So - You Want To Be A Writer!

In theory, anyone who can write their name can write a book.
 
In theory.
 
In practice it’s a very different story (pun intended).

From the emails we get seeking advice and from the questions we see on social media, it’s clear that a lot of would-be authors get frustrated when they find out just how difficult it is to write a book.
 
And then there are the emails and social media posts that ask how to get started as a writer and we weep in frustration at the sorts of replies we see from other authors. They are very often so encouraging without telling the questioner the truth, which is that writing is very hard work, publishing is harder and marketing a book is the hardest part of all.
 
We have no problem with the idea of encouraging people to write, but we have to temper that advice with  warnings about reality or we may do more harm than good.

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All that encouragement gives these people a false sense of the reality of being a writer and I can’t help but feeling they end up asking “Why did no one tell me writing was this difficult?”

​And they usually say it just before they hit the “delete” key on their work and go and look for something easier to do.
 
Which is a shame, because if they had been told the truth and been prepared for the journey from the start, they might have ended up being good writers.
 
Now, the purpose of this blog is not to discourage anyone from becoming an author. It is a great life if you can do it, with a tremendous sense of achievement when your book starts to sell. If you think you can deal with everything that goes with it, then please do become an author.
 
But this blog is a reality check for budding authors. If you think anything I say in the paragraphs that follow sounds too much like hard work for too little reward, then writing may not be for you.

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Author and journalist Christopher Hitchens

The problem started with author and journalist Christopher Hitchens (1949 – 1989) who said “Everyone has a book in them.”
 
Why was this a problem?
 
Because that isn’t actually what he said.
 
What Hitchens actually said was ““Everyone has a book inside them, which is exactly where it should, I think, in most cases, remain.” He was having a conversation with friends, and he was being sarcastic, but somehow this quote escaped into the public awareness.
 
So now everyone remembers the first bit of the quote and they don’t even know about the last bit.
 
But, because of that misquote, whole generations of people think that they can write a book.
 
Now, I’m not saying they can’t, but based on some of the submissions we get here at Selfishgenie Publishing, there is a chasm between wanting to write a book and having the talent and skills needed to actually do it.

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The naturally talented Tiger Woods

Yes, there is such a thing as raw (or natural) talent. But raw talent needs nurturing, which people forget.
 
I’ll use the golfer Tiger Woods as an analogy.
 
Tiger Woods didn’t go straight from hitting a golf ball at the age of 5, in his family’s back yard, to winning the US  Masters at Augusta. He had raw talent, sure, but if he had just relied on that we would now be saying “Tiger who?”
 
Between 1980, when Tiger was 5, and 1997, when he won his first Masters, was a 17 year journey of golf lessons, coaching, endless practicing  and playing to upgrade his raw talent to a “Major” winning capability.
 
And that is how it works with writing, too.

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The fact you can write a half decent essay or report does not make you either a writer or an author. Creative writing, that which is necessary to write a novel, is a skill that has to be learnt.
 
Universities know this, which is why they offer degrees in creative writing.
 
I’m not saying that everyone who wants to be an author has to go to university (or college, if you prefer), but they do need to take their raw talent and develop it so that they can go from being someone who writes a good essay to someone who writes a best-selling novel.

It is the same journey that Tiger Woods took, only without the necessity of carrying a bag of golf clubs around
 
(Tiger Woods did go to college  on a golfing scholarship, but that was a means to an end. There were other ways he could have completed his golfing education).
 
So, Mr, Ms, Mrs or Miss wannabe author, are you willing to put some time into developing your talent?

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Are you willing to take courses in creative writing?
 
Are you willing to attend writers’ workshops?
 
Are you willing to join writer’s groups (real ones, not virtual ones) to get feedback on your writing?
 
Are you willing to sit and listen to feedback that says you could do it better?
 
Are you willing to spend years practicing so that you can improve as a writer?
 
Are you capable of dealing with the self-doubt and imposter syndrome that plagues many writers?
 
And all before you write the first word of your first actual novel.
 
OK, I’ll admit that some authors do have enough natural talent to make it big at the first attempt.
 
But they are the exception, they are not the rule. The chances of being one of those prodigies, is extremely small.

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But, thanks to modern technology, it is easy to find out if you are one of these prodgies. Join a Facebook writers’ group, post a piece of work on the page (anonymously) and ask for feedback.
 
I can be pretty sure that what you receive back will not be overwhelmingly positive. Even though a lot of the feedback will be couched in positive language, it will be negative in its meaning.
 
So, you’ve put the hard yards in, and your first novel is ready to be released into a world that couldn’t give a damn about it.

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Because that is another lesson the newbie author has to learn. The world is not waiting with bated breath for their novel.
 
This is when they find out that getting your book published is even harder than writing it.
 
Querying (as it is known) is brutal. Most authors get rejection after rejection before they find an agent to represent their work to publishers. Are you ready for that?
 
We speak from experience when we say that those rejections hurt, and the pain doesn’t get any less the more rejections you get.
 
The biggest named authors in the world have all had at least one rejection. It’s on record that J K Rowling had ten before eventually landing a deal for her first Harry Potter book.
 
Even getting an agent isn’t the end of the journey, because publishers don’t like taking risks on first time authors. Your agent may like your book and have faith in it, but it doesn’t mean they can sell it to a publisher. J K Rowling’s publisher had so little faith in her book that the first print run was only 5,650 copies. Most of those went to reviewers.

So, how many rejections are you willing to accept before you call it a day?
 
Actually, thanks to the internet and the mushroom like growth of self-publishing platforms, you don’t have to call it a day anymore. You can self-publish your book.

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No one is going to stumble over your novel by accident!

But that is just more hard work, You now have a whole new set of skills to learn, and they are called editing, cover design, formatting and marketing.
 
That last one, marketing, is the hardest of all. Sorry to have to tell you  this, but no one is going to stumble over your book by accident. You have to take them by the hand and lead them to your book.
 
With a lot of hard work, you may sell 1,000 copies of your book. 
That would put you into the top 10% of all authors.

Yes, you read that right. Only 10% of all published authors sell more than 1,000 books in their lifetime.
 
Here’s the breakdown.
 

• 0.1% of authors are in the “superstar” league of 7 digit incomes, where they are household names (Most of their money actually comes from film or TV rights, not from book sales).
• 0.9% of authors make a 6 digit per year or higher income from their books.
• 9% of authors make between a 5 digit and a 6 digit income.
• 90% of authors would starve if they had to rely on their writing income to be able to afford food.

 
If an author wants to sell their book, they must first learn how to market it if they want to eat regularly.
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So, do you still want to be a writer?
 
I hope so, because there is room in the world for you.
 
But don’t believe that it is an easy path to fame and fortune, because anyone who says it is, is a liar.
 
Yes, maybe anyone can become a writer. But not every writer will be good at it and not every good writer will be successful.

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