[I posted a version of this article 521 weeks ago. Amazing how true the principles remain unchanged.]
There are many factors that go into the acquisition, development, and sale of a new book. But the majority of ideas never get to that point. I thought it might be helpful to review some of the most common issues we’ve run into.
1. You Won’t Do the Work
Writing a novel, a nonfiction work, or even a short article isn’t a casual enterprise. It takes hard work to do it well. Malcolm Gladwell, in his book Outliers, described the notion that it takes 10,000 hours of work before finding success. While it isn’t an exact formula, there is truth to this assertion.
Here is the math: If you work at your writing craft for 20 hours a week for 50 weeks, it will equal one thousand (1,000) hours x 10; and the calculation reveals nearly ten years of hard work to feel like you have a chance.
Unfortunately, we run into writers who have dashed off something during a lunch break and think it is worth millions.
2. You Are Hard of Hearing
In other words, you won’t listen to critiques and suggestions and are unteachable. I cannot count the number of times I’ve made the effort to provide a few suggestions in a letter to a prospective author only to have them fire back with an angry missive questioning my intelligence or my Christian faith. Or there are those who simply refuse to accept editorial input, claiming the editor is incompetent, or worse.
A writer once cold-called me by phone and pitched their idea (despite our guidelines saying not to do that). I gently suggested the title needed help, and they bristled a little. Then they unveiled more about their story, and I had to suggest that it would be a tough sell to base a novel on a 6th-century Egyptian copper scroll that claims Jesus was married and had children. The writer got angry and begin defending the authenticity of this scroll and telling me I needed to open my mind. Suffice it to say that the call ended quickly thereafter.
3. You Aren’t Ready
I thought of titling this section “You Aren’t Good Enough,” but that wouldn’t be fair or nice. See number one above. It is a frequent error to submit a book proposal and sample chapters before it is well crafted and critiqued.
This is a danger of taking a first-time project to a writers conference and pitching it before it is ready. A “false positive” (an editor or agent saying to send the proposal after the conference) gives the impression that it is ready when the agent or editor is really offering the opportunity to look at it outside the pressure of a conference. It doesn’t mean they are offering a contract. That doesn’t mean you don’t attend that conference! Instead, it means that you view your pitches as “practice,” not as a “sales exercise.” At least not until you’ve “done the work.”
For a nonfiction author, especially, it can be that while the idea is good, the platform from which they speak and minister is not “big enough.” It takes time to build that visibility, but the publishers aren’t going to wait in most cases.
4. Your Idea Has Already Been Done
This can be painful. You may not realize that your storyline is already in a forthcoming publisher’s catalog. Or your nonfiction idea that filled a niche has just been published by a well-known author.
For example, a few years ago I was looking at a marvelous proposal (well-written by an author with a modest but relatively successful platform) on a particular topic that would resonate with many readers. That same week I saw a large ad for Max Lucado’s new book on that same topic. That is what is called a “category-killer.” The popularity of Lucado made it very hard for another book on that topic to come out for a while. So I had to turn away what was a wonderful book.
Or to refer to the example in number two above, a novel called The DaVinci Code made the same suggestions about Jesus. In other words, “It’s been done.”
At the same time there is a continual need for a novel or non-fiction book with a new twist or a new direction or a new voice. This is what publishers and agents are looking for. That special something that makes us say “Ooooo. That’s interesting!” There may be room for something like that.
5. Agents and Editors Are Blind to Your Genius
I readily admit that I don’t always get it right, and there are some that got away. This business is more an art than a science. We have to learn to trust our instincts. And most of the time those instincts are spot on. However, a few get away for whatever reason.
The bottom line is that if you do the work, have a teachable spirit, are fully prepared, and come with a unique idea, number five on the list shouldn’t be a problem.
You Might Not Like My Edits
The best novel I’ve written
won’t see the light of day;
not because I’m quittin’,
but I have turned away
from the narrating prose
for there’s only so much time,
and now the heart and effort goes
to sonnetary rhyme
in which I find word-discipline,
a cool and razored task
that pushes me to underpin
my words with bone, and not to ask
a reader to just stick around
until the fitting words are found.
I have two novels out there on Amazon, but another one, perhaps my favourite, won’t appear, mainly because there’s no longer the energy to polish it, but also partly because it’s set on the Big Rez, and I am not Navajo. I don’t think I miscued any of the cultural aspects, but I don’t need the aggro of being called a Cultural Appropriator.
Doing the work. Dodging distractions: illness, farm work, vet surgeries, farm sale prep, family relocations, now holydays, always something.
Thought chapter 22 of 30 non-fiction would be easier to write than chapter 1. In some ways it is. In others, not so much—have I used this verse or that word before? Too much? Is this chapter too similar to another?
🤯 Not quitting. Too stubborn. Not turning in schlock. Too proud. Only way out? Through the middle. 🙏🏻
His peace be on you. By His stripes you are healed. His strength is yours for the asking, His peace, His joy. niio
Thanks for the rerun Steve. I read it last year and began praying God would change me, helping me have a more teachable spirit and become a good student of the wise (praying also for discernment). That hasn’t always been the case but with age comes wisdom, or bruises, from a long and twisted journey.
I’m glad to say I’m on my way, God has ways to do that, not all are easy. Thanks for your posts, I’m gaining wisdom from them too! I have began to change genres to a small degree with each novel, challenging myself, all while hoping I hit the sweet spot of a publishers stated needs, realizing each time I get a little better at carrying a story to new heights.
Thank you!
Steve,
I met you years ago at a Write to Publish conference. I attended one of the workshops you did, if that’s the correct name.
Thank you for this article. I do have a question. Would you say a writer’s decision to self publish will deter from their getting a traditional publisher? I’m afraid i should have researched this long before I chose to self publish. Still, I would love to know your perspective on this.
A 521 week lag and it is as [frustratingly] true today as it was the first day you wrote it. Thanks for caring and loving on us with your insights, brother.
If you meet 1-4, and still not make it, when to get to the point…. it’s not good enough.
Thank you, Steve.
Great post, Steve. (as usual)
And good for people to read to gain perspective for the real journey of writing.
Great post, and I’ve been guilty of several. I’ve had to put everything at the foot of the cross, I have to give 100% to learning. I already have the hide of a rhino and critiques sometimes have their own lines crossed and I have to pick and choose, or just go with my gut, slash some, etc. I love the critique group I am in because they are brutal.
I’ve neglected good agents/editors because ‘I was right,’ well, I wasn’t but guilty of that one. Well, just once. My editor carries a bullwhip and I fear her HAHAHA, no really. But pretty much what she says, I do. Unless I don’t. Which is rare. She happened to be in a profession specializing in what I was writing and took me behind the woodshed. Well, that was pleasant. But at least ‘my’ research was turned into reality.
I continue to believe I am nowhere good enough. I’m not nor should I think I’ve ‘made it.’ The learning process is eternal (until I’m a goner). I’m no Tom Clancy (may he rest in peace) or Christy Barritt (giving a general idea of the genres I write). But I am working on it.
It is so good to know that there are some things under our control. Best to focus on those, I think. A good reminder, thank you Steve.
Thanks for the heads-up on this, Steve. I took a manuscript that you rejected about five years ago and have spent a lot of time revising and re-revising it. It went through two editors and is on my third reader right now. I still believe in the story and the message it will give to folks, so we’ll see what happens next….
I do the work, research and so on because I am taught by God to love the work. Mechanics can make or break the best story.
Yep, I am hard of hearing, but yet not. Critiques should be treated as a blessing. Once you get over being angry, pray to love them as God commanded. Still, you need to make up your own mind about what they say.
I will never be good enough, but always ready to improve skills.
New twists on old stories! Donno how many times I was called on for writing about vampires. Everybody does vampires! But, not like American Indian vampires. Not setting in an SF flying massive black ships and hunting human prey.
Basics, agents and editors are more friend than foe. I have had some refuse work they claimed to like because it had God in it. Even things for being too political. We’re American Indian. Politics is called our second religion.
So, there we have it. My excuses. Walk in His beauty