Telling it like it is

[SamScribble]

I have always enjoyed the honesty of a good literary agent.

https://theoutline.com/post/5541/unconventional-wisdom-you-should-not-write-a-book?zd=4&zi=lwboiemz

 

[NotWise]

Excellent article.

If you want to write a book, do it. It’s wonderful and horrible and fulfilling and soul-crushing all at the same time.

I like that.

 

[Tio_Narratore]

And then there's such a business in the vanity presses...there's even a "Christian Press" to help get that book out of you. Maybe an exorcism would be cheaper...

 

[KindofHere]

..............

 

[Bramblethorn]

I read articles like this and then I read articles like this and I think, everyone has an opinion when it comes to what makes a publish-worthy novel.

And Stanley Unwin published "The Hobbit" because his ten-year-old son liked it. How easily that could have gone in some other direction...

Agents and publishers have their prejudices and blind spots, but I suspect it's inherently difficult for anybody to predict which books will become best-sellers. There's just so much luck involved.

 

[KindofHere]

............

 

[Bramblethorn]

Luck and persistence, it seems.

Definitely persistence too. Though a few do get accepted first time!

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Heart, broken. Illusions, shattered.

I guess I'll just wipe that hard drive.



(But good advice. Write because you like it, not because the mortgage is coming due.)

 

[FEELINGLUCKYPUNK]

AT jhe start of SOPHIE'S CHOICE William Styron features a real life event wherte an editor rejects a book that became a huge best seller with another publisher. ASs a rule editors know shit. Writers gotta learn how to appraise themselves.

 

[KeithD]

Writers gotta learn how to appraise themselves.

Sure, if they are self-publishing. If they are expecting others to get on board with their money, time, and energy, they jolly well will take the appraising of others into account. Such isolated examples as this are the delight of the neophyte and starry eyed. Enjoy being that, JBJ.

 

[SimonDoom]

To me, the article falls under the category of "true, but not helpful." The odds of any kind of writing that you do becoming successful are very small, even if you do have some writing talent. Doesn't matter if it's a screenplay or a novel or a play or whatever. It takes a combination of circumstances to bring about success. Sometimes, those circumstances reward a poorly written book, like 50 Shades. Other times, really good books get rewarded. Sometimes, they don't.

I think everyone knows this. But you'll never know whether you have a book inside you unless you try. Every other successful author at one point took the plunge into the abyss and faced uncertainty.

 

[blozo]

I'm writing a book because I enjoy writing and I'm getting tired of writing porn.
Sure, the odds are long on getting published, but I'm retired. It's either write or play golf, and golf's expensive!