The Secret Handshake

[pbray]

Friday afternoon at Wiscon featured the midlist writers' gathering, and about a dozen of us got together to compare notes. After listening to various writers share their stories, I was hit by the realization that many of us had fallen into the secret handshake trap.

As published authors we've all encountered unpublished writers who are searching for the mystical key to getting published. They don't want to hear about writing a good story, researching the markets, or the importance of professional presentation when it comes time to submit their work to agents and editors. These individuals want to hear that there's a shortcut--that the reason I sold my first book is because I'm personal friends with the spouse of an editor, was once trapped in an elevator with an agent, went to cons and bought drinks for a famous writer who then agreed to send my manuscript to their editor, etc. They're convinced that there's a secret handshake out there, and if I won't tell it to them, they'll simply go on to pester another writer.

As midlist authors, all of us in the room had avoided falling into that trap. We'd figured out that there was no easy path to success. But many of us having fallen into the very next trap--thinking that there's some magic shortcut for getting out of the midlist into bestselling/lead author status.

We seek out successful authors and listen to their stories. We beat ourselves up for not doing more to drive sales. Should I have a spiffy website like AuthorA? Are postcards enough or do I need nifty marketing giveaways like AuthorB? Is it okay if I only do two local signings or should I spend the family vacation money hitting every bookstore on the east coast?

That's not to say that marketing and self-promotion is wasted. It can be valuable, and to the extent that the author enjoys doing this, it's a good thing. But if we're driving ourselves crazy trying to figure out why all our promotional efforts haven't been enough to break out of the midlist, then it's time to take a deep breath and remember that we're not actually in control. Luck, timing, and publisher support are at least as important as anything that I can do as an individual author. The time and mental energy wasted trying to find the one true key to achieving bestseller status is energy that might be better spent writing another great book.

And hey, there's nothing wrong with the midlist. Some of my best friends are midlisters :-)

Comments

[eeknight.livejournal.com]

Well said! Can I either quote extensively on my blog or link?

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Sure, go right ahead.

[difrancis.livejournal.com]

What? There's no sekkrit midlist handshake/code/password?

Dammit!

Di

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Not to mention this terrible rumor going around about Saint Nick. Oh, the horrors!

[desayunoencama.livejournal.com]

Necessary things to keep reminding ourselves of!

[kateelliott.livejournal.com]

I feel like I was at a parallel con, because I never managed to see you (and a number of others I was looking forward to chatting with). Actually, I think it was just kind of too big for me in my current frame of reference and energy, and with too many programming tracks. Odd to say that.

[kateelliott.livejournal.com]

oh - because I had wanted to go to the midlist gathering, but missed it because I was doing something else.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Same experience--there were several folk that I'd heard were there, but I never got to see them. I glimpsed you once in the halls as I was dashing off to a panel, but missed you for the rest of the weekend.

This was my first Wiscon, but veterans had similar comments, that the con has grown so big it's getting to be nearly as crazy as WFC or Worldcon.

[onyxhawke.livejournal.com]

Shh!

The knowledge that there is no secret handshake is the secret handshake!

The Secret Handshake Club rules:

1) You do not talk about the Secret Handshake Club
2) You DO NOT talk about the Secret Handshake Club
3)...

[pbray.livejournal.com]

3) You do not blog about the S.H.C.

[oneminutemonkey.livejournal.com]

Hrrrmph.
Esther Friesner knows the truth.
It's right there in her story in UNDER COVER OF DARKNESS.

Lies! Vicious lies!

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Shh! She can hear you... her spies are everywhere.

[oneminutemonkey.livejournal.com]

Not in my house, the cats keep the hamsters away.

[janni.livejournal.com]

Luck, timing, and publisher support are at least as important as anything that I can do as an individual author. The time and mental energy wasted trying to find the one true key to achieving bestseller status is energy that might be better spent writing another great book.

Yes, yes, yes, and yes.

Did I mention yes?

It's so easy to think we must be doing something wrong if our books don't break out. And really, these days everyone, even many publishers, in saying, "you have to promote yourself" are sort of propogating the myth that it's all about how hard and cleverly we beat the pavement.

We should do what we can for promotion, but we shouldn't knock ourselves out. In the end, nothing we do is really going to sell even a fraction of the copies that whatever the publisher decides to do, and whatever word of mouth does in its own mysterious way.

And there's no real way either to know if the next book is going to do better or not--all we can do is write the best book possible, and not beat ourselves up about whether it's the "right" book to be writing.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

>>It's so easy to think we must be doing something wrong if our books don't break out

Precisely! And it wasn't until a roomful of us got together that we could see the obvious, because so many of us were in that same headspace.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Luck, timing, and publisher support are at least as important as anything that I can do as an individual author.

All of this is true. What is also true, and worth considering: authors can work together, to promote their own & each other's work. I draw your attention to Murder Squad (http://www.murdersquad.co.uk) and The Write Fantastic (http://www.thewritefantastic.com), because I'm involved with both, and this is a scheme that works, it's had measurable effects on sales and profile for all of us. Though it too is not a secret handshake, and none of us has become a bestseller on the back of it...

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the links!

Back when I was writing Regencies I was part of a group of fellow Regency writers that banded together to promote each other's works, including buying shared ads, etc. These efforts all have their part to play in building readership, but as you say, it's not a guarantee of breakout success.

Thanks --

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

We all need this reminder every once in a while. Write the book -- don't worry about the web site, or continuous promotion, etc. etc.

Write great books.

That's the secret handshake.

Re: Thanks --

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Precisely. Write great books, so you'll be ready when the factors outside your control align in your direction.

[dsgood.livejournal.com]

Suggested new topic: Writers who get where they wanted to be, and expect that now they'll stay there forever.

Then the editor who's been steadily buying their books says the advance will be larger if the next book isn't part of the Great American Series. Or the writer's been steadily turning out books on the Soviet Menace (nonfiction or fiction), and then the Soviet Union falls apart.

Or the writer realizes he can write salable books in his sleep, and proceeds to do just that.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

A writing career is like mountain climbing. Just when you think you've reached the peak, you realize that there's an even taller mountain right behind it.

And a million crevasses to fall in.

[awelkin.livejournal.com]

I'm working on my publishing career, and what I discovered this year is that there isn't a secret handshake. It was more like finding that if you wrote well, and kept practicing writing well, suddenly people took notice.

I saw the wizard behind the curtain. She was myself. I was in awe of that realization. Like getting my dissertation done, it's all about knocking on the right doors, finding the right doors to knock on, and writing like a fiend. Oh, and asking questions to educate yourself about how to succeed, like at any job, rather than looking for the in.

I wonder if it's the same at any stage of your writing career. I suspect it is.

Catherine

[pbray.livejournal.com]

>>I wonder if it's the same at any stage of your writing career. I suspect it is.

From what I can tell based on my career so far, you're right. The folly is when we start thinking that we'll hit a magic plateau where things change.

That secret handshake

[(Anonymous)]

I'm a literary publicist, often retained by mid-list authors, and I feel your pain because when I worked in-house at one of those giant publishing companies everyone dreams of I used to inflict your pain. At the publisher's behest, I used to have to say there was no budget for your book. Or worse, I had to pretend there was nothing I could do because there was nothing that could be done. THERE IS PLENTY TO DO. Write great books. Love your work. Hold your audience in high esteem. Blog. Give readings. Write for newspapers. Try to give radio interviews. Be active in your offline/real life communities. If you can afford to, buy co-op ad space, pay a syndication service to run a review of your book or an interview with you, hire your own publicist. There is plenty to do. Smile. Breathe. Go forth and write.