Writers and Bad Behavior

Photo credit: banspy on Flickr

If you follow literary agents on Twitter, or even connect with a good amount of writers online, then
chances are you’ve heard about poor behavior from other anonymous writers. 

I’ve been on Twitter for nearly two years now, and I’ve heard stories that fit all over the “horrific idea” spectrum—stories that I often didn’t want to believe. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen agents and other publishing professionals tweet about things writers have done or said to them that have made me cringe. 

Then, a few nights ago agent Jessica Negrón said this:

Do we pay attention to online behavior when considering a potential client? You bet we do.
— Jessica Negrón (@loladeee) April 2, 2013

How you behave—both on the streets and online matters. If you’re an unagented writer and you’re looking for an agent to fall in love with your book, then you are searching for representation. Someone to represent your book, yes, but also by extension represent you. 

And no self-respecting agent wants to represent poor writer behavior. 

Even if you’re not searching for representation, bad behavior can impact your sales, as well. I can guarantee that writers who respond to negative reviews with scathing tantrums won’t get very many reviews, and will certainly turn away readers who look at the reviews before buying and come across your online hissy fit. 

The point is this: if you’re serious about your career as a writer, then you need to compose yourself professionally. In other words: 

If you feel the need to respond to a rejection in a manner that makes the agent feel as hurt and angry as you are in the moment—don’t. 

If you get the urge to bash other writers for any reason whatsoever—don’t. 

If you feel the need to talk about how your work is superior to others in your genre—don’t. 

If you feel the need to be anything other than perfectly respectful to your peers, to publishing professionals, to people in general—get off the computer and vent. Just don’t do it online. 

What do you think about bad online behavior (from writers or otherwise)? Have you ever witnessed an online incident? 

Writers: Start Acting Like Professionals

Photo credit: Johan Larsson on Flickr

I am an unpublished writer, and I'm sure many of you reading this are also unpublished writers. Despite my not-in-bookstore status, I decided a long time ago to take some writing advice that I'd read over and over again, namely, to stop acting like a writer who was trying to get published and to start acting like a professional. 

What I mean is if you treat your writing like a hobby rather than a job, then you'll be hard pressed to try to do those things that professional writers do, like finish novels and write until your fingers want to fall off and edit your work to death. If you treat your writing like a hobby rather than a job, then you really can't expect anyone else to see it your passion as anything more than just a hobby. 

If you treat your writing like another job, however, I think you'll find that not only will you become more productive, but you'll become more confident in your writing (at least, I did). 

But what exactly do I mean by acting like a professional writer? Well, let's take a look at some things most (or at least many) professional writers do: 

• Professional writers write to routine. Every writer is a little different—some write every day, others five or six days a week, others less, but the point is they develop some sort of method that works for them and they stick with it. Professional writers can't allow themselves to slack off for long—they have deadlines to meet and bills to pay and this is how they work. Which leads me to...


• Professional writers meet deadlines. Published authors are constantly working under a deadline—whether it's a draft that's due, or a proposal for the next novel or a synopsis or whatever the agent/publisher/reader needs, published writers live by deadlines. And in order to pay the bills and keep their contracts and continue progressing, published authors do what they have to to make sure they meet their deadlines. 


• Professional writers edit their work. I don't mean a casual sweep through, either—many published authors have been known to entirely rewrite their work from scratch or rip their drafts apart until the first draft is no longer recognizable. 


• Professional writers read a lot. I've written in the past about why this is so important, but it's no coincidence that most published authors also happen to be avid readers. Reading is essential to good writing. 


• Professional writers keep writing. When a writer's agent can't find a publisher who will buy their work, the professionals keep writing. When the book doesn't sell as well as they'd hoped, professionals keep writing. When the first draft looks absolutely horrendous and they start to wonder whether their story idea was worth writing at all, professional writers keep writing. Period. 

Now the secret is this: you don't have to be published to write like a professional. You don't need to have a contract to set deadlines for yourself, or create some kind of weekly routine. You don't need an agent or a publisher or a hoard of raving fans demanding your next book to keep writing and reading and editing your work and doing the very best you possibly can to write a fantastic story. All you need is you. 

The way I see it, if we act like professionals now, we'll be better off later when we actually are professionals with real deadlines to meet. In the meantime, we'll just keep doing what we do. 

What are your thoughts? Do you treat your writing like a job or a hobby?

Twitter-sized bites:

Stop acting like a writer trying to get published and start acting like a professional. (Click to tweet)

You don't have to be published to write like a professional. (Click to tweet)