Don't Get Mad - Get Therapy

WARNING: READING THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE MAY IMPROVE MENTAL HEALTH

Just thinking lately about the things that drive my own writing, I have been wondering how much of my drive actually qualifies as some sort of dysfunction. OK, so you are nodding your heads wondering why it's taken me so long to figure this out for myself, and it's just par for the course. Still . . .

How much is enough? The answer, arising from the voice of dysfunction, is of course that no amount is ever enough. And what is the goal? Well, for me it is a complex mix of love of story, the need to bring that thing into creation, to experience that flow of words - and some other elements that are more in the way of demons. There is something under the hood that drives me to reach for some sense of connection to fill a personal void. Is that healthy? Is it like functional drug addiction? I don't know, who can judge it?

Not all writers are striving the fill the inner void like some crazy Japanese Kitsune armed with a word processor. But for those of us who are, my question is: are there other ways to fill that same need? Wouldn't writing be a more enjoyable activity, wouldn't the success that comes (how little or how much), the criticism, all be that much easier to deal with if there was not a desperate need that underpinned all the striving?

Sometimes it is worth stepping back and looking at it all - yourself, your goals, what your expectations are. And maybe, just maybe some therapy might help.

So what do you think? Can artistic achievement fill the psychological void? What drives your passion for writing, and how much of that verges on obsession?

Expectations, Misconceptions and Sheer Foolishness

As readers, we have certain expectations when we buy a book. These expectations influence whether or not we make a purchase. When those expectations are met, we put that author or series on our to buy list. When they aren't met -- especially if they fail spectacularly -- we stop buying books by that author or in that particular series. Those expectations have been fairly static over the years but, of late, a new set of expectations have emerged and with them have come some misconceptions about the publishing industry and who is responsible for what.

I'm going to admit right now that this blog entry is written in defense of some authors I happen to enjoy and respect. Authors who are being slammed in reader reviews and online fora for things they have little or no control over. But I'll get to that shortly.

Expectation 1: The book we find on the shelves or order online will be properly edited and proofed before ever reaching our hot little hands. Unfortunately, over the last decade or so, that hasn't always been the case. There are a number of factors that all play a part in this. The first is that too many of us simply rely on spell-check and grammar-check to make sure everything is correct. Another factor is that publishers have, in an attempt to cut their costs, let go a number of their copy editors and proofreaders. If you search the blogs of late, you'll see a number of entries about how agents are now playing the role of proofreader and copy editor. Moreover, it's a role most of them don't want because it takes away from the time they have to do their traditional duty -- promoting the authors in their stable.

The companion misconception that goes along with this is that e-book retailers such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc., have editorial and proofreading control over e-books they sell. Nope. They don't. They simply put up the electronic file they have been provided with. If you are an author putting your own work up through the Kindle store, once you upload the files, there is a way to check it before it goes live for download. I'm sure the same ability exists for publishers. Just as it is unreasonable to expect the mom and pop corner bookstore to be responsible for proofing every book that hits their shelves, it is unreasonable to expect online retailers to do the same thing.

Expectation 2: If an author starts a series, that series will be completed. The unfortunate truth is that a series will be completed only if each book sells well enough. If those books don't sell well enough to justify the continued investment by the publisher, there is a very good chance subsequent books will not be released.

Misconception 1: Authors make lots of money so they should be writing our favorite books more quickly than they do. There shouldn't be years between books in a series. The vast majority of authors don't make enough from writing to live on. Real life happens and interferes with the writing process. And, most importantly, publishing isn't a lightning fast industry -- not even if you are publishing electronically only. At least not if you want to have any quality control of your product. So, readers clamoring for more books from that favorite author, sit back, chill a bit and read another book. Better yet, send a letter or email to that favorite author's publisher telling them how much you like books by Author X and hope to see more soon.

Misconception 2: The agency model of pricing e-books will only affect Amazon. WRONG. Each e-book retailer will find, sooner rather than later imo, that they are going to be forced to either agree to the model or not carry that publisher's books. And, just to remind you, under the agency model, the publisher will set the price of the e-book and the retailer will have little control over changing that price. In other words, no sales without publisher approval. No competitive pricing. No shopping around for the best buy.

If this doesn't worry you, it should. I can see the publishers also trying to enforce this model on hard copy retailers later, as their contracts come up for renewal. If that comes to pass, gone will be the discounts at your local Wal*Mart or Target. Gone will be the discounts if you are a card holder for a certain bookstore or other. We will be back to purchasing books at cover price -- and how many of us actually do that for most books we buy these days? More importantly, how many of us will continue to buy as many books if the prices are set to cover prices?

And now for the real reason for this post. The sheer foolishness that is happening now. Readers, listen closely, when buying a book and gnashing your teeth at the price, don't blame the author. He isn't the one who set the price. This is true be it hard cover, paperback or electronic version. That is left up to the publisher. Let the publisher know how you feel by writing to them and by refusing to buy a book that is priced unreasonably. Do not, I repeat, do not give an author a 1-star review based solely on the price of the book.

That's right. There are people out there right now who are downgrading books they haven't read simply because of the price. Folks, listen carefully. This hurts the author. When people go to sites like Amazon or Barnes & Noble, Powells or Borders, they see the reviews. They don't have to read them. The "stars" are listed right there. And if the book has 47 starred reviews and of those 47, a large number of them are 1-star reviews, that will keep people from buying. And that is money out of the author's pocket. If you have to, note in the text of your review that the price is unreasonable. But don't give a book a bad review just because of the price.

So, what are your expectations when buying a book? What do you do when those expectations aren't met? How about misconceptions you see about the industry? Do you see any misconceptions the industry might have about the buying public?

Jumping the gate

This is kinda-sorta related to a link Sarah sent me today (go read it - Sarah's comment on the post is excellent), via my usual leaps of illogic. The aspiring author's expectations seem to be set somewhere between "If I'm good enough, they'll see my brilliance and love me" and "They don't love me: they must hate me."

It's the same kind of thing that causes Joe Beginning Author to obsessively parse out rejection letters in the hope of divining some notion of the 'real' reason for the rejection (otherwise known as rejectomancy): we at the outskirts of the industry have no idea what actually goes on between when we send our story in and when we get it back. Some of us even harbor the quaint notion that we're going to get an unbiased read. We're not. (That's not to say there's a big hairy blacklist and if you put a toe over the invisible line you get smacked. It's more that slush readers have this humongous pile of unread stuff threatening to bury them, so they're looking for reasons to kick the story, not reasons to take it.)

Publishing does have a hefty image problem in the science fiction community, and deservedly so: as far as I can tell no-one really knows what happens between when a story is bought by a publisher and when it emerges sometimes years later as an actual book with cover art and everything, or if the people in the editing side of things know, they aren't telling us peasants slaving over manuscripts.

The result: we work on inference and observation. We see that everyone who's anyone in the field knows everyone else, and the obvious conclusion is that they pass information around and form a kind of quasi-monopoly, except for the designated pariah who dares do things differently. Naturally, writers being writers, the tendency is to leap from that to conspiracy and active collusion, and from there to an ever-growing blacklist and rumors of strange favors as a prerequisite along with the arbitrary "rules" like "thou shalt not commit prologue" and "thy urban fantasy shall be told in first person by a kick-ass female; mind thou that she be hot stuff"

Authors tend to be prone to conspiracy theory and paranoia anyway - a secretive cabal pulling the strings makes a much better story than random crap happening to some poor schmuck. Not falling into the conspiracy trap means finding out what I really can expect, and not letting myself fall into either the "They just don't understand my brilliance" trap or the "They hate me and I've been blacklisted" trap. Realistically, I'm not even on the radar - there's no way I'm going to be actively targeted.

On the flip side, I can expect that most places my manuscripts wind up, the first person who looks at it is likely to be an idealistic, poorly paid intern, and given the physical location I'm dealing with and the reluctance to move to electronic submission processes, probably one from a specific location and culture. If I start with something guaranteed to piss that sort of person off, I'm going to get bounced.

As to how to hook the poor sod reading the slush pile, who mostly wants to get away from the reams and reams of mind-bogglingly awful and is looking for reasons to cut the whole experience short and move to the next one, that I'm not so sure about. Sarah's advice yesterday helps, but what else is there?

How do we jump ourselves past that gate?