who will use your work to fulfil an egocentric vision of themselves instead of being the champion for your success that they get to share in. An acceptance letter is only valuable when it can deliver for you what you want to achieve.

Admittedly, the nature of books comes with no guarantees, you cannot ever know you will be a shoo-in for success. The market changes just as quickly as social media trends and it is extraordinarily tough to be seen when the market is flooded with hunger and surplus to demands. But I do believe you deserve to give yourself and your story the best starting chance possible and if you are already feeling desperation, the chances are, you’re going to launch in without using a knife and fork to check the quality of the meal.