Yesterday I
wrote The End, on my forty fifth full-length novel. At this point I now have 40+/-
full-length novels in print, some of them traditionally published and agented,
others published independently through my own imprint, Bear Media LLC. Up until
the great indie revolution of 2008, and the introduction of the Kindle EReader
and Kindle Direct Publishing, and all the independent publishers that sprang up
because of it, I was relegated to writing maybe one novel per year and praying
to God that my agent could sell it. If he couldn’t, it was back to the salt
mines for Vince.
But these days, I write as much as I want, when I want, and most of it gets published one way or another.
I’ve said it
before and I’ll say it again, as fiction writers, we are living in another
golden age of genre fiction not realized since the early days of the Pulp
serials back in 1930s, 40’s and 50s. It was a time when a writer could work for a penny a
word and make a great living, so long as he or she was prolific, and naturally,
very talented.
So after
having spent the past eight years writing more novels than many more
famous writers will ever write in a lifetime, including dozens of novellas and
short stories, here’s a little of what I learned along the way.
--Discipline.
Writing a lot of books takes disciple and dedication. It takes waking up in the
morning, seating yourself at your writing desk and pumping out the words.
--Talent.
The words you pump out must be good, if not great. There’s no pulling the wool
over a reader’s eyes. They can tell when you’re feeding them garbage and in
return they will reward you with terrible reviews and never read you again.
--Dedication.
Like I’ve already mentioned, you need to be disciplined and dedicated. Making a
living as a full-time fiction writer is not a sprint, it’s a long, slow,
marathon. There will be times when you are exhausted and your bank account is
in the red. You will want nothing more than to pack it in. Do not succumb to
the dark side. Keep your eyes poised on the long term goal.
--Naysayers.
Never listen to the naysayers and the downers. If I’d listened to one of my
best friends years ago who got in my face and said, “You’re not a writer!” I
would never have written another word again. 45 novels, many trips trips to the
Overall Amazon Top 5 Bestseller List (two number ones!), three spots on the New
York Times Bestseller List, seven weeks on the USA Today Bestseller List, the
ITW Thriller Award for Best Paperback Original (Moonlight Weeps), the PWA
Shamus Award for Best Paperback Original (Moonlight Weeps), a Derringer Award
Nomination (I’ve Got to Get Me a Gun), more than half a million bucks in
advances, nearly a million editions sold, are but a few of the accomplishments
that prove I’m a writer. Of course, I rarely ever hear from the “best friend”
these days.
--Jealously.
As writers, we live in our own worlds, so it’s easy
to let our imaginations get the best of us. On occasion, we become suspicious and envious
of others and their successes. Don’t allow this to happen. This isn’t a zero
sum game. There’s plenty of success to go around. Just go out and grab your
own little share of the pie.
--Rejection.
Even after all my relative success, I still get rejected more than accepted. This isn’t
Hemingway’s world where he handed a novel to Max Perkins and it was
automatically published, warts and all. There are plenty of publishers who
wouldn’t take on one of my books if a gun was pressed against their skull. Production
companies like Mel Gibson’s and Stallone’s will be in love with one or more of
my projects one day and the next, it’s crickets. That’s the nature of the game.
--Success.
It seems to come in waves. You go two or three years of Meh, and then suddenly, you’re back on top. The books are flying
off the shelves, you’re hitting all the lists, winning the awards, you’re being
asked to do interviews with the likes of the New York Times. You’re appearing
on Bloomberg TV and Fox News, and you’re a freaking rock star. And then, just
as suddenly, it’s radio silence. Enjoy the successes, ride the rejections, and
realize that this is a business of peaks and valleys. The highs are never that
high and the lows are never that low.
--Discernment.
Not everything you write deserves to get published. Yes, it’s never been easier
for writers and would-be writers to bypass the traditional gate keepers if they
so choose, and self-publish a title or a series. But that doesn’t mean you
should. Hire a reputable editor who will tell you flat out, “This book is junk.”
Sometimes it’s necessary to reject yourself. Don’t let hubris get in the way of
your judgement, or your built-in shit detector. If a work is subpar and you
know it, don’t publish it independently or traditionally.
--Fun. I do
this for a living. I am a fan of writing and writers. I love typewriters. I
love writing studios. I love the writer’s life and the romance of it all. I’ve
written in cafés and coffee houses from LA to New York City, to Rome, to Paris,
to Istanbul, to Casablanca, to Cairo, to Moscow, to Kathmandu, to Ho Chi Minh
City and places I can’t even recall at the moment. As full-time writers and
novelists we’ve been given a rare gift. We can work from anywhere. No one ever
became a success just sitting in their living room and watching TV. There’s so
much life to be lived. Writers should crave exploration and have an insatiable
wanderlust. I know I do. So explore the world and write about it. Have fun.
Of course, I
could go on and on, but I need to get back to my work in progress. I hope you’ve
learned a little something from my journey. If it helps you make sense out of
the writer’s life just a little, than I will have done my job. Writing is not easy,
and being successful often comes with a price. For instance, I’ve been married
and divorced twice, the latter breakup due to my “placing my writing above
everything else,” or so my ex-wife claims. What a damn shame. But there’s
nothing in the world that I’d rather be doing than putting words on a blank
page and experiencing the rush of a newly published book. There’s nothing like
it in the world, and there's no shame in that.
No comments:
Post a Comment