The 3 P's to Writing Success by Gini Koch, Part 3

Alright folks, today we bring you the exciting conclusion to the 3 P's to Writing Success by Gini Koch, author of the fun and fabulous Touched By An Alien which is out now and Alien Tango which releases Dec of this year.

Check out the first and second P's, Professionalism and Patience, here and here.

Now, let's dive into the last and my favorite, Perseverance.


Part Three

Okey dokey, you’re acting all professional and you’re now just letting the wait time fly by because you’re so focused on writing. So, what happens now, when, well, nothing happens? You do what every author you’ve ever read or heard of does -- you keep on keeping on.

Perseverance
There is nothing -- not talent, no luck, no skill, no fortune -- that can win out over perseverance. Water patiently wears down rock, and as long as you persevere, you can achieve anything.

Perseverance is what keeps you going when your beta readers say your book is a complete mess. It’s what enables you to take the latest rejection, sigh, turn around and sub to the next market or agent. It’s what separates the men from the boys, the women from the girls, the successful from the wannabes and never weres.

Perseverance is also what helps you go to one more writer’s conference. Try one more market. Give yet another story idea a go. It’s what you need to finish a book or short story, get a short story published, find an agent for that book, get a publisher, and then hit the shelves.

Want to know what the definition of a published author is? Someone who never gave up.

Perseverance is necessary once you have an agent and publisher, too. Because you need to continue on. Harper Lee did indeed write a Great American Novel. But it’s all she ever wrote. Truman Capote wrote great works, but none compare to “To Kill a Mockingbird”…however, Capote was published over and over again. Why? They were contemporaries and BFFs. But Capote persevered and continued on and Lee didn’t.

Are you Harper Lee or Truman Capote? Probably not. But they both persevered; Capote just persevered more, and so, was published more.

Louis L’Amour is the King of Perseverance. The man was rejected over 350 times (close to 400) before he sold one thing. He’d send a short out, get whatever his number of rejections was for when he decided it wasn’t going to sell, turn the story over and put it into a box, and then send the next story out. He wrote and wrote and subbed and subbed. And how he’s Louis L’Amour -- you know the name even if you’ve never read a single thing he’s written. Because he persevered and became the name in Western fiction.

Oh, and that box he put all those rejected stories into? When he passed away, his family found it, turned the stories over…and they’ve all, all, been published now. Most of his South Seas stories were in that box, along with many others. His family and estate thank him for that box.

Let’s look at more recent examples. J.K. Rowling was rejected all over the place before she finally landed an agent. And her first three books were middling successes in the U.K. It took Scholastic coming to the Frankfurt book fair, and her publisher putting “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” (the title was changed to Sorcerer’s Stone for American audiences) out at that book fair, and the Scholastic editor recognizing that this was a book that could be huge in the U.S., for her to become, by the time Book 4 hit the shelves, a huge success. That was years of work and perseverance to become the bestselling author of our age and the richest woman in England.

Personally, I had well over 100 rejections before I sold a single humorous short. I had over 100 more before I landed my agent. I still get rejected. Ray Bradbury still gets rejected, so, really, it’s hard to complain. I get rejected just like the Grand Masters do. So, you got rejected? So what? Cry me a river and let me know when you pass up Louis L’Amour’s rejection level…I might have sympathy for you then. But I doubt it.

Why am I not sympathetic about this? Because, whining about rejections doesn’t get you published. Perseverance gets you published.

Gini’s Motto: For every setback, every disappointment, every roadblock, every hurdle, every painful experience on the way to publishing success, I have a simple response -- write another book.

So…what are you waiting for? Go on…and write another book. And another. And another. Follow the Three P’s and you’ll find that at least one of those books will be where you want it to be -- on the shelves of the bookstore, and in readers’ hands.

Gini Koch speaks frequently on what it takes to become a successful author and other aspects of writing and the publishing business. The first book in her Alien series, “Touched by an Alien”, released April 6, 2010 from DAW Books, receiving a starred review from Booklist as well as other excellent reviews. “Touched by an Alien” has also been named by Booklist as one of the Top 10 adult SF/F novels of 2010. “Alien Tango” releases December 7, 2010, and “Alien in the Family” releases April 5, 2011, with “Alien Proliferation” following later in 2011. You can reach Gini at her website, http://www.ginikoch.com, or via email, gini@ginikoch.com.

Many thanks to the incomparable Gini Koch for this awesome series. I know I've learned a lot and I hope you all have too. As always, feel free to ask Gini any questions you may have in the comments. :D

The 3 P's To Writing Success by Gini Koch, Part 2

Time for the second part of our 3 part series on The 3 P's to Writing Success as given us by the lovely Gini Koch. In our first section we tackled the first P: Professionalism, in which we learn the importance of acting like a professional for the aspiring writer. In this second post we will tackle the next P: Patience.

If you need to catch up with the class, check out part one.
Without further ado, here's what Gini has to say about the importance of patience when wanting to become a published author:

Part Two
Okay, you’ve made the commitment to become a professional, or at least play one on TV. Now what? Now you have to face the biggest hurdle any aspiring author will -- learning how to chill your jets.

Patience
This is, apparently, the hardest thing for any aspiring author to accommodate. But publishing is a very slow business. And the more impatient you are, the slower it goes.

Most newer authors are impatient with everything, and they make the mistake of giving themselves unrealistic deadlines, and then send their stuff out well before it’s ready for prime time.

What’s an unrealistic deadline? Saying, “I want to be published by X date or age”, “I want to win this contest and that’ll prove I’m good”, “I’m going to finish my first book by X date”, and so on.

What’s wrong with those statements? They put a limit you, personally, have no control over, and put another limit onto what others will do. You can’t know when you’ll be ready to publish. If you’re 25 now, it may sound realistic to say you want to be published by the time you’re 30, but what do you mean by published? If you have a blog, guess what? You’re already published. It’s not paying you anything nor landing you an agent, but hey, it’s published.

I firmly believe that you get what you ask for…but only what you ask for and only if it’s in the realm of reality. So, if you give yourself an age limit, you’re assuming that your writing will be ready…and you’re likely to be wrong.

Focus on contests is also a waste of most of your creative energy. Contests aren’t necessarily a judge of whether or not you’re good -- they’re a judge of how your particular piece stacked up against the other entries. Can contests work for you? Of course they can. But most cost money and it’s the rare author who sees a return for that money.

So, better to say, “I want to be a successful, published author” and let the rest of the whys and wherefores take care of themselves. You’ve still put out the ultimate goal, you just haven’t put limitations on it -- limitations that are likely to slow you down, not speed you up.

But there are other forms of impatience in this business. Thinking your book is ready before it is, and/or ignoring when someone says your book isn’t ready, is one form. Watching the incoming mails and emails when you send out a submission or a query is another. Fretting over how long a reply from an agent or editor takes is another. And so on. Any time you’re fretting, worrying or complaining about how long something is taking, or how you want X so you can do Y, you’re being impatient.

And impatience is a killer. It kills drive, morale, creativity, and karma. Impatience is the single worst flaw you can have in a business that moves at a glacial pace.

So what to do? The best way to handle impatience is to write another book or short story. Keep yourself focused on writing, on creating more and better product to sell, as opposed to focusing on what’s already out on submission or that things are taking a long time. The more you write, the better your writing gets. The better your writing gets, and the more product you have to sell, the more likely that you will sell.

Another way to fight impatience, and the despair and frustration that goes along with it, is to have your markets identified. If you’re subbing short stories, have your markets for each story on a list. Send your story to Market A; if they reject, heave a sigh and then immediately sub it out to Market B; repeat until it sells…whether that means it sells as is or you have to revise it in order to sell.

Looking for an agent? Make sure your query letter sparkles (oh yes, it matters because, let me say it again, nothing you’re writing is all that different and special, and your idea is neither new nor so intriguing that an agent’s going to wade through a crappy query letter to read your literary genius), and ensure that your entire manuscript is perfect and ready to go. Then identify the right agents for your book, query 6-12 of them and then…work on another book. When one rejection comes in, go to the next agent on your list, send them a query, and go back to writing.

You got an agent! Whoo hoo! The waiting is over, right? Wrong, oh so very wrong. Now you get to wait, and be rejected, at a higher level.

Editors read new stuff slowly, as in, you’re at the bottom of their pile. The better your agent, the faster you’re read (my agent got “Touched by an Alien” read by the Sr. Editor at DAW in less than 6 months…this is very fast), but the fact remains that you will wait much more than you will not wait. And then hear a no, and wait some more, as your agent sends your book to the next editor in line.

If you publish with a major, it’s going to be 18 months to 2 years, easy, after you sign your contract to when you see your book on the shelves. Spend that time writing. Create more product for your agent to sell. The more product you have out there, the better your odds.

But remember -- it’ll happen when it’s time for it to happen. You can demand all you want out of the universe, but the only thing that really works is the last P on the list.

Gini’s Motto: The moment you stop asking ‘when’ and demanding ‘now’, the moment you say ‘whenever I’m really ready’, is the moment everything truly starts to work for you.

Gini Koch speaks frequently on what it takes to become a successful author and other aspects of writing and the publishing business. The first book in her Alien series, “Touched by an Alien”, released April 6, 2010 from DAW Books, receiving a starred review from Booklist as well as other excellent reviews. “Touched by an Alien” has also been named by Booklist as one of the Top 10 adult SF/F novels of 2010. “Alien Tango” releases December 7, 2010, and “Alien in the Family” releases April 5, 2011, with “Alien Proliferation” following later in 2011. You can reach Gini at her website, http://www.ginikoch.com, or via email, gini@ginikoch.com.

Gini will be stopping by to answer any questions in the comments, so if you want to ask her anything, fire away! LOL.

The 3 P's to Writing Success by Gini Koch, Part 1

As you all probably know by now, I have mad love for author Gini Koch. Not only does she write a fun and fast paced series, starting with Touched By An Alien, but she is one of the funniest and most generous people I've met recently. She has given me some really great writing advice and she's master of the motivational/kick in the butt speech and I love it. So, because I'm demanding, I asked her to write up something for the blog and because she's nice, she agreed.

This is going to be a 3 part series of posts on Gini's advice if you are an aspiring author that wants to be published one day. Enjoy and bring your notebook to class, they'll be a quiz after.....just kidding, but I bet I got the 'ol heart rate up a bit, eh? LOL.


The 3 P’s to Writing Success
By Gini Koch

There are many things aspiring writers can do to achieve publishing success, but there are three things that will ensure a more successful, pleasant, and profitable road. And, because I’m a nice girl, I’m going to tell you what they are.

They’re the 3 P’s to Writing Success: Professionalism, Patience and Perseverance.

Part One
Aspiring authors are many things -- creative, excited, confident, scared, eager, etc. -- but unless they learn how to act like great big boys and girls, what they all manage to consistently be is annoying. Why? Because they act like spoiled, petulant, demanding know-it-alls who expect the world and the business of publishing to change for them. Therefore, the first step to becoming a successful, published author is to act like one.

Professionalism
Most writers aren’t professionals. Oh, many may work in professional jobs, but when it comes to their writing career, they act like rank amateurs. And, truly, no one wants to work with an amateur. Because amateurs are, quite frankly, big, huge PIAs.*

Professionals understand that agents and publishers have requirements for manuscript submissions for a variety of reasons, most of them related to how said agent or publisher does business. Amateurs decide that the rules aren’t for them, because their book is special.

Professionals understand that anything they do or say will come back to haunt them, particularly if they’re saying it about people working in a very small, insular industry. Amateurs decide that they can trash anyone who doesn’t think their work is staggering genius, because their book is different.

Professionals understand that they need to work at their craft, try different approaches and styles in their writing, and slog on through the “apprentice” years, in order to become good enough to be published. Amateurs toss their first finished MS out, regardless of worth, usually without real editing, simply because it’s done and, well, their writing talent is exceptional.

Professionals understand that they can learn from others and do their best to attend as many writing conferences as they can, join good online writer’s forums, join and become active members in the writing associations that most relate to what they write, and so on. Amateurs don’t listen to anyone, especially published authors, editors, and agents because their book is so amazing and those professionals are just jealous of their genius.

Professionals listen to advice, weigh it, and then, even if the advice isn’t something they like, follow the advice, particularly if it’s coming from people who are where they want to be (successful, published authors with agents and viable careers). Amateurs ignore anything they don’t like, because their book is so much better than anyone else’s.

Professionals find critique partners, beta readers, and others who can provide feedback and constructive criticism, and professionals take that criticism as professionals, without ruining relationships. Amateurs either get no feedback before sending their MS out, or they argue every single piece of feedback, including spelling, grammar, punctuation and syntax errors, because their book is such staggering genius that agents won’t mind if it doesn’t look perfect, and besides, they only want to hear how great their writing is, because it is.

*Note: Your book isn’t special at all, kids. There are only three plotlines in the entire world, and a limited number of variations on those three themes (oh, and those themes are: good versus evil, boy meets girl, man against nature). You’re not doing anything new, and if you’re just starting out, you’re not doing it well, either. Move over to acting and then thinking like a professional ASAP, because the sooner you do, the faster you’ll become a professional…and professionals get published.

Gini’s Motto: If you can’t take constructive criticism, nay if you cannot take criticism at all, perhaps a career in the arts is not for you.

Gini Koch speaks frequently on what it takes to become a successful author and other aspects of writing and the publishing business. The first book in her Alien series, “Touched by an Alien”, released April 6, 2010 from DAW Books, receiving a starred review from Booklist as well as other excellent reviews. “Touched by an Alien” has also been named by Booklist as one of the Top 10 adult SF/F novels of 2010. “Alien Tango” releases December 7, 2010, and “Alien in the Family” releases April 5, 2011, with “Alien Proliferation” following later in 2011. You can reach Gini at her website, http://www.ginikoch.com, or via email, gini@ginikoch.com.


I'd like to thank Gini for stopping by and giving us some great advice. Also, she will be checking in to answer any questions you may have in the comments, so feel free to ask away. ;)

Tune in later this week when we tackle the remaining P's: Patience and Perseverance.

Check out Gini's books, Touched By An Alien which is out now and Alien Tango which you can preorder:

 Touched by an Alien

 Alien Tango