No one gives a shit about your novel. So what?

I’m writing my current WIP out of contract, which means it does not yet have a publisher. I’m also writing the whole book before my agent takes it on submission.1 It’s going well! My agent, critique partners, and family and friends who’ve heard my one-sentence pitch have been encouraging. But the world is not exactly beating down my door for this book. As authors, we hear all the time about the crowded market and the difficulty of breaking out. Fewer and fewer people are reading for pleasure, and the book coverage landscape is bleak. The majority of book promotion seems to be what authors do themselves on social media. This doesn’t even get into the constant fire hose of terrible news (which makes everyone risk averse).

All very discouraging for anyone hoping to sell a novel, whether they’ve been published before or not.

When you’re yet to be agented and wondering whether anyone will ever want to read your words, that’s an isolated place to be since you may or may not have connections in the industry at all. But I promise that knowing people does not alleviate the “nobody gives a shit about my writing” feeling. For one thing, being in proximity to bigger authors can make you feel, well, smaller. And for another … unfortunately, that feeling is founded on truth. Unless you have readers lining up outside bookshops at midnight for you, there is an excellent chance that no one gives (as much of) a shit (as you do) about your writing.

So how do you stay motivated? Not by pinning your hopes on future external validation, that’s for sure!2

The highest emotional high of my publishing career thus far has been the day in 2020 when my agent called and told me I had an offer on my debut novel. Since then there have been many lovely moments, and my experience with my publisher was positive, but nothing equaled the initial rush of surprise and infinite potential and holy shit!!! Someone loves my words and wants to publish them!! feelings.

Those highs are few and far between. Publishing is a tough and unfair business. Hardly anyone I know has had a career of unbroken success from the get-go (and people who have may be dealing with their own challenges behind the scenes). Most of the happiness and satisfaction my writing career has brought me has come not from external markers of success, but the process of writing itself.

This is one reason I can’t fathom using AI to “write” a novel. People who do that are cutting out the fun part! (I also happen to think they’re producing soulless and shitty art, but hey that’s just my opinion.)

Anyone who’s written on deadline has had a taste of being focused on outcome over process, and that can make it extremely difficult to enjoy what you’re doing. And even when you do get the book deal or bestseller list placement, there’s always another goalpost beyond it. (See: the hedonic treadmill).

This might seem to contradict my “writing on deadline kind of sucks” point above, but! When you’re not under contract it’s very easy to noodle around with something forever, and then it never gets read by anyone. I’ve been working on my book for over a year and it’s at the point where it could go somewhere. To avoid finishing my current edit and immediately flipping back to the beginning to revise again, I emailed my agent and told her I’m sending her a draft in a month. Eep! Now I have to do it. Critique groups/partners are also excellent for accountability. If you don’t have either of these, you can…idk, do a sticker chart. Set a sternly worded notification on your calendar. Whatever works.

Say it with me: Nobody gives a shit. So freeing! If a big chunk of your income is not riding on whether this book gets turned in by a certain date, there’s no reason not to write that one scene from the POV of a sentient pair of knitting needles like you always wanted to try. Change the tense, try writing a scene from every character’s perspective Rashomon-style, write coffeeshop AU fanfic of your own book — do whatever. Experimentation can get you more invested, which is important since you’re the one writing the thing.

Playlists. Mood boards. Maps. Character fancasts and art. Whatever you have the bandwidth, funds, and/or imagination for, it can increase your connection to your story in unforeseen ways (and could result in decent social media content for the future…though that’s a capitalist hellscape thought, so we will acknowledge it and move on).

It doesn’t even have to be a “medium” as such. One of my favorite things is to think about my WIP when I’m going to sleep at night, or sometimes when I’m feeling a bit burned out during a writing session (if it turns into a nap, that’s just self care). Daydreaming about my characters helps me feel more connected to them, and it’s amazing when a plot problem magically works itself out, even if it’s a tiny one.

This can be beneficial on several levels. Self-care and craft - we need to refill the creative well and remind ourselves why we started writing in the first place: to create stories like the ones we love to read. (Hopefully that’s at least one reason. If you hope to publish, you’re reading in your genre, right? Right??) Networking - shouting about other people’s work makes you a better literary citizen and can help establish or build relationships (which are their own reward and not a means to an end). Many if not most authors I know will have their day made when someone offers sincere praise.

Lincoln Michel wrote a nice post about why literature needs a punk rock mindset, meaning a system of supporting one another’s work within grassroots networks and building what isn’t given to us. A DIY ethos if you will. Indie authors apply this to publishing itself, but traditionally published authors could learn a lot from them re: promotion.

The upshot: perceived indifference from others toward your work feels bad, but it can also be a kind of freedom. Both things can be true.

I’ll be at the Spring Fling Writers Conference on April 16-18 in Chicago, presenting on Genre Bending and Blending along with Elizabeth Everett, Mia P. Manansala, and Lyn Liao Butler.

Reading: My cousin’s husband (which makes him my cousin-in-law? Do we just say cousin at that point?) is bicycling across the United States and blogging about it! He’s going from San Diego to St. Augustine, Florida, which takes him right by us. I’m looking forward to hearing some good stories when he stops over!3

Watching: Yellowjackets, finally. Nine times out of ten if I’m watching a show, it’s because my kid made me. Her taste runs a little darker than mine these days, so I noped out on Welcome to Derry, but we’ve compromised on Yellowjackets and I’m hooked. It doesn’t hurt that Christina Ricci, Juliette Lewis, and a lot of the music activate my nostalgia in a big way, and we love a story that centers women in midlife (and teenage girls) who embrace their anger.

Listening: Blood Hive (Original Score from Yellowjackets) of course! This was composed by Craig Wedren and Anna Waronker, alumni of Shudder to Think and that dog. respectively, two of my favorite ‘90s bands.

If you enjoy my ramblings, you might like my books!

The Other Me, which PopSugar called a “Black Mirror-esque rabbit hole,” is an inventive page-turner about the choices we make and the ones made for us.

When I’m Her asks the question: How far would you go to get even with the woman who ruined your life?

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