It speaks to the randomness of luck and how it plays a part in a creative professional's career. You can work and toil for years perfecting your craft, doing all the right things, but still... lightning has to strike for something to really catch. And there is no rhyme or reason to it at all. It's a matter of being in the right place at the right time, or getting to the right person... to fight through all the gatekeepers until you find the one person who is going to open that door and let you through. Two equally talented individuals can start the race in exactly the same spot, but there is no guarantee that they'll get exactly the same breaks for exactly the same reasons.
That's why it's easy to get jealous or bitter sometimes just because of the randomness of it all. Even after you're published, there's no guarantee each book will sell. Some may collect dust for years, another may take off for reasons unknown. Stories have a life of their own and it's unpredictable from book to book which one is going to come with a little more pixie dust than the rest.
You just never know. And you never will. In order to make it in this business, you kind of have to be okay with that. According to a report in the Guardian, precious few writers will earn more than $1000k a year, which means for the rest of us, for the majority of the time, are struggling.
I'm an old-school writer, whose dream began way before the current digital revolution. Every single writer who made it through the traditional publishing gauntlet had their stories to tell about paying their dues, being rejected time after time, as they struggled to make their dream a reality. Best-selling writers will tell you about a wall, drawer or folder full of rejection letters, sometimes for books that went on to be their breakout novels. I'll never forget my first manuscript I sent that I got back splashed with red ink on every page with a "thanks but no thanks, try again later."
That shit was soul-crushing, I won't lie. Many creative professionals battle inner demons, and it was enough to drive more than one of us to the brink on more than one occasion. After that first critical rejection, I shelved my manuscript and gave up on my dream to be a best-selling writer because clearly it wasn't in the cards.
But a writer writes, even if there's no one to read it. That's what makes it possible to get up after getting knocked on your ass, and try again even though you were told "no."
The digital revolution has made this process a whole lot easier because you don't have to spend months or years or decades trying to break down the door. There are no more gatekeepers to keep you from the audience you seek. Within a few keystrokes, you can go from "aspiring" writer to "published author," though there are still some traditionalists who feel that you didn't earn that title.
They want you to pay your dues, much like we had to back in the olden days.
They'll think you're not worthy to read if you're self-published because there was no gatekeeper to ensure that your book was quality enough to take its place in the marketplace.
Again, this doesn't quite take into consideration the random stroke of luck I was talking about earlier. Just because a book is rejected by traditional agents or publishers doesn't mean it's not good. It's just that they don't feel they can make enough profit off of it to justify the investment.
In the e-book age, writers take this investment on themselves and as a result we get a variety of stories for every kind of reader. Sure that means we get Bigfoot porn, but hey. To each their own.
There were plenty of shitty books being published way before self-publishing became the norm. Like I said, it is really all random.
The problem with this new era is that you often pay your dues AFTER you hit publish, when you're a public figure with eyes on you to see how you rise or fall. Some unlucky authors get a target on their back, the object of cyber-bullying because they dared to make themselves known to the world. It's one thing to open an email saying, "Thanks but no thanks." To get your shit reamed on Amazon or Goodreads by people determined to take you down when you haven't spent years toughening your resolve through the traditional gauntlet leaves you unprepared to bounce back.
For some, it is a dream-killer. I've seen more than one writer fall.
I recently read a goodbye post from an author who had decided it was no longer worth the pain to make her dream a reality. It broke my heart to read it. Something she felt so passionately about, something she had invested in several books that - ironically - ARE selling, wasn't giving her back the return on her emotional investment. I have a few preachy opinions on this, mostly it goes back to "demand what you're worth," (i.e., if you're selling more than 100 books a day on more than one title, stop undercutting your prices at $0.99. Raise to $2.99 and get your full 70% commission so you CAN afford to continue) but in the end it doesn't matter. This poor writer has pulled the plug on her dream because the dues owed were more than she wanted to pay.
I've heard it said that if you can do anything other than a creative career, you should. It has to hurt you more to give up the dream than pursue it. This is not an easy journey, even though it's easier now to break into the business.
Maintaining the career, THAT is the trick. Because you never stop paying your dues. For 98% of us, there's no sitting back on a white sandy beach, our feet up, a tropical drink in our hand and living easy. It's hard work, especially for self-pubbed authors who pretty much have to wear every hat as a publisher/writer/agent.
Even with decades under my belt, I'm still paying dues. One book will sell pretty well, while another one won't see the light of day. A reader will get all excited about one title, but move on to the next big thing and forget all about me and my book. Some months I'll see more money than I've ever made in my life, the next I'm planning my budget around Ramen noodles and juggling which bill to pay and which to put off. It's feast or famine with every single book. According to the statistics, this is the reality for most writers. Despite the thousands of new indie writers who hit "Publish", nearly 80% make less than $1000 a year.
Some will tell you this is because indie books are crap, but more than 50% of traditionally published authors face the same reality. Most of us are not driving Audis, making movies, or creating lines around the block at book signings. If the criteria to call oneself an author depends on making one's living at the craft, then the vast majority of us are screwed.
In fact, I bet there are more people out there making more money selling books on how to sell books than actual fiction novels being sold. There's a scam for every desperate author out there who dreams of the day they will see their name on the New York Times Best Seller list. (Hint: If someone promises they can make your dream a reality if you buy their product, read their book, attend their seminar, especially if they've never read your work and don't have any inkling what you can do as a writer, generally they're full of shit. Like I said above, there is no rhyme or reason, no formula ... it's all the luck of the draw. Otherwise we'd ALL be getting 8-figure book deals.)
It's not easy. Bad reviews hurt. Your skin never gets thick enough to avoid the scars, no matter what the critics would have you believe. But these are the dues you pay to have the dream. Looking back, I'm glad for the olden days. They prepared me for the rejection, probably a little too well. Dipping my toe in the water, I was tempted to compromise myself in order to live the dream (i.e. making my living selling my work.) I gave away copies for free, I undercut my prices, I often was tempted to alter my stories to fit formulas that were more successful than others.
I've since given that up, because there's a couple of things you learn when you do pay your dues. You learn how much you want something... and you learn what you're willing to go through to get it.
Like Rocky says, you gotta be willing to take the hits.
The only real rule is this: Don't give up.
There are no shortage of miracles. You just have to stay in the game long enough to catch yours. The key is persistence, so sayeth the Master at 8:09 in the following clip:
Only you can decide what you're willing to do, what you are able to do. If Plan B is a viable option, then go for it. But if Plan B hurts, if you know it doesn't fit, then work the HELL out of plan A. Pay those dues until they pay off. It's worth it.
And so are you.
“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who had practiced one kick 10,000 times.” ― Bruce Lee
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