Personal Perspective: As an aspiring writer, you may dream of the big moment when a publisher buys your book. Not so fast...
I once stumbled across an article, the title of which had a huge impact on my life as a writer:"Your Book Will Not Change Your Life.” This was very sobering news for me, who, like many others who dream of one day scoring a publishing contract, always believed getting published would be a life-altering event.
Perhaps a tiny handful of new authorsforever changed. But as for the rest of us…alas, we are destined to remain our ordinary, invisible little selves before, during, and after the great milestone of finally getting our book out there.was in a competitive auction between Simon & Schuster, Bantam, and St. Martin’s Press. Simon & Schuster won, and gave me a $26,000 advance, which was unheard of then—and now—for an unknown, new author. They summoned me to the 30floor of a skyscraper in New York City to meet my editor, who regaled me with the multiple PR andplans they had in store for me. They had already created an oversized, stand-up, cardboard replica of my cover and said it would be displayed on the front counter of every Barnes & Noble in the country. Heady stuff. Then, she left Simon & Schuster, followed soon after by her assistant, the only two people I knew in that huge bureaucracy. My book was assigned to a new editor who had no personal tie to it, and all those marketing plans vanished in a flash. I still have that one-and-only cardboard mock-up of the cover in my basement somewhere. They published the book only because they were under a contractual obligation to do so, and I never made another cent from it. Clearly, it didn’t change my life, not even a little. I have the good fortune of being friends with a Pulitzer Prize-winning author who read and loved my first novel,and offered to send it to his agent. Again, I was tickled pink, especially when the agent called me within days and said, in a thick German accent, “I love zis book; ve vill find a publisher for it!” I hung up the phone in a daze. Was this really finally happening?Through a friend, the manuscript made its way to the desk of a Hollywood agent; she called me with great enthusiasm after reading Chapter One, saying, “I loved this, and I will take the rest of your manuscript with me on my vacation to Greece. But listen: You need to know that I am someone who makesstars.” Naturally, I was beside myself at this incredible turn of the great Wheel of Fortune, and immediately got fitted for a tuxedo to wear to the Oscars. Some weeks later, I received a postcard from her in Greece; not a pretty postcard with a dazzling depiction of Corfu on the front, but rather, one of those standard blank postcards you used to be able to purchase at the post office. Essentially an index card. On it was written, “I can’t work with this material. Since I am on vacation, I am disposing of your manuscript here.” I imagined the pages of my book floating in the Aegean Sea, my characters flailing their arms and drowning. It used to be the case that landing a so-called “real publisher” was the only kind that counted; self-publishing was an admission of defeat and brought aspiring writers no glory, not to mention being an expensive choice, the very opposite of a six-figure advance from Random House. After publishing five books with real publishers, and noticing that neither my life nor my bank account had been dramatically altered, I casually lamented to one of my publishers, “I guess it’s not like the old days, when a publisher would host a big launch party in New York attended by George Plimpton and Norman Mailer, and send their authors on an all-expenses-paid world book tour and advertise in theHe answered, “It was never like that, except for a very few. Take Putnam: They release 300 new titles every year, and they have four people in their marketing department. Each of the four chooses, at most, five books to put their time and energy behind. That’s 20 books, leaving 280 authors left to fend for themselves.” It dawned on me that there was little difference between landing a legitimate publisher and self-publishing; In both cases, the onus of getting the word out is totally on the author. Thus, I elected to self-publish my latest book, and it is entirely up to me to get the word out. And that brings me to the reason for this post: If you or someone you know isThere was a problem adding your email address. Please try again.The Friend EffectSelf Tests are all about you. Are you outgoing or introverted? Are you a narcissist? Does perfectionism hold you back? Find out the answers to these questions and more with Psychology Today.
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