I started blogging regularly about books back in the mid 1990s; for a year or two it was a daily practice. And I faced a question – how candid should I be?
To become a success, do you need to project yourself as a success? All the time? Like some mad little kid twirling circles singing ‘Look at me!’
I’ve got enough credits racked up now to strut around a bit: a dozen or so books, some awards and a shortlisting, twelve years as a publisher, a PhD and professorship in creative writing. So I could pretend. But objectively, the flipside of all that?
Name recognition? Minimal. Are my books in all the bookstores? Not for quite a while. Do publishers bid for books because they’re by me? No. We boosted the sales prospects of one of my books (Client Earth) by adding my husband as a co-writer, and my name didn’t even make the initial press release.
Drawing a candid lesson from experience for a rule of thumb, for every success expect maybe twenty rejections. I’ve a nonfiction book coming out next year, with different houses in the UK and North America, and that’s a big success. But before that? Everybody turned down the proposal. Even the publisher that bought it turned down the proposal and demanded a different one. It’s been far from plain sailing since then. (Though I so love the book that has emerged as a result.)
I’ve had thirteen literary agents, mostly ones at the top of their field. Almost all those relationships have been good. I simply sensed they had worn themselves out, that rejections were becoming overwhelming, and moved on. That, I would say, is a model of what not to do – find an agent you like and stick with them. Currently I’m only represented, and very well, for my nonfiction. My fiction? I’ve got a terrific new eco thriller. It’s been edited to the hilt, changed and redrafted multiple times, loved by beta readers, and has bounced back a lot. Twenty times? All in, yes, including from agents. It’s out again now, so I’ve put the work in and it’s time for it to connect.
Years ago Lizzie Spender told me of her ten bag trick: you have a piece of work out with ten people, and if it comes back from one then immediately send it to the next on the list. I would throw a revision or two into the mix, but it’s a good trick and keeps you somewhat empowered.
One piece of advice – submit in small batches. If your work’s turned down, reflect a bit. Would it have been turned down if it were BETTER. If so, how can you make it better? There’s nearly always a way. Rejection then becomes a process, a long hard and sometimes bitter grind, to a version of perfection.
In this substack thread I’ll aim to bring you some ups and also the downs of the writing life. And also, when I’m not treading on my authors’ toes, the publishing life. Don’t let others’ successes delude you. It was very likely very hard won, with lots of upsets along the way. A number of times I’ve envied writers, and then they have died young. I’m still writing, work stills finds its way into the market, and since I’ve been distinctly uncommercial that’s no bad thing.
A Substack I follow:
I’ve been advising Barbican Press writers to start their substacks - this one of mine is my walking the talk. Miranda MIller beet me to it … her substack thread is engaging, draws on years of writing top flight books, and is TOPICAL. Her substack Never Give Up fits today’s theme, of a writer sticking with it against the odds. We published her marvel Angelica, a brilliant first-person tale of the life of Angelica Kaufmann, to coicinde with an exhinition of Angelica Kaufmann’s work at the Royal Academy. THen Covis struck, the novels were locked away in a warehouse and the exhinition was cancelled. Now it’s running! You can buy copies of the book at the exhibition stall. Or elsewhere. Never give up!
This week’s writing tip [this comes afresh from my editorial side]:
When you start a work, don’t go overboard on surprise, trying to stimulate your reader’s imagination. They’re coming to your book from their own lived worlds. You need to settle them into your written world, so they know where they are and who they are encountering.