Welcome to another Inspiration Friday! In this series, I meditate on a quote from the current featured book. Today, I’m talking about this quote from Jane Friedman’s The Business of Being a Writer:
“When you decide to pursue a writing career, you'll experience frustration, again and again, and not just in the form of rejection letters. But it helps to know what's coming and that your experience is normal. Writers who are properly educated about the industry typically feel less bitterness and resentment toward editors, agents, and other professionals. They are less likely to see themselves as victimized and less likely to be taken advantage of. It's the writers who lack education on how the business works who are more vulnerable to finding themselves in bad situations.”
There’s a lot to unpack here, so I’m going to take it bit by bit.
"Writers experience frustration, again and again . . . but it helps to know what’s coming and that your experience is normal."
This is, I think, the number one reason writers should be proactive about educating themselves about the publishing industry, whether that’s the traditional or self-publishing side, long before they get to the point of publication. There is so much frustration inherent in book publishing that has nothing to do with the actual manuscript—such as publication dates changing, a printing run going awry, a publisher not providing as much attention to your book as you hoped, or a clause in a contract that negatively impacts your work in unforeseen ways. But some of that frustration can be avoided—or at least allayed—if you know that these problems happen all the time and you know how to handle or avoid them whenever they come along.
"Writers who are properly educated about the industry typically feel less bitterness and resentment toward editors, agents, and other professionals. They are less likely to see themselves as victimized."
I’ve seen and heard about the bitterness which published authors feel toward publishing systems and professionals firsthand. In some instances, their angst is justified (like, for example, their objections to bias-caused inequities in book advances). But in other cases, their frustration stems from a lack of understanding of the industry’s current practices. In both traditional and indie publishing, the onus of learning industry practices is fully on the author. Even when an author lands an agent and a juicy book deal with a great publisher, no one holds their hand and tells them everything about the world they’ve just entered. Learning how both publishing and self-publishing works will help new authors make educated decisions about what publishing options to pursue and what to expect from either path.
"It's the writers who lack education on how the business works who are more vulnerable to finding themselves in bad situations."
Uneducated writers are vulnerable writers, especially today. Never have there been so many ways to publish a book. And never have there been so many ways to get scammed or shortchanged while doing it. Subpar publishers, editors, formatters, and illustrators are everywhere. Straight-up scammers are everywhere, too, and with the huge uptick in self-publishing and hybrid/assisted publishing services, they’ve become better at preying on authors than ever before. It’s up to each author to know about standard industry best practices. It’s the only way to protect themselves and their valuable work.
While much of this foundational knowledge can be found in Friedman’s book, it’s also important to look for other resources specific to your publishing path. The more you learn, the more aware, empowered, and successful you’ll be as you navigate the publishing process.
Watch for more meditations on Jane Friedman’s The Business of Being a Writer, and happy writing!
Comments