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mmerriamOver on my Facebook, I noted that I think Dark Water Blues is both the best and worst thing I have ever written. It is a vexing thing, though not necessarily a bad thing. I've been doing a clean-up pass before I start sending it out to readers, and there are plenty of moment where I read what I've written and go, "Huh, I really do seem to be improving." Sadly, there are still too many moments of, "Oh my god, this is such crap!"
Still, if looked at objectively, I seem to moving in the right direction. The problems with Dark Water Blues are different from the problems I had with Last Car to Annwn Station, which were much different from the problems I had with Old Blood's Fate. For the most part, I find myself not making the same mistakes from novel to novel, which I consider a good thing. It means some of the things I'm learning as a writer are taking root. Maybe I'll learn enough to write something sellable. Eventually.
Speaking of sellable novels, I do have some thoughts on the publishing industry's "Black Wednesday" situation. Mostly of these thoughts boil down to: Hunker down and ride it out. These things are cyclical, and while the publishing industry is going through a shake-down phase right now, engaging in wholesale slash-n-burn of employees, titles, and imprints, it seems to me that it will swing back up sooner or later.
What it means for someone like me is: I suspect it will be considerably harder for me to sell a first novel to a major publisher in the current climate. Bookstores are going to want to play it extra-conservative (more so than they typically do) and will be only interested in stocking authors their computers think will sell. If you are just breaking in or are a midlister, these are going to be tough times. I think the bookstores and publishers (especially the accountants who work for both) being conservative and only wanting to publish authors they consider a "sure thing" will handcuff editors searching for new talent. It’s nothing evil or malicious: it's just business.
On the other hand, I think internet retailers like Amazon (despite their POD power grab) will offer a refuge for small and independent presses to keep some of those midlisters (mostly ones with solid and loyal followings) afloat and maybe introduce new talent. (ETA:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
dmbaird explains in the comments why this won't work. Go read it.) If the small presses can manage to maintain lines of credit and keep their capitol--be it low--flowing, they can be in strong position to carry publishing forward with less staff, lower overhead, less warehousing, and judicious use of print-on-demand technology.
The negative to that is: It means even less money for the author than there is now. Some established writers may have to make a choice: Go out of print with the big publishers and risk losing name recognition, but keep writing and--when the upswing happens--have three novels ready to put in the pipeline, or potentially stay in print with a small press, but work for far less money. It will be interesting to see how it all shakes down.
Another thing I'm starting to see: More and more genre publishers not accepting unsolicited submissions and only wanting submissions from agents. Oh, Baen, DAW, and Tor still take unsolicited submissions, but there is movement away from accepting submissions from "over the transom" as it were. Ace, Bantam Spectra, Del Rey, Eos, Nightshade, Orbit, Roc, and St. Martin's Press are part of this group, and you have to wonder how long before the others follow.
When I first started trying to be a writer, back over 20 years ago, the accepted way to break into SF/F/H novels was to write short fiction, get noticed, make a name, then submit novels. Once you had a publisher, you hired an agent.
In recent times, the advice has been to just write novels, because that's really where the money is at. The "submit your work, get an offer, hire an agent, sign a contract" sequence of events seemed to hold. However, because of the above, writers are finding themselves more often submitting to agents first, who more and more are being used by publishers as slush-readers. The competition for an agent is fierce, and I'm seeing more and more agents saying they prefer the writer to have "an established track record" before they sign them.
So, are we heading back to the "you need to sell short fiction first" days? That would, frankly, suck, because there is zilch money in short fiction. There are also few "pro-paying" markets, and those are the ones (along with a handful of well-regarded small press magazines) the agents look to for credits and talent. In short: If you are trying to break into print, things are going to be hard for the next two or three years, harder than normal.
But I don't intend to let that stop me, and you shouldn't let it stop you either. Nobody said this would be easy. All we, as writers, can control is what we write. So yeah. Write. Write some more. Improve. Reach. Grasp. Fail. Fall. Get up. Dust off. Try again.
Which brings me all the way back around to my own writing! I figured out this morning why I've been having trouble getting words on the page lately. I mean, I'm writing, but I'm hating everything I write. I find myself second guessing and hemming and hawing and spinning my wheels.
I shouldn't be. I have four short pieces and a novel in progress, all of them mostly plotted and sorted out. I should be hammering out first drafts left and right. But I haven't been. Instead, I've been mostly paralyzed by fear and uncertainty. I finally figured out what was causing it.
My stupid brain, of course.
You remember a little while back when I found out I had received an Honorable Mention it the latest YBF&H? Yeah, that's when it started. What happened was, my brain decided (without talking to me about it first) that everything I do from now on has to be up to that standard.
Sure, I want to be the best writer I can, and I want to strive and stretch and grow, and be better, but my Stupid Brain somehow reached the conclusion that everything I write must be up to this new standard even in the first draft! How messed up is that? It's impossible is what it is. I had to sit and remind that part of my brain how that particular story went through four rewrites before I sent it out, and was rejected eight times before it sold. Oh! My silly Brain! Yes, we want that level of quality (and beyond) in every story, but dude, it ain't gonna happen on the first draft! Hopefully, now that we have this sorted out, I can move past it.
Alright, enough blogging. Time to go slop the hogs.
In Peace,
Michael
Still, if looked at objectively, I seem to moving in the right direction. The problems with Dark Water Blues are different from the problems I had with Last Car to Annwn Station, which were much different from the problems I had with Old Blood's Fate. For the most part, I find myself not making the same mistakes from novel to novel, which I consider a good thing. It means some of the things I'm learning as a writer are taking root. Maybe I'll learn enough to write something sellable. Eventually.
Speaking of sellable novels, I do have some thoughts on the publishing industry's "Black Wednesday" situation. Mostly of these thoughts boil down to: Hunker down and ride it out. These things are cyclical, and while the publishing industry is going through a shake-down phase right now, engaging in wholesale slash-n-burn of employees, titles, and imprints, it seems to me that it will swing back up sooner or later.
What it means for someone like me is: I suspect it will be considerably harder for me to sell a first novel to a major publisher in the current climate. Bookstores are going to want to play it extra-conservative (more so than they typically do) and will be only interested in stocking authors their computers think will sell. If you are just breaking in or are a midlister, these are going to be tough times. I think the bookstores and publishers (especially the accountants who work for both) being conservative and only wanting to publish authors they consider a "sure thing" will handcuff editors searching for new talent. It’s nothing evil or malicious: it's just business.
On the other hand, I think internet retailers like Amazon (despite their POD power grab) will offer a refuge for small and independent presses to keep some of those midlisters (mostly ones with solid and loyal followings) afloat and maybe introduce new talent. (ETA:
dmbaird explains in the comments why this won't work. Go read it.) If the small presses can manage to maintain lines of credit and keep their capitol--be it low--flowing, they can be in strong position to carry publishing forward with less staff, lower overhead, less warehousing, and judicious use of print-on-demand technology. The negative to that is: It means even less money for the author than there is now. Some established writers may have to make a choice: Go out of print with the big publishers and risk losing name recognition, but keep writing and--when the upswing happens--have three novels ready to put in the pipeline, or potentially stay in print with a small press, but work for far less money. It will be interesting to see how it all shakes down.
Another thing I'm starting to see: More and more genre publishers not accepting unsolicited submissions and only wanting submissions from agents. Oh, Baen, DAW, and Tor still take unsolicited submissions, but there is movement away from accepting submissions from "over the transom" as it were. Ace, Bantam Spectra, Del Rey, Eos, Nightshade, Orbit, Roc, and St. Martin's Press are part of this group, and you have to wonder how long before the others follow.
When I first started trying to be a writer, back over 20 years ago, the accepted way to break into SF/F/H novels was to write short fiction, get noticed, make a name, then submit novels. Once you had a publisher, you hired an agent.
In recent times, the advice has been to just write novels, because that's really where the money is at. The "submit your work, get an offer, hire an agent, sign a contract" sequence of events seemed to hold. However, because of the above, writers are finding themselves more often submitting to agents first, who more and more are being used by publishers as slush-readers. The competition for an agent is fierce, and I'm seeing more and more agents saying they prefer the writer to have "an established track record" before they sign them.
So, are we heading back to the "you need to sell short fiction first" days? That would, frankly, suck, because there is zilch money in short fiction. There are also few "pro-paying" markets, and those are the ones (along with a handful of well-regarded small press magazines) the agents look to for credits and talent. In short: If you are trying to break into print, things are going to be hard for the next two or three years, harder than normal.
But I don't intend to let that stop me, and you shouldn't let it stop you either. Nobody said this would be easy. All we, as writers, can control is what we write. So yeah. Write. Write some more. Improve. Reach. Grasp. Fail. Fall. Get up. Dust off. Try again.
Which brings me all the way back around to my own writing! I figured out this morning why I've been having trouble getting words on the page lately. I mean, I'm writing, but I'm hating everything I write. I find myself second guessing and hemming and hawing and spinning my wheels.
I shouldn't be. I have four short pieces and a novel in progress, all of them mostly plotted and sorted out. I should be hammering out first drafts left and right. But I haven't been. Instead, I've been mostly paralyzed by fear and uncertainty. I finally figured out what was causing it.
My stupid brain, of course.
You remember a little while back when I found out I had received an Honorable Mention it the latest YBF&H? Yeah, that's when it started. What happened was, my brain decided (without talking to me about it first) that everything I do from now on has to be up to that standard.
Sure, I want to be the best writer I can, and I want to strive and stretch and grow, and be better, but my Stupid Brain somehow reached the conclusion that everything I write must be up to this new standard even in the first draft! How messed up is that? It's impossible is what it is. I had to sit and remind that part of my brain how that particular story went through four rewrites before I sent it out, and was rejected eight times before it sold. Oh! My silly Brain! Yes, we want that level of quality (and beyond) in every story, but dude, it ain't gonna happen on the first draft! Hopefully, now that we have this sorted out, I can move past it.
Alright, enough blogging. Time to go slop the hogs.
In Peace,
Michael
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Date: 2008-12-14 07:24 pm (UTC)