Schenectady, where all good ideas come from

[pbray]

Finalizing the details for my trip west to attend my cousin's wedding. She's very proud of my writing and has done her best to launch a one-woman sales wave for each book as it comes out. I've never met most of her friends, but I'm sure if she's told them anything at all about me, she'll have told them that I'm a writer.

Thus warned, I know to expect to feel a little like one of the animals that Jack Hanna trots out on Letterman.

Most people don't encounter writers in their daily lives, so there's a bit of natural curiosity. The questions will range from polite interest in my work to impertinent requests for how much I make. Some people will nod wisely and tell me that I should write for movies or TV instead, since that is where the money is. Others will ask me why I'm not doing chicklit, or aiming my books at the YA market since JK Rowling is such a success.

And inevitably, at least one person will feel compelled to share their great idea for a book with me.

Why do people think that authors are desperate for ideas? Ideas are easy, it's writing the damn book that's hard. Even if I were as prolific as Nora Roberts or Isaac Asimov, I still couldn't get to all the ideas that I have in my head.

So the next time someone comes up with a drink in hand, and proposes that I write his brilliant idea for a lesbian fantasy epic, "Just like Conan the Barbarian, but they're all chicks, get it?" that we can sell to Showtime, because everyone knows they love that kind of stuff, I'll once again have to regretfully decline. Though naturally I'll wish him the best of luck, and suggest that since writing is the easy part, he should write it himself and that way he won't have to share the profits.

Comments

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Schenectady, where all good ideas come from.

And all this time I thought it was a PO Box in Poughkeepsie...

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Hmm, there may be some quantum tunneling going on, or perhaps simple mail forwarding. I was assured the PO Box was in Schenectady, possibly because it is just so much fun to say.

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

Personally, I use the PO box in Poughkeepsie, because I can pronounce it. :)

[kinzel.livejournal.com]

The sales wave is a good thing -- everyone needs a book-turning club.

About the advice you'll get from strangers... maybe you can do some actual education -- explain how the process works if you get someone willing to listen. We recently had a chance to give a talk at a library I used to work in and a bunch of my family members attended. Soneone asked about the process of getting started and we did the song and dance... and at the end my stepfather was teary-eyed... "I didn't know it was so hard..." was about all he could get out.

Have a good trip!

[jlawrenceperry.livejournal.com]

I have thought about this, considering my desire to be in the place you are eventually. This is one of the singular reasons why I keep considering a pseudonym. That way, no one will know it's me, and everyone can think I'm just a lazy bum whose wife works harder than he does. Regardless of the truth of that statement....

I can say things like, "Oh, I work part-time for a publisher." Since the only time a writer works is when she's slaving over a keyboard, nudge-nudge. Tours are never work, merely feeding the autograph hounds, right? Or maybe, "I'm in IT." Ha.

Then again, I want to use my real name so everyone who was a jerk-off to me in high school can SEE my name and be JEALOUS. GREAT motive for pursuing this career path, eh? :D

[pbray.livejournal.com]

But of course, why else would you write? :-) And you'll have to send an autographed copy of your book to your high school as well as your old hometown newspaper, so news of your triumph will spread far and wide.

[jlawrenceperry.livejournal.com]

Ha ha--oh wait--is that a gag or for real?

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Actually that's serious marketing advice. When your first book is published, you need to get the word out to as many people as possible. Depending on the size of your hometown, "Local Boy Makes Good" story may play well. This works better if you grew up in oh, say, Smallville, rather than Metropolis.

When my first book was released, it was more than a dozen years since I'd lived in Connecticut and even longer since I'd graduated high school. Still I duly sent press releases, and both the local newspaper (weekly) and the high school paper printed small blurbs.

It costs nothing except time and postage to write up a decent press release and mail it out. If they toss it, nothing lost, but if they publish it, not only can you dream of past enemies reading of your triumphs, you may also drum up sales from people who wouldn't otherwise have heard of or bought your novel.

[jlawrenceperry.livejournal.com]

I grew up in two small towns and one small city! Score!

[pbray.livejournal.com]

I didn't mean to give the impression that everyone you meet will be a jerk. Some folks are genuinely interested, and are wonderful to chat with. And while you do meet many people who say they are writing (or have written) a book, even this is not necessarily a red flag. Over the years two of the people who introduced themselves by saying that they were also writers have gone on to become both friends and published authors.

But, there's nothing quite like a cocktail party, or in this case a wedding reception, to bring out those special souls who have an idea for "A guaranteed bestseller just like THE DA VINCI CODE, only I stink at history so you'll have to do all the research."

[jlawrenceperry.livejournal.com]

Most of the people I've met whom I've told I'm writing my first novel seem intrested that someone they know is actually attempting such a thing--then they move on. I kinda hope it stays that way. Maybe this is cynical, but I don't care if any of my friends and family are interested, as long as they don't look down their noses and tell me to get a real job. So as long as I'm getting paid I'm happy. When you're married with three kids, getting paid is important. Not in a sellout sort of way, because there are other things I'm going to do as well as trying my hand at writing. But I'd really like to make a living at it.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

I've never understood the concept of "selling out." Our work has value and is worthy of compensation, and more power to those writers who can make a living with their craft.

Personally I've always been fond of the quote "Publishers show respect with money" and I'm aiming to be very well respected.

[jlawrenceperry.livejournal.com]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa men!

I guess what I mean is I want to avoid writing according to some formula, where I recycle cheap plots over and over.