Would You Write If You Knew You'd Never Be Published?

Publication is, of course, one of the major milestones--the goal, you could say--of slogging through the writing process. There's debate over traditional publishing vs. self-publishing, but both are still means of giving any reader a chance at your stories.

By Horia Varlan, CC-BY-2.0, via Flickr

Yet, I'm curious: What if publication was impossible? 

Would it be a relief for you not to have to worry about how your writing would be perceived, or would it be a killer of some (or all) of your passion for the craft? Would you write in a different style, a different genre, about different characters if you had no audience to think about?

Personally, I think I would continue writing, even if I knew I had no chance of being published. Publication is a good motivator and a nice dream, but I like putting words down on paper--or in a word processor, as it may be--for the sake of it.

What about you?


-----The Golden Eagle

Blog Tour Stop: Guest Post by Christine Fonseca!

First, let's have a round of applause for Christine Fonseca and her second book, 101 Success Secrets for Gifted Kids! CONGRATULATIONS, Christine!

When I heard she wanted people to host her during a blog tour, I volunteered my blog: therefore, today I have a guest post on what she took away from writing her recently released 101 Success Secrets:

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Five Lessons Learned From the Journey

I love it when I get to stop by different blogs for tours! Today, I want to thank Golden Eagle hosting this leg of the tour. My topic for today – my big take-aways from writing this book.

101 Success Secrets for Gifted Kids started off with a different title, one that did NOT include literally 101 tips. In that version of the book, my audience was school age kids (grades 3-12). In the process of selling the book, the age range narrowed to middle childhood (grades 3-7), the title changed (it was undetermined at the point of sale) and the format was different. Over the next few months, a title was determined and poof – I had to also include 101 success secrets.

The process wasn’t much different than most writers experience. And it taught me a few things:

1.      Flexibility: The books we see on the self are seldom the same as the original stories. Sometimes the titles are different. Or the covers lend a different feel to the book. Or the endings have changed. Or maybe even the intended audience.

   The key to surviving the process – flexibility. Don’t become so married to your original ideas for the project that you are unwilling to consider something new. I can honestly say that both of my books, Emotional Intensity in Gifted Students and 101 Success Secrets for Gifted Kids, are better BECAUSE of the editor-suggested changes.

2.      Be Willing to Start Over: With the title change for 101 Success Secrets, and the addition of the actual secrets, the format for the book drastically changed. With nonfiction, the book is not completely written at the time of purchase. I had three chapters done as part of the proposal, but that was it. Everything else was one big outline. The format changes meant much of the previous material needed to change.

   At first I thought this would be easy – just a matter of adding tips here and there. Boy was I wrong. I spent months trying to make the changes work, formatting and reformatting my existing work.

   Nothing I attempted was right.

   And finally I accepted what I already knew inside – I had to start over.

   Reluctantly, I opened a blank document and started over. You know what? It worked. I pounded out the book in a couple of weeks, editing and turned in the manuscript ahead of schedule and within a month of opening that blank document. My lesson in this - sometimes, you just have to be willing to start over!

3.      Some Things are Just Out of Your Control: I’m convinced that this business is one part talent and three parts timing/luck. So many people make decisions about your work based on things you don’t know. Things like if a book will get picked up, when to release, marketing plans, etc – many of these are based not only on the quality of the work you produced, but on things unknown to you, the author. Of course, if you self-publish this is not completely true. But for most of us – yep, there is a TON of things not in your control on this journey.

   So, what can you do? Let go of that stuff. Focus your efforts on the things you can control, including the quality of your work, how well you collaborate with your publishing team, how you market yourself and your product. Beyond that…Let. It. Go!

4.      Perspective: It is very easy to lose yourself in the land of comparisons, believing that you should earn a certain amount on your books, receive a certain advance or print run, land a particular agent, etc. The list of potential comparisons is endless – and none of them mean anything. Growing in this business developing a healthy perspective that does NOT constantly live in the land of comparing. Instead, focus on yourself and developing your talents as a writer. If you are published, don’t compare your sales to others – instead, focus on connecting with readers in your niche and bringing them value in content (both in terms of books and supplemental content). If you are a newbie, don’t stress over who signed with whom – instead, focus on honing your craft and developing your own unique career.

   This doesn’t mean don’t learn from others. But it does mean don’t compare.

5.      When in Doubt, Write: As I already said, there is a lot of stuff outside of your control in this business. And with that, there is also a lot of waiting time. I don’t know about you, but wait time usually ends in angst for me. So, instead of angsting, comparing and otherwise freaking out, get to your next project. Writing something – anything – and focus your creative energies on that. You won’t regret it, trust me!

Overall, this has been an amazing journey. Writing both books, seeing them on the shelves and marketing them have taught me more than I thought possible. I only hope all of this results in a career I can be proud.

For more information about my books, check out my blog or website.

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Bio:

School psychologist by day, YA and nonfiction author by night, Christine Fonseca believes that writing is a great way to explore humanity. Her books include EMOTIONAL INTENSITY IN GIFTED STUDENTS (2010) and 101 SUCCESS SECRETS FOR GIFTED KIDS (2011). In addition to books about giftedness, Christine writes contemporary and fantasy fiction for teens. When she’s not writing, she can be found playing around on Facebook and Twitter. Catch her daily thoughts about writing and life on her blog.

List of links to Christine Fonseca:

Visit her Website

Read her Blog

Find her on Facebook
Stop by Twitter

Order the book.
Order the e-reader version.

Read the first chapter here.

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Readers, what do you think? Would you agree with the points made? Disagree? Would you add anything to what she said?


-----The Golden Eagle

Market or Individual?

Assuming your write, once the first draft has been written down, the second draft has been revised, the third draft has been edited, you've fussed over the fourth draft, (and maybe the fifth, sixth, seventh, etc.) and finally you've come up with something that resembles a book, there's always that other can of worms:

Getting published.

I'm sure we've all dreamed about it at some point. (Come on now--don't tell me you haven't sat there and sighed longingly thinking about the fame and fortune. Or maybe just the fortune.) Imagined having that book on a shelf in Barnes & Noble (or even Wal-Mart). Pictured the fanmail. Considered the attention you'd get and the interviews you'd be doing.

Now, that all entails that your work appeals to the market; the only problem with that is, if you've got ideas, thoughts, beliefs, opinions, other than what the customer wants (or, at least what is going to be economically acceptable to a publisher, be it a large or small company), then your chances of getting published are slim or none.

And this is where the conflict comes in.

Do you, as a writer, prefer to mold and shape your writing to the demand? Or do you, as a writer, prefer to go your own way, despite the decreasing chances of being published?

Would you be willing to change your book's moral, plot, characters, so that it is more popular? Or are you satisfied with writing something that's entirely you and unchanged, but that doesn't appeal to enough people to be published?

I am in the latter camp. I would much prefer writing something that embodies what I really want to say and believe, and not something that is dictated by external forces. I would much rather stay anonymous and unpublished than get published and have something I'm not totally comfortable with, that isn't really me.


What about you? Do you think changing your writing is worth a greater chance of being published?

-----The Golden Eagle