So good, Joel. A bracing--and dare I say invigorating?--read for those of us who continue to hammer out words, even when it is simply for the joy of growing in craft. I wish I could place a link to this post below every ad on social media promising immediate success and fame to struggling authors.
I hoped it would come off that way. It really is invigorating. The job has its highs. (It also has its lows). But like Gershwin said, nice work if you can get it, and you can get it if you try.
I wonder how many books have not been written because a writer looked at the publishing industry and thought, no. I didn't pursue a career in classical music, not because I didn't have the talent, but because I couldn't take the cutthroat competition necessary to 'make it'; everytime I toy with the idea of writing a book, I look at publishing and think it would break me - and I survived nursing school.
It’s definitely not for everyone. And some people are better positioned for it than others. I’m glad I had my time in it, and I’m also glad to be outside it now. I still have a bunch of relationships in the trade and sometimes get nostalgic for it. But it’s a wild industry.
"The wins fund the losses with enough leftover to keep the shareholders happy."
What's it like to be a young person with an English degree who finagles a job in book publishing, only to find out that a young Maxwell Perkins or Robert Giroux would have taken one look at today's book "industry" before heading to law school? Only to realize the implications of the fact that a recent genre novel written mostly by AI generated rave reviews and almost 5,000 ratings on Goodreads? Horace described his *Odes* as a *monumentum aere perennius*, a monument more lasting than bronze. And two millennia later, we're still reading those poems. I wonder what kind of advance he got.
Haha! When I was just getting started in publishing I had no real training for the job. I felt my way through it. But I did have the letter so Maxwell Perkins and the memoirs of other publishers. I learned a ton about the business that way.
Joel, as one of those low-level authors, this post reminds me (along with all school teachers and pastors) why we do what we do. It ain't for the bucks; it's for the impact. Thanks for a peek at how the sausage is made.
By the way, have you read "The Gambler Wife"-- the book about how Anna and Dostoevsky met and how she saved his literary legacy and helped him with the gambling issue? It's a nice read.
I loved that book! That’s where I learned about Dostoevsky’s gambling compulsion. Incredible story. You’ve certainly seen enough of how the sausage is made over the years to know how it goes.
This is great Joel, thank you. The Dostoevsky intro was a great launch into the industry. Like many frustrated writers, this glimpse inside the inner calculus of publishing makes me feel a bit better about my lack of success getting published. Thanks for reminding me that writing too is gambling—though I wouldn’t trade it for the world. The journey truly is its own priceless reward.
Yeah, you have to do it because you love it. That’s the only real rationale. That’s in part what makes the AI conversation about writing so weird. If you don’t love writing, what are you even doing?
I agree! As a writer the success of formulaic AI writing here on Substack is like a knife to the heart. If you’re a writer, why dilute your art? If you don’t feel the compulsive, can’t rest until you’ve written obsession of a writer, why write at all?
From venture capital to publishing, the power law’s reach knows no end.
In the PRH antitrust trial, various players all compared publishing to venture capital. It really is the same thing.
So good, Joel. A bracing--and dare I say invigorating?--read for those of us who continue to hammer out words, even when it is simply for the joy of growing in craft. I wish I could place a link to this post below every ad on social media promising immediate success and fame to struggling authors.
Sigh....
I hoped it would come off that way. It really is invigorating. The job has its highs. (It also has its lows). But like Gershwin said, nice work if you can get it, and you can get it if you try.
I wonder how many books have not been written because a writer looked at the publishing industry and thought, no. I didn't pursue a career in classical music, not because I didn't have the talent, but because I couldn't take the cutthroat competition necessary to 'make it'; everytime I toy with the idea of writing a book, I look at publishing and think it would break me - and I survived nursing school.
It’s definitely not for everyone. And some people are better positioned for it than others. I’m glad I had my time in it, and I’m also glad to be outside it now. I still have a bunch of relationships in the trade and sometimes get nostalgic for it. But it’s a wild industry.
Yep. https://michaelmohr.substack.com/p/are-literary-agents-the-problem
Thanks for sharing!
"The wins fund the losses with enough leftover to keep the shareholders happy."
What's it like to be a young person with an English degree who finagles a job in book publishing, only to find out that a young Maxwell Perkins or Robert Giroux would have taken one look at today's book "industry" before heading to law school? Only to realize the implications of the fact that a recent genre novel written mostly by AI generated rave reviews and almost 5,000 ratings on Goodreads? Horace described his *Odes* as a *monumentum aere perennius*, a monument more lasting than bronze. And two millennia later, we're still reading those poems. I wonder what kind of advance he got.
Haha! When I was just getting started in publishing I had no real training for the job. I felt my way through it. But I did have the letter so Maxwell Perkins and the memoirs of other publishers. I learned a ton about the business that way.
Joel, as one of those low-level authors, this post reminds me (along with all school teachers and pastors) why we do what we do. It ain't for the bucks; it's for the impact. Thanks for a peek at how the sausage is made.
By the way, have you read "The Gambler Wife"-- the book about how Anna and Dostoevsky met and how she saved his literary legacy and helped him with the gambling issue? It's a nice read.
I loved that book! That’s where I learned about Dostoevsky’s gambling compulsion. Incredible story. You’ve certainly seen enough of how the sausage is made over the years to know how it goes.
This is great Joel, thank you. The Dostoevsky intro was a great launch into the industry. Like many frustrated writers, this glimpse inside the inner calculus of publishing makes me feel a bit better about my lack of success getting published. Thanks for reminding me that writing too is gambling—though I wouldn’t trade it for the world. The journey truly is its own priceless reward.
Yeah, you have to do it because you love it. That’s the only real rationale. That’s in part what makes the AI conversation about writing so weird. If you don’t love writing, what are you even doing?
I agree! As a writer the success of formulaic AI writing here on Substack is like a knife to the heart. If you’re a writer, why dilute your art? If you don’t feel the compulsive, can’t rest until you’ve written obsession of a writer, why write at all?
So self-publishing is an author gambling on themselves, then...
100%
You gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em... :)
LOL, exactly!