aspiringwriter

8/14/2019 aspiringwriter

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So you wa nt to be a writer, live on writing books?What counts beyond the creative process?

There is more to a writing career than just writing. These

parameters, or career requirements, are rarely analysedso I will attempt to create a point system for what lies

beyond the writing itself. It should allow you to work

out your odds for getting on the shelves of bookstores,

You must reach 180 points180 points180 points180 points180 points to be eligible.

There are thousands of books which cover style, plots,

structures, and other aspects of the creative process. This

document looks at what lies outside creating or polish-

ing product. To step on the ladder of success, the re-quirements are of a very different nature!

Y = Yes n = No X = explanation

1 Are you under 30 years of age?

n = 0 points Y = 50 points

1A For Nos: Could you imagine yourself contractinga young person to front your book as the author,

share the spoils, but never reveal the truth?

Y = 10 points. n = 0 points

(X: You need to be aware that the publishing houses wantto build up writers for careers that should ideally last decades,meaning that the literary agents do not favour persons olderthan 30, because of the lead up time. Lead up time has 2 phases:1. The years when the litarary agent attempts to get you a pub-lishing contract. 2. At least two years between contract andthe first books appearance on the shelves, due to catalogue and

marketing planning. If an author were over 30 when signingwith a literary agent, he/she would be over 40 at the start of thewriting career, and therefore would not appear fresh to thecustomer base. An established writer, promoting his/her 10thbook, however, does not have to to look fresh. If the over 30year old still wants to try, he/she must have at least 6 novels inhis/her filing cabinet, which are publication ready. From theagents contract to the first book release, the lead up of sevenyears plus need to be factored in. Contracting a young personas a frontperson from the start, can overcome this problem.)

Tally your points

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Che c k your sc ore c a rd for bec oming a p ub lished w riter? Do yo u rea c h180 p oints?

The sensational assessment that no aspiring writer can do without!


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1B Have you got 6 books/book proposals in yourfiling cabinet?

n = 0 pointsY = 20 points

2 Are you (or one of your close relatives) from theindustry, i.e. acting, film, comedy, journalism, TV,

music?


(X: People who have grown up in the industry have a bettergrasp of the business side. They understand that the corner-stone of writing is the interviews, and the socialising. Theymay already have a media network of their own, and generallyknow the behavioural patterns in the creative industry, of which

book selling is a part. It helps a lot, for instance, if the writercan be sold as cousin of ......, great-granddaughter of .........

A person from the industry would also be more easily inclinedto adopt a book written by a ghost writer, if or when the pub-lishing house had discovered a book topic that they would liketo have in the catalogue, but to speed up the publication proc-ess it has been written by one or more ghost writers. The prod-uct/ book can then be attributed to a person/author who is al-ready known to the book buying public to generate a success-

ful sales promotion. Not only writers have ideas for books; theydevelop in boardroom meetings, too! People who have not grownup in the industry are less inclined to accept these deals.)

3 Have you got a tertiary qualification?n = 0 points Y = 30 points

(X: Any writers CV looks more attractive to the customer whenit contains a tertiary qualification which gives the person andthe book more credibility. For fiction writing, a creative writ-ing degree is best; for other books the degree should be related

to the topic, i.e. science for environmental topics, teachers de-gree for a book about education, history degree for historicaltopics etc.)

4 Have you been in the TV news and in the tab-loids, for any reason at all?


(X: Books by people who have become famous through a casein the TV news are noticed by the press and the audience. The

reason does not matter. If you were associated with or involvedin a famous criminal case, are a successful or fallen sports star,been in politics, been an actor of note, or even if you are a close

Carried...................

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relative of a big news person, or were imprisoned inGuantanamo or Bali, the public knows you and your story willsell! In this case, all the other parameters do not matter, if youhave the right agent.)

5 Have you polished your performance skills forinterviews in an acting or public speaking course?

n = 0 points Y = 20 points.Course booked: = 10 points

(X: The publisher must be confident that you come across TVand radio in a way, that people admire you and want to have a

piece of you - the book. There is also the unconscious desire inaudience members that a bit of the gloss of a successful personrubs off to them. These are the vibes that you need to project to

generate a personality cult around you! If you have not com-pleted a course in self-presention, list the course booked in yourapplication.)

6 Do you have a disability which allows promotionovercoming the oddsovercoming the oddsovercoming the oddsovercoming the oddsovercoming the odds?


(X: if you are deaf and write about music, or blind and writeabout art, paraplegic and write about sports, or similar, that is

a promotable thing.)

7 Are you willing and able (financial enough) towait at least 5 years for your first book to come out,

AFTER a literary agent has signed you on?


(X: When your literary agent submits your book proposals,there is a turnaround time of six months for the publishersboardroom to say yeah or nay. They can only submit to one

publisher at the time, because these could place boardrooms inthe position that they go through all the cost calculations anddecision making processes with their various departments, onlyto discover their competitors had taken the writer on the weekbefore. Multiple submissions waste company time and resourcesand are therefore not allowed. A literary agent who is worthhis/her salt will tell you that he/she will, most likely, have to gothrough that process a number of times. Two submissions peryear; it takes years. The industry expects that you use yourwaiting years productively, i.e. write more book proposals and

books. Some industry sources even speak of that 10 year ap-prenticeship giving you plenty of time to build up a strongportfolio.)

Carried...................

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8 Have you worked loosely with or professionally inone of the secret services?


(X: Ex or rogue secret service elements are highly undesirable,

so society needs to give former agents, even current sleeperagents, something to do and a livelihood. Publishers also knowthat these people are not talkers, so they slot in easily throughthe back door, i.e. jump the queue, or have parts of their bookswritten by ghost writers.)

9 Have you been on record as a whinger, with criti-cism of the system or one of its pillars? Have you been

on record with strong and clever suggestions to improve

the system?

never = 20 points Y =: 0 points

(X: If for, instance, you have been on a list of Vietnam or Iraqwar citicisers, you have proven that you are not towing theline. You could even be a justice seeker !!?? Sometimes you can

get on such a list when your known associates are doing thewrong thing. Beware with whom you associate! You will neverknow, how you have aquired the tag do not touch, but whennobody wants to know you, it could be your associates and/oryour attitude, even your perceived attitude, which ensures you

remain on the outside. Look over your shoulder at all times!

So: Beware with whom you associate and what you say or writebeyond the usual small talk.)

10 Do disappointments get you down for morethan one day?


(X: A resilient mindset is a fundamental requirement for the

creative industry. Consider the various stages and the range ofpossibilities where something may not go your way:- A literary agent may sign you on, but no publishing housewants to contract you. Disappointment of five years plus.- The topic of your book proposal (or a very similar one) mayalready be in development in a publishing house. They coordi-nate catalogues in their industry associations; you may missout, and effectively, your proposal is dead for all time.- Your book proposal may appeal but they want to assign it,with some improvements, to one of their writers who are due

for a book that year.- The topic of your book may have been covered overseas andthe overseas version has already been bought for your market,

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making your book obsolete.- Your book may reach the shop shelf but it is not amongst the5% selected for review in the newspaper.- The non-reviewed 95% die a slow but certain death.- Even if your book is in the 5%, a reviews iinfluence on the

book buying public lasts for 3 (three) weeks, especially when abook is released shortly after yours whose promotion overshad-ows yours.- Your book may sell 3000 copies to break even for the com-

pany, but none of the overseas publishing partners wants toinclude it in their catalogue. Even if your contract says thatrights fall back to the author after a few years, the world willhave moved on by then. Here again, it pays to have many half-ready books in your filing cabinet.)

11 Are you willing and able to hand over completecontrol of your work, artistically and businessswise?


(X: A publishing company normally wants to leave some im-print on the work itself. Suggestions for change may come fromthe sales staff who is out on the coal face every day. They couldalso come from the department which deals with movie rights,or anybody in the company. The work, as a book or a movie,

must ultimately fall into a catalogue category. For instance ifthe work is romantic and lends itself to a teenage audience, youcannot have one scene which would receive a mature rating.The work becomes, after all, their production and they mustbe able to edit in or out. Falling in line means handing overcontrol, and the people in the publishing houses have very lim-ited time for debates. By handing over control, you must beaware that all partners of the publishing house in other coun-tries are legally independent units, and make their own deci-sions whether or not they want to market your book in their

area. A publishing contract is for the country of residenceonly. Only household names can be somewhat confident that

partner companies will be more inclined to release and providean appropriate promotion budget.)

12 Is writing book proposals your focus?


(X: Literary agents and publishing houses work from bookproposals., not full manuscripts. Anyone who writes the full

book without being commissioned puts in their own time with-out being certain that the book will be accepted. This is a labourof love and classifies you as an amateur, because you write what

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you want, not necessarily what sells. Even if you have the fullmanuscript, you should not advertise that fact, because if yourbook proposal is accepted, you may get a royalty advance forcompleting the work. Then slowly release parts of your manu-script from your filing cabinet, and you can pretend to have

written it while you were living on their advance. Do not losesight of the fact that writing books will not move you forward only writing book proposals does.)

13 Do you live in a town where it is all happen-ing?


(X: When a writer is invited for conferences, festivals, or inter-views, there will always be expenses, but if you live very faraway from the media centres or customer base, your participa-tion becomes limited by higher cost factors and time.)

14 How well can you reconcile demands on yourtime for promotional activities with your home and work

life?

No points score for this one.

(X: The issue is here, that the company likes to call you in forpromotional activities whenever an opportnity oens up. Since

the writing is most likely not feeding you and your family for along while, compromises must be made. If, for instance, youhave to take time off work for an appearance at a book promo-tion/writers festival, and the income forgone causes a dent inyour budget, you have a problem. You cannot expect anybodyto pay you a days fee just for promoting your work. If you arein a job, where you cannot take time off work at all, it gets evenworse, because these promotional activities cannot always be

planned long term to put in for holidays. If you use your holi-days, you may not have real holidays, possibly for years, which

is not good for your soul. You could try to move to the townwhere the publishing company is and get friendly with theirstaff, who might know of vacancies that can be combined withyour book promotion. Reconciling artistic endeavours whichare not, or not yet, a livelihood, can be a tight rope act.)

15 Have you won several competitions?


(X: When a writer is trying to sell himself/herself, the very

first book can obviously not carry the all important line fromthe author of. This can sometimes be replaced by as seen onTV, the case that shook the world, his son speaks out or

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through some tag which gives the buyer confidence in what he/she is spending their money on.

If you do not have such a tagline, winning competitions is ofgreat help, e.g. by the award winning author ... and then listwhich short story or other competitions you have won. If you

have won many competitions you have demonstrated to thepublisher that you are serious about writing for one, and sec-ondly that you are flexible, i.e. able to adapt to competitionconditions like topics, length, category thinking, deadlines.

This is the writer they look for, adaptable where it counts, withstamina, and a milligram of independent thinking to make yourmaterial look interesting and fresh.)

POSTSCRIPT: This is, what I believe to be the first public attempt of developing a pointsystem for the requirements to be a published writer.

May it be useful to the boardrooms in helping to streamline the writers selection process.

For aspiring authors, this point system is a tool to assess their chances.

Written for public distribution, not copyrighted.

aspiringwriter

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