Writing and Publishing Before the Book Deal
We writers hear a lot about “branding” and “building a platform.” I’ve had a career in advertising and marketing, so I understand these terms. Still though, it took time to figure out how I could build a platform as an unpublished writer. I honestly don’t think I’ll ever stop trying to figure it out.
I would bet some of you are trying to figure it out, too. With this in mind, Jessica Bacon is here to tell us about her path to being a freelance writer. Welcome, Jessica!
Adrienne, Kelsey, and Tracey: Thank you so much for inviting me to be a guest here at Romance University.
When Adrienne asked me if I was interested in visiting and sharing my story, I jumped at the chance. Shortly after I agreed, however, my enthusiasm lessened. For the same reasons I was initially excited, I began to doubt myself. While I was initially thrilled to share the same stage as authors I read and admired, I became increasingly nervous about my ability to do so.
For weeks, everywhere I looked, I saw articles and blog postings pertaining to establishing a platform before publication, making a living while writing a novel, or freelance writing for novelists. On the surface, this might sound like a good thing ; I assure you, it’s not.
The following scenario is best utilized by mimicking a Rod Serling voiceover:
Consider if you will: Jane Doe, New York Times bestselling author, writes a piece on the same topic as Janie Doe, No Name unpublished but corn-fed Nebraskan. Janie Doe may write as well, if not better, than Jane Doe, but in what world can Janie’s voice get a chance to be heard? Only—in The Twilight Zone. <insert Twilight Zone “doo doo doo doo” theme song here>
Okay, that was a bit dramatic, but it was fun, at least for me.
Like many RU readers, I’ve written for the vast majority of my life, writing poems and short stories throughout my childhood and teenage years. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I decided on a whim to write a book. As a wife and mother who works from home, I was able to tap out over 100,000 words before I told anybody what I was doing. Of course, this was before I knew anything about avoiding passive voice, adverbs, or omniscient POV, so 100,000 words were easy.
When I mentioned my little hobby to my husband and he didn’t look at me as if I had horns sprouting from my head, I decided maybe I wasn’t crazy after all. At the time, I’d read every book in Catherine Coulter’s FBI series and I found myself writing in the same fast pace, non-flowery prose style in which she wrote. For some reason, I found the courage to contact her. Her advice? Sit your butt in that chair every day and write!
Catherine Coulter said it, and I did it. As my word count grew, so did my curiosity about the craft. Before long, I’d found myself a beta reader in one of my mother-in-law’s friends. Judy ran through my rough drafts with the eye of a reader and the pen of an editor, making me realize I didn’t know a dangling participle from a dangling modifier (I still don’t, to be honest). I also realized it was time to figure out if I was going to do something about this writing habit, or ignore it and hope that it would go away.
Do as I say, not as I did
Fast-forward a couple of years.
Through the Internet, craft books, and online classes, I learned a lot. In fact, I learned too much. Where I once had a unique writing style of my own, I started to write what I’ve pegged as “chameleon-style”. My manuscript headed in new directions each time I discovered another magical tool in the writer’s toolbox. (I actually have a pet name for my ms, I call it Joan Rivers, because of its many facelifts.)
Setting goals is important, but setting them and sticking to them are two different things. I set unrealistic goals. My goals were simple and attainable—for a single, 20 year-old, full-time writer. Burnout loomed beyond the horizon, if I’d only known to look for it.
Contests and groups, and loops, oh my! Balancing time between learning, networking and writing is difficult. Writing is a business, but if you find yourself sacrificing actual writing time for marketing and networking before you’re published, then what’s the point? Finish the damn book, then go back and apply your newfound knowledge through revisions and edits, and at least you’ll have something to market.
Don’t try to categorize your work, let the booksellers and librarians figure out where to shelf that hardcover beauty. I fell under the false assumption that my book had to fit neatly into one of a select few sub-genres, and I revised the content to satisfy the so-called rules of the one it most closely matched. I ended up wasting months trying to write what I now realize was a category romance that I wouldn’t have wanted to read.
If you’re writing because you love to write, then don’t worry about industry standards, what’s happening in the publishing world or what today’s hot selling genre is. The road to publication is long, and trends come and go. Who knows? In a few years from now, ‘robot dogs in space’ could be the new ‘vampires’ of romance.
To be Paid or Not to be Paid
Getting paid to do something you love to do is every writer’s dream. With the exception of a lucky few, most new writers can’t expect to earn a living writing novels until they’ve served their time in Gruntville.
Gruntville is that solitary place writers go before dawn or after midnight, when the rest of the house sleeps peacefully. It’s where they reside when they turn down invitations from friends, miss family outings, or eat cold leftovers because they missed dinner—again. Writers may spend more time in Gruntville than they do at a full-time job, and they do it for free.
If being paid for what you write is important to you, there are many paying venues in need of high quality writers of both fiction and nonfiction, but be careful of anything that sounds too good to be true.
Selling completed short stories, poems, or flash fiction can be a great start to your writing career, but be sure to check the fine print. Verify the reputation and readership of the publication before you agree to release any rights to your work. If the publication is only willing to pay ten dollars for a 3000-word short story but you know top-notch agents, editors, and publishers will see your work, consider it a decent trade-off. On the flip side, some venues may pay more, but insist you give up all reproduction rights. There is nothing wrong with this, in fact, it oftentimes benefits the author, but it’s important to be aware of and weigh your options carefully.
Freelance writing is another option for writers looking to earn money for their work, but the rules I mentioned above still apply. The pay rate varies widely from venue to venue and there are too many online scams to count.
My excursion into freelance writing was the result of months of coinciding events that increased the demand on my time. My stress level went up and my writing output went down. When I did find time to write I felt pressured and couldn’t focus, which led to more stress. I got to the point where I hadn’t written in over a month and instead of relieving my stress level, not writing seemed to be making it worse.
I’m a slow writer and I write in spurts. It takes me a while to get into my characters’ heads, but once I do, I don’t like to stop. Because of this, slipping in 15 minutes here or there isn’t an option for me.
Making a Choice
I finally admitted to myself that I couldn’t fashion time where there was none and that I needed to slay the deadly chameleon-style of writing I’d adopted. I needed to step away, give myself some breathing room and come back to it with fresh eyes.
Because I needed to write, and because the money tree in the backyard had recently died, I searched online for freelance writing jobs. As plentiful as they were, the list narrowed considerably as I crossed off those requiring experience, a degree in English, willing to travel, etc. Of those that remained, I chose the option that worked best for me by weighing the pros and cons of each.
Ultimately, I decided to think of any money earned from freelancing as a bonus. As the Lincoln Literature Examiner, I get to hone my writing skills, and write about a topic I love. I choose my own stories and make my own deadlines. I write short news articles that force me to stay focused on the topic and restrict my poetic license, so it’s a treat when I’m able to set my words free on the pages of my book.
My career, my goals, my choices. Right or wrong, they’re mine. If someone can benefit from my experiences, great. If someone can learn from my mistakes, even better!
***
What about you? What steps have you taken (or did you take) on the road to publishing your book? Do you have any positive or negative experiences RU readers can learn from?
Thank you, Jessica for being here today.
Please join us on Wednesday when our monthly columnist, Wayne Levine, shares his own love story.
Bio: Jessica Bacon lives in Nebraska with her husband and two children. She is a member of RWA, KOD, and NRW. Jessica is currently working on a suspense with romantic elements, but has been known to revise so often, the completed manuscript may well be a sci-fi comedy. Known as a wife, mother, freelance writer and fiction writer, she prefers her newest moniker, courtesy of her youngest son: “A mysterious woman who gets grumpy in the morning and at night.”
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Hi Jessica,
Thanks for being here today and for sharing your story. It’s odd to think back to when I started writing seriously four years ago. Solitary, no loops or chapters, and no idea of what the hell I was doing. Today, I have way too many loops and chapters, a support system to die for, and friends who are there at a moment’s notice, I still don’t know what the hell I’m doing, but I’m doing it better than I was four years ago.
Tracey
Hello, Jessica!
Welcome to RU. How did you finally decide what worked best for you in terms of freelance writing? I do some corporate work, but I haven’t tried to expand my client base because I’m afraid it could eat up all my fiction writing time.
I’m with Tracey. My first book was written with very little outside input and other distractions. Now I’m fairly busy with a variety of writing-related activities. However, I wouldn’t trade my CPs and growing network for the world!
Kelsey
morning Jessica!
I too belong to too many groups, etc…but love them all to death….after my first attempt at writing a year ago, i’ve decided to spend some time learning the craft before spending a lot of time making poo. =) I still write, but I know after the last 4 months worth of classes I’ve taken, I’ll be rewriting a lot of it, and hopefully not being chameleon-like, but enhancing the carrie-like even better.
thanks for the great post, very informative!
carrie
Hi Jessica!
Great Post!
My favorite line: Contests and loops, and groups, oh my! This totally describes where I was at two short weeks ago. I am not yet publushed. A few months ago a writer friend told me about an RWA seminar she attended where the speaker stated, “It’s never too early for a new writer to begin self promotion.” She went on to recommended all new writers should have an Internet presence as a means of developing a fan base. Since starting my blog back in December, I’ve joined RWA loops and other groups to network, commiserate with other writers, and hone my craft. As a result, I found less and less time to work at my craft. Just recently I’ve put the kibosh on how many times a day I “hop online for a minute to check my e-mails and the blogs I follow”. I’ve joined GIAMx4 to help me focus, and am now back to writing every day.
GIAMx4′s great for keeping us focused! Such a wonderful support system.
Oops….published not publushed!
Hi Jessi. Great post! Thank you for being here today. Would you please give us an idea of how much time your freelance work takes each week? Do you find it to be a balancing act with your fiction writing?
Hey Jessi- fellow Nebraskan!
As another writer/mother who works full-time and tries to keep up with family life, I find it so encouraging that you are making it work. I can also remember how proud I was of my first manuscript– at least until I learned a bit about editing!
Jennifer Bates
Good morning! Thanks again to the RU crew for letting me hang out with them and all of their readers today!
Tracey–Here, here! It’s like parenting, I wonder if anyone ever truly feels if they know what the hell they’re doing?
Kelsey–A lot of my fiction writing time is being sacrificed right now, but the way I look at it, at least I’m writing. I absolutely would not recommend this for everyone, but in the state my writing was in, I needed a break before I began to truly hate my characters.
How I decided what worked best? I found a venue that didn’t impose deadlines, let me write about a topic that I was passionate about, and let me choose when and how often to publish those articles.
Hi Carrie, I’m glad you found the post informative!
I love that you plan on enhancing the Carrie-like
Focus on your strengths and don’t spend too much time following the rules like I did, remember that creativity is what writing is all about!
Good luck in your writing career
Thanks for stopping by, Wendy. Kudos to you (ooh, channeling Margie Lawson there!) for learning fast not to be sucked under by the call of the Internet.
Keep writing every day!
Hi Adrienne, Thanks, and thanks for inviting me.
My freelance writing actually actually takes quite a bit of my time every week, but not for the actual writing. I’m very OCD when it comes to putting my name on a piece of published writing, so fact checking is vital. Then there are copyright laws and plagarism to worry about. If I can’t confirm information on my own, I won’t write it, and I definitely won’t copy and paste something from an article I read elsewhere.
Concerning my fiction writing, see my comment to Kelsey.
Hi Jennifer! Great to hear from you!
You should be proud of your first ms. As I recall, a contest win landed you a couple of request for fulls?
YES!! And I credit those requests to the self-editing class I took from Rose Colored Glasses website, as well as from MULTIPLE revisons thanks to my critique group.
Critique groups are wonderful, aren’t they? Finding a group or a critique partner that’s a good fit makes such a difference! Good for you for finding one that clicked.
Hello Jessi,
All authors, no matter how many books they have published, or their success go through bouts of self-doubt.
I would really worry about an author who didn’t. In all actually, that is what keeps some very well known authors going, striving, and continually trying to get better.
Hopefully, that feeling will never go away, but you do belong here—no doubt about it.
Great article, BTW.
Hi, Jessi.
Great post. Well written, informative, and gave me a ton to think about while I’m hip deep in revisions. I didn’t know about the freelance job! Good on you for making a decision that works for you and your family.
Lucie j.
John,
Thanks for stopping by. (John provided one of my first critiques, he had to stop counting the wases and weres–there were too many!)
As a multi-published author, you’d know better than I about when or if the self doubt ever goes away, but like anything else in life, I imagine we’d stagnate if we didn’t try to improve.
Thanks for the kind words, and congrats on the success of Tattered Justice.
Hey Lucie j.!
You know me, I love to give you lots to think about! I can’t believe I didn’t tell you about the freelance job?
Keep working on those revisions, I’m waiting for the day I hold a signed copy in my hands!
Hi Jessica,
I too caught the wayward apropos mantra ‘contests, groups and loops, oh my.’
The art of marrying gift and craft is soooooooo blooming challenging; and to do so in a way that honors the crafty learnings and does not get taken over by them is an Alchemical Miracle.
The abundance of writer worlds, all over the world on the wild fey net work of creative conjurers is gift and shadow.
I’m writing a novel at a time and dipping into the fairy well, when I am drawn in, like now.
Journey well,
Laurel
As to branding. It is a mystery. I like mystery. I’m not sure about branding.
a link to my nascent unfolding site that is Raven Branded, and includes my voice.
http://web.me.com/alchemymercury/SymbolicBridging/voice.html
Laurel–Thanks for stopping by!
Challenging, it is. We’ve all heard the quote, “Writing is easy. All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until the drops of blood form on your forehead.”
Well, these days, most of us stare at the computer screen, but the premise stands. Good luck in continuing to uncover the mystery…
Hi guys, I’m always seeking out new information and thoughts on promotion for unpublished, as I’m unpublished (and have been knocking on the ‘published’ door for about a decade). This was an interesting article.
I agree that the craft is more important than promo and marketing for unpublished folks like myself. However, there comes a point when your writing is competitive enough, but if you don’t have a platform or full enough ‘resume,’ you lose to the other author who does. That’s what happened to me. I made it to acquistions at a big NY publishing house. The editors loved my book, were excited about it we were ‘almost’ a go. Then Marketing stepped in and wasn’t willing to take a risk on a new author without much of a platform to stand on. So now, I work my hiney off on building my platform while I continue writing my stories. It’s exhausting, but I’m an entreprenuer and from what I’ve read and heard from successful published authors, this is just the beginning of the hard work and stress.
Anyway, thanks for a great topic. It gave me some more ideas on what I can do to make myself look even better to Marketing.
Ann Charles
Ann -
My heart broke for you when I read this.
I would love to hear more about how you’re building your platform and how you made some of the decisions on which direction to go. I think this is a topic RU readers are very interested in. Maybe you would consider visiting RU as a guest. If you’re interested, let’s chat.
Best,
Kelsey
Jessica,
Thanks for sharing your insight! I also am an aspiring writer and have just started the platform building stuff. Websites and facebooks and such. It seems like the more you can be ahead of the game early , the better off you are. I have changed my writing style quite a bit, with all the help and advise out there for new writers. It can be daunting some days! But yes writing is a passion and one I love!
Hi Ann. I’m so sorry to hear about your experience. Making it so close to a NY pub house had to have been killer.
You said, “…if you don’t have a platform or full enough ‘resume,’ you lose to the other author who does.” Sad, but true. That’s where the balancing act comes in.
I made the huge mistake as a new writer of focusing too much on the “other stuff” and not enough on the actual writing, but I tend to take things to the extreme end of the spectrum.
BTW, busting your hiney is working–I recognized your name!
Hello Jane! Thanks for stopping by.
Isn’t it amazing how much help and advice is out there for new authors? Just don’t turn into a chameleon like I did!
Best of luck in your writing career!
Hi again Jessica,
You wrote: “Making it so close to a NY pub house had to have been killer.”
It was a doozy of a publisher, and if I’d made it past marketing, I would have made enough off the advance to hire a publicist so I could focus on writing instead of self-promoting my way to the top. Instead, marketing stepped in and taught me a painful lesson. And after I repaired the holes I’d made in the drywall upon hearing the bad news, I dusted myself off and decided that the way to make it past the marketing bouncers was to learn everything I could about promotion, marketing, and publicity, apply what I would learn, and try again. And again.
Perseverence, patience, and determination–a steady diet of mine.
Thanks,
Ann
Hi Jessi~
I had NO IDEA you were writing! How is that possible that I missed that? I loved the article and just wanted to say I’m so proud of you! Keep up the great work…I’m guessing the article was extremely helpful for those trying to start in the business.
Best wishes and hope to see you soon!
Bobbi
Hi Bobbi! Somehow I missed this the other day!
I don’t to family much about my fiction writing, and the freelance is a new gig, you can check that out here: http://bit.ly/MyExaminerPage. Besides, you’ve been a little busy this past decade getting all those college degrees, and helping me so much in the past year or so. 
Thanks for the kind words. Take care!
Hey Jessi,
Great lecture. I especially love your description on Gruntville! Hilarious! You are a writer for sure,
Warmly,
Christine
Ann,
Must’ve been tough to keep writing with those bruised knuckles! At least you learned and, instead of quitting, you’re out there fighting your way to make it. I actually have a sister who owns a PR company. Wouldn’t you think she’d have the decency to begin representing authors, so I could benefit from a bit of nepotism?
Keep at that diet!
Christine–a fellow NRW member (President, as a matter of fact)–thanks for stopping by!
As a mother and a writer, not to mention all of the other things you do, I know you understand all about Gruntsville. It’s nice to know we have the support of fellow writers!
I love writing and reading books. I love the notion that people can make things up in their mind and then make them real on a page, for the pleasure or utility of someone else. One of my favorite mentor on learning how to write a book is Mark Victor Hansen, co-author of Chicken Soup for the Soul.