Are any of you familiar with The Musical Life of Gustav Mole? It’s one of my favorite picture books.
It felt right to name this blog post after a picture book, since I’m at a retreat for picture book writers—the WOW (Week of Writing) Retreat. I’m at a lovely lodge that sits on the edge of Unicoi State Park in Georgia.
The view from my window—food for this tree lover’s soul.
I’m a little out of my element here at this retreat for picture book writers. I love picture books. Love to read them. Love to rep them. Not sure I can teach anyone how to write one.
But I said, “Yes,” when Kristen Fulton asked me to be on faculty this year. Because I wanted to learn more about picture books and because I wanted to meet some good picture book writers, I was willing to take a topic I’m passionate about—voice for middle grade authors—and adapt it to fit the needs of the conference director and her “customers.”
Yesterday I was talking to a couple of other gals who told me about how they got their first books published. Editors asked them if they could write specific things and they said, “Yes.” One of them said an editor asked her if she could add a substantial number of words to the book and then provide an annotated bibliography, and . . . could she get that to him in six weeks. “Yes, yes, and yes,” the author said. “No problem.”
As soon as she hung up the phone she looked up “annotated bibliography” to see what in the world she’d just agreed to.
There are two kinds of writers I meet at conferences. One writer comes to lap up instruction, to take notes, to soak it all in. She seems eager to find out what publishers want. This writer wants to build a better a mousetrap. She comes with her prototypes, but she holds them loosely. She sees that publishing is a business—there is a supply and demand dynamic. She is willing to adjust her designs to supply what the editors demand.
Another writer comes with her dream ensconced in a fancy presentation folder. She’s got it all double spaced with one-inch margins, tied with a satin ribbon, and . . . set in stone. She has a product to sell. She has polished that product. It’s the joy of her heart. It’s her life-long ambition. This book is her message to the world.
The first kind of writer doesn’t so much try to get the editor to say, “Yes,” as she tries to get the editor to ask for something. She wants to say, “Yes,” to the editor. She wants to serve the editor—to meet the editor’s needs.
The second kind of writer wants the editor to serve her. She has a vision. She has a plan. She has a work that needs wider distribution. She wants the editor to be her partner and to help her, because she’s writing books that the world wants and needs.
There’s nothing wrong with either of those approaches. There’s nothing wrong with having a vision and a plan and with looking for a team to support you. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to find an agent who will work for you and who will pitch the books you love. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to find a publisher who catches your vision and wants to partner with you and help you reach your audience.
But if that’s you, be aware that you’re going to have a harder time selling your work. The author who will get the most work is the author who says, “Yes,” to the editor’s book instead of trying to talk the editor into saying, “Yes,” to the writer’s book.
It’s just the nature of the business. The publisher is the middle man. He has customers—readers—and he thinks he knows what his customers want from him. So he goes looking for a manufacturer who will supply him with products to sell.
Think of it like this: The publisher’s customers want screwdrivers. So he goes to a tool-makers trade show. He keeps meeting people who make hammers, and he asks each one for a screwdriver. Nine of the tool makers go on and on about how lovely their hammers are. They have special soft-grip handles. They come in five fabulous colors. There is a great need for hammers. Hundreds of thousands of people are working on craft projects at home and they all need a tool to drive nails. These hammers will sell like crazy if only the publisher will take them and mass produce them and send them to the hardware stores.
But one guy at the tool-makers trade show says to the publisher, “You want a screwdriver? Sure thing. I’ll make you one.”
Obviously the guy who gives the publisher what he wants is the guy who will make the sale.
We all have to live within these limits. It’s not just the poor writers who have to say, “Yes.” The publisher has to say, “Yes,” to the reader. And the agent has to say, “Yes,” to the publisher.
And the agent has to say, “Yes,” to the conference director.
If I had told Kristen that I’d love to come to her retreat and teach on voice for middle grade writers, she wouldn’t have invited me to be here. So I’m adapting to try to fill her needs, even though that means I’m having to stretch a bit.
Which writer are you? Do you have a vision you want to see come about? Or are you willing to write whatever it takes to break in? Is there a middle ground? And what are some drawbacks and benefits to each of these ways?
Related posts:
- Typical Day in the Life of a Literary Agent
- How Do You Become a Literary Agent
- Literary Agent and Control Freak