My third piece of advice is the one that most people seem to have the biggest problem with. That is that the world isn’t fair, life may not be what you want, and you have to grow up and deal with it. That’s not cruel, that’s just truth and truth is really all that matters.
So let’s go take a look at the realities of writing life and why most people who try, they fail. That’s just how it is. Deal with it.
This came up recently with a new user on a writing forum who spoke highly of a vanity press and then complained that he wasn’t getting the same kind of results from the vanity press he’d poured more than a thousand dollars into, because for some reason traditional publishing was “unfair”. No, you just have poor expectations and a bad understanding of the reality of publishing. It doesn’t matter if it makes you happy, it matters what is actually true. Whether you like it or not, “fair” is meaningless. He was complaining that agents don’t give every piece of writing they receive equal treatment. They read a couple of pages, if that, and then decide if they should keep going. No, all agents should be required to read to the very end of every manuscript that they are sent because otherwise, “it’s unfair”.
No, it’s reality. Try to get a grip.
The simple fact is, if you look at the statistics, you have as good a chance of being traditionally published as you do of winning the lottery. Agents look at things using their own rules. Most agents never see the overwhelming majority of their submissions, they have interns to do that and only if an intern thinks it’s worth the agent’s time do they bring it to their attention. Most agents receive tens of thousands of submissions per year and may choose to represent a choice few, likely less than 10. That’s the odds you’re up against and unless your manuscript stands out from the crowd, you will not make the cut, nor should you.
Of course, and I’ve pointed this out before, our unrealistic author wants to argue with everyone because he isn’t capable of simply dealing with the world as it actually is. He doesn’t care. He wants emotional satisfaction and if you’re ever to be successful at this, that’s one thing you must set aside. There are realities to writing and publishing that you must learn to deal with, no matter how it makes you feel.
This is true of self-publishing too. You might be able to throw some unedited garbage that you crapped out this morning up on Amazon, they won’t stop you, but don’t expect it to get anywhere. It ‘s just a complete waste of your time. Nobody will buy it and if someone accidentally does, Amazon will give them their money back the second they complain that your writing isn’t up to par. That might make you miserable, but so what? That’s the way it actually works.
You have to be good at this and the only way to be good at writing is to take your time, learn your craft, earn your chops and get good. Some people never will. Some people have additional challenges to overcome. Too bad. You have to do it. If you can’t spell, if you can’t use proper grammar, if you don’t know how to format a sentence or use correct punctuation, you are not going to get anywhere until you learn. All of the software in the world won’t make it easier. You need to be good enough. Your feelings don’t remotely enter the mix and if you can’t control yourself and set them aside, you need to seek professional help. Lots of people try to make excuses, but you get nowhere in the writing game unless you have a thick skin.
The reality is, people are going to criticize you no matter what you do. If you ever publish your work, you will get bad reviews. All authors do. The reviews will be unfair. They will say your book is bad without ever reading it. I’ve seen people reviewing books that clearly, they read something else and are posting on the wrong book. It doesn’t matter. You have to deal with it. Even the big name authors face this. You don’t see them kicking and screaming and throwing a temper tantrum because it doesn’t go their way. They act like adults. You need to as well.
This seems to be a major problem for a lot of people these days and amateur writers are no exception. As I’ve said previously, writing well is one of the most difficult things you can ever try to do in your life and the overwhelming majority of people who make the attempt, fail miserably. There is no such thing as fair. There is no such thing as taking your feelings into account. It doesn’t matter how much you’re personally attached to your story, no one will care. They will only be concerned with how well they think it might sell, and even that’s a crap shoot. Readers might like your book, more likely they will simply ignore it. Very few new writers earn out of their advance and most of your books will probably be stripped and thrown into the trash unread. Or, it will just drop in the ratings on Amazon until nobody ever sees it again. Welcome to the real world.
