Waiting for “Mr. Write”

by Sophie Perinot

I am in a rare and sometimes frightening place. Those of you who’ve finished more than one book know it. I am awaiting the publication of a novel (4 months), and yesterday I handed a completed work-in-progress over to my trusted critique partners in anticipation of that manuscript’s “date” with my agent later this month.

This is that moment when the grain has been harvested, but you are not quite ready to thresh.

It should be a time of thanksgiving for a good harvest—for a manuscript I am extremely proud of. And it is. But it is something else too. For this writer at least, it is a period of mourning and nervous energy.

I have lost the closest companions (save my human family) of these last months. The characters who interrupted and informed my days and peppered my dreams are gone. Even when I turn back to editing, I will be merely arranging flowers on their graves. They will speak to me no more. This is grief profoundly real and unimaginable to those who do not write. I miss my protagonist at odd moments. I tear up driving my car. I have been widowed, and I suspect the only non-writer person who understands that is my flesh and blood husband (who, god bless him, is not the jealous type).

Yet, because I’ve done this before, my sadness is underpinned with anticipation. I know, in a way that newbie writers do not, that a brain that wrote once will do so again (just like those widowed from happy marriages are the most likely to marry again)

So I am waiting, waiting for Mr. Write.

I can’t force it. I have manila files (don’t we all) of research, neatly gathered by time period and story idea. But I am not looking at them. I have helpful friends who want to introduce me to characters—most recently my middle-child who, traveling in Europe, skyped me absolutely giddy with an intriguing story from Saxony.  But even if Mr. Saxony is ultimately my next beau, it is just too soon. Go on a first date with him now and he will become my rebound. That would be a waste.

I piddle around. I do the things that everyday life requires. I organize the notes from my wip into a

tidy folder. When I think no one is looking, I open up my “inspiration” folder and gaze lovingly at the characters who have gone. I listen to “our songs” (yes, the characters from my wip demanded a playlist). But one corner of my brain is on alert. I am waiting to glimpse something special out of the corner of my mind’s eye. I am waiting to hear a voice behind me in the produce section of the grocery store—a voice that says, “excuse me, are you Sophie? I have a story to tell you.”

Ah, there you are Mr. Write! 

Sophie Perinot’s next novel, Médicis Daughter--set at the intrigue-riven, 16th century French Valois Court--will be out in December of 2015. She could tell you about her wip but then she'd have to kill

you. To find out about Sophie's previous literary endeavors, visit her website, or her FB page.  You can also  follow her on Twitter as @Lit_gal 

The Stages of Grief--Um I Mean Marketing (*nervous laugh*)

It is t-minus 6 months and counting.  Another book launch for me.  There will be celebration of course.  Releasing a book into the wild is always an achievement, and an act of faith.  It must be celebrated as such.  It is also a signal to release the demon: the marketing monster.

Most of us who write do not say to ourselves, “Hey I want to be an author so I can market the hell out of my creations.  You know if I could JUST do the marketing, I’d be in heaven.”  No, what most of us say about the promotional aspects of this gig would be patently inappropriate for a blog post.  Yet marketing swiftly becomes our primary focus, our obsession, and the monster hiding under our bed—from six-months out to six-months post-release.  That’s a year of our lives mes amis.

See--this is the book.
And clearly I am a publicity whore

This morning as I sat down at my desk I found myself thinking not (with delicious anticipation) of finishing a draft of my wip (I am within striking distance), but of what I could do or say about my soon-to-release-novel that wouldn’t sound like “buy my book” and wouldn’t make me feel like I was naked on a street corner during rush hour.

And then, out of nowhere Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s stages of grief (which I allegedly learned in a psychology class somewhere in my distant past, but which actually lodged themselves in my brain—as so many things do—only as a result of a piece of popular culture, Bob Fosse’s “All That Jazz”) popped into my mind.  In case they are not fresh in your mind, here they are, the big five: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.

They are supposed to describe how we’d feel if we lost someone dear to us but frankly I think they do a credible job of explaining the phases of book promotion.  Hear me out.

Denial—Good books sell themselves right? I am with a big five publisher, they will take care of all the publicity and marketing for me.  That’s their job.  Writing is mine.  It’s too early to be thinking about pre-sales/sales/reviews.  If I start this early I will burn out.  Jeez, I am burned out already and I haven’t started.

Anger—F**k this s**t!  I feel like a whore, and not even an expensive one.  I hate having to remind people that books that start their lives with strong pre-orders are printed and distributed in larger quantities, stay on shelves longer, and are displayed more prominently.  The thought of sending notes to people on my xmas-card list reminding them I have a book releasing gives me hives.  I am NOT doing this, do you hear me! Not. Doing. This.

Bargaining—Fine, I will send the post cards.  But surely I don’t need to start thinking about marketing my book until a week or two before release.  After that I swear, I SWEAR I will be all about that novel, but for the next few months I want to be about what I am writing now. Pretty please?

Depression—I am doomed.  This book is doomed.  I can’t even get my own siblings to pre-order.  They just said, “nice postcard.”  Probably, screaming, “did you order the damn book” was not the best response on my part.  I am going to be seated at the kids table for Christmas.  I am not going to be invited to Christmas.  I do not know why I am finishing my wip, because if sales are not good on the new release I will never have another published work.  I wonder if I can be a dog walker?  Too bad my own dog does not even like me.

Acceptance—Marketing, for better or worse, is a large part of what I as an author have to do in modern publishing. This is true whether I am with a major publisher, a small publishers, or I choose to indie publish.  The day of the “recluse who just writes” are past—unless and until I hit super-star status, and then I will buy a castle and let the books sell themselves. So, I will square my shoulders and divide my writing day.  Six months out it will be 75% wip and 25% laying the groundwork for launch. By the time my launch is a month out, that will be flipped.  For the last week before and the first six weeks after launch my wip will be my “treat,” and working on it will replace my other leisure activities.  I will sign books, blog, be present on social media.  I will carry a stash of postcards in my glove compartment and another in my purse.  I will support the efforts of my publicist and my marketing team at every turn and I will come up with ideas and actions to supplement what they do.  I will thank them—often.  I will thank my friends, and remind them that having bought the book they are not obligated to read it.  I will not ask them what they think of it.  I will be merciful.

Oh, and I will NOT forget all this.  I will not make myself go through these damn phases again . . . until I do ;p

Sophie Perinot’s next novel, Médicis Daughter--set at the intrigue-riven, 16th century French Valois court--will be out in December of 2015.  But you can ABSOLUTELY pre-order it now.  DO IT! She does not care if, once it arrives, you use it as toilet paper on your next camping trip.  To find out about Sophie's previous literary endeavors, visit her website, or her FB page.  You can also  follow her on Twitter as @Lit_gal

Everyone’s a Critic, but Few People Make Good Critique Partners

by Sophie Perinot

You can’t pick your relatives but you CAN pick your critique partners.  And a wise choice will make you a better writer.

The tools in each writer’s kit vary—sometimes wildly (if you don’t believe me, put a pantster and a plotter in the same room).  But whether you write long hand or go straight to your keyboard, whether you do a quick-and-dirty first draft or agonize over every word, there is one tool essential to turning out a novel worth reading and that’s a good critique partner.

Given that critique partners are so essential to authorial success, it is perhaps not surprising that newbie writers snap up the first living breathing body available to them.  That is a mistake, a big mistake.

The selection of a critique partner should NOT be driven by desperation or sheer gratitude.  I mean imagine if people got married that way—if they were just glad to be asked by someone, anyone?  Shudder.  Yet I've seen people acquire critique partners in that manner, and then try to “make it work” when a divorce would be a mercy.

So how do you interview someone for what is basically an unpaid and sometimes thankless job without seeming rude? And how do you and make a reasoned selection?

Let’s start with the most basic qualification: the person under consideration needs to be a writer.  Save your grandma/best friend for the role of beta reader.  Yes, I am sure she reads hundreds of books a year and will offer an honest, unvarnished opinion of your wip (actually I am not sure, but that’s beside the point).  BUT she is not a writer.  Would you hire the bag-boy at your grocery store for legal advice?  When it comes to critiquing your writing you want someone who can write and write well, which leads me to point two . . .

When you meet a fellow writer (at a conference, in a virtual community, through a “critique partner’s wanted” posting) and you start thinking “maybe this one is the one,” be smart—start by offering help before requesting it.  Offer to critique something for the candidate: his first three chapters, her query letter.  Get a sense of whether he/she is not just a writer but a GOOD writer.  Personally, I looked for critique partners who write better than I do.  No matter how nice your critique-partner prospect is, if you don’t respect their work you need to finish critiquing the portion of manuscript you've been given, smile nicely, say how much you've enjoyed it and then walk away.

Assuming your possible partner survives this first hurdle, you will want to refrain from doing a little victory dance until you find out if this person—let’s call him tall-dark-and-talented—can edit.  Or more specifically, can edit in a way that is useful to you in shaping your manuscript.  A surprisingly large number of awesome writers cannot critique the work of others.  Why?  Three problems are common:

• Some people are just too nice.  They might be willing to circle a comma fault, but they aren't willing to go much further.  They desperately want to tell you your book is great (primarily because they desperately want someone to tell them their book is great).  This is useless to you.  If you want to hear your book is great you can go back to grandma.  I am willing to concede for a moment that your first draft IS great, but you want to make it better, right?  That’s why you are seeking a critique partner. So you need someone who is willing to say the tough stuff: your protagonist lacks dimension, your back-story isn't working, the manuscript could start two chapters later without losing anything.  In other words, someone who can see big-picture developmental issues, not just catch misspellings.

• Some writers can only see your work through the lens of their own style.  I call these the “my way or the highway” crew. Such a partner is more than willing to mark-up your manuscript, and every edit they suggest will make your writing more like theirs.  But you don’t want to be them, you want to be a better authentic YOU.  A good critique partner gets your style and holds you to it.  They will identify an awkward sentence without rewriting it in their signature style.  So when you get your first chapter back from tall-dark-and make sure his comments are not just an attempt to turn you into his clone.

• Sometimes there is a basic incompatibility of vision.  This is the would-be-partner whose comments just don’t resonate.  Every partner, even the best, is going to make suggestions that have you thinking “huh?”  These are changes you will ultimately leave on the table—after all it is your book and you can be selective.  But if a majority of tall-dark-and’s comments simply don’t add up for you, than however many his other attractive features, there is no chemistry and he is not your match.

When you find someone who can both write and edit you celebrate!  And you also commit.  I mean if you like it then you better put a ring on it—metaphorically. Be ready to become your new critique partner’s ally, giving your time (sacrificing the occasional a weekend when she has a deadline) and best efforts to review her work.  Like most things in life, you will get out of the critiquing relationship what you put into it.  It is not a coincidence that so many critique partners climb the ladder of writing success together.  They are boosting each other up the whole way.

Sophie P’s has two critique partners of her very own--one of whom has played that role for eight years (yes, the woman is a saint).  Sophie's next novel, Médicis Daughter--set at the intrigue-riven, 16^th century French Valois court--will be out in December of 2015.  But you can ABSOLUTELY pre-order it now.  To find out about Sophie's previous literary endeavors, visit her website, or her FB page.  You can also  follow her on Twitter as @Lit_gal 

The Unreliable Narrator: Should We Let Characters Have Their Way?

by Sophie Perinot

I have learned to cherish the unreliable narrator. I don’t use that term in the usual sense—the narrator who, often at his writer’s behest, leads readers astray and makes them think hard about what is true and what is not in his recounting of a book’s action. No, I mean the character you as an author researched, outlined, storyboarded, breathed life into, who decides she is NOT who you think she is.

When I first started writing I did not know what to make of these episodic occurrences. I’d be writing dialogue and suddenly some character—usually the main one, the one whose head I lived in, the one I thought I knew as well as I know myself—would say something I totally did not expect. The effect was sort of like being hit from behind while driving. My head would jerk back and I would be swept by a feeling of “what was that?” The further I got into my inaugural novel, the more frequently my characters grabbed the reins of power and the more firmly they held them. No longer was it just a matter of a few sentences that surprised me, they were making life-changing decisions or rather story-changing ones.  I am not alone in this experience. Nearly every writer I know has had it. For example, a good friend of mine who is a successful multi-published author recently reported that the character she created specifically to be the love interest in her wip decided this week that he may be gay.  Yeah that’s a game changer.

For a novel to be successful what our characters do and say must to ring true, must be compatible with their natures.  So who decides upon that nature? Of course ultimately we can force our characters to do what we want.  But should we?

As my characters in my debut novel became more and more strong-willed I began to perceive a pattern.  When they stood up for themselves, my writing came alive.  Instead of reaching for word-count goals I had a hard time stopping for the day.  I was late to carpool.  I wrote in carpool.  By the time I set to work on my second novel, I viewed my early writing as merely preparation—sort of like prayer.  Sure I’d done my research and filled my subconscious with both historical facts and plot ideas, but I was merely setting a stage. I was waiting for a spark, for what I have come to call “the genesis moment” when my characters would come to life, and reveal to me who they really were.

Now, as a veteran writer hard at work on another first-draft, I view myself less an omnipotent God (and don’t all novelists sort of feel like they are all-powerful creators manipulating characters and readers alike when they begin their author journey?) and more like Abraham Heschel’s “most moved mover.”  Yes, warning, I am going to quote philosophy.  Heschel said that, “while God is often frustrated by our actions, he endures, patiently waiting for us to turn our attention to the sacred task of universal redemption.”  Alright, alright, I do not expect my characters to get busy with universal redemption (I don’t’ write literary fiction, remember), but the point is I’ve come to trust my characters.  Sure they still frustrate me when they go off on what I perceive to be a tangent, but instead of fighting them, I try to wait patiently, taking it all down with the knowledge that they are trying to find their way—to find my way for me—to where my story needs to be in order to be my best work.  This is not recalcitrance, this is inspiration, and I can discipline them a bit in editing if I need to.

The very unreliability that used to give me whiplash now invigorates me.  It is the crack-cocaine that brings me back to my laptop every day, the high-inducing interruption that gets me out of my morning shower and sends me scrambling for a yellow legal pad.  My narrators are truly the most reliably themselves when they become three-dimensional animate actors with free will, not just stick figures I move around the page in keeping with an outline.

So I say all hail the unreliable narrator!  What say you?

Sophie P’s The Sister Queens, (March 2012/NAL), is set in 13th century France and England and weaves the captivating story of sisters, Marguerite and Eleanor of Provence, who both became queens. She collaborated in the Roman-era A Day of Fire, a ground-breaking “novel in six parts” exploring the last days of Pompeii (November 2014/Knight Media).  Her next novel, Médicis Daughter, (December 2015/Thomas Dunne) is set at the intrigue-riven, 16^th century French Valois court, and spins the tale of beautiful princess Marguerite who walks the knife edge between the demands of her serpentine mother, Catherine de Medicis, and those of her own conscience.  Visit Sophie at her website, or on FB, follow her on Twitter as @Lit_gal

You're A Part of the Scene

by R.S. Mellette

I've been binge-watching the Foo Fighter's series, Sonic Highways, on HBO. It chronicles Dave Grohl's journey with the rest of the band to record a song, inspired by and recorded in a different city around the country. While in that city, they delve into the evolution of the music scene that is unique to that part of the world.  Jazz in New Orleans. Blues in Chicago. Go-Go & Funk in D.C. etc. Not only is the history fascinating, I found the series inspirational for artists of all kinds, including myself as a writer.

But nostalgia is useless if it doesn't teach us something about today, or guide us toward a better tomorrow.

I got to thinking about those music scenes. For a brief moment, I wished I had been involved in something as cool as grunge in Seattle, or Willie Nelson in Austin. Then I said to myself, "You idiot! You are. Right now. Right here at From The Write Angle."

Sure, our Moveable Feast may not be in Paris, but this isn't the 1920s. None of us may be as famous as Hemingway, Fitzgerald or Joyce, but neither were they at the time. If they were, or if we were, then it wouldn't be a scene would it? All great "you should have been there back when" scenes start before the artists become household names. For those involved, it's not necessary for their peers to make it big. They are mythic not for what they will do as famous artists, but what they did last Tuesday when they couldn't afford breakfast.

So whether this little band of writers is destined for greatness or not, I thought I would provide my portion of the yet-to-be-made (or never-to-be-made) documentary on our little scene. Those who are a part of it, as participants or audience, feel free to chime in with your own angle of the story in the comments.

For most of us, From The Write Angle started with AgentQuery Connect, which is a scene unto itself. The head of that little movement is the mysterious AQCrew. No one knows who AQCrew really is, but his or her guiding hand has been a big influence to writers, published or not. The mystery of AQCrew's real identity adds to the mythic aspect of AQC's tale.

For me, From The Write Angle started when Robert K. Lewis, aka Thrownbones, got an agent. This was around 2008 or '09 on the first incarnation of Agent Query Connect. Not only was I completely jealous, which is my highest compliment, but he wasn't around the boards as much and I missed his posts. Shortly after that, I got an agent and I missed his posts even more.

There are a whole new set of problems a writer encounters once they make it to the next level, but to complain about them to writers on the level below is kind of rude. I had never been the type to think I needed a support group, but Agent Query Connect had become that as sure as if it were held in the rec room of a local community center. Once I'd found an agent I felt like I'd lost my support, so I asked AQCrew if I could form a password protected group for writers who have agents.

When ACQ moved to the new site, this group became The Class of 2009. Most of us moderated (or still moderate) forums on that site. At some point, AQCrew mentioned that writers were forming blog groups and that we should consider doing something like that. From The Write Angle was born.

My biggest contribution after that was writing the statement of purpose:

We learn best, not from our bigger than life heroes, but our big brothers and sisters. We run fastest to catch the person just in front of us, not who has already finished the race. We seek The Write Angle to help you, not because we have reached the summit, but because we are in arm's length, and when you are arm's length ahead of us, we hope you'll remember how you got there.

In 2012, Matt Sinclair started publishing short stories via his Elephant's Bookshelf Press. As I say in the acknowledgements of Billy Bobble Makes A Magic Wand, he is our Sun Records. Thronebones went on to have his Mark Mallen noir series published. Mindy, R.C., Sophie, Cat, etc. have all done well and still blog here along with the rest of the team. Others, have moved on to emeritus status, but like any members of a scene, they are with us in our thoughts.

What scenes are you all currently a part of?  What are you doing now that will be a fond memory in a decade or so?

R.S. Mellette's new book is Billy Bobble Makes A Magic Wand. He is an experienced screenwriter, actor, director, and novelist. You can find him at the Dances With Films festival blog, and on Twitter, or read him in the anthologies Spring Fevers, The Fall: Tales of the Apocalypse, and Summer's Edge.

It is 2015 And Everything Old is New Again

by Sophie Perinot

“Nothing is original, even in sin.” Somebody said that. I thought Oscar Wilde, but I've had surprisingly little luck pinning down the attribution.  Doesn't matter for these purposes, trust me.

Here’s the thing see, the publishing world as we know it is coming to an end!!! (Gosh I wish I could chant that while holding a sign on a stick).  What world isn't?  Things change in all industries, all the time.  Back when the paperback was first introduced there was a tremendous amount of hand wringing.  And we all remember the hysteria that surrounded the e-book and the supposed extinction of the paper book.  Who can forget this heady moment when, approximately 2 years after the Kindle was introduced, the Guardian trumpeted the news that Amazon was selling more e-books than paper ones? Oh yes, the paper book was doomed, until someone recently, helpfully, pointed out (by gum it was the Guardian again) it was making a comeback (“Whisper it quietly, thebook is back …”).

But I don’t really want to talk (aka argue, because wow there is a lot of yelling going around) about whether these are end times.  Because I think, as a writer, there is a more interesting question—what are you going to do about it?

For the purposes of this blog-post let’s assume publishing is the Titanic.  It is sinking.  It wasn’t supposed to, it was supposed to let you quit your day job and make you a legend in your own time (not that it ever did that at any point in its history for a vast majority of writers), and now it is going down into frigid waters (with historically inaccurate sharks for good measure). This is your moment to decide what to do and THERE IS NO ONE RIGHT ANSWER.  I picked the Titanic metaphor for a very specific reason—and no, I am not a fan of Leo and I am not going to start humming Celine Dion.  In this particular metaphor I am a proud member of the orchestra.  I can’t figure out where the lifeboats are, and even if I could, well, I am a writer.  Come hell—or in this allegory very high water—I have at least a couple more stories in me that have to be put to paper.  If somebody told me “your next publication date will be your last, after that you won’t be able to get your words printed on toilet paper with a crayon” I would still finish my wip, I would polish it and tie it up with a bow before trunking it.  I would go down clinging to it (maybe bop a couple of sharks with it as I sank).

None of us can be sure we will survive in the new (make that the new, new, new to the 10th power) age of publishing.  Nobody was certain in the past either folks.  I believe there is a certain dignity in pursuing your craft to the best of your abilities when things seem dire/hopeless.  It is an exercise in character.  And I say again (before I get tackled to the deck and pummeled in my last minutes) I am not suggesting this is the route for everyone.  But if you are of my mindset, pull up a chair, take off your life jacket (it is cumbersome anyway).  Let’s ignore the screaming and the abominable listing of the deck that makes it hard to keep the laptops from sliding off our desks, and let’s write the best thing we’ve ever written in 2015.

Gentlemen, ladies, it has been a pleasure playing with you.

It’s Just Business (No, Seriously)

by Sophie Perinot

It takes a long time for the fact that writing is a business to sink in.

Let’s face it, when you get that offer from an agent (or two, or ten) it feels like the Hogwarts letter—magic baby, pure magic.  You are the few, the chosen, the 2%.  Then you take the next step, a book contract.  Now you are a lottery winner (since only roughly 50% of represented debut authors get this far). And you are being told you are brilliant and you might even think you are an “A”rtist.  But what you are, plain and simple, is a craftsperson under contract and beyond this a business entrepreneur with a small personal brand.

The sooner you recognize this the better.  Not just because it will allow you to make rational decisions about contracts, deadlines and promotions either.

The main reason to remember that writing is a business is so that when the bumps come—and they will my darlings, they will—you do not take them personally.  I have now been a published author for two years and from my not-so-lofty perch I’ve observed lots of other published author friends.  Every bit of feedback you get, every rejection (and rejection never really stops—whether you have a later project turned down or just get a really nasty review questioning whether English is even your first language) is NOT a judgment on you as a person nor even, really, your competence at your craft.

If you make everything personal you will spend a lot of time curled up in a fetal position over stuff that does not warrant that level of emotional angst.   

Example One: you turn in a manuscript to your agent or editor.  You a) think “well, it’s my best work product, I’ll have to see what they think and meanwhile I will work on X, or b) worry yourself sick that they won’t like it and that in rejecting it they will be rejecting you as a person.  FOR THE LOVE OF GOD PEOPLE THE ANSWER HAD BETTER BE A!  If it is not try substituting an evaluation at any other job into the scenario and see how silly it sounds to be second guessing your worth as a human being based upon that assessment.

Example Two: you pitch some ideas to your agent for your next project.  She/he doesn’t like one of your ideas (if you are lucky you haven’t written 200 pages of it already).  If you drank the cool aid you begin to feel both aggrieved and invincible—you will just write the book after all YOU love it and you are the “A”rtist.  And that is perfectly defensible—perfectly—if you are willing to take the chance that agent-dude won’t be able to sell the completed work you've now dumped two years of your life into and if you are not relying on writing to pay any bills.  BUT If you can view this as a business in which you produce a consumer product then chances are you will take the input, swallow hard and write something else.  After all, you hired your agent for his/her expertise and market savvy.  And the best book (or technology for that matter) doesn't always win in the market (says the women whose family owned a Beta Max growing up).

There are dozens of additional examples I could list.  But the point remains the same—almost everything that occurs after publication can be viewed either as personal or business and in nearly every case the latter view will lead to preserved sanity in a way the former will not.

Ultimately the MOST important reason to view writing as a business is so that you can rationally assess whether it suits your professional needs, and for how long you wish to continue in it.  If you worked at a widget factory and started to dread going to work every morning you would probably ask yourself some very pointed questions – 1) do I need this job to keep roof overhead and bread on the table? 2) Do I have the resume (qualifications and experience) to do something else that will achieve roof/bread while making me less crazy? 3) If roof/bread are my primary goals here might I be able to better afford them doing something else?  4) If I don’t need to work for roof/bread am I getting satisfaction out of my business that warrants sticking with it?  5) Is there a way to change my personal business strategy so that my job is more satisfying, provides greater remuneration or both?

Folks, those widget-maker questions work just as well for writing.  The number of writers I've met lately who seem tired of what they are doing (or actually crushed by it) is astounding and time and time again I find myself thinking “if the business of writing is killing you why are you still doing it?”  Of course the obvious answer is that for some people it is what pays the bills and there is no nice alternative.  I am not discounting that possibility for an instant.  I am saying, just make sure, as you would with any other business, that you are evaluating what you do under the right rubric.  This is not a “survival test” and leaving this business is no more a sign of personal failure than is leaving one employer for another.

“Lucky!” A Friday the 13th Meditation on Authorial Luck

by Sophie Perinot

“Lucky!” The day you finally (countless queries into the process) snag an agent, you are going to hear it.  Ditto if you Indie publish something that climbs the ranks of the Kindle paid list.

 

“Lucky!”

I am not discounting for a moment the role of luck in authorial success or more broadly in life.  Sometimes it is just a matter of luck whether or not your e-query winds up in spam or in an agent’s mail box.  And I am certainly a BIG believer in BIG picture luck—constantly reminding my daughters that it wouldn’t matter how smart they were if they’d been born into a brothel in the third world.  So, no matter how unexceptional Mr. Putin thinks we are, I am profoundly glad I was born in the USA.  BUT, relying on luck can be a dangerous thing.  So can dismissing the accomplishments of others as grounded in good fortune.

Luck is a pretty passive concept folks.  And publishing . . . especially in its current change-a-minute permutation is all about action.  Yes people, we are waiting for lightening to strike in terms of sheer statistics but the truth is it is going to take more than luck if are going to fulfill your writing dreams (whether that means finishing a manuscript, getting a deal with one of the major houses).  If you are in the right place at the right time it will avail you nothing if you don’t know how to capitalize on say an agent’s interest, the six weeks surrounding the release of your first book, or being featured in O Magazine.

The answer is obvious, work.  Work like your life depends on it (your authorial life does).  And work smart—take criticism, read about the industry, set goals and meet them.

But there is something more.  Don’t fall into the “luck” trap and its ancillary belief in bad luck.  When you reach a goal (or when a friend does) do NOT dismiss it with a “lucky.”  Spend some time analyzing it—what did the author in question do that may have made the difference?  When you face disappointment don’t dismiss that either.  It is very tempting to say, “it was just not my day,” or “well it takes a lot of queries to get a request.”  Be willing to dissect failures as well.  It DOES take a lot of queries—but if you’ve sent a lot and you are not getting requests assuming that you haven’t queried the right agents or that it is all some random lottery isn’t going to help you, while scrapping that letter (or seriously considering your project’s marketability, gulp) may make a huge difference—even if you walk under a ladder on your way back to your keyboard.

So on this day—when bad luck is traditionally believed to be lurking around every corner—set your superstitions aside, cast of the crutch of “lucky” and take a positive step down your personal authorial path.  Heck, Friday the 13^th would be an excellent day to send out that next batch of queries, hit up a big name author for a book blurb, or work on that next manuscript.  Speaking of which . . . you’ll know where to find me ;)

Sophie Perinot is spending her Friday the 13th holed up in a corner of the 16th century working to finish her next novel. Her first novel, The Sister Queens, was published by NAL/Penguin in 2012 and is on sale in bookstores (brick and mortar and virtual) everywhere. Learn more about TSQ here.

Sophie’s Guide to Conference Success

by Sophie Perinot

I am just back from my 5th North American Historical Novel Society Conference. Yep, I am a conference veteran with all the swagger that entails—or rather deliberately WITHOUT swagger (confidence = good, swagger = counterproductive). And, while I am still thinking conference, I thought I would share my quick-and-dirty strategies for getting the most out of such professional events.

Eventually (and I would argue sooner is preferable to later) every writer will attend a professional conference. For some reason, this prospect seems to engender a certain amount of angst in the heart of word-smith types. Perhaps it is because what we do day-to-day is rather solitary. Perhaps it is because we’ve come to think of our writing as art, or hobby. But once you put a professional conference in the right frame of reference things become a lot easier. Professional conferences are BUSINESS events first and foremost. By treating them as such you are likely to get the most out of them with the least amount “oh my god what should I do/say/wear” anxiety.

Here are my bullet point tips for conference attendance:

• Remember you are attending this event with career goals in mind. Depending on where you are in that career those goals may vary. I attended my first conference before I had a completed manuscript and I was there primarily to learn as much as I could about the “B”usiness end of publishing. I attended this last conference as a published author with totally different goals. Know what you personally want to achieve going into the event. Not generally, specifically. Make yourself a list of goals. If you do this then planning which sessions to attend and even decisions that need to be made on the fly once you arrive will be made infinitely easier.
• Do the prep, seriously. I don’t just mean the research to make sure you are attending a conference that is right for you (right genre, right stage of career, etc). Make certain you’ve made a list of the panels you are most interested in seeing, the fellow attendees you are most interested in meeting. Have the supporting materials you plan to take with you—business cards being the most obvious—ready to go. If you are going to meet someone for cocktails, breakfast, a night cap (all useful), get that on your schedule before you even get on the plane if at all possible. Chaos happens at conferences and while serendipitous opportunities to connect are awesome and should be capitalized upon, you do NOT want to snub someone who you’ve planned to meet up with just because you haven’t got a plan.
• Networking begins long before you arrive at your conference destination and remains vital while there. Please tell me you are already networking inside your genre—following folks on Twitter who share your market niche, friends with people on Facebook, etc. If you are not, now, pre-conference is the time to start. Many conferences have Facebook pages and/or Twitter hashtags, allowing you to begin meeting your fellow participants early. At the last HNS conference we used a hashtag in the lead-up to the event and then quite a number of us live-tweeted from the conference using that tag. This allowed us to spread the reach of the conference to those unable to attend, and allowed us to network with a larger circle than the 300+ people who actually came down to Florida. Seriously consider sharing the wealth of information and experiences you are gaining at your conference by actively posting to social media while you are at the event.
• It’s ALL business, even when it seems like it is not. Yes, there will be social occasions—cocktail parties, meet-and-mingle moments, and you should by all means enjoy yourself and see your friends, but one of the chief reasons to attend a conference is professional networking. If you just stand in the corner and talk to someone you already know from AQConnect or your critique group you are wasting precious opportunities. Work the room and while you do remember—
• It is NOT about you. I know, you spent good money to fly to wherever you are (and on those business cards tucked neatly into the back of your name tag) and you are there to advance your writing, but that doesn’t mean the best way to proceed is to self-promote. Talk about yourself all the time and you seem like a narcissistic twit. Seriously, this is the in-person equivalent of that misguided author who is constantly on social media shouting, “Buy my book.” Listen to people. Ask intelligent questions. What is the person standing opposite you working on currently? Have you read his/her book? Tell them what you liked about it. Find connections and similarities between yourself and whoever is standing in front of you and build a bridge. In other words, having a meaningful conversation is not only your best bet for enjoyably passing the time, it is darn good branding as well. I remember people who were interesting and engaging, people who I had genuine discussions with.
  
  Oh and to the extent you are following my advice and using social networking to keep those outside of the event “in the loop” this same rule applies. Post pictures of other people and not just yourself. Quote panelists. Be a fan, and talk about meeting some of the writers you admire. Do not start every tweet and Facebook post with “I.”

• When you don’t know what to do, say, wear, etc., ask yourself, “What’s the most professional option?” Do you have a day-job? Most of us still do. In your other incarnation—mine was big-law-firm attorney—you know darn well how to dress, talk, and behave, for professional success. You would never get falling-down drunk at an event related to that job (at least I hope you wouldn’t). Well, writing is your other job. Behave accordingly. Sure you might be able to get away with that off-color comment, or super-short skirt and I know we are a society of “Go big or go home,” but you want to be memorable in a GOOD way, not in a “Note to self, avoid Sophie at the next conference” way.
• Do not sweat the small stuff. Forget someone’s name ten minutes after you’ve met them? So what—I can’t remember my kids' names half the time. Make a joke of it or apologize without seeming like you are overreacting. What to wear? This seems to be huge for a lot of people. Why, I cannot say. I mean this is not prom (or any part of high school, thank god) the outfits aren’t the main point. You do not need to change multiple times a day (unless you like to and then follow your zen). Just pick some professional outfits (see last point) and zip the suitcase shut.
• Cool, calm and relaxed—you can manage it, really you can. Relax. Not only will you have more fun and retain more of what you hear (though taking notes is good), you will project the sort of image that makes it clear you are a seriously player in this writing game.

Networking—the most fun you can have at a conference
if you do it right.

There you are—conference ready. Now get yourself registered forthwith, because I guarantee you will have more fun than it should be legal to have and learn more about this industry and your colleagues by attending a writers conference than you will learn sitting at your desk in sweat pants!

Sophie Perinot is currently holed up in a corner of the 16th century working to finish her next novel. Her first novel, The Sister Queens, was published by NAL/Penguin in 2012 and is on sale in bookstores (brick and mortar and virtual) everywhere. Learn more about TSQ here.

Want Writing to be a Profession not a Hobby? The First Step is ADMITTING It

by Sophie Perinot

If you read this blog chances are you have a dream.  A dream that the writing you are already doing in spare moments (and possibly without telling anyone about it) will someday be published making it possible for you to write “author” on the “profession” line on forms (even as you hang onto another professional incarnation as well for the purposes of keeping bread on the table).

The journey from hobbyist to professional is different for every successful writer (and for the purpose of this post I am—rather arbitrarily—defining successful as someone who has a book out, in whatever format, available for purchase), but I’d like to posit that one step is essential.  You have to OWN your ambition.  That’s right, ADMIT that you want your writing to be more than a hobby.  The sooner the better.

On the face that sounds simple.  I can tell you from personal experience it’s not (and, given the amount of heads I see nodding in the virtual audience I am not alone).  Here is why I think this step feels more like a leap—off a cliff:

1) When you write as a hobby you don’t really have to put yourself on the line.  Nobody has to know you are writing. You cannot fail at something nobody knows you are doing.  Even if you choose to share your completed stories with friends or family there isn’t much risk.  If your mother (or a friend) doesn’t like your book she is going to be too polite to say so.  Besides, chances are any home-grown audience will love what you’ve written because they love you.  When we evaluate something created by a person we care about, we are likely to see it with kind and enthusiastic eyes.

2) Hobbies are low pressure.  Hobbies are something we fit into our free time as the mood strikes us.  There is not a lot of accountability involved.  If you plan to finish knitting a scarf for your husband today and don’t—unless you’ve promised it to him for a special occasion—nothing happens.  If you say you are going to write a thousand words a day nobody is going to hold your feet to the fire until you get done (particularly if you haven’t even told friends you are writing).

3) Going public with your dream of publication opens the door to a whole lot of hurt. There is no use lying about that.  The big fear of course is public failure.  If you proclaim that you intend to write and publish a book and then don’t . . . ouch. Or you could have a book published and it could belly flop into oblivion. But even before you get to the edge of that particular precipice, the road to publication involves finding an agent and a publisher—steps that require you to show your manuscript to industry professionals.  Handing over your manuscript to strangers brings with it the inevitable sting of rejection when someone (and doubtless more than one someone too) tells you your baby isn't good enough or isn't marketable.

Why then am I urging you to give up your amateur status? Because if there was ever a “no guts no glory” situation this is it.  Every one of the “upsides” to writing as a hobby that I’ve listed above has major career-foiling-downsides

Like your anonymity?  It’s going to be fleeting anyway.  To be a published author you need to let strangers see your work.  To start with you will need some critical editorial eyes.  Later, you can hardly expect to get an agent or a publisher without showing somebody your manuscript. And while a catch-as-catch can approach to writing time may keep your stress low it is likely to keep your page count low as well.  By thinking of writing as your business you up the ante and increase the chance that you will behave professionally—developing a serious writing schedule and sticking to it; learning about the business end of publishing.

Coming out of your hobbyist hole also puts you in a position to mingle with and learn from other serious writers—whether at a writers’ conference or in an on-line writing community. I mean you can hardly join a critique group if you can’t admit you are writing a novel right? And it is pretty hard to sit in on a conference panel with a bag over your head to mask your identity.  Finally in an industry where branding is increasingly important admitting you intend to be an author lets you get started on developing your personal brand, stretching your writerly toe into the realm of social media or maybe even setting up a writing related website or blog.

So, what are you waiting for?  Stop quietly working on manuscripts and just storing them on your hard drive—take a giant step along the road to realizing your goal of being a published writer by admitting precisely which road you are on.  Start small, by telling someone who will hold you to your goal.  Get an “I am a Writer” tee-shirt.  Find a supportive writers community.  Lurk in the back for a while if you need to but then—boom—one day I’ll expect to see you standing on your chair and shouting “my name is X and I want to be a published writer.”  Mine will be the voice answering back, “Hello and welcome!”

Sophie Perinot is currently holed up in a corner of the 16^th century working to finish her next novel.  Her first novel, THE SISTER QUEENS, was published by NAL/Penguin in 2012 and is on sale in bookstores (brick and mortar and virtual) everywhere.  Learn more about TSQ here.

Tips for Going Clubbing—Book Clubbing That Is

by Sophie Perinot

The first book club I visited.
You never forget your first.

As an author you will have the opportunity to do a number of types of speaking engagements. In the eleven months since the launch of my debut novel, I’ve done book talks, author panels at book festivals, and even a college lecture. All of these were fun and every one of them was a promotional opportunity. But when it comes to sheer bookselling power the grand champion of the author speaking engagement is almost certainly the book club visit.

Once you publish a book you will begin to dream about book clubs. No, literally. Ask my husband—I dream about book clubs. Not stress dreams. Not standing up at a lectern and realizing you’ve forgotten your pants dreams. Nope, book club dreams are the kind of dreams you wake up from feeling warm and fuzzy. I mean do the math—every book club is a chance to make ten, maybe even twenty sales upfront. Make a positive impression during your visit with club members and that dozen copies is just the tip of the book sales iceberg because enthusiastic readers talk. They tell their friends about your book, they pass a promotional postcard for your novel along to someone at work who they know is a member of a different book club and tell her, “This author does Skype visits and she is fantastic.”

So what are the secrets to being a good book club invitee? In searching for a summary of my personal approach to book club visits a quote from Shakespeare in Love popped into my head. In that movie Lord Wessex (boo), instructing Lady Viola with respect to her upcoming audience with Queen Elizabeth, says:

"Be submissive, modest, grateful and brief"

Exactly! I would just add the Boy Scout motto on to the end of that—“be prepared.”

Be submissive—in the “amenable” sense of the word. Being amenable means being, “ready or willing to answer, act, agree, or yield; open to influence.” Attending a book club is different than standing at the front of a room and giving a speech. As a book club guest you are part of a dialogue. You need to be willing to answer questions. You need to LISTEN not just talk. Be open to the comments of members; yield the floor. Let what you are hearing from the readers affect the presentation you’ve planned. A person who feels truly listened to feels valued. And that is precisely how you want readers to feel.

Be modest. Yes you are an honored guest and even—and let me tell you it is SO weird to experience this—a minor celebrity when you show up for a book club meeting (or pop up on the host’s computer screen). At the most spectacular club I’ve attended thus far the hostess had the event catered and made little hand tied bouquets of lavender for all the attendees to commemorate the fact that my heroines come from Provence. But if you let your status as guest-of-honor go to your head and start to act like a “C”elebrity then you risk losing points and readers. You want to be remembered as the author club members connected with on a personal level. Personal connections—in addition to being tremendously fulfilling, and I think talking to readers is absolutely the single best part of this writing gig—sell books. It’s called word-of-mouth, folks, and it is the most powerful book-selling tool on earth.

Be grateful. Look out at the club members. In a market absolutely swamped with product, every single soul present (well, except for the couple who borrowed library copies) bought your book. They read it. They are the audience you’ve pined for since first you put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard). Thank them. Thank them for reading your novel. Thank them for sharing their thoughts about it. Thank them, in advance (and while gently nudging), for reviewing it on Amazon or Goodreads. Thank your hostess for arranging things. If you are attending the club in person, say something nice about the food. But be sincere or don’t bother. Obsequiousness is a real turn off. Be a genuine and polite guest, not an ingratiating flatterer.

Be brief, because to quote the real Shakespeare, “brevity is the soul of wit.” You should be prepared to make some sort of presentation (see my next point) but keep it short because the real heart and soul of a book club meeting is the discussion of the book. Yes, the club invited you because they want to hear you speak, but better to leave them wanting more than to render them drowsy and eager to make an escape.

Be prepared. In spite of everything I’ve said above about being a listener you were, in fact, invited to speak. Book clubs invite authors because an author visit offers value added. The club members are perfectly capable of discussing your book without you. They want you in the room for the thrill of getting inside information. You need to give them something the average reader doesn’t get. You get to decide what that something is. Start by thinking about what you’d want to know about a favorite author or a favorite book. Or perhaps by thinking in terms of what “enhanced features” might be included if your book were a DVD.

Here are some suggestions for adding value to your visit: Go biographical, offering up facts about your past or present. For example, in the Metro DC area where I live many women have transitioned from high-powered careers to being at home and back again, so I often speak about my own struggles with those adjustments. Offer a peek into your creative process. I like to tell readers about the scene in my novel that I wrote first, sharing the story of where I was when the voices came to me. Flesh out the meat of your story. This is particularly interesting to readers if, like me, you write historical fiction. I often talk about the history behind my story, particularly about common misconceptions about historical women. For those who write other genres, consider sharing a scene that ended up on the editing room floor.

Those are my personal clubbing tips. Do you have any you’d like to share in return?

Sophie Perinot is the author of THE SISTER QUEENS, the story of a pair of 13^th century sisters who became the queens of England and France. Currently she is holed up in the 16^th century working on a novel set in Valois France. You can learn more about Sophie and her work here. And YES she would love to visit with your book club!

Resolved

by Sophie Perinot

Writers, like non-writers, often mark the New Year by committing themselves to a collection of resolutions, usually in the form of an earnestly drawn-up laundry list of thing we want to accomplish to forward our work in progress and our careers.  For example, “write 2,000 words a day” is, I would posit, the writer’s equivalent of the average person’s “lose ten pounds.”

I am skeptical of the power New Year’s resolutions.  I think they have, for the most part, forgotten where they came from, and so have we.  They have become nothing more than vague promises we make ourselves at a particularly optimistic moment (when the world is new again and everything seems possible).  And if we don’t keep them later. . . well. . .

Yep.  Pretty darn useless.

This year I suggest that we—wordsmiths by trade—cast our minds back to the root of the term resolution—the word “resolve.”  Resolve is powerful indeed.  True resolve impresses and gets things done.  Take a look at this definition (from Merriam-Webster):

Resolve (noun): 1) fixity of purpose: resoluteness.

Pow! That’s an old-fashioned, commanding concept.  I sit up straighter just reading the definition, don’t you?

So, instead of picking half-dozen specific writing resolutions in these first days of 2013, jotting them down and promptly forgetting where I’ve stuck them, I am going to rediscover my fixity of purpose (I know I set it down somewhere—maybe behind the pile of research books).  When I locate it, I am going to wield it like a sword and treat my work with the urgency and determination that true resoluteness demands.  If (or rather when because set backs are inevitable) I fail to meet the weekly goals for my latest manuscript I am going to recognize my justifications of this failure for what they are—excuses.  Pitiful excuses.  I am going to remind myself that this is a job.  A real work ethic and not just good intentions are needed to get it done.

That’s how I am starting 2013—as a taskmaster who knows true resolve generally involves perseverance, suffering and even self-castigation, NOT as a starry-eyed, optimist who believes that wishing something done will make it so.  How about you?

Sophie Perinot's debut novel, THE SISTER QUEENS (which tells the story of two 13th century sisters who became the queens of England and France) released in 2013.  She is currently working on her Sophomore novel, a task that requires considerable resolve. You can find Sophie at home here, or on Facebook at her author page or the page for her novel.  She is also active on twitter.

What “Shopping Locally” This Holiday Season Means to and for Authors

by Sophie Perinot

In the run up to the holidays I’ve been noticing a lot of “shop locally” buzz. I like the idea, really I do, but I’ll admit I am a shop-from-my-desk gal (yet another distraction from the WIP). That started me thinking about putting a desk-chair-potato (oops) writer’s spin on the “shop locally” theme. What if this year, we who love stories and make them, used our holiday shopping to support fellow writers?

Our writer friends are both “local” and a “small business.” Surprised? You shouldn’t be. You just have to think about it the right way. Chances are if you write, then—like me—you have dozens of author friends. They may not be “local” in the geographical sense but they are VERY MUCH part of your creative village. My author friends support me all year long—here at FTWA, online in Facebook groups, on the threads of AgentQuery Connect, with a well-placed tweet when I am ready to lay my head down on my keyboard and give up. I know many of them far better than I know the shop owners in my area and—here’s the kicker—like those shop owners, WRITERS ARE SMALL-BUSINESS PEOPLE.

We forget this sometimes but we (writers) produce a product and bring it to market. Whether their wares are offered through a major publishing house or at Smashwords authors have to sell books or they don’t get paid. And most of your author friends (unless you know JK Rowling or Stephen King) are “mom and pop” sized businesses. Once their writing expenses are subtracted from their earnings they likely have to hold down another job to make ends meet. They are not Amazon or Walmart. They aren’t even 7-Eleven. They are the corner store, whose owner is left at the end of many a day wondering how much longer it makes sense to keep doing this. So when we support our fellow writers we are supporting small, independent businesses. *warm fuzzy glow*

Sounds like giving the books of authors we know as gifts is the right thing to do then—the right thing for us. “But,” you ask, “can I support my fellow authors and still get the people on my gift list something they’ll enjoy?” I know why you are asking—we’ve ALL been victims of a gift that was more about the giver than the receiver (like that time Aunt Irma gave you a llama in Chile in support of her favorite charity, not in support of yours). Yes. Yes we can. I am here to assure you that ...

Books are more than a noble gesture—they actually make awesome gifts. If your gift list resembles mine, the folks on it have a wide variety of interests and personalities, but there is ONE thing they pretty much all have in common—they read. How perfect is it then that my writer friends create in a wide variety of genres? Regency and steampunk romances, literary novels, YA, historical thrillers, a novel of the Iraq war, I know writers who write it ALL. Looking at the output of my author acquaintances, there is literally something literary and appropriate for everyone on my gift list this season. There are also books in every price—from the complete set of the Folger Shakespeare Library editions of the bard’s plays ($6 a pop, more than thirty titles) that my daughter covets to the $0.99 cent e-book that might be a nice holiday “tip” for your pet-sitter.

So shop locally—from your desk or in your neighborhood—buy a book (or ten) by an author you know and send it to someone you love, like, or just owe a Secret-Santa gift. You won’t have to worry about size or color and you’ll support an entrepreneur and the future of your art.

Sophie Perinot's debut novel, THE SISTER QUEENS, tells the story of two 13th century sisters who became the queens of England and France. She wants you to know that it fits conveniently in a Christmas stocking (see picture)! 

Don’t Turn Being Published Into a Fairy-Tale

by Sophie Perinot

“And they all lived happily ever after.”  How many times have we heard or read those words since childhood?  There is a lively debate about whether traditional fairy-tales are good for kids (and particularly for girls who get demoted to rescuee in many of them), but what about writers, particularly unpublished ones?

It seems to me—and I know A LOT of writers—that many writers walking the trail towards their first book deal (aka the “death march”) idealize being published.  They view the writer who has snagged a contract with a Major House and whose books sit on shelves at Barnes & Noble’s nationwide as Cinderella after the wedding.  No more nasty stepsisters, no more cleaning up after everybody—publication is the tiara, the ball gown, the bright lights, the always-agreeable handsome royal husband.  Talk about a recipe for disappointment.

There is a reason fairy-tales end where they do (as Stephen Sondheim so cleverly illustrated in his musical Into the Woods with an eye-opening second act that begins just after ‘happily ever after”).  Our ideal is just somebody else’s everyday reality with all the work, worry success and failure that entails.  This is true in any profession—no matter how satisfying—and certainly in publishing.  My first novel has been out for seven months.  I am not going to lie, being published is better than not being published and also marks a significant personal goal reached.  BUT my life post-publication has more in common with my life pre-publication than the as-yet-unpublished might like to think; only it is far more hectic.

If you are as yet unrepresented and/or unpublished you are writing a book, polishing it and spit-shining your pitch.  And you are waiting—on tenterhooks—to hear the opinion of agents in the query process (or, if you are repped, your own personal agent in the review process) and/or *gulp* publishers (if you are out on submission).  Well guess what, I am writing a new book and polishing it.  There is no guarantee it will be acceptable to my agent and/or publisher.  Even authors with multi-book deals have to please the gate-keepers again and again.  A second (or third, or fifth) time author doesn’t get to just turn in whatever he/she wants and say “this is my book”—unless he/she has the market power of say JK Rowling.  And on top of getting “what’s next” ready to submit (doubtless to be followed by rounds of edits with both agent and editor in turn) I am promoting book one, putting miles on my car and taking years off my life (hey, those promotion hours have to come from somewhere don’t they).

I am NOT complaining—nobody likes “poor me” especially from the published.  What I am saying is it is a damn good thing I had a realistic view of what publication would and wouldn’t mean in the big picture of my writing career and my life.  If I’d thought I’d wake up as Cinderella post ball I would probably be deeply depressed right now.

Here’s my advice for those who want to face the morning after the ball feeling content and hopeful rather than suicidal:

1) Start your publishing journey with an education and a realistic view—this is a career path not the yellow-brick road.  There is no Emerald City of publishing and if there was the wizard would probably be some shyster from the state fair.  Success in this business is personal and it is a moving target.  If you want hit it you’d better be smart.

So many writers seem to focus their reading and fact gathering nearly exclusively on the step just in front of them (e.g. querying).  But it is important to look ahead, educating yourself about the nuts and bolts of your corner of the industry as they apply to career writers not just newbies.  What kind of print runs are common in your genre? What are the bench marks that need to be met if you want to continue to be published (e.g. 60% sell through is a common one across a number of genres)? What type of money should you personally expect to spend on marketing your work, and what are current authors doing to market themselves successful?  If you don’t know what work is expected of a published author with a book to promote and deadlines to meet on a next book, you will find yourself at the starting line of a marathon (your publishing career) with no training or conditioning. Not good.

If you’ve done your homework then you can set realistic goals and meet them.  Just make sure you never let yourself be fooled into thinking that any one goal means you are done and you’ve “made it.”  Enjoy the journey because the journey is 99% of any career including being a published author.

2) Think of your agent as your partner not your savior.  That’s really how all those heroines should think of the handsome prince if they want their marriages to survive right?  You’ve wanted an agent for so long, and she/he makes you feel so talented (and you are), but after that first burst of post-signing excitement you have to be able to edit together and navigate the mine-field that is the submission process.

So don’t idealize your agent.  Allow her/him to tell you tough truths and be prepared to speak truth back.  Don’t have unrealistic expectations either.  Your agent is not your fairy-godmother because (repeat after me) this is not a fairy-tale.  She believes your book will sell but it might not (a full 50% of agented manuscripts from debut authors don’t).  If it doesn’t, don’t be too quick to blame your agent, bad mouth her, or fire her without some good, hard, rational thought first.  Finally, you do need to be prepared, should the necessity arise, to admit your non-fairy-tale marriage has gone sour.

3) Celebrate getting to the ball in grand style, but recognized the clock will strike midnight.  Whether you’ve just signed with an agent or penned your name on your first publishing contract, cheer, shout, have dinner out, buy yourself something nice.  But remember this is not the end of your journey—there is another act to come and you are going to face new hurdles.  When the clock strikes twelve and you have to take off the gown, put the work clothes back on and get down to business you don’t want to fall to pieces.

Bottomline:  view the publication of your first (or seventh) book as a plot point NOT “the end.”  You may be writing fiction, but your personal story will be anything but a fairy-tale and that’s a good thing.  After all, most fairy-tales have one-dimensional characters and unbelievable plot twists.  In real life, as in good writing, we should strive for more depth.

Sophie Perinot's debut novel, THE SISTER QUEENS, tells the story of two 13th century sisters who became the queens of England and France, but it is no fairy-tale.  You can find Sophie at home here, or on Facebook at her author page or the page for her novel.  She is also active on twitter.