Clueless advice abounds. Everybody’s an expert.
by Anne R. Allen
I’m always amazed at the people who start giving me advice as soon as they hear I’m a writer. Even though I’ve been published for over 30 years, they’re always sure they know more than I do.
And it’s worse for new writers. They’re bombarded with advice from all quarters—family, friends, mechanic, hairdresser, and of course that know-it-all guy at work.
I don’t know why, but everybody who’s ever read a bestselling book seems to think they know all about the publishing business. They don’t do this with lawyers or dentists, but they assume writers are starved for advice on how to conduct their careers.
And the clueless advice givers are always so confident. They often scoff when you try to clue them in. They’re the perfect illustration of The Dunning-Kruger Effect.
If you don’t want your heart broken in this ever-more-complex process, you need to keep the morons and their outdated ideas from infecting your brain. Here are some things to disregard when you hear them from those well-meaning friends and relations. (Be polite, but you might be forgiven a slightly condescending smile.)
1) Sell Yourself. Show Them You’re Confident!
Confidence combined with cluelessness will not help your career—unless you’re a character played by Steven Carell.
In publishing, tooting your own horn is more likely to make you the butt of jokes and social media snark than pave your way to fame and fortune.
A respected publishing professional recently related an incident of misplaced writerly confidence. She’d been approached by a newbie writer who wanted her to look at his manuscript.
The publishing professional kindly offered a few quick words of critique while she declined to read the whole project. (BIG mistake there. Never give a free critique—no matter how short—to a new, unpublished writer. Best case scenario: there will be tears. Worst case scenario: there will be lawsuits for “stealing their ideas”)
What she got for her trouble was rage. The writer exploded. How could she not give him a full free critique? He was offering to let her read his magnum opus for FREE!
He called her names, sent poison pen messages and stalked her on social media.
Most people were sympathetic, but a couple praised the author for his “confidence.”
That was idiotic. The newbie writer was not confident. If he had been, he would have learned the ropes of the business, found beta readers, and joined a bonafide critique group.
Confidence without skills only puts people off. Do work on developing self-confidence—the kind that comes from knowing what you’re doing, not bullying others. No matter what Mr. Know-it-all tells you about “showing them who’s boss.”
2) My Life Story Would Make a Bestseller. You Can Write the Words and Publish it and we’ll Split the Profits 50/50
Yeah. Right. Just write down the words. And get it published. Abracadabra.
This happens to all of us at some social gathering or other. The best advice I can give you is: run! These people can be dangerous if they start rattling on. Whatever you publish next, they’ll claim it was inspired by their life story.
Children’s author Kathleen Duey wrote about this phenomenon in a comment on Writer Beware several years ago,
“Try that split on any other kind of business person. ‘I think that a colony on Mars would be awesome and I am willing to give a 50% share of all eventual proceeds to anyone who can make it happen.’ I am always careful to walk away, if that’s what it takes, to keep anyone from telling me the idea…just in case I ever write something similar by accident.”
This will sound familiar to a lot of you. Smile sweetly and develop an important reason to rush off to the buffet table.
3) It’s Okay to Spend Big Bux Now. Once You Get Published, You’ll Make Tons of Money.
How many times do you hear “You’re a writer! Will you still talk to me when you’re rich and famous?” Tell them to rest easy. It’s not likely to be a problem. (Unless your name is Mick Jagger.)
Yes, we read all the time about 7-figure book deals. But those are for politicians and celebrities. The publisher makes a ton of money when the super-PAC buys up all the copies of “Political Bloviator Bloviating” and it hits #1 on the NYT bestseller list. But this has nothing to do with you. Or creative writing.
Even “successful” writers need day jobs these days. Royalties and advances are shrinking at an amazing rate. And Self-Publishers make an average of $1000 a year.
Yes, J.K. Rowling is richer than the Queen, and Stephen King could buy the entire state of Maine. They are superstars. Of course you (and your hairdresser) can fantasize you’ll become a superstar too—we all do—but the odds are mighty slim.
We have to write because we love it. If you want to make tons of money, get a job on Wall Street.
4) Start with Genre Fiction or Kids’ Books: They’re Easy to Write.
Some people will tell you to start out with something “easy” like a romance/mystery/kid’s book. Don’t even try. Especially children’s books. Keeping the attention of little ones is way harder than most people think.
And writing a MG or YA book about kids today means erasing most of what you remember from your own childhood. Things are very different now.
And as for genre fiction, if you don’t love a genre and read it voraciously, you’ll never write it well enough to get a readership.
Write in the genre you read. And if you don’t read, sorry, but you won’t be able to write well.
And don’t try to write to trends if you’re a beginner. By the time you finish that thing, the trend will be totally last year.
5) Put a Lot of Skin on Your Cover: Sex Sells.
A woman I met at a party once told me I should insist that my publisher put a semi-naked guy on the covers of my books and they’d sell better.
She was wrong on two counts: first, putting a cover on your book that isn’t right for your genre will backfire. If people buy your literary novel thinking it’s going to be a sizzling love story, they will not be pleased. Sell a cozy mystery as a dark thriller, and the reviews will be nasty. And if you sell realistic women’s fiction as romance, readers who don’t get their HEA ending will be unhappy forever after.
Genres have rules, and cover art is very genre-specific. To learn more about covers follow Joel Friedlander’s blog, The Book Designer .
Second, as I said in a post back in 2013, sex doesn’t sell mainstream fiction as well as it used to, now that rules are enforced by algorithm. One of Amazon’s criteria for putting a book in the porn section is how many pixels of flesh tones are on the cover.
Too much shirtless man-flesh (or even a baby’s face) on the cover of your book may relegate it to the erotica section, where it won’t be discovered by your target readers and the erotica fans will find your romantic suspense a major let-down.
6) Don’t Waste Time on Short Fiction.
You won’t make any money on it, they tell you.
But here’s the thing: you won’t make much money on long fiction for quite a while, even if you get a first novel published.
Working on short fiction is the best way to hone your skills. Publishing it makes you more attractive to publishers and readers and gives your self-confidence a boost.
And it’s a whole lot easier to trad-pub. a short story than a novel. There are thousands of literary magazines and contests in the US, but only five major book publishing houses.
And if you’re self-publishing, those stories can be a gold mine. Use them as “reader magnets” for your mailing list. Longer stories can be published as stand-alone ebooks. And placing a story in a print magazine is great advertising for your book.
Besides, short fiction holds its value. A good story can be resold many times as a reprint.
7) Copyright that Manuscript as Soon as you Type “The End” or Somebody will Steal your Plot!
It’s true that plagiarism is a big problem these days, but not of unedited, unpublished manuscripts. Pirates can lift books right off Amazon, so why would they want somebody’s first draft?
No matter how original you think your concept is, plot theft is unlikely. The truth is that everybody’s got a story. It’s how you write it that matters.
Since the copyright law reforms of the 1970s, copyrighting your work before it’s published has been the mark of a paranoid amateur.
Especially if you’re sending it off to agents. If you mention in your query that you’ve copyrighted the material, “so don’t think you can steal this fabulous idea and publish it yourself” you can expect instant rejection.
Also, the agent will inevitably ask for changes, and so will your editor—if you’re lucky enough to get a contract—then it will be a different book, needing a new copyright.
A copyright only costs $35 in the US, but if you register a rough draft, and every subsequent draft, that can add up.
And it’s unnecessary: your work is copyrighted as soon as you type it onto your hard drive. (And BTW, you can’t copyright a title or an idea.)
There are lots of things to fear in the Big Bad Publishing World: non-compete clauses, “in-perpetuity” contracts, shrinking advances, and overpriced vanity publishers, but plot theft should not be high on your list.
I should note this is not true of loglines, If you have an especially high-concept, unique, and marketable idea—like the you’re the first guy who thought of “snakes on a plane”—you might feel more secure if you copyright it—but do NOT mention this when you’re querying.
8) Spelling and Grammar don’t Matter if you Have Talent
“You’ll have editors to take care of all that stuff,” people will tell you. “The only thing that’s important is creativity.”
That may be true when you’re seven, but not when you’re trying to launch a professional career.
Would you hire a plumber who didn’t know how to use a wrench because you thought he had potential?
Words and grammar are a writer’s tools. If you can’t use them properly, nobody’s going to hire you for the job. Not an agent, editor, or reader.
The old saw about 10% inspiration/90% perspiration is 100% true. Talent without skill is useless. Today’s author needs more polished writing skills than ever before. Readers have access to more books, and on tablets they can switch from your book to a magazine, movie, or TV show. You have to work harder than ever to keep their interest with fast pacing and lean, powerful prose. In the e-age, authors also need top-notch skills with marketing and social media. Nobody’s born with those. You have to learn them and keep up with rapid changes.
Work on perfecting the nuts and bolts of writing and keeping up with the latest industry news, or nobody will ever find out about that talent of yours. Yes, you need editors, and they give necessary polish to a solid manuscript. But they can’t take a total mess and make it into a masterpiece, no matter how much raw talent you may have.
Words are your tools. If you can’t use them properly, nobody’s going to hire you for the job.
Bad grammar on a website or blog automatically makes me question the writer’s abilities.
9) Don’t Read Other Writers or you’ll Imitate Them.
Reading widely is essential to the growth of your craft. The more you read, the better your own work will be. If you imitate a bit when you’re a beginner, no harm done. Sounding like Stephen King will be better than sounding like every other newbie writer.
Your own voice will emerge.
10) Be Extra Creative so You’ll Stand Out.
I remember a friend who was in advertising who was sure I’d get an agent immediately if I sent my queries in neon yellow envelopes. She even brought me some from work and insisted I use them. I’m embarrassed to admit I did. I can imagine the giggles in agents’ offices.
Don’t write a book with animated emoticons, invent a new genre, or try to bring back the papyrus scroll. At least not when you’re a newbie. Thinking that far outside the box lands you outside of the entire industry.
Follow genre and word count guidelines and pay attention to structure and character arcs, or you won’t get read, no matter how creative you are. Put your reader first, not your need to express your specialness.
by Anne R. Allen (@annerallen) March 1st, 2020
What about you, scriveners? How much of this clueless advice have you heard? How did you deal with it?
On my book blog, The Manners Doctor answers questions about online etiquette. Is it acceptable for people to post book ads or political rants on a person’s Facebook page on their birthday?
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Excellent info, Anne, especially #8.
I was expecting a downplay of “show, don’t tell” as one of your points. I hate long passages that show every detail. I want story, story, story. Yes, writers need more show than tell in novels, but don’t bog readers down in the middle of an action scene.
And flash fiction has no room for wordy prose.
Kathy–Oh, don’t get me started on “Show don’t tell.” I wrote a whole post on it four years ago. It might be time for another. https://annerallen.com/2016/03/show-tell-terrible-advice-writers/ It can indeed bog us down in useless details. Thanks for the reminder!
🙂 Glad to help.
Hey Anne,
Good post. I literally laughed out loud at #4. Yeah, let’s tackle the ‘easy’ stuff first. If there is an easy category of fiction to write, I’d like to know what it is. There is no such thing – I mean, if you want to turn out a good book.
The shame in all this is that many so-called writing coaches/gurus spew this type of advice too. And newbies as well as not so newbies believe it.
The critiquing thing is a slippery slope too. Even with friends and people you have some kind of relationship with. In my experience, very few want to know the truth in a critique, they are mostly looking for praise and when they don’t get it, they find ways to retaliate. What business. What are we doing in it? LOL.
Annie
Anita–Right. Writing for kids is “easy” –not so many words, so it must be a piece of cake. Haha. I guess you’re right that it’s not just people outside the business who give this kind of bad advice. It’s harder for writers to ignore when it comes from a teacher or authority figure. Critiquing is always tough. A good critiquer learns to “sandwich” the negative comments between positive ones. But thin skinned newbies may not be able to hear even that.
Ahoy Anne,
How true, how true. I’m particularly amazed at the number of “advisors” & writers who don’t seem to comprehend the importance of reading. Your 9th rule is huge for me, as is “…if you don’t love a genre and read it voraciously, you’ll never write it well enough to get a readership.” We writers need to be reading reading reading.
CS–“Read, read, read” is Stephen King’s advice, and it sure is important. People who haven’t read a kids’ book since their own childhood can produce a lot of drivel. And you can not write romance if you don’t love it!
Every single point here is worth putting my cheerleading poms poms on for, but I have to second the first point IN BOLD. Every single time I have critiqued for free, it has come back to haunt me. No way you can win, unless you say the only thing they want to hear, which is: “This is absolutely stunning, and I will recommend it to my agent immediately!” I no longer read and comment on any work by someone who has not taken my classes. After 28 years of writing and teaching about writing, I have learned that people really do think something is worth what they paid for it, sadly.
Melodie–Haha. You’re right. The only thing those writers want to hear is “This is genius so I’ll give it to my agent/publisher.” Anything else will trigger anger. And yes, if a critique is free they figure it’s worthless.
I guess I must be an exception about not valuing a free critique. I appreciate someone taking the time to read and comment honestly on what I’ve written. Do I take every single piece of advice onboard and make every change suggested? No, of course not. But I do consider it, and incorporate what rings true, or figure out how to incorporate the spirit of it in a different way.
To let myself get upset about it seems silly, even if it didn’t come in the positive-negative-positive sandwich form. I look at it like the lines in Kipling’s poem “If” that say,
“If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too. . . ”
and figure that about sums up what my attitude toward critiques should be. I’ve gotten a few rude ones, and ones insisting tyrannically on absolute rules of writing, but why get all worked up? I’m free to pick and choose —or ignore—as I see fit.
Tricia–It sounds as if you’ve been at this long enough to learn how it works. Take what resonates and disregard the rest. Unfortunately a lot of newbie writers can’t do that. That’s why it’s often better for them to get started with a class where they’ve paid an authority to teach them the basics. Once they’ve built up some confidence from that, they can move on to a critique group or beta readers.
There certainly is a lot of poppycock and horsepetew out there to mislead writers. #8 is one of the worst offenders. I think the best advice that doesn’t seem to get across in the early stages of learning this gig is that a manuscript is a product destined for a marketplace. It has to be as polished as possible if it’s going to compete. Thanks for putting the “expertise” in perspective, Anne. Enjoy your day!
Garry–“Horsepetew” is a new word for me. Love it! Yeah, we’re producing a product, like it or not. And if the nuts and bolts aren’t done right, the product will be shoddy. Nobody wants to buy shoddy.
Unless someone’s life story has space ships or dragons in it, they don’t want me writing it. (Although with my luck, someone would want me to write about being anal-probed on a dragon’s space ship.)
Short fiction is a great way to get your name out there more. And some writers build an entire career on them.
Alex–Haha. I tell people the same thing “I write satire–you do not want me writing your life story unless you want a lot of people laughing at you.” But they usually don’t get it. Short fiction is so useful. It can go into anthologies like the ones produced by the IWSG, which can expose a writer to 1000s of new readers.
Oh my! I had no idea about the flesh tone pixels criterion! What if you had a sunset that had a lot of some skin tone? My mind immediately jumps to the ways AI can go ALL wrong…sigh. Great list, very familiar!
Also there are a lot of skin tones…AI must be focusing on the industry-centered ‘peaches n cream’ band? Or the fake tan shade? Another travesty for diversity. Oh, geez, now I’ve started a train of thought…
Margaret–The Zon may have changed its algos on the flesh tones. That info is a couple of years old. But the fundamental problem remains: robots are stupid. And robots now rule so much of publishing. Sigh.
A+ list. Thanks! I’d even add that successful, bestselling authors however simpatico
also can’t give specific, on-target advice to aspiring authors. They know what *they* did which might (but probably doesn’t) apply to an author just starting out. They can share experiences (war stories), but that’s a whole different subject. And this is not even allowing for luck—an important ingredient in success which can’t be controlled, much less duplicated.
Ruth–I hadn’t thought of that, but it’s true. Even the pros only know what worked for them. And that may have been many years ago. And the element of luck is so often overlooked. “I did this, so if you do it, you should have the same result” doesn’t apply when so much luck is involved.
I was so lucky when I started I stumbled immediately into Agent Query Connect (sadly no longer working) and learned to avoid a lot of these traps from the kind people there
Jemi–RIP Agent Query Connect! What a wonderful resource for real, solid publishing industry information. I learned so much there. I wonder if there’s another resource out there I don’t know about. If anybody knows of one, do let us know!
So refreshing to read a post based on right reason and good sense! (And no horsepetew!)
Liz–New rule: no Horsepetew!
😀 That’s a rule I can get behind!
Such a great read today Anne. And I’m settling down and building a house on #3.
I’ve said some of these things before, chiefly inspired by you. But never so concisely or so well. It’s been such a pleasure to see you going over this ground across the years, never changing the advice but constantly finding funnier, clearer and more convincing ways to express these truths.
Am I the first one today to reference W. Somerset Maugham?
“There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.”
Count me in on that!
Will–Oh yes, we’re all rich enough to afford mansions now.
Many thanks for the kudos!
We can’t quote Somerset Maugham too often. Thanks!
Whenever I get the “I have a great idea for a book” line, I say, “Lemme stop you right there. I barely have enough time for my own ideas, never mind yours, but thanks for thinking of me.” Works every time. 🙂
Sue–They always seem kind of amazed that we have ideas of our own, don’t they? But telling them sometimes helps. 🙂
Anne, on point #7 — when to file an application for copyright registration — I always recommend filing after publication. You want the deposit copy to be the best version of your work and that’s usually the one you’ve published. Also, the fee for filing the single application is going up to $45 on March 20, 2020 ($65 for the standard app). So, if you have a backlog of applications to file, the time is now!
Kathryn–Many thanks for the heads-up! $65 is getting to be pretty pricey, so copyrighting before publication is even more pointless.
Great post. It seems there’s as many books about writing as there are actual stories, and the information overload is enough to make a fledgling writer’s head explode especially with so much conflicting advice. Yes, there are some basic structure and grammar rules, but this is not a one size fits all endeavor. I do agree wholeheartedly, read the genre you love to write, and take everything else with a grain of salt. Use what you can, discard the rest.
Brenda–Learning to find what you can use and disregard the rest is part of your education as a writer, that’s for sure. If you listened to everybody, you’d end up losing your mind.
Great list, Anne. Most often, these are things I hear new (or wannabe) writers tell other new (or wannabe) writers, as the latter nod their head sagely. 🙂
Harvey–Wannabe writers instructing wannabe writers can be the blind leading the blind. Lots of very bad information gets passed around.
A recent spin on number two was a guy who wanted me to research, write and publish his latest conspiracy theory. A 50/50 split on the profits since it was his idea seemed a reasonable payback. Profits? Huh?
Elaine–Haha. Your conspiracy theorist was like the “colony on Mars” guy. Right. You have an idea for a colony on Mars. I do all the work. You get a 50% cut? I don’t think so…
It seems, as I clicked on a couple of the sites, that everything is very costly including cover designs and the idea is that only people with money are worth publishing.
Marta–Publishing is a business, and if you self-publish, you’re opening your own business. You need capital for that.
But if you go with a traditional publisher, you don’t need to put up any money up front. There are lots of small presses out there looking for new work from talented writers. So keep writing and learning and polishing and you’ll find somebody who wants to take the financial gamble to publish your work.
I had the “you should write children’s books” thing said to me. I have no desire to write children’s books, not even YA. I took the advice with a grain of salt and politely thanked the person. That’s as far as it went. Good advice here.
Joan–That shows such a lack of understanding of what writing is about. But I’ve even had professionals suggest that kind of thing to me. “Write vampire romance! steampunk! apocalyptic YA!” Nope. I gotta write what I know. If I can’t stand to read that stuff, how could I spend six months of my life writing it?
My response to the “I have a great idea for you” deal is to tell the writer that I can’t look at their work for fear I’ll unconsciously be influenced by it, and I wouldn’t want to do that. Then urge them to write their own unique story. I’ve never had a bad reaction to this approach.
Valerie–Very diplomatic. Worthy of the Manners Doctor. Camilla would approve!
I am truly honoured.
Solid advice Anne. “Political Bloviator Bloviating” cracked me up. There are so many of those that they need their own section at the bookstore.
Jen–They do often have their own section of the bookstore–the remainder table. Haha. Those things get remaindered after about 6 weeks. But I do think a section for “Bloviators” might be useful. 🙂
Thank you so much for these tips, Anne. I still can’t believe that anyone would fall for many of these “suggestions” but I know it’s true that they DO. Maybe it’s naïveté’ or desperation … who knows? But it’s sad that people take advantage of newbie writers’ ignorance of what one should and shouldn’t do when starting a writing career. And, too, what works for one is not going to work for everyone. I remember all too well some of the advice I got or read in a newsletter or something. Scary to look back on now … but true nonetheless.
Patricia–I think there’s so much misinformation out there, newbies don’t know what to believe. Part of it is that some of the worst advice comes from apparent authorities who are just in the business of making money off new writers’ ignorance.
I followed a lot of advice that I read about when I began writing. Then I discovered your and Ruth’s blog and knew that I could find solid and true information to help me in my writing career. THANK YOU both for writing this blog for all of us.
I just love the painting at the top. One lady is looking at the bloviator with a sort of smirk and we hear her saying “yeah, right.” The other one has simply gone somewhere else, and ignores him completely.
Carolyn–I’m so glad you got it! That’s why I chose the painting. It’s actually a group of siblings, but it looks like some guy being condescending while two women try to be polite–one by faking interest and the other by checking out completely. It’s an English painter in the Gainsborough school, but not Gainsborough. I couldn’t find the painter’s name.
Great advice, Anne! I’ve learned all of these the hard way over the years. Putting this in links this week!
Traci–Thanks for spreading the word! I think most of us have had to deal with this stuff on our writing journey.
As a publisher, I say definitely don’t copyright your work before sending it out. It will just be a mess to fix later. (As one of my authors discovered.)
Back when DLP got mostly snail mail, I kept waiting to get a query letter written in crayon.
Diane–I suspected that, but I’ve never heard it from a publisher before. One more reason not to waste your money. Thanks for the inside info!
I met a wannabe kidlit author who was sure her book would get scooped up by an agent because she’d had the clever idea of writing her query in the voice of a 6-yr old. Crayon would have been even better, I’m sure. 🙂 I never heard if she found an agent, but I rather suspect not.
Wonderful list, Anne! Another great post that every newbie writer should see — at least once — preferably print and stick on the wall (or computer screen).
#1 reminded me of the time I agreed to look at an in-law’s manuscript (“it’s great! you’ll love it!”). The first page told me I was in trouble and it went to hell in a hand basket after that (all 503 pages worth). I forwarded a loose critique with developmental suggestions (half the book is a dream [shudder]) and left it at that. Two weeks later, the author’s wife informed me that I had ruined both their lives…
Thanks for sharing your awareness, and I always love the great additional info found in the comments!
Maria D’Marco
Maria–Oh, you poor thing! You gave her hundreds of dollars worth of free editing and you’re the bad guy. Yeah. That’s what happens. That’s why new writers need to take classes and learn the basics before they start. Otherwise, when a little reality enters their rosy fantasy world, they fall apart.
Yes. Our commenters are full of great information! I learn from them every week.
Maria—Ruth butting in here. Sorry you had to go through this. Now you know why we used house names — a la Betty Crocker — on form rejection letters back in the day.
Reminds me of the time a friend of my husband — he was a doctor — aggressively pressed his “masterpiece” on us. It began with the character waking up and peeing followed by page after page (after page) of ALL his thoughts as he peed intersected by descriptions about his urine stream, its force and power as it hit the toilet. No kidding. We just offered an anodyne response saying that we found it “interesting.” Which, in a way, it was. And I’m someone who survived the slush pile.
Oy. I feel your pain.
oooohhhhhh Ruth… as my mom used to say: Good lord! :O)
At least I just had to follow a man (not a boy) and his donkey through various adventures where a new world was created with each sequence and the donkey could talk. These people still greet me with icy stares at family gatherings — after over 20 years! I must have more power than I realize… lol
Maria — did the donkey ever say anything interesting? (Don’t answer) lol
I’m just doing a test here. The WordPress elves are not letting me comment on the blog except from “backstage” and now I see comments are disappearing. Fred Waiss, I hope your comment will return. It exists “backstage”. This is all so weird and creepy.
This is all so familiar, I once got trapped at a social event by someone who “read” me his novel, together with corrections and explanations, until I was rescued. Reblogged at https://richarddeescifi.co.uk/reblogging-ten-things-to-ignore/
Richard–I just visited your blog. Many thanks for the reblog. Your story is hilarious. I’ve never had that one happen, but I can picture it. These people are relentless. Glad you got rescued.
Your comment didn’t appear on the blog just now, but I’m going to tweak it and see if it goes up. (Cranky WordPress elves this week.)
I now tend to keep quiet about my writing career, at least until I have had chance to see if the person I’m talking to is likely to pin me in a corner!!
I ignore them all.
Valentina–It’s the only way to stay sane in this business!
I’m always telling people that there is lots of free information out there about writing or blogging, but I also tell people to be wary of what advice they read, Anne.
I’ve given lots of advice on my blog about blogging and social media which I know won’t work for everyone, but most of my readers tell me that the free help I publish goes a long way in helping them to become better bloggers and to get noticed amongst the millions of blogs out there.
Of course, I’ve also come across lots of crazy advice about blogging (such as you have publish everyday and you have to be on all social media platforms to be successful) but I generally try and include this type of nonsense in my advise posts.
I think that at the end of the day, if the advice is coming from somebody you look up to and who can prove how successful they’ve been with the advice they’re offering, then it’s probably worth looking into it some more and trying it out.
Hugh–I wrote a whole book about blogging misinformation: The Author Blog: Easy Blogging for Busy Authors. The problem is blogging for money is entirely different from the author blog, which is blogging for visibility. All those rules like “blog every day” don’t apply to author blogs. But most authors don’t know that. Thanks for giving such good advice on your blog!
Great article there, Anne. I’ve been on both ends of a couple of those points. I’m learning, but it’s a slow and painful process. Thanks for sharing your advice.
Chris–That’s the problem. Learning about the publishing industry is a slow and painful process. It isn’t just about learning to write. And as we learn, we’re bound to run into a lot of misinformation. We just have to keep reading and learning.
I’m bookmarking this. I’ve published some poetry in my day, but I’m thinking about writing a novel that I’ve had in my head for a while. I’ll keep this on tap!
Davida–You might want to try some shorter fiction first. Try putting that idea into a story and then expand on it later. It’s a good way to preserve that idea without making the huge commitment of writing a novel. Best of luck!
Oh, I’m already totally committed to the novel. I have the basic outline in my head and a bit already written down. I’ve been thinking about it for years! I’m retiring in August and I hope to really get more work on it after that – including trips to Estonia and Vienna for research.
Your advice on writing short stories really made an impression on me, Anne. I’ve been given a lot of advice stipulating that I am just “spinning my wheels” writing short fiction, and that I should “concentrate only on self-publishing a novel” to succeed in writing.
Thomas–The most successful authors I know published a lot of short fiction and essays before they got a novel published. It’s the best way to get “cred” before you try to publish a book.
I’ve not heard much of it. I tend not to listen so-called experts or even to real experts–except you–because their advice is usually not good for beginners. Also I love words too much, not to double-check the grammar and punctuation. (Oh, by the way, today is National Grammar Day and the Oxford Comma is now a legal requirement. Yay!) (Also, did you know that the DNA code is a language with correct spelling and syntax?)
I have heard the thing about copyrighting, though, and bought a book about how to. It was obsolete, though, which is probably why it was on sale. Haha!
I don’t think, though, that I should write like the books I love to read, which are Kafka, Dostoevsky, Mann, etc. However, I got tired of fiction and haven’t read any in a long time. I do not know why I’m so tired of reading. What is that? My last full book I read on purpose because I wanted to I think was Palen.Going Rogue. When it was first released. Not good to have stopped that long.
I used to love to read everything. My whole family walks around while reading, taking the book to meals, to bathroom, even to the car. They do put it down while driving. We all also constantly correct each other’s grammar. “Ly,” is a sentence at our house. It means, “You used an adverb and forgot to add the “ly”. I once even said “mente” to an Hispanic woman. Good grief!
Anyway, my question is buried up there: Why do I no longer love reading as if it were in my blood or something?
Katharine–Some people find their Internet browsing has taken all their reading time away. That may be part of the problem. Do you read on an ereader? I find I read books on my Kindle much faster than paper books because it’s lightweight and easy to keep with me all the time. Also, my old eyes love the adjustable font.
But I would suggest picking up some popular books in your chosen genre and schedule your reading time just the way you schedule your writing time. It’s really part of the same thing. Make yourself read, and I’ll bet you’ll get caught up in the story. I used to read a lot more literary fiction than I do now, because all that MFA fiction got too reader-unfriendly. I read classics, but I read bestsellers, too. Balance is key, I think.
Yes, that could be it. Thank you. As I read it, I was realizing it’s not the reading that I resent; it’s having so much of it to do. I do counseling online and it’s a good thing right now. Eventually that work will become an addition to my work on my books, as a teaching course.
So a lot of reading (maybe too much) and less time, it seems, now that we’ve retired, if that is possible, is making reading a chore instead of an escape to another world. There even is guilt somewhere in that equation, you have helped me realize.
Okay. Schedule. That’s it. Thank you so much! You have solved the mystery. 😀
Katharine–I had to deal with that guilt too. When I was a kid and my mom found me reading, she’d say, “since you don’t have anything to do, please help me with…” So reading for pleasure made me feel guilty for years. But it’s part of our work. Enjoy!
In re the clueless people…I didn’t know there was an actual name for people who think that just because they’re smart in one thing that they’re smart in everything…I call them ‘armchair experts’ and I’m rarely kind in response..and always include that condescending smile… thanks for some good tips.
Mestengo–I like the expression “armchair experts”–and they’re not always smart. They may simply be ignorant, which gives them a sense of power, according to Dunning-Kruger.
Yep… their ignorance feeds their arrogance.. I’m a Chinese medicine practitioner too and I’m always getting people who think they know as much as I do… patience and a smile…
Denise–And I’m sure the people who know the least are the most arrogant. It usually works that way.
I encountered the know-it-all who has never written anything shortly after my first book was self-published. He said the chances of becoming a famous writer were slim and he proceeded to explain, in detail, why I was never going to be a best selling writer.
Instead of crouching in my seat I told him the truth, “I don’t care. I love to write. I’d be happy to break even.”
He has his talents, and all of them revolve around making a lot of money. He couldn’t understand the concept of doing something simply for the love of it.
Florida–Why do people assume all writers want to be famous? We’re mostly introverts. We don’t want book tours or spots on The Daily Show. We want to be able to write and make enough money to keep writing. Great answer!
Apart from 10 (use green ink) I’ve heard most of these. People wanting you to write their life story, because…Complaints about books that don’t sell, my daughter’s eight and she’s wrote a book and it isn’t selling…Do you have to read to be a writer? (do you have to be a duck to produce an egg?). I often waste my time writing short fiction, because longer fiction is just shorter fiction with legs. Great post. Glad I read it. Because first and always, I’m a reader. Reading is my religion.
Jack–Amen. 🙂 My religion too. I love your description of novels as “short fiction with legs.” And nonfiction books are magazine articles with padding.
Well, we have the perfect chance to read and write short fiction right now. I hope you can enjoy it.
busy studying covid-19. Very interesting virus, but I don’t want to meet it personally. I like President Trump’s initiative that we need a bigger wall to keep it out (sssh, whisper it, he doesn’t read books, that shows what can happen to your brain, virus or no virus, when you’re a non-reader).
Jack–You do NOT want to meet it personally. I think I’ve probably had it for the past 6 weeks. No sense of smell. Fever. So fatigued, I had to take a nap on the couch on the journey from my office to the kitchen for tea. (And I live in a 900 sq ft cottage.) I lost at least two weeks to total brain fog. I’ll never know if I had COVID 19 because there was only one virus test kit in the county at the time. But I self-quarantined, so nobody else would get the crud I had, no matter what the name was. More test kits would have been nice.
Very true. Skin tones range through all shades, from black and very dark brown through olive colours to almost white. Does that make the AI racist? (Just a thought.)
Vivienne–Wise observation. I have no idea if they still do it now, since the algos change, but yeah, not exactly a sensitive robot. 🙂
Another thing you hear is ‘you most be on Facebook, Twitter, have a website and blog, instagram, Pinterest, Whatsap, Goodreads, follow other authors blogs etc etc.’ all of them! And you must interact and comment on each.
So no time for writing.
I would say that following and reacting to some important blogs is important, (like yours, Anne) and then choose a couple of social media to use. Doing everything is impossible, even if you’re not writing. It just builds up stress and guilt.
Vivienne–That is so true! Luckily the real marketing “gurus” say choose the social medium where your audience lives, and skip the others so, yes, you can write some books. I never joined Instagram, because that’s more for younger people, and readers of cozy mysteries tend to be on Facebook.
Thanks for the kind words about our blog! 🙂
This is why I’m a closet writer, I don’t want to listen to all that bad advice. I read what I want and I write what I want, that’s all we can do.
Naomi–If you can keep closeted until you become a bestseller, that might keep you safe from the bad advice, but never underestimate the long reach of stupidity. 🙂
I’ve decided to start doing some writing – short stories, with the pipe dream of a novel – and have already heard many of these from the few friends I’ve told. I’m enjoying your blog!
Claire–Congrats on starting those stories! You want to work on those stories and start sending them out to journals and contests before you jump into a novel. But get a notebook and jot down your ideas for the book (or use Evernote or some other app.) It’s so much easier to start a novel if you’ve got a notebook full of ideas. Pay more attention to that notebook than you to do the ignorant voices. 🙂