Thanks for sharing your experience! I’ve just gone back to the first book I wrote (and also failed to get off the ground) and found it very cathartic, but I also outgrew it like you expressed. It’s a long game, writing!
Such a thoughtful read about an experience I’ve never put enough work into to even get to. I find submitting individual poems hard enough to manage my feelings from. This honesty is really helpful to share.
Thanks Lisa! It was an experience I felt lucky to be part of but equally struggled haha but so is the process of putting your ideas anywhere. Least we will always know that we tried x
Oh - and one more thing! One of the best things readers can do to support their favourite writers (aside from reading their work of course) is support the genre. If one writer is excelling in one genre, it uplifts everyone else.
I love this piece. Another element to this (which I get why you didn’t touch on!) is that publishing has become so entirely trend focused recently, but that is at odds with how slowly the industry can be. A book typically takes two years to venture from acquisition to publishing - trends burn out faster. Writers are then put in impossible positions, especially when fiction must be written BEFORE it can be acquired, which either means the book has to be written around the edges of a day job, or you have to have pre-existing wealth and time. The industry is never set up in a way that supports the artist at the centre.
Thanks Monika! And yess I completely agree, the speed of it is excruciating for sure haha it can sometimes be so behind, trends move so quickly. Nope, never seems to support the artist but from outside it looks like it’s changed a little bit with other crafts, hopefully it does at some point with publishing
Oh Louis! I identify with this journey SO BLOODY MUCH! My first novel is speculative fiction too & tbh, I think it's a supremely difficult thing to sell because most publishers just don't have the creative vision to know how to market it. I got lots of "but what shelf would it sit on in bookshops?" when I was out on submission for that novel. Thankfully, right when I'd given up on it altogether & was actually out on submission for my second book, Audible swooped on my first. They LOVED it & didn't see any of the potential pitfalls mainstream publishers were shit scared of. (I've written about the whole journey in much finer detail over on my Substack - a piece on how I landed 2 book deals in 1 month. Have a look if it feels useful.) Anyway, the reason I'm saying all this is because there's more than one way to skin a cat & it's never really over with anything you've created until you're dead (& even then, there's posthumous publishing! Ha). Hang on in there & good luck with novel number 2! x
You’re definitely right about speculative fiction and publishers not having the creative vision. And yesss that’s amazing about your audible deal and I remember seeing your substack, thought it was gorgeous writing and so encouraging. And yess you’re so right, I don’t think it will stay in the drawer for ever but for now at least. Thank you for the words of encouragement and advice, it’s really appreciated. Just read the blurb for your book and must have a listen/read!!
Thanks for sharing your experience! I’ve just gone back to the first book I wrote (and also failed to get off the ground) and found it very cathartic, but I also outgrew it like you expressed. It’s a long game, writing!
It really can be, but I believe no challenge doesn’t come with some kind of learning experience!
Such a thoughtful read about an experience I’ve never put enough work into to even get to. I find submitting individual poems hard enough to manage my feelings from. This honesty is really helpful to share.
Thanks Lisa! It was an experience I felt lucky to be part of but equally struggled haha but so is the process of putting your ideas anywhere. Least we will always know that we tried x
Oh - and one more thing! One of the best things readers can do to support their favourite writers (aside from reading their work of course) is support the genre. If one writer is excelling in one genre, it uplifts everyone else.
And 100% with this!!! All about the uplift
I love this piece. Another element to this (which I get why you didn’t touch on!) is that publishing has become so entirely trend focused recently, but that is at odds with how slowly the industry can be. A book typically takes two years to venture from acquisition to publishing - trends burn out faster. Writers are then put in impossible positions, especially when fiction must be written BEFORE it can be acquired, which either means the book has to be written around the edges of a day job, or you have to have pre-existing wealth and time. The industry is never set up in a way that supports the artist at the centre.
Thanks Monika! And yess I completely agree, the speed of it is excruciating for sure haha it can sometimes be so behind, trends move so quickly. Nope, never seems to support the artist but from outside it looks like it’s changed a little bit with other crafts, hopefully it does at some point with publishing
I’ve died on submission twice. It sucks!!!! There are more good ideas in you. Keep going.
Ahhh it’s so tough out there and yesss keeping it moving for sure, thanks Auri 💗
Oh Louis! I identify with this journey SO BLOODY MUCH! My first novel is speculative fiction too & tbh, I think it's a supremely difficult thing to sell because most publishers just don't have the creative vision to know how to market it. I got lots of "but what shelf would it sit on in bookshops?" when I was out on submission for that novel. Thankfully, right when I'd given up on it altogether & was actually out on submission for my second book, Audible swooped on my first. They LOVED it & didn't see any of the potential pitfalls mainstream publishers were shit scared of. (I've written about the whole journey in much finer detail over on my Substack - a piece on how I landed 2 book deals in 1 month. Have a look if it feels useful.) Anyway, the reason I'm saying all this is because there's more than one way to skin a cat & it's never really over with anything you've created until you're dead (& even then, there's posthumous publishing! Ha). Hang on in there & good luck with novel number 2! x
You’re definitely right about speculative fiction and publishers not having the creative vision. And yesss that’s amazing about your audible deal and I remember seeing your substack, thought it was gorgeous writing and so encouraging. And yess you’re so right, I don’t think it will stay in the drawer for ever but for now at least. Thank you for the words of encouragement and advice, it’s really appreciated. Just read the blurb for your book and must have a listen/read!!