The Unpredictable Writing Life

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

For decades, I’ve been in the world of publishing and working with authors. Repeatedly I’ve seen the unpredictable nature of this work and life. For example, as I meet authors and acquire their books at Morgan James Publishing, I learn about authors who are eager to sell their books and reach their readers. I have one author who writes fiction and published two novels with us. She was actively selling these books at specialized trade shows which tied to her plot and characters. When she pitched her third novel, she told me that she had sold over 300 books during the last year which showed her activity as an author. 

As a part of the acquisitions process, I checked in with a colleague about her bookstore sales for her first two books. This number will give me an indicator of the enthusiasm (or lack of it) from my colleagues about the third novel. I was surprised to learn she had sold about a carton of books inside the bookstores. In general, a carton holds 25-35 books and depends on the size of the book. It was not an impressive sales record and showed me that my colleagues would not be inclined to publish a third novel from this author. I spoke with the author about these details and she decided to self-publish her third novel in this series. If the bookstore numbers improve, then it’s possible she could bring this third novel into her series, but not at the moment.

I could not have predicted these bookstore sales and believed the number would be much higher than a single carton. This example shows again one of the many unpredictable details and how a great deal of those details are outside of anything that I can know about or control.

Here’s another example: I wished a long-time publishing professional a happy birthday. It’s something I do on a regular basis and gives me a touch point with people. In her response, she told me she was no longer working at that publisher. I called this author to hear more detail. I learned the change happened because she didn’t hit the sales number for her authors books. This key number is outside of anything this editor could predict or control. She told me about one of her authors with a large Instagram platform has a daily gathering of thousands of participants. The book this group was using repeatedly wasn’t the author’s book but a book from another author. This simple choice gave huge exposure to a different book than the author’s book and contributed to the editor’s dismal sales numbers. 

These stories about publishing teach me lessons about the details of this business and how it works. Yet repeatedly I’ve discovered there are a myriad of details outside of anything that I can control or do anything about. There is one singular person who I can control: me. 

I’d love to have some predictions but the only prediction I can control is myself. I keep promoting my own work. I continue to pitch authors to my colleagues and writing different material. I work with various authors and various types of books. In addition, I listen to my colleagues, answering their questions and helping as many authors as I can. I can’t control others or much of anything--but I can control my own activities.

What about in your writing life? Is it predictable or what steps are you taking for your books and your writing? Let me know in the comments below. 

Tweetable:

The life of a writer is unpredictable and often outside of anything that can be controlled. This prolific author and editor gives some examples then his encouragement. Get the details here.  (ClickToTweet)

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