I have been deeply involved (in the last month) in what I call the “business of the business,” and it can be quite exhilarating and exhausting and… dangerous for a writer. let me explain.
The business side of writing is that second circle that every writer needs to know. Like the first circle (the craft of writing), it is incredibly important for you to understand how the publishing industry works. I have personally seen the industry shift (like great tectonic plates) under our feet. When I published my first novel Go Down to Silence, it was still traditional in nature, in that agents/editors/publishers all were accepting new writers. That novel was accepted with only three chapters complete! Ha! good luck with that today. I remember reading a book by Lenard Slatkin In Cold Type which exposed the cutthroat nature of the business, the enormous numbers involved in slush piles on agent’s desks, editor’s desks, the limited marketing, the dreaded returns, and the short window of relevance. Well, that book was published in 1983 (?), and I read it in early 2000’s. Oh, Leonard Slatkin… how the world has changed!
Which leads me to my main point. By the time I published IMAGO and now Gods of IMAGO, the world had indeed changed, and the publishing industry had become harder AND easier at the same time. The age of returns and windows is (pun intended) closing rapidly. Print On Demand is the way of all publishing, and many houses (especially mid-tier and small) have begun using it as a viable means for distribution. That said, this, like many changing models poses many issues with Library acquisitions and book store signings (discussion for another time), and the writer in the 21st century needs to be on it all. And… wait for it… this is the point: It is SOOOOO easy to get immersed in this bottomless ocean of marketing and social media platform presence, the Amazon ratings, the BookScan numbers, the highs and lows and never ending marketing of the product called “your next novel.” This is the danger of “The Business of the Business.”
Remember: You write because you love to create beautiful, powerful artifacts for others. That is the only reason you write. If we wanted to swim in algorithms we would have chosen another career. Remember, writer, who you are, what you are about. Look at “The Business of the Business,” even swim in the deep waters, but get the hell out of there, because those waters are filled with dragons that will eat you up and pull you down…. Writers Write. Now go and “finish the hat!”
Greg Belliveau 