The Business of Writing

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by Barb, in Key West at last!

Welcome to the sixth and last of my posts about what I’ve learned in my fourteen years as a published author. This post is about the Business of Writing.

I’ve spent most of those years as a traditionally published author and I’m writing from that experience, so view what I have to say from that perspective.

And by the way, I’m astonished that after twenty years we’re somehow seeing instances of traditional versus indie bomb-throwing. It reminds me of the working mom versus stay-at-home mom tempests my younger self was subjected to. These conversations always seem to come from a defensive crouch. Do what’s right for you. Make the most of the choices you have. Let others make the best choice for themselves. Live and let live.

For years, when I’ve talked about the publishing business, I’ve used air quotes. The publishing “business,’ because if you come to it with experience in other industries, publishing will be unrecognizable to you as a business.

[After this, I wrote several paragraphs about the ways the publishing business is insane and the reasons why I think that is so, but I’ve scrapped them. That’s not the point.]

Here’s the point. Author, you are on your own. Whether you are traditionally or independently published, it is down to you. You are running your business and nobody cares about it as much as you do.

Will agents and editors give you professional advice and help you grow as a writer? Yes, they will. But they are inherently conflicted.

Your agent works for you. But unless he or she is a very bad agent, he is doing a lot more business with your publisher than he is doing with you. I’m not suggesting agents are unethical. I am merely saying their bread is buttered on both sides of these transactions and you had best bear that in mind.

Your editor and publisher work in a shrinking industry under ever worse price and margin pressure. This makes them reflexively conservative. If you are even modestly successful, they will want you to do more of what you have been doing. Because doing something else is risky and businesses that are surviving under threat don’t take risks.

If you are lucky, your agent and your publisher are your partners in the development of your business. Your junior partners.

You come into this business as a supplicant. “Please, please like my work.” “Please please publish my work.” So it’s easy to see how, having come to the business as supplicants, writers have trouble immediately shifting into the role of partner. Senior partner. But remember way back in the first post in this series when I said Voice is confidence. Having a fulfilling career, the one you want, is all about confidence, too.

It’s hard to have confidence when you’re dealing with an agents and editors who have way more experience than you, and who have the power to say no. But if you are going to spend your time writing fiction, for goodness sake, write what you want. Have the career that you want. Will you fail? Probably and often. But trying and failing will leave you happier and more satisfied than toiling away at something that is difficult, that you don’t enjoy, with compensation that is far from guaranteed. If you going to indulge yourself by writing, indulge yourself by doing what you want.

Readers: Do you have questions about the publishing business? Barb has nothing to lose at this point, so she’s likely to give you a candid answer.

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Published by Barbara Ross

Barbara Ross is the author of twelve Maine Clambake Mystery novels and six novellas. Her books have been nominated for multiple Agatha Awards for Best Contemporary Novel and have won the Maine Literary Award for Crime Fiction. She lives in Portland, Maine. Readers can visit her website at www.maineclambakemysteries.com

30 Thoughts

  3. Hear, hear, Barb! Excellent advice. I remember hearing you give a business-minded talk at Crime Bake years ago before my first book came out and thinking what a smart cookie you are about all of this. (I want to read your deleted paragraphs…heh.)

    My question is: If you could go back, is there anything you would have done differently in your writing career?

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    1. Thanks so much, Joanna. The first book in my clambake series did really well for what it was–a mass market paperback original, first in series. But I had no context for that. No one ever explains anything or puts anything in context. As a business person, “It’s doing great,” rang hollow for me. If I had known how well it did, I maybe would have changed my priorities and stepped on the gas for the next couple of books in a way that might have caused them to break out. But who knows, right? They might not have. And I can’t regret the last fourteen years. I’ve had a fun career that I’ve loved, met so many fantastic people, had three grandchildren, and generally had a good life, for which I am so grateful.

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  6. It seems to me publishers have entirely too much power. They determine a release date which could be waaay in the future and the trend now seems to be to not make paperbacks available for pre-order. I always try to support an indie writer.

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  7. Hi Barb!
    I don’t usually write comments but I want to thank you for all the wonderful advice you’ve given. I really appreciate your wisdom!

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  8. Welcome to Key West, Barb! Thank you so much for sharing your in-depth knowledge about the writing process. I see the parallels to acting…all the auditions and rejections until maybe you get one role and you are possibly on your way, or you become so discouraged that you stop and start going into another, more satisfying activity. From what I read and hear, publishers do have too much control, and they make too many assumptions as to what will sell…It’s all about the money, honey! JOY! Luis at ole dot travel

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    1. Thanks, Luis. I wish it was all about the money. When I was in business I used to say companies are either motivated by greed or by fear. When it came to partnerships, I always wanted to partner with companies that were motivated by greed, because they behaved in ways that were predictable. Even if they screwed you over, you would understand why. Companies that are motivated by fear behave in ways that are erratic and unpredictable. They’ll screw you without even realizing it. Much harder to work with. Publishing companies are motivated by fear.
      Look at Mr. Bezos. He runs the ultimate greed-driven business. But put him in the publishing business and he makes a fear-driven decision that may end up causing irreparable harm to his publishing company’s brand and even their existence.

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  10. I’ve really enjoyed the writing but have been rubbish at marketing. Is it too late to push books published a year ago!

    Thank you for helping me at every stage!

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  11. Thank you for sharing so many useful insights with us, Barb, in this post and the others in the series. Even after three traditionally published books and a fourth coming out in six months, I still don’t understand the publishing business. I especially appreciate your insight about publishers’ fear and your reminder about the importance of agents’ relationships to their publishing contacts.

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  12. Great reminders as always. It’s easy to fall into the belief that those who are in the business know best, but that’s not always true. Especially when it comes to how you spend your time and creativity.

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  13. Ultimately what matters is to create the writing life we want, which includes writing the books we want. Hard to do in the face of of all the obstacles involved in an arts-based business. Thanks for being a great model!

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