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seanan_mcguireWell, here we are. Late Eclipses [Amazon]|[Mysterious Galaxy] is officially five days from release, and most of those days are part of the weekend, which means they'll pass in like, eight minutes, flat. The point of no return is sending nice postcards, and wishes we were still there. Sadly, we've passed it. In honor of passing things, here are five things I wish I'd known when I started publishing (but am probably glad I didn't).
5. By the time you've survived peer critique, the agent search, submissions, and editorial, you're pretty much accustomed to bad reviews. You'll never be used to them, but they're no longer the shocking "but...but...but I'M THE PRETTIEST PRINCESS" catastrophes they were in the beginning. This will do absolutely nothing to prepare you for the bad reviews which have nothing whatsoever to do with your book. Bad reviews I have received: "This costs too much, so it sucks." "This book had no sex in it and I wanted sex, so it sucks." "No one told me this book would have fairies in it." There is no avoiding these reviews. No matter how much you want to.
4. Everyone in the world is going to assume that you, as author, have a great deal more knowledge and control than you do. You will constantly be asked questions to which you will not have the answer, and some people will not believe you when you tell them that really, you don't know. Also, if you're wired anything like me, you'll start having trouble not snapping at people after the seventy-fifth time you're asked something. This is a problem, unless it was the same person asking the question seventy-five times. In that case, snap away.
3. Again, if you're wired anything like me, you'll probably have become a writer because you enjoy writing. It's what you do for fun. Yay, writing! This becomes a little complicated when suddenly, writing is also your job. Sadly, the odds are good that after about six to eight months of existential angst, you'll find yourself unwinding from a long session of writing by...writing something else. On the plus side, your agent will love you.
2. An awful lot of traditional publishing is "hurry up and wait." Patience is a virtue. So is the ability to distract yourself with bad television.
1. It never stops being terrifying, exciting, and basically the most interesting thing going on in your world. It may, however, stop being terrifying, exciting, and the most interesting thing in the world for your friends. Be prepared to buy interest with chocolate.
5. By the time you've survived peer critique, the agent search, submissions, and editorial, you're pretty much accustomed to bad reviews. You'll never be used to them, but they're no longer the shocking "but...but...but I'M THE PRETTIEST PRINCESS" catastrophes they were in the beginning. This will do absolutely nothing to prepare you for the bad reviews which have nothing whatsoever to do with your book. Bad reviews I have received: "This costs too much, so it sucks." "This book had no sex in it and I wanted sex, so it sucks." "No one told me this book would have fairies in it." There is no avoiding these reviews. No matter how much you want to.
4. Everyone in the world is going to assume that you, as author, have a great deal more knowledge and control than you do. You will constantly be asked questions to which you will not have the answer, and some people will not believe you when you tell them that really, you don't know. Also, if you're wired anything like me, you'll start having trouble not snapping at people after the seventy-fifth time you're asked something. This is a problem, unless it was the same person asking the question seventy-five times. In that case, snap away.
3. Again, if you're wired anything like me, you'll probably have become a writer because you enjoy writing. It's what you do for fun. Yay, writing! This becomes a little complicated when suddenly, writing is also your job. Sadly, the odds are good that after about six to eight months of existential angst, you'll find yourself unwinding from a long session of writing by...writing something else. On the plus side, your agent will love you.
2. An awful lot of traditional publishing is "hurry up and wait." Patience is a virtue. So is the ability to distract yourself with bad television.
1. It never stops being terrifying, exciting, and basically the most interesting thing going on in your world. It may, however, stop being terrifying, exciting, and the most interesting thing in the world for your friends. Be prepared to buy interest with chocolate.
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Date: 2011-02-24 03:45 pm (UTC)Did someone just say, "chocolate?"
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Date: 2011-02-24 03:46 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2011-02-24 03:55 pm (UTC)WHERE DO YOUR IDEAS COME FROM?
:D :D :D :D :D
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Date: 2011-02-24 04:02 pm (UTC)I KNOW HOW TO USE THE STICK.
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
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Date: 2011-02-24 04:00 pm (UTC)2) I'm an editor. From our end, there's always more work than we have time for, and while we try to make every deadline, Things Go Wrong and we try to be as close as possible. I missed last year's Readercon because our servers went down and the mis-labeled audio files for the eBook had to be manually corrected one at a time, and the corrections logged. By Monday. This is not unusual for Editing; no, wait, the unusual part was the servers having issues.
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Date: 2011-02-24 04:03 pm (UTC)And I agree that literary reviews are much more useful...when they're, y'know, reviewing the book.
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Date: 2011-02-24 07:31 pm (UTC)Can I come work where you do? *cries*
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Date: 2011-02-24 08:41 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2011-02-24 05:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-24 05:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-24 06:59 pm (UTC)I do like chocolate, but you buy my interest by writing more! May it ever be interesting, exciting, and just as terrifying as you want it to be.
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Date: 2011-02-24 08:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-24 07:16 pm (UTC)My housemate finally caved in to my and Josh's pushing the books at her, and read all 3 in the last month. She was on page 100 of An Artificial Night when we left for dance practice last night. When we got back, she was around page 250.
"Weren't there some things you were going to do tonight while we were gone?" we asked.
"Shut up. You gave me the book; this is your fault."
She finished it at 10:30 last night, and came up to return it, and tell us how much she liked it. She said she really enjoyed all the character development, and pretended to curse us for handing her these books when she has other things she wants to read.
So, yay. And Kathleen talks up stuff she likes, and knows just about everyone, so hopefully she'll get the word out.
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Date: 2011-02-24 08:14 pm (UTC)Gold star for you.
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Date: 2011-02-24 07:21 pm (UTC)"No one told me this book would have fairies in it."
Hey, I think I read that review on Amazon. I made the same face my cats make when I try to feed them treats that are not Greenies or similar to Greenies. That look goes beyond "Seriously? Are you fucking kidding me?" in ways that surpass reason.
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Date: 2011-02-24 08:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-24 08:30 pm (UTC)I was taught to take situations like these, and just twist them that half crank more to really see the whack for what it is. You would not question someone complaining about it not being a sentient Madagascar Palm for their pointy enjoyment - because that's CRAZY. So are bad 'reviews' like this. Nucking futz as you will.
4. My two cents is this is envy of the knowledge and control you DO have - and I don't think you're singular about the snapping. When it really gets bad, head for the absurd. Start a page of tally marks to wave in people's faces. Why yes, yes I have. (In my world, I'm the place everything begins and ends and I have to know where the bodies are buried...so everyone asks me why it don't work. Over and over and over and - )
1. Best thing I got out of my creative writing class in my freshman year. Writers may create incredible things, but they are boring as dirt at cocktail parties because all they want to talk about is what they're working on. And can't tell you the best parts, of course. So read the sports page and be prepared to discuss the scores with great enthusiasm. Yes, you get to be an excellent actor in the process. It'll be useful in a story someday. True story.
Oddly enough, I took Lindt truffles into the fan fic panel over the weekend. Bribe? ME?
Last year it was cupcakes. ^^
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Date: 2011-02-24 08:48 pm (UTC)Thankfully,
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Date: 2011-02-24 09:57 pm (UTC)... Uh...
Doesn't it say so on the back of the book?? <*boggles*> :-P
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Date: 2011-02-24 10:19 pm (UTC)Yes, it does.
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Date: 2011-02-24 10:14 pm (UTC)"Go back a bit to the H part of this section, and look for A Kiss Of Shadows, that'll make you feel better."
Really, though, if that's the method of judging the good and bad of a book a person has - the sex scenes - then they're doomed to roam the romance novels fore'er and e'er till fingers fall off.
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Date: 2011-02-24 10:19 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2011-02-25 12:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-25 04:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-25 03:17 am (UTC)No one told the fairies you would pick up this book. Shocked faces all around. Except they've got swords and you don't.
:D
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Date: 2011-02-25 02:35 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2011-02-25 08:17 am (UTC)Re #1: given the number of people who never stop talking about their children, I think you're entitled to talk about your books as much as you want. Especially if there's chocolate XD
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Date: 2011-02-25 08:19 am (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2011-02-25 02:39 pm (UTC)The Toby books have hit all of my "must read now" buttons, so I couldn't be happier.
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Date: 2011-02-25 04:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-26 07:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-08 04:41 am (UTC)