Okay, I’m sure this has been done before (and probably
better than I’ll ever do it), but suck it up, Buttercup.
We could talk for days about the things no one really
considers when pursuing publishing, but today let’s talk time. Yes, time.
You see, most of us little writer types go into this gig
dreaming of the time we’ll be able to flip our day job boss the bird and make a
living off the blood, sweat, and tears we pour into our books. And sometimes,
if you’re lucky and bust ass and put the time and effort and the plethora of
other shit that goes into getting published, you are able to take that step.
Which is awesome. Pat yourself on the back. You’ve made it.
Now it’s time to spend your days in Starbucks, sipping your coffee of choice
while making insane word counts because you’re no longer tied into a 40hr week
doing something else.
Yeah. Not so much.
You know what comes with being published? A whole lot of
shit that never would have pranced through your starstruck mind. I know this
because I had no freaking idea and I’d been chasing the dream for YEARS.
That blog you have? Well, it’s no longer professional
enough. Upgrade. Your book’s coming out? Guess what? If you’re lucky, your
publisher has put the time and effort into pushing promo for you (which you
will have to put time and effort into as well). If you’re not? That’s all on
you, Cupcake. That email account you used to stalk in hopes of seeing The
Letter? Now it’s overflowing with business stuff that has nothing to do with
the actual writing of your book.
A lot of people – myself included – walk into this under the
mistaken impression that all you have to worry about is the words you put on
the page. And that’s a huge ass deal, because if your book is crap, people aren’t
going to buy it. But once you have that beautiful little publishing contract,
the writing/editing/etc of a book becomes only PART of the process.
I know you’ve heard this before, darlings, but hear it
again.
Publishing is a whole shit-ton of WORK. Really hard,
occasionally depressing as all get out, WORK.
That said, I think it's totally worth it.
Hello there. I find it interesting I started trimming the fat off my blog today, working toward a professional polish. A few hours later I stumble across your blogpost on twitter. Where can I apply for my evil membership? ;)
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing.