After Publication -- Expectations
As I was walking around yesterday near Cherry Creek Mall (THE upscale mall in Denver, which I hadn't been to in a year and a half), I met Mario Acevado (The Nymphos of Rocky Flats) and he said there should be a seminar about After Publication (well, there were lots at RWA, but I didn't say that), how people's expectations were that after they published, everything got easier. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
I don't know whose he's been talking with (we run in different critique group circles), but he IS right. It gets a lot tougher after publication. Mario said that OTHER'S expectations (publishers, agents, editors) of you and your work become higher for you. Which is true, too.
I think it was Heinlein who said that when he started out his writing career, he could write 3 books and only 1 of them had to be good. As time progressed, EVERY book had to be good.
Maybe because tv and film have lured people away from reading -- but, on the other hand, there's not much allowance for "failure" there, either.
I think it might be the immediate gratification issue in our society. Things should be good and available. And easy to do.
Most books are not easy. And if they must be good and quickly available, most authors scramble hard to keep up the quality and the pace.
May your writing be quick, painless and EXCELLENT today.
Robin
I don't know whose he's been talking with (we run in different critique group circles), but he IS right. It gets a lot tougher after publication. Mario said that OTHER'S expectations (publishers, agents, editors) of you and your work become higher for you. Which is true, too.
I think it was Heinlein who said that when he started out his writing career, he could write 3 books and only 1 of them had to be good. As time progressed, EVERY book had to be good.
Maybe because tv and film have lured people away from reading -- but, on the other hand, there's not much allowance for "failure" there, either.
I think it might be the immediate gratification issue in our society. Things should be good and available. And easy to do.
Most books are not easy. And if they must be good and quickly available, most authors scramble hard to keep up the quality and the pace.
May your writing be quick, painless and EXCELLENT today.
Robin
posted by FantasyAuthor RobinDOwens | 6:30 AM
2 Comments:
Hmm, I think Heinlein had it backwards (he was the guy, after all, who said "never edit"), but he was writing in a different time, when new writers were nurtured along until they could produce a hit.
Now I think new writers have to be phenomenal out of the gate, or their careers are over as soon as they start. Well-established authors seem to have more leeway to write a bad or mediocre book--their fans and editors will forgive them as long as it doesn't become a habit.
Just an observation from a terrified debut author.
Jeri, you're going to do fantastically! But the publishing houses are fewer, readers more savvy and dedicated, writers (competition) trained better.
Robin
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