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| Photo credit: steam_rocket on Flickr |
I’ll always remember sitting with my first manuscript and a pile of rejections, wondering where to go from here. I didn’t want to give up on the book, and starting anything new felt just like that—giving up.
I eventually tried to write a sequel, but got less than halfway through before I began to realize if I never sold the first book, book two would be dead on arrival. I wasn’t ready to trunk the manuscript, so I continued querying, but I also started a short story that evolved into my second manuscript.
Eventually, I did trunk that manuscript. It wasn’t easy to finally put it aside and focus on something new because it felt like admitting defeat. But by putting it away and writing something new, I learned a very important lesson: the top priority for any writer should be to write the next book.
Don’t get me wrong, social media is important and when you publish, so is marketing. Branding, reaching out to other writers, getting involved in the community, reading as many books as you can get your hands on—all of those things are important. But whether you’re unpublished, self-published or traditionally published, the best thing we can do to further our careers and improve our skills is to write the next book.
For unpublished writers, the next book is a fresh opportunity to attract an agent or editor.
For self-published writers, the next book is a new chance for readers to fall in love with your words.
For traditionally published writers, the next book is another opportunity to sell and bring in some new readers.
The next book is what builds our careers. It adds to our repertoire of skills and teaches us new things about the craft of writing and our own ability. It reminds us that writing is always the most important focus and teaches us to push through and be consistent.
So take some time to connect with people on social media and promote your books and keep up to date on the industry. But above all, keep your top priority in mind: the next book.
What do you think? Is writing the next book more important than social media and marketing?
Twitter-sized bites:
"The best thing we can do to further our careers and improve our skills is to write the next book." (Click to tweet)
Is is writing the next book more important than social media and marketing? Join the discussion at @Ava_Jae's blog. (Click to tweet)
18 comments:
Great post! I did something similar with the first book I wrote. I spent 10 years rewriting and revising the same idea, then when I finally started submitting the complete MS to agents, I wasted a year casually working on the sequel while playing the waiting game. It was a real eye-opener when I got feedback on the MS from a literary consultancy, which said the writing was fine but the idea was unoriginal and no one would buy it - ouch! I trunked both manuscripts, and since then I've always had several projects on the go. It was a hard lesson to learn, but an important one for all writers!
I think putting the first manuscript away is always the hardest. I can only imagine how difficult it must have been to put a manuscript away that you worked on for ten years (the longest I worked on a trunked manuscript was about...four? And that was agony), but you're totally right—it's an important, albeit difficult, lesson to learn.
Yup, write the next book. That time away from your first book is invaluable so that your eyes are fresh (and gives you time to find eyes-that-are-not-yours to get on said first novel).
Also, may I refer you to Chuck Wendig's post: Your Book is Not Pepper Spray (http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2013/10/24/your-book-is-not-pepper-spray-that-you-must-fountain-into-my-eyes/) a plea against over social mediaing (or a plea against doing it wrong. Whatevs.)
You've given me a blog post idea! Thank God, lol.
I'm always interested in what decisions people come to when trunking a story. As I'm not actively seeking an agent at the moment it feels like anything I write is trunk worthy until told otherwise.
This is something I've been struggling with. I have a book almost finished and I love what I've done but I just can't seem to pull the ending together. It's getting too hefty but anything I write seems rushed. Meanwhile I have an exciting new novel which I am convinced will be my iconic piece raring to go. Problem being I feel so bad for the first story. It deserves to be read and some bits are just so bloody good it's a crime not to release them.
Aww, the link is broken! But if you find the correct one, feel free to share it. I do enjoy Chuck Wendig's posts. :)
Also, that's a great point about time away from the first book being invaluable—moving on to another book then returning to the first is a great way to develop distance from that manuscript for more effective edits.
Yay! Happy to inspire blogging ideas! Feel free to share it when it's up. :)
That's an interesting way of looking at it. I've only queried about half of the manuscripts I've written, so I think I sort of view them in a similar way—anything is trunk-worthy until I think I've polished it enough to believe otherwise. (And even then it might be temporarily trunk-worthy if querying doesn't work out).
Personally, I'd say finish up that ending and if it's terrible, it's terrible, but at least you have it written and you can always make it much better later on while revising. As someone who struggles with endings myself (they are easily my least favorite part of the drafting process), that's the mindset I tend to take, because otherwise I'd probably never get an ending done.
Then when you have that first MS fully drafted, you can jump into your shiny new idea. Or you can jump in early, or whatever works for you. That's just the method I'd take, which may or may not work well with you. :)
Whatever you decide, I wish you all the best!
Well that was annoying, apologize. I cut and pasted it while looking at the site, so don't know what the issue was. I link-shortened it this time, maybe that was the issue? http://bit.ly/1bi46Hn
Yes ma'am!
Quick question: Considering you trunk stuff (not much I hope!), do you only pitch to agents one novel at a time?
"Not much"...heh. *laughs quietly to self*
I do only pitch to agents one novel at a time. I pitch what I consider my very best work and if that doesn't work out, I put it away for the time being and move on to another one.
One thing I'll say though, Dahlia Adler recently tweeted that trunking a novel isn't the equivalent to burning it, and I couldn't agree more. Sure, some manuscripts I've trunked I don't think will ever see the light of day, but there are a couple that I put away either a) because it needed revisions I intended to get to later or b) because the market wasn't right ATM. Those will hopefully be removed from the drawer in the future. :)
Yes! That worked. And very good point by Mr. Wendig—I agree entirely. Spam does not equal effective marketing.
So do you have a set amount of agent rejections that play a factor in the Trunking? Or is it more "if the agents on MY list say no then it's a no for now."
More of the latter. I don't really have a number, but if I run out of agents who I'd want representing me, I stop. There isn't much point in querying agents you wouldn't be excited about representing you, IMO.
Hear Hear.
Wanna know if you care more about being published than your actual writing? Check see if your pitching to anyone!
I think, when someone gets to that point, they're probably better off self-pubbing...
That's totally an option if self-pubbing is something that they think would work well for them. It's not for everyone, and it's not my vision at least for now, which is why I chose to trunk rather than self-pub. But everyone is different and for some, self-pubbing is the perfect answer. :)
I agree. I think a lot of people (at least from what I've seen) think as long as you have an agent and are published, that you are safe. Though, as it goes, if you're pitching to anyone, know that sometimes a bad "house" or "agent" can do you more harm than if you had never aimed to be published at all. Self-pubbing is no easy task but I would advise any writer (if they don't want to trunk) to self-pub rather than go with anyone. You wouldn't do it in broad daylight on the street...don't do it with your novel!
That is so true about getting a bad contract or agent—it can definitely do you quite a bit of harm if you're not careful.
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