Your Competition
Yesterday's comments were illuminating.
We're all in some insane time crunch. We're working longer and harder for less pay. We're ferrying kids. We're stressing hard. If we MAKE time to read, as we book lovers do, we want it to be worth our time. We don't like picking up a book unless we KNOW or have HEARD that it's awesome.
Our competition isn't other writers, I don't think.
It's life.
We talk about MAKING time for ourselves. For reading. For relaxation. Rest time doesn't just "happen" anymore. If I find myself--and this NEVER happens, so let me re-phrase that . . . --if I MAKE a half hour of time for myself, I then must decide: knit? crossword puzzle? read? a little computer time?
Even voracious readers are pressed for time. And so it does become, I think, a matter of being sure a book is really "worth" it. Forget the price tag even. Worth my time. Worth your time.
Editors know this. Writers SHOULD know this. The bar for books now is higher than ever. And it's not even that the publishing industry is shrinking, though that's part of it. It's time.
Thoughts?
20 comments:
I think this is an excellent way of thinking - that along with the problems in publishing's economy is our country's current time crunch culture. To me, that's more of an incentive to write a book that sails above the bar than anything else. I want it to be worth the time. There is so much animosity toward traditional publishing from so many out there - this kind of cushions it in my opinion - let's remember there are always more variables than the ones we read about in Publisher's Weekly and The New York Times. Sometimes our obstacles contain bits of ourselves.
The fight for more time is a function of our understanding that we are mortal. If we relaxed more and looked at life as a journey and the travel is just as important as arriving, we would take more time for ourselves.
The last thing we need to do is push ourselves into such a rush. The art of surviving is totally different than the art of living. If the laundry doesn't get done until Thursday, then declare Wednesday a nudist day and no one wears clothes. If dinner is not ready, declare a fasting meal and sit at the table and enjoy each others company with a peanut butter sandwich and a glass of milk. Out of milk? Water is good. Out of bread, finger dipping night.
Now, if I could only take my own advice, I wouldn't be struggling to finish an article due tomorrow. Maybe I work better under pressure.
Amy:
I agree. There's almost a hostility about the traditional model. Is it flawed? Yeah. But so is the e-pub model. So is self-pubbing. So is . . . they ALL have flaws.
There are some variables that are sociological, not just about publishing itself as an industry.
E
Allen:
I agree with you. I think SOME of it (at least for me) is the demands of earning a living when you have kids. Could I live more simply if I were totally alone? I think so. With kids--they have legitimate needs (not extravagences) that I have to be sure are met, and that entails earning a living, which entails working my butt off.
You have a lot in common with Demon Baby, who always things it's nudist day.
E
Absolutely, and I've felt like that for a long time. Over on The Kill Zone blog my friend Joe Moore wrote yesterday about Dan Brown's new novel coming out and how he couldn't wait, he'd ordered it ahead of time. (And to be fair, Joe's no dummy. He and his writing partner's first thriller, The Grail Conspiracy, was probably as successful as it was because it was riding the coattails of The Da Vinci Code; still, TGC is a very good book and I recommend it. But Joe knows he owes Brown a lot).
Anyway, my point was, I'll probably get around to reading Brown's new book, but since I have what amounts to a TBR Room, rather than a TBR Pile, I'm in no particular rush, and for a book to go to the top of my reading list instead of stuck on a shelf somewhere (or not picked up at all), it's going to have to attract my attention somehow or be by a writer I'm particularly fond of. I've got books I bought 6 months ago that I haven't gotten around to reading yet.
This is so true. Lately I've been thinking about places to send my finished manuscript, but I've also been wondering if (in the unlikely event that it sells) I really want it to be my debut anyway. I'm not so sure anymore. I do think it's publishable, but I think I can do better. Since I might only get one shot, I want to give 'em my best right out of the gate.
Mark:
I hear you. When I add in all my NONFICTION interests, like black holes and physics . . . my reading list is HUGE.
E
Jude:
I think that is really a wise way of looking at it . . . You want to showcase what you REALLY can do.
E
If it's any consolation to us poor writers, I think the same thing is true across every artistic industry. Album sales are no longer the primary revenue source for most musicians, who have to tour relentlessly to make up for what they're losing in sales. iTunes has revolutionized the delivery of music. Movies are lucky if they get two weeks in the theaters before they're yanked for something new. And of course, there are more books in more distribution channels than ever before.
Personally, I think we're seeing the rise of the "microaudience," which is a little depressing for people who actually need to, you know, make money off the arts. But there are more channels than ever, more options than ever. So a few books/movies/songs will achieve ubiquity, but many, many more will develop a small and loyal audience. I think the trick as an artist of any variety is to carve out that small audience and carefully tend to it.
As far as ubiquity goes, I think there's more than a little luck involved in that ...
I told the attendees to my short story talk the other day that if someone clicks off their story, they won't return. EVERY WORD must be pertinent and guiding them forward. There's too much competition.
I got some blank looks. Sigh.
*deflates*
This is so true and I go back and forth on whether or not my stories are good enough. I've been told my book is a fast read and several betas have read it in one or two days, so I guess that's a good thing. I can put on the cover that it's not a big time commitment, lol.
Totally! This is why I set myself the goal of reading 365 books this year. Not sure I'll make it, but we're improving.
We are too busy and distracted these days. I don't know. Nothing stays the same. This trend toward extreme multi-tasking, working all hours of the day and juggling a million things cannot keep going. I see more and more people who are trying to get control and scale down, slow things down, simplify. Almost all the self-help books on the front tables in the last year have been on that very subject. I'm not usually for following self-help books, but I do hope that trend will take and spread, and people will have more time to read again.
But who knows. Competition is fierce for all jobs, not just writing. It's hard to not work as much as you can, because if you don't, it's nearly impossible to keep up.
Demon Allen. I kind of like that...
I felt I had more leisure when I worked forty hours a week. How did I manage eight hours a day, not including the drive, and then return to a hungry child expecting nourishment in more was than nutritional? *shrug* Beats me.
Time is what we make of it, I believe. We can choose how to best use it, or waste it. Priorities change. Right now I spend time studying - my Epic will still be there after the semester. Dan Brown's just gonna have to wait to compete with me. :)
Lurker:
Excellent point about the arts across the board.
E
Sex Scenes:
It's funny (or not) because if I speak at a writers' group of any sort, if there are, say, 25 people, at least 5 won't "get" that. I had someone argue with me on another blog that she will give a book chapters and chapters to develop a story and readers needing a hook or needing to be engaged right away are "what's wrong" with the book biz. I didn't even keep arguing because that view is so ridiculous.
melanie:
I used to meet people that finished a book NO MATTER WHAT. I was one of those people for many years. Now . . . uh-uh. The time crunch is so severe in my life, I want a book that grabs me and doesn't let go.
E
natasha:
I am trying to simplify myself . . .
E
kath:
Just shove Dan out of the way when you are ready. :-)
E
My biggest competition is definitely myself. I'm always getting distracted (removing Spider Solitaire from my computer was a big help) or losing motivation. But when I force myself to sit down for twenty minutes, I often end up writing for an hour at least. I just gotta make time and make myself sit down.
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