The Secret
July 22nd, 2009 by Therese Walsh
Exactly one year ago today, my manuscript sold to Random House in a two-book deal. Something started happening after that, and it’s something that continues to happen with increased frequency.
Situation 1: A friend of a friend’s gardener–who is a great guy, I’m told–wants to publish a book. He doesn’t know how to do it. Can I help him?
Situation 2: A teenaged daughter of a colleague of my husband has been writing. She would like to meet with me to discuss her work.
Situation 3: An important business person, the colleague of a colleague of a former editor of mine, would like to have a phone conversation with me about her publishing trials. When can she call?
Situation 4: An acquaintance asked that I read his entire manuscript, and attached said script with his request. Is it ready for publication? he asked.
There are other examples, but you see the trend. They all want something. It might seem like everyone wants something different–a critique, an opinion, advice–but I think it all comes down to the same request. I was published. They are not. They want to know The Secret.
Do I really know anything more than others who’ve been swimming in the I-Want-Publication pond? I don’t think so, no. But if you want to know the secret of publication–at least what I think it is–then I’m happy to tell you.
First, though, I’m going to tell you what you already know.
You write a story. It’s fresh. It’s fabulous. It’s well edited–VERY well edited. This process can and probably should take much longer than you’d like. When you have a book contract, your real editor will undoubtedly find dozens more clunky phrases, but you don’t have to worry about that quite yet.
Get a few outside opinions. Maybe you have a trusted critique group; if so, use it. Maybe you’ll hire an independent editor. Unless you are exceptionally talented and confident in your work, you will probably benefit from fresh eyes. Reflect on whatever critique you receive. Does something noted resonate with you as true? Rewrite, edit and polish as needed.
You find a top-notch agent. If you have a great book, this shouldn’t be hard, should it? But it can be if you’re not looking in the right places. Hone in on the pith of your story. Search Publisher’s Marketplace and other resources like the Writer’s Digest Guide to Literary Agents tome to find quality agents who’ve sold in your wheelhouse. Attend conferences to learn firsthand what specific agents are looking for. Study up on how to write a great query letter. Write it. Polish it. Polish it again. Submit.
Now here’s the secret: You need to repeat each of these steps until you succeed.
Writing is hard work. Rewriting and editing is hard work. Finding the perfect agent is hard work. But if you’re committed, you’ll do it.
You’ll study your craft.
You’ll create a writing habit.
You’ll make sacrifices.
You’ll have revelations.
You’ll rewrite.
You’ll start a file for your rejections.
You’ll network.
You’ll start to receive personal rejection letters.
You’ll entertain better ways to tell the tale.
You’ll edit again.
You’ll keep polishing.
You’ll keep querying.
You’ll grow through the dark moments of the soul that may come to call.
You’ll start another story, and repeat the entire process for IT.
You’ll stay committed to the end goal, despite weeks, months or years of close calls.
And that’s it. The secret to success is a willingness to evolve and press on despite failures–dust off your ass, try again. It’s understanding that there is no one person–not a published acquaintance, a fabu agent or even an editor–more important than you and your dogged determination. Because no one but you can have the foresight of your success, and no one but you can drive your future to make it happen.
Tell everyone.
Write on, all!
Photo courtesy Flickr’s wheat in your hair
23 Responses to “The Secret”
Great post.
I would add only “Learn to rewrite” – it’s painful and difficult, but rewriting parts of my novel more times than I’d like to admit transformed me from a good writer to something close to a very very good writer.
And made the querying and getting-the-perfect-agent process much faster and smoother than I’d ever anticipated.
How did you know just what I needed to hear this morning? Great post.
Hi Sara, good add. So I added it! Thanks.
Erika, I’m glad it resonated with you.
Hi :)
Another terrific Blog post.
Great advice.
Of all the situations you outlined I think #2 was the most reasonable and acceptable. Pushing whole manuscript onto someone – no-no! I wouldn’t even touch it for legal reasons = “you stole my idea from that manuscript!”.
Love from Northern Ontario
twitter.com/RKCharron
xoxo
I couldn’t believe the questions I got–from friends, and friends of friends, and people I didn’t know–wanting to “pick my brain” about getting published. I think you’ve got it right. Work hard. Persevere. But, even then, be prepared for disappointment. On the other hand, if you’re a writer, you’ll continue to write. It’s what you do.
Thanks for sharing, Therese.
Thank you for this, my manuscript just got accepted by a publisher last week and already people are on me trying to find out what “the secret” is. All I know is that I worked hard for years and years doing exactly what you said in this post. I will be directing my writer friends to this post. It may even save a few friendships.
I am learning the secret slowly but surely. Let’s hope it results in publication. But don’t worry, I won’t ask you for anything. Except to please keep posting great tips and stories. :)
Actually I’m curious how you handled those 4 people/situations…
Lather, rinse and repeat.
I would add another suggestion to your list: Learn as much as you can about the business.
Publishing is a complex and confusing beast, the more you know the better prepared you are when you do get ‘the call’ . . . but I wouldn’t really know about that, would I? Guess I’ll keep writing, researching, rewriting until that happens.
Thanks, Rob, Richard and Lafreya.
Karen, you can ask me anything. Seriously. Anytime. I’ll tell you what I can.
Kristan, I did what I could. Provided some advice, invited the young writer to email me her questions instead of meeting with her in person, spoke with the colleague over the phone. I didn’t critique the ms, but I did give some general craft guidance after reading the first few pages.
Lather, rinse and repeat.
I like that, Margaret.
You can definitely get published without knowing a lot about the business end of things, but it’ll help down the road to know something. I can attest to that, being one who didn’t know as much as she should have.
Word to the muther’effing power, Therese!
Great post – indeed there is no secret – but a long hard road and constant diligence.
thanks for the man-up words! t
Thanks for the shout-out. This is a good, comprehensive post, and it should be seen by everyone like the gardener and scriptwriter who wonders how the process works.
Great post. You left me wondering, though. You said to get an outside opinion. But what if you can’t seem to find a trusted critique group? What if you don’t have the resources to find an independent editor. What if . . . ? Etc. In other words, why shouldn’t your friend’s colleague’s little sister ask YOU for that outside opinion? You may not have a Secret to reveal to them, but they still need to complete that step somehow.
Hard work! It may not be what #s 1,2, and 3 want to hear, but it’s the only way. Wonderfully said, Therese!
A very, very wise post! There will always be would-be writers who believe there must be a quick and easy path to publication and instant fame. So any of us who get published will attract queries of that kind. As soon as my first novel came out I had to take my details out of the phone directory because various people started sending me their manuscripts and calling me for advice (my unusual surname made me easy to track down.)
However, not all aspiring writers are unrealistic about the future. I mentored a promising teenage writer for a period about a year ago, while she worked on her epic fantasy novel. She had a draft close to completion and our sessions together were valuable for both of us. She contacted me again recently after a long break to ask very politely if I would read the new version – she has spent the best part of a year polishing, re-drafting, editing her work. I had a feeling from the first this was someone who would one day make the grade, but I am thrilled that such a young writer understands the hard slog required. And of course I agreed to re-read her manuscript!
But what if you can’t seem to find a trusted critique group? What if you don’t have the resources to find an independent editor. What if . . . ? Etc. In other words, why shouldn’t your friend’s colleague’s little sister ask YOU for that outside opinion? You may not have a Secret to reveal to them, but they still need to complete that step somehow.
Ben, whenever I try to answer this, I feel my brain spindling off into a thousand different directions at once. I think there’s another full blog post here, but the quick answer is that there is no reason not to ask–if you have a connection and feel alone and have done all that you can and want advice from someone you trust. Depending on my schedule, I may have time to critique a friend of a friend’s colleague’s little sister’s manuscript, or at least answer her questions. But. Caution here. No one person’s advice should ever be taken as gold. Not mine. Not even Dan Lazar’s. Each is only an opinion. In the end, it’s still all about the author and his or her vision for the story; that’s where the real power lies.
Juliet, I love your story about the promising and hardworking teenage writer. I know a few, too!
Thank you so much for this post. It is so true and so well written. In a way we writers are a sad lot. Always looking for approval in publication. In another way, aren’t we just the bravest people for putting our hopes out there like we do.
I was just thinking about book deals this afternoon. I am very new to calling myself a writer. And I do call myself a writer. I write personal essays for magazines but I find that when I say this to non-writers the first questions is, “Have you written a book?” It is a lot like when I started running. As soon as a non-runner would hear I ran, they would ask, “Have you run a marathon?” Apparently, if you haven’t run a marathon you are not a runner and if you haven’t written a book you are not a writer. I guess I should get started.
Thanks again for sharing your knowledge with all of us.
Ann
OK, this one was good enough to kick me out of simply lurking. I really think you hit the nail on the head. No one ever tells you that with ‘the deal’ you go instantly from wannabe to the expert on getting published. Thanks for finding a good way to talk about the demands as well as the benefits of success.
Teri, Great post and so true, as you and I can both attest to. Not always the ‘word’ unpublished writers want to hear, but they need to hear the truth. And it’s hard to be in the position of others wanting your good fortune to rub off on you. However, being able to give back and share what you’ve learned along the way to publication goes a long way in maintaining and building friendships (and potential fans!).