Science Fiction Books by John L. Lynch

Archives for May 2018

Lesson #11 – You aren’t special

11. You aren’t special.
Many, many people want to be writers. Many of them actually write something, and many try to publish what they write. These are your competitors.

One of these is your book. How can a publisher tell?

Simple desire to get published won’t work. You have to distinguish yourself from everyone else. That isn’t automatic. There isn’t anything special about you beyond what you create. Not only must your work be distinguishable, but your presentation must be perfect. Query letters, synopsis, and any correspondence must be written expertly and without errors.

Without the ability to be presentable, you won’t get a look. It doesn’t matter how good your work is.

You, as a person, aren’t special and don’t matter. You aren’t a customer for the publishing companies. You are a resource that can be tapped at will.

If you get hurt or offended by being ignored, this is not the business for you. If you want to reply to rejection letters, don’t. You aren’t important, and you don’t matter. That’s how it is. There are plenty more writers where you came from.

This is very hard for many writers. For me, having a long background in customer service, it’s not a big deal. For anyone who is used to being comfortably at the top of a heap, it may be a real come-down.

Lesson #10 – Don’t be greedy

10. Don’t be greedy.
I hope you aren’t writing for the money. If you want money, do something else!

I imagine that all writers want to support themselves by writing. This is a dream, a good one, open only to a select few. Good for them!

For the rest, realize that getting published is not going to make very much money for the time invested.

This matters when you are trying to get published and are only open to big-time agents and publishers. When I was on Duotrope, I noticed that there was a vast difference in the number of submissions to big publishers and indie presses. Many writers only seem to go big or go home.

This is a bad attitude to have for a debut author. Getting published at all is a step in the right direction, and failing to get published because of greed means that you wasted time.

If you want to hit it big, get an agent first. Let THEM get you a big publisher. If you can’t land an agent and are in the land of unsolicited submissions, be open to possibilities. That indie publisher may not be in your local bookstore, but you’ll be on Amazon with everyone else.

Lesson #9 – Only take advice from published authors

9. Only take advice from published authors. Authors, not agents, not publishers. Agents and publishers only say what they want, not what OTHER publishers and agents want.

No offense to agents and publishers who may someday read this, but a lot of advice isn’t very helpful. I believe that writers should write the story they are meant to write.

You have to make that story something that is readable, and you need to make it something that is marketable.

That doesn’t mean you start by writing to a market and going from there, which is the heart of what agents and publishers are about. That’s their job. It’s not your job as an author.

Agents and publishers will take chances on new talent, which is great because otherwise, we wouldn’t ever hear anyone new (although if you remember the Dark Ages of Sci-Fi 1990-2005 you may have gotten sick of seeing the same authors writing the same book over and over.) However, an agent or publisher is going to compare your book to other successful books when deciding whether to publish. That’s OK, they are a business, and they have to.

You don’t have to. Write what you need to write and make it the best, most marketable version of that story that you can. It may not be publishable. Or, it may be that you’ll only find a home at an indie publisher. You may have to self-publish. The big time may not come for that story. That’s OK, keep writing.

I wrote a story about tanks and planes and ballroom dancing in the far future on a planet with two suns. It’s coming out in October. New York Times Bestseller this is not, but that’s OK.

This is why you should take advice from authors. They’ve gone through the process of getting their story published. They’ve had the same struggles with rejection. When they offer advice, they know. Agents are telling you how to get chosen, which is great, and you need to know, but authors are telling you what is possible. Listen.

Lesson #8 – Spend the money you need to spend

8. Spend the money you need to spend.

Getting published depends on a lot of things. Persistence, patience, and a thick skin help. The primary thing is attention to detail. I’m terrible at this. I am sloppy. I miss commas, misspell names, and am generally a hazard to the navigation of the English language. I should have been doomed to obscurity.

I cheated. I bought a copy of MS Office, which uses the format that almost every agent and publisher requires. I subscribed to Grammarly, a grammar-checking extension. I rent an office, so I have time and privacy to write. I’m getting a website to promote my book. I paid to have a professional looking book cover.

All of these things cost money, and it’s not insignificant. I work on a submarine, which is the best job in the world, but I work for a nonprofit. Fortunately, I live with a frugal and sensible woman who supports my literary pretensions.

I have a lot of computers lying around because of my old gaming hobby, so I was lucky there. Otherwise, I would have had to buy one.

I could have hired a professional editor to increase my chances of getting published, but I passed on that. Fees run into the hundreds of dollars, and I had to draw a line somewhere. If I were a bit more prosperous, I would have done it. I am fortunate that I knew a fantastic editor. New Persia would have been a very different, and less interesting, book if not for her.

Writing costs money, both to do and in opportunity cost. I could be doing something that pays better.

Many people can get published without spending as much as I did. My hat is off to them. My advice, though, is to understand that you need to spend money to compete in the publishing environment.

Lesson #7 – Writing requires a lot of help

7. For a solitary activity, writing requires a lot of help.

No writer is an island. To have the time and space to write, a writer needs the cooperation of other people. Hopefully, you are part of a family and have people who care about you. Writing demands time that they must sacrifice for you to be able to write. If you are young and single, you still could be spending time with friends or significant others.

Writers need help. Sometimes this includes financial support. Many of the great writers in history were patronized by their families or some rich person who liked their work. Others had inheritances or trust funds. This is common if you look into it. Jane Austen wasn’t working for a living when she wrote “Pride and Prejudice.” Writers by definition are educated people. That usually puts them in a higher social class than average. You almost have to be higher class, which provides the education and free time to write. Don’t feel guilty about this if the guilt prevents you from writing. I’m glad Jane Austen didn’t. “The Kite Runner” was written by one of the few upper-class Afghans left.

So, if for some reason you have time on your hands and plenty of money, perhaps you should indulge your literary urge. You’re in good company.

For the rest of us who do work for a living, writing is going to take away “free” time or time with family. Or it may reduce the number of hours we work at our “real” job. That’s why many writers are poor.

For me, I have the support of my family, including my wife, my kids, and my mom. Couldn’t do this without them. Whatever I manage to get published is a team effort even though my name is on the cover.