And no, it’s not because they melt away into nothingness two seconds after hitting the ground. Don’t even let such a negative thought taint your mind!
It’s because no two are ever exactly alike. Pretty simple, huh? But one of the hardest concepts for us authors to grasp. Hell, even publishing professionals have a hard time accepting it, although they are aware of it more than the individual author since they have access to data for all their books.
Someone on Twitter last week (and I can’t for the life of me remember who it was—if it was you, let me know so I can properly credit you!) linked to this year old post by Christina Dodd. The whole post is definitely worth reading, a twenty year’s veteran’s look at the biz, but this nugget in particular really struck me:
9. From my vantage point, everyone in publishing is doing better than I am. From everyone else’s vantage point, I’m doing better than they are. The truth is somewhere in between — and an author who’s published is not going to get any sympathy at all from an unpublished author who’s written for ten years, finished three manuscripts and has twenty-five rejection letters. Believe me. I know. I was that author.
The fear of failure nips at our heels no matter what stage of our career we're in. It is so, so easy to sit from the outside looking in and be certain--absolutely certain--that Author A is a raging success and has it all and their books are selling like hotcakes. But the truth is rarely that simple. The really hilarious thing is I’ve had people say that of me, and I can never hold back a snort of wild disbelief. (See previous paragraph.)
A couple of weekends ago I attended ALA. While there I became convinced of two things.
1. Twitter does help buzz books. I can’t tell you how many times I heard people standing in lines for arcs saying, I heard about this book on Twitter. (Which will be the subject of a future post)
2. A big web presence or Twitter following does not guarantee actual book sales. Standing in line for free ARCs is a very different thing from plunking down cold hard cash for the book
I cannot tell you how many people I’ve talked to over the last month or heard talking on blogs, bemoaning their lack of sales, and yet these people DO have really big followings. These are people who are worried about earning out their advances, whose sales are far below expectations, or who are worried about their next contract. Every single one of them has what I consider to be a pretty healthy--if not downright BIG--web presence.
Which proves precisely what I’ve suspected all along: Big blog/Twitter followings propel a teensy percentage of people to publishing success, but no more and perhaps even less than a greatly written book, an award nomination, or the full force of the publisher’s marketing department behind the book.
It is ONE way in a myriad of ways to achieve success.
And the important thing to remember is that no one really, truly understands how one book becomes a success and the other one does not. Sure, there are certain things that must be in place: good storytelling (notice I did not say brilliant writing), publisher support, usually co-op of some kind, but not always. But any given publisher can have two books that should by all intents and purposes appeal to the same audience, and yet the marketing efforts th
21 Comments on How Writing Careers Are Like Snowflakes, last added: 2/2/2011
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Thanks so much for this wonderful post, Robin!
Robin, thank you for this reminder post. I think it's important as authors to figure out what we're after. Not every snowflake's number one measure of success is book sales. Of course that is ONE measure. But far more important to me is CONNECTING with those readers who do plunk down the money. I don't need to be famous on twitter or in any other way. But those people with whom I'm having this conversation through my book? I want to be available to them. I want to make it easy for them to keep in touch with me. The snowflake analogy is so apt because it's really up to us as individuals to create the picture of a career that we most desire. So much is beyond our control. But so much is also within our control. Here's to everyone making the best choices for themselves regarding degree of online involvement!
What a thoughtful post, we're all like snowflakes. Thanks for the informative information about media marketing.
This is wonderfully timely, thank you! I've been doing some thinking this morning about what I want to do with my writing life now, and massive amounts of social media is not part of it.
I quite enjoy Twitter, but blogging really not so much, so I think I will take a leaf out of your book and post once weekly, hang out with friends and chat on Twitter, and claw back the rest of the time for writing and/or life.
Thank you again!
Great post! It's interesting to see how publishing companies go about advertising their books.
Robin,
Thank you for this. It is so reassuring to hear someone else voice the thoughts that have been buzzing round my head lately. Just because someone says something worked for them doesn't necessarily mean it will work for me!
That makes me feel a little better about my terror of socializing in any way, shape, or form. :) Thank you.
I needed to hear...erm, read...this today. thanks, I think you are right.
A very useful, insightful and relevant post, as per usual. Thanks Robin!
Thank you for these thoughtful words amid the roil of internet self-promo advice. It really is a challenge figuring out how to fit promotion into one's own life, and tempting to try to second-guess the market. As the ever-quotable Mr. Gumby would say, "My brain hurts!" I am delighted to have found this site. What a resource!
You, Robin, are a very special snowflake. (I mean that as a compliment, incidentally.) Thanks for this thoughtful post. I know for a fact that I have plunked down good money for books I've read about on blogs and on Twitter. I'm more likely to do so for a book that someone who is NOT the author is recommending/pimping/cheering about, however. So it's other people's blogs that influence me most, not the author's.
Chiming in with thanks. This whole post fell into the I-think-I-knew-that-but-somehow-I-still-really-needed-to-hear-it school of learning.
I especially liked reading that your books found some good news beyond the one-year-out mark.
Thanks again--
Thank you for confirming what I have always believed -- that I am a unique and beautiful flower (or snowflake).
;)
While I do blog regularly, I don't have a twitter account (gasp!) and my facebook page is mostly for personal stuff, not marketing my writing. While I often feel pressure to get with the times, twitter-wise, it's nice to see a reminder like this that there are indeed many paths.
Yay for snowflakes!!!
Very well said, and I agree.
I also agree wholeheartedly with what my wise friend Kelly says.
What a great post! I think for MG books, an online presence reaches a few of the gatekeepers, but not the kids. Social media can be fun and help us connect with great people, but it seems to me that old fashioned marketing and hand-selling (from friends or booksellers) does the most to promote any book.
*sings* "I gotta be me ..."
Thanks for the perspective! It's easy to lose sight of the facts when it seems everyone else is doing better than you are. Success is a tricky thing to understand, and you really did a great job of explaining some of the finer points of that realm when it comes to the publishing world. Thanks again!
So glad the post resonated with so many of you! And welcome to all you new visitors. Lovely to have you!
Thank you, Kelly, for both the compliment and the clarification. (Because special really can go either way. ) And I absolutely agree that having OTHERS raving about books enthusiastically is a huge source of book recommendations!
(And once again I find myself wishing blogger had a individual comment reply button. It would make life SO much easier!)
And Jen, thanks for the ear worm. I've had "I gotta be me" stuck in my head all evening! Ack.
I find this post a little bittersweet. On the one hand, it's a good reminder that there are multiple routes to success and I may find one that works for me and my books and my readers. On the other hand, online presence is one of the few things I, a self-published author, can actually do for myself. If that doesn't work... Sigh.
P.S. I guess I should acknowledge that I've never done Twitter and can't imagine why I would ever want to! So I clearly wasn't going to go the whole extrovert on-line presence in any case! lol
Fabulous, wonderful, right-on post as always, Robin.
Since I couldn't keep up with blogging, website, Facebook and Twitter, I dropped the Twitter because my MG readers are not on there. They're not really on FB either, but my family and friends and online writer buddies are, although I'm scarce there sometimes, too. ;-)
Like you, I may change my mind when my YA comes out next year, too, but I've found that connecting with parents and teachers and kid-librarians has produced more results and sales and speaking engagements than anything online.
I also decided a long time ago that starred reviews and awards and lists are the way to get name recognition and higher sales, but it's something WE CAN'T CONTROL AT ALL. It's all fairy dust. But it has been satisfying in the 7 months since book release that even though my professional reviews were mixed, the blogger world and on Goodreads the reviews have been downright stunningly wonderful. And I'm in the Book Fairs now - SO EXCITED about that so there's still hope my publisher won't drop me! LOL! But once again, that's a venue that isn't online.
I love the snowflake analogy! Great comments, everyone, too. I love reading them.