Your Competition to Get Published (Isn't What You Think It Is) 

I really think it does! Sometimes, of course, things are still flat out unfair. A great book can go nowhere b/c of bad timing, or bad luck. It can take a talented writer 5 books to "make it" and someone frankly less talented but with some special shine 1 "just ok" book. The bestsellers are rarely fair. But at a certain point if you don't hyperfocus on "fairness" and keep eyes on your own paper--I've seen the hard workers finally succeed over and over again. I have a few friends who had LONG and fraught journeys to publication. I'm so proud of them.

Speaking of editing, it's "wherewithal", one word, one l.

Keep at it man. You’ll get there. According to Stephen Kong, he didn’t write a good readable novel until Carrie. It took him nearly a decade to reach that point and then he broke through. You’ll break through if you stay persistent and keep working at it.

Luna Z That was funny and self deprecating. I’m sure you’re doing great stuff. Keep it up.

@@TheGeorgeD13 @Paul Ljucovic I only saw your responses now (11 months later, that’s insane), so hopefully this reaches you. I really appreciate the kind words.

@@lunaschaoticcorner5188 No prob.

Remember, getting published isn't the end all be all. Life has meaning outside of that.

I actually finished a novel, but I’m pretty sure it’s not “finished.”

Rewatching this video, seeing this old comment, seeing my old comment, and updating to say I have an agent now :)

@@hardnewstakenharder Congratulations!!!

@@hardnewstakenharder omg congratulations! did your book get published?

@@hardnewstakenharder YO AWESOME!!! Did you get an editor/ published?

Yes, exactly! And the thing is, every book you have to write makes you better prepared for publishing once you make it. It's so helpful to learn how to draft fast, well, to deadline, be good at editing, etc.

Thank God that I'm not all that determined to be published. If I have to write 13 books before I finally get accepted (for representation/publishing) I'd probably be dead before that happened. (I'm a few months shy of 70.)

Technically, it was his sixth book that got the publication deal, it's just that the editor took so long to get around to reading it that Brandon went ahead and wrote 6 more books before he got the call. It doesn't diminish the message, but I think it can also be discouraging to some people to think they have to write that many before they can even hope to land a deal.

He also got picked up by giving the book directly to an editor he met at a con after being (as he says) horrible at querying. His YALLFest keynote this year on what defined success in his writing was solid.

@@Deavertex I'm in a similar boat and have been heavily researching indie publishing. Much quicker.

It's why I said competition with scare quotes and called them peers. I see those writers as peers. But people ask all the time about competition...

I saw a website that says helps you with your writing journey, mine not even started Edit:found the link www.writelyme.com/

@@AlexaDonne I listen to your videos while I work my day job so I didn't see the quotes. I didn't see this video as you pushing fear or agression. I was just sharing how I feel about competition in this field. Just adding an additional perspective for anyone to commiserate with if they wanted to. Sorry if I came across as rude. That wasn't my intent but I can see how it might look like I didn't understand your message from my comment. I like the break down and it was a great pep talk.

@@NixLaLoupe Oh no, not rude at all! Just wanted to share that I totally agree with you! I do worry about people who approach it all as competition... the thing with perseverance is that those who don't give up who eventually make it through, you then join your peers on the "other side"--they weren't really competition since you all ended up in the same place! (it does get tighter, I will say, once you get into selling books, but even then the competition aspect is pretty "soft"!)

@@AlexaDonne That's great to hear!

Haha right?!

(slides my giant BellaSara collection under the bed) No, I never wanted to be a really pretty horse...

I’m not far enough into the video to understand the context here but already know that I like it 😁

Yeah sometimes I think she finds fun in making it sound confusing

It's a skill you learn by doing! I know it's scary, but you'll get there. Most of us it takes a few books to get really good at it :)

Hi, just a stranger here, but I wish you the best for your book!!

Just a heads up - I thought it would take me 3 months and I'm still doing it but almost finished the first book. But my writing quality has completely changed to being publishable. It's gone through various stages of bad, mediocre and good to being really good on a line by line level. Other stuff I still am open to changing like pace etc which is easier to fix but the actual craft of line by line writing is the hard part imho ;Show don't tell' 'have voice' 'use fresh and original verbs' 'cut needless words' 'cut filter words' ( I wondered, I felt, I thought, I saw , I heard ) and often skip to describing the sound itself etc 'I heard the bell l ring' becomes 'the bell rang' or ( with a verb to colour it 'the bell chimed' 'the bell dinged, the chime resounding through the long hallway' learn when and if you want adverbs ( ly words ) ' the bell dinged loudly, making my ears ache' or if they just clutter your sentences , so maybe 'the bell dinged' is enough ( it's subjective but you'll find your own style with trial and error and feedback and figuring out if you actually agree with feedback - you find your own style - because just because there are rules and conventions doesn't mean you neeed to take them all on or all the time. Oh, passive voice ( Pro writing Aid was helpful in pointing out a chapter infected with passive voice ) ...Anyway hope that helps. It's a loooong list! But what I did was I just edited in rounds of what I had learned and as I kept learning ( and rewriting troublesome chapters in my beginning ) I kept finding new skills and way s to tweak in further rounds , My tip is do swaps for feedback as just going on facebook writer groups and posting a sample - where there is nothing stippping random strangers from ripping your heart out and making you feel worthless - is good, but it's much more pleasant to swap a little sample with someone you think might have a book you'd enjoy and vice versa - then if you both agree to continue you help each other grow.

Oooo that's so exciting! Just one little piece of advice: rewrite it. I finished my first draft and was like "oh! I'll just edit and be done!" No. False. Incorrect. Don't even procrastinate, just start rewriting immediately--it'll save you a lot of time! Best of luck with your manuscript!!!

Keep at it, queen 👑 just have fun with it. Even if you don't get published, your art will thank you for it.

Haha maybe! But man I should maybe do a whole video on the first affirmation. B/c as much as I'm talking about competition... realistically in publishing rarely is it fair, so you can't compare yourself to others or you will go mad!

@@AlexaDonne you can also have 10 people executive different interpretations of the same story: I think the unrealistic possibly of everyone finishing a publishable book is better because of the whole Vulcan Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations IDIC thing. Like the health of streaming storytelling currently but on a larger scale. There is a lot there to cogitate. Already looking forward to that video.

Yep. Correct subject line alone make a HUGE difference. It's very easy for a query to get lost in a gmail inbox.

When I realized it years ago I felt so much better! And I realized my anxiety about rule following was a huge asset! I meticulously followed query guidelines haha.

Yes! And also sometimes the difference between "close but no agent" and getting that DREAM agent is one book! A new idea. A genre shift. We subconsciously ingest so much writing craft when we're actively working, and often a brand new book will enable you to execute the way you need to to get signed.

Yeah my calculations were bullshit--made up! If you take my point later that there's a finite number of talent regardless of number of queries, it actually means you can't use percentages at all. Out of 100,000 writers, it's likely at best 100-300 or so of them will get an agent, more like. Maybe. To give you an idea: my agent gets about 3,600 queries a year. She MAYBE signs 1 new client a year (she has a small list).

@@AlexaDonne Wow, I know right??? It's really something, a little less than 2% is being really generous, if you're saying that maybe 300 get an agent, that's 0.3% of all queries, I mean just Wow! Those are some astonishing (and wildly made up) stats.

Yeah my agent says b/c of the switch to email and availability of info/resources online that the queries have gone WAY up but mostly what's gone up is the quantity of bad. the good is relatively finite?

@@AlexaDonne Wowwww. I suppose that shouldn't be surprising? Just because it's easier to do something doesn't mean people are going to suddenly start doing that thing well...maybe even the opposite.

I don't think they're anyone's competition in life. Who plagiarizes writing in the age of Copyscape? 🙄

Competition is tough given how few stories each publication tends to publish per year and how coveted token and pro credits are. Toss in the fact that submission periods may be random (or affected by pandemics) and are exclusively catered toward that individual market, and that the typical advice to unpiblished writers is to seek publication credits in this fashion, and, well..it can feel disheartening. I think genre fic has a definite advantage over lit fic from anecdotal experience. But as with most things, if you keep plugging away, you'll eventually sell some stories. Good luck! This + submitting to contests is currently my life rn.

Hey a lot of it is just absorbing until you're ready! I didn't write a book until I was 29 :)