I wrote a novel. Now what?

Some raw data: * Age when I decided I wanted to be a writer: 8. * Age when I got my hands on a typewriter and taught myself to use it: 14. * Age when I wrote my first novel: 15. * Novels written between age 15 and age 28: about 12. (All rubbish.) * Age when I first submitted a short story to a magazine: 16. * Thickness of file of rejection slips prior to first story sale: 3 inches. * Age when I sold my first short story: 22. * Age when I first came close to selling a novel: 28. * Age when that first book deal imploded (prior to publication): 30. * Age when I first sold a non-fiction book: 31. * Age when I landed a (paid, monthly) magazine column: 34. * Age when I next wrote a saleable novel: 34. * Novels written between 28 and 34: 3. (All rubbish.) * Age when the second saleable novel finally sold: 36. * Age when a short story was first shortlisted for the Hugo award: 37. * Age when the SSN came out: 38. * Age when I first won a Hugo award: 41. * Age when I finally shut down the freelance journalism and became a full-time novelist: 41. * Age when the money coming in exceeded my previous employment: 43. * Age now: 44. * Number of books sold: 16 (novels), 2 (short story collections), 1 (non-fiction) * Number of titles in print: 13. * Number of titles fallen out of print: 1. letahl: I'm not suggesting it's going to take you 30 years, but it took me 30 years, and for 85% of that time it felt like banging my head on a brick wall. Then, suddenly, after 14 years of failure, the brick wall collapsed. (And let me tell you, it feels very weird to be a success, to have multiple books in print, be getting fan mail from all over the planet, to be earning a living from what used to be my hobby.) Most of the authors I know have similar stories (although the lucky ones skip the juvenilia stage). There's an old saw about the shortest route to literary proficiency being by way of a million words of crap -- because that's what most of us have to work through before we make it. (I reckon I wrote closer to two million words of crap, although to be fair I started young.) Also: that first novel sale doesn't mark the end of the struggle; if anything, it merely marks the beginning of a new phase, your life as one self-employed contractor among many, shovelling product into the maw of a corporate behemoth and hoping they don't decide to pay some other contractor to do you work. Yes, you need a solid 5-10 books in print and earning out -- and at least one new title a year coming into print -- in order to give yourself a decent standard of living as a midlist genre novelist. Yes, they expect you to write a book every 12 months, like an egg-laying hen. Yes, it's a business, and if you can't do the work, they won't pay you. Those editors and agents and reviewers and marketing folks and sales people -- yes, they love literature, else they wouldn't work in an industry which is chronically underpaid. But by the same token, they won't buy your books unless they're commercially viable, because if they don't turn a profit they'll go out of business, and if they go out of business they can't publish the books they love any more. So if you fail to deliver on their terms, you've got a long future ahead of you as publishing industry roadkill. Anyway, this is why I take a jaundiced view of short-cuts -- because my entire experience tells me that they don't exist.

@Letahl, thanks for posting this question; I've been searching and googling to find out similar information the last few days. Some of the examples other posters provided are great. Here are a few that I stumbled on to -- nontrational models, but both examples led to published books. http://murverse.com/ (okay I don't like her stories but very clever marketing and cool idea). She blogged and made a podcast; in this podcast, "http://murverse.com/category/podcasts/i-should-be-writing/", she interviews science fiction authors (how do they write? any tips? how did they break in?). She was also writing http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1934861162/metafilter-20/ref=nosim/ and was continuously receiving rejections so she read her book online. Subsequent to that it was published and a lot of other bloggers did whatever they could to promote her book. If she followed the traditional model she would probably still be sending out that manuscript. I really think her stuff is mediocre at best, but nonetheless, she found an audience. Another person is Hugh Macleod. He has a really cool story -- he used to doodle cartoons on the back of business cards (for years). THen he made a blog and posted a cartoon a day, with no real objective behind this. He was offered a book deal that he rejected (he didn't like what they offered) -- but now his stuff is published and he is a consultant for a lot of other businesses (how to best advertise and reach your audience- ironic, huh?). Anyway, he definitely thinks outside the box when it comes to creativity and finding a way to get that medium to others. Seriously, check out his blog -- very http://www.gapingvoid.com/Moveable_Type/archives/000932.html. Even though they are just little cartoons, the writing and stories he provides along with this material is really interesting. Please let us know if you find another alternate route that leads to your book being published.

letahi, if you perceive the advice as negative, that's because the publishing industry is completely fucking brutal. It does you no good to go into the process thinking that it's going to be sunshine and roses, because it's not. It's a complete crapshoot even for established midlist authors. Better to find that out now than to be completely disillusioned later. http://www.murverse.com (who does a great podcast called I Should Be Writing) has written several novels that she has podcasted. She went to the Viable Paradise workshop. She had her first published book come out this year, after a publisher heard her podcast and even she thinks people should go the traditional publishing route first. I think it's awesome that you finished Nano. But you also need to hear that the vast majority of writers never sell their first manuscript. I have friends who wrote more than five books before selling. A friend of a friend wrote twenty manuscripts before selling her first. You need to put this book away for a couple of weeks, at least, and then work on making it the best possible book you can. And then you write the next one, because you'll be better. Also, spend some time researching the publishing industry. Find books that you like and that are similar to what you've written, and figure out what that publishing imprint looks for. Research agents. Yes, going the traditional route is hard, but that's what works. If there was a nice and easy way to skip it, we all would. Again, if this seems negative, it's because breaking into publishing is incredibly difficult. Self publication is an option, if you're more interested in having a book in your hands than going the traditional route. Take a look at some samples on lulu.com or some other self publisher, then look at your manuscript. Do you think you're better than that? Good. Then do the work.

Sugarfish -- I live in remote, interior Alaska. There are about a dozen people in my town in the winter. We haul water, cut wood, and bathe out of buckets. I kid you not. The nearest store is four hours away. Gas? Even farther. Bears are prolific and curious. Dogs get eaten by wolves in the winter. The mail gets dropped off by plane about four miles from here once or twice a week. Life here is "hard." BUT, we make our choices. And, in my opinion, approaching this lifestyle with a negative attitude is not helpful. Even knowing that I am actually responsible here: responsible to haul water from the spring three miles away, responsible to cut enough wood and keep the fire going, responsible to make sure my dog doesn't go too far from the cabin at night, responsible to keep track of where I am in the woods lest I end up lost in 22 million acres of brutal wilderness. Keeping these harsh realities in mind, I still choose not to be "negative." If there is a problem, I'm less of the person that's going to focus on the issue of there being a problem, and more of a person that's going to start figuring out how to chart a course and navigate the challenges ahead. And that approach, so far in this life, has worked well for me. I think I'll keep at it. I hear what you are saying about the publishing industry being difficult, but its the same thing everyone is saying. Which makes me think, beyond it being true, that maybe people are focusing on this aspect of it to avoid taking responsibility for what they believe is their potential. (E.g., the industry is so difficult I might as well not even try.) Because once someone has said it once, twice, three times, there's got to be something to push onto the next step, which is planning. I mean, unless you are someone who will say, "Oh, it's difficult? Shoot, man. Well, nevermind then." So, I'm there. I'm on the step of planning. And I totally appreciate your post, because it does assist me in this respect. I hope my explanation has given context of where I am coming from. Once I have got my planning down, then I'll be all about implementation. :) To anyone who I have not responded to individually, thank you so much for your feedback and assistance. There are lots of comment responses to this AskMe post which will help guide me through both planning and implementation, and I appreciate that hugely. I'll look forward to straggle comments as well. Love mefi!

I hear what you are saying about the publishing industry being difficult, but its the same thing everyone is saying. Which makes me think, beyond it being true, that maybe people are focusing on this aspect of it to avoid taking responsibility for what they believe is their potential. People aren't saying it to dissuade you (or themselves), they're saying it because it's true. Look at it this way, and I'll speak from my experiences in writing poetry, not novels. Of the 12 poets currently in my graduate program, 12 are talented, amazing, dynamic writers. To my knowledge, 3 have published anything. To my knowledge, these 3 people are the only ones who have gone through more than one round of initially sending work out to magazines. A great many writers will just stop after one round of rejections. Even more will never send things out at all. Is this because they're psyching themselves out? Maybe. But the truth is, no one knows the difficulty of getting stuff published better than those who have eventually succeeded--because it usually involves rejection after rejection after rejection. Is that rejection painful? Sure. (Myself? 11 publications, none paying. And probably four times the number of rejections. I mean, ouch!) But in order to succeed in being a writer that other people read, you have to know how difficult it is. You have to be prepared to face rejection after rejection and keep on soldiering on regardless. Why? Because no one else is going to stand up for your writing. Look at it this way: there are loads of incredibly talented unpublished writers with unfinished, unpolished manuscripts. Sorry, but you really are one in a million. You need to be willing to put your nose to the grindstone to distinguish yourself at all. The first part of that is completing your manuscript, getting your novel finished (that will kill off at least half of the competition, if not more). The second part of that is relentlessly marketing your writing to agents and publishers, pushing through rejections to find success. Why? Because no one else is going to do it for you. Because there are others just like you. Because people are never going to know how brilliant of a writer you are unless you show them and the current system that we have for publishing, while difficult, is incredibly effective. It rewards relentless and tireless writers of talent and quality. Think you're one of those people? Great. Then get to work! Ironically, I don't find this kind of advice negative at all, and I've heard it from countless published writers. Why? Because it's practical. It tells you, specifically, what you need to do to succeed--which includes steeling yourself from rejection, because that's inevitably a part of the process. If it sounds terrifically negative to you, my advice might be that perhaps you shouldn't try. Because if you don't have nerves of steel, it's going to be much, much harder to put yourself out there, and that's what you need to do to get your writing read.

PhoB, Thank you for your thoughts. You say, "I don't find this kind of advice negative at all," but you have to admit only half your post is advice, and the other half is naysaying. But I'm feeling you. It's difficult. Okay, got it. Now, trying to push past that... For each of the offers to publish my scholarly articles, I received 100 rejection letters. But published they are, and I still hear people saying that you can't publish law journal articles without institutional affiliation or an established career. I was also told that I could not build my cabin myself in the time frame and under the circumstances in which I built it. No way, no how. But sure enough, I managed. Similarly, I was told law school was going to be really hard and miserable and brutal. Guess what? Not that bad. I appreciate that you and others feel it is worthwhile to try and put the fear of god in me over publishing, but I'm just not buying. I'll do what I have to do, and that's all there is to it. If it doesn't work, maybe I'll try something else. No reason to make the experience all crazy and negative. It's just about doing what needs to be done, and that's neither a positive nor a negative thing. Or maybe I'm just being too zen. :) Kimberly

letahl, I think the advice implicit in what everyone is saying is "don't give up when you get rejections, because it happens to everyone." It seems that you have the temperament to deal with it, which is great; but I think people are just trying to make sure you go in with realistic expectations. Don't take it personally!

I don't think it's all that negative either. The advice here sound more like it's about effort involved in a strategy vs. the probability of that strategy working. Would it be possible to build a cabin in Alaska using only a steak knife and a spoon as tools? Possibly, but would the amount of extra effort I'd expend be worth it? Would it result in a lousier cabin than one built with proper power tools? I don't think I'd risk freezing my ass off for the sake of being a maverick knifey-spooney builder. Similarly, would the effort that you would have to put in to producing a viral marketing strategy be worth the less-likely-than-the-traditional-manner probability of a publisher/editor picking up on it? Would that effort be better spent on polishing your work and finding an good agent who will go to bat for you?

letahl, it sounds like you have a good attitude going into getting your work published, especially considering your experience with getting scholarly articles into journals. Which makes me think, beyond it being true, that maybe people are focusing on this aspect of it to avoid taking responsibility for what they believe is their potential. (E.g., the industry is so difficult I might as well not even try.) I'm definitely not trying to dissuade you, but I am trying to give you a picture of what I know of the current fiction publishing industry. And I'll tell you the truth. Besides knowing working writers, I've met editors and agents. I've gone to conferences where they've spoken. I've eaten dinner and chatted with them. And I've heard tons of stories where someone has tried to go outside the normal channels, doing things like sending in their query letters on pink scented paper, or calling the agent every day to make sure she got the partial, or carpetbombing queries pointing back to a blog. If the agents and editors weren't annoyed by the actions of these writers, they were amused. But those writers certainly didn't sell. Publishing has a system. It's your job to learn that system, to prove to your agent and editor that they should take a leap and enter into a business relationship with you. Would you respect someone who came to Alaska and moved in next door to you who hadn't even brought proper winter clothing? Because you're doing the same thing. I urge you to take cstross' (who does happen to be a working writer) advice from above. Educate yourself on the publishing industry. I wouldn't want you to get taken advantage of by an unethical agent, who are legion. The only way to protect yourself and eventually get your work published is to know what you're headed in to. Best of luck.