The selling of books and complications therein

Justine Musk has an excellent essay on her career as a novelist in the mass market paperback salt mines and it is very good. It involves numbers and market realities and other concepts that make the writing-is-art! crowd nervous and/or cranky.

Note: I do not think writing-is-art and publishing-is-a-business are mutually exclusive notions. I think that in order to do the one it really behooves you to understand and get your head around the second. Even if in doing so you conclude that you’re better off self-publishing. Or writing your novel in a series of haikus on the back of Anzaac bickies and floating them out to sea at dusk each night for the next ten years.

Have I mentioned that it took me many many years to make my first professional sale? I seriously thought about doing the floating biscuit (cookie) thing. If only I weren’t so bad at writing with icing.

Posted by Justine at 11:58, 24 June 2008 under Publishing business | 11 Comments »

Comments

Eric Luper Says:

From the date I made the conscious decision to write for young people, it took me around 5 years to make my first professional sale. And it was a tough 5 years. I attribute the persistence to being too stupid to stop. And great people around me.

I’ve met tons of folks who look at writing solely as a business. These are the ones who talk incessantly about action figures and movies and cereal box promotions.

I’ve also met tons of people who look at writing solely as an art. These are the people who come to critique sessions and then scoff when someone recommends a period rather than a semi-colon.

I have had times where I’ve drifted too close to one or the other of these mindsets, but I find the healthiest place to be is someplace in between. I guess that means scoffing at someone’s suggestion that my action figure should have a laser gun instead of a crossbow.

Crossbows rock!

June 24th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Hjalti Says:

I’m in the strange position of making quite a decent month’s pay from my published fiction, despite giving it to my growing group of readers for free and never having made a sale. I can never quite decide whether I’m missing out or merely stupidly lucky.

June 24th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
Amber Says:

O Anzac biscuit

My words do not deserve your
Golden loveliness.

June 24th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
hillary! Says:

I find it sad that really good writers never get any notoriety. But horrible writers get it ALL!

June 24th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
hillary! Says:

YAY! IT let me comment!

June 24th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
lili Says:

you can’t have ICING on an ANZAC BISCUIT!!

for SHAME.

June 24th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
7. Justine Says:

Amber: Awesome!

Lili: No, not if you’re eating them. But is perfectly acceptable if you’re floating them out to sea with your novel writ on ‘em.

June 24th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
lili Says:

what a ridiculous waste of a perfectly good biscuit. Can’t you write your novel on a less nommy biscuit? Like some kind of lame Arnott’s digestive or something? (although I quite like them).

What about on white bread? With tomato sauce? Or mustard?

June 24th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
9. Justine Says:

That’s the whole point, Lili! It has to be something nommy and wondrous. Otherwise there’s no sacrifice and suffering. Sheesh!

June 24th, 2008 at 9:38 pm
Mary Elizabeth S. Says:

I floated a short story in a pool once. Folded it up into a paper boat and watched it sail around until it sank and turned to wet gunk. ‘Twas very therapeutic.

~Mary

June 24th, 2008 at 10:02 pm

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Justine Larbalestier