When the going gets tough, those who are committed become more determined.
On the other hand, when the going gets tough, that’s when a lot of folks quit or find something else bright and shiny to focus on instead.
I like getting out and about in the professional writing scene because I catch a glimpse of the writers who didn’t give up. And I would like to write about one of those writers today.
I met Gary Corbin at the Willamette Writers Conference eleven years ago. We were both there, in 20o5, to pitch our book concepts. We both pitched well and we both made an impression on pitching practice agents and editors. But then, somehow, I got a book deal for my nonfiction book and Gary didn’t get a book deal for his novel.
Flash forward to earlier this year. Gary should have given up by then. After all, over a decade had gone by and he still did not have a book deal for his novel. This means traditional publishing wasn’t smiling on his idea, his writing or him. That may sound like a harsh way of putting it, but I suspect this is probably how Gary felt.
But guess what? Traditional publishing doesn’t get to have the last word on your book concept, your writing, or you. You get to have the last word. And right now, Gary is having the last word, and then another last word, and then another, and another, and another because he’s taken the success of his novel into his own hands. And he’s doing so well that he’s self-published his second novel, and he’s working on his third.
Earlier this year, Gary self-published his novel, Lying In Judgment, and committed himself to getting the word out about it. When I interviewed Gary at the Willamette Writers Conference as an impromptu part of my presentation on platform development for writers, he said that every time someone said they didn’t think they could sell his novel, he would think, “I know how to sell it.”
For years, he kept getting rejected, and they kept saying the same thing. And every time they did, Gary kept thinking that he knew how to present, position, and sell his book. And in the interim he made his book better. A lot better. He said over a dozen people had read the book and given him feedback before he self-published it. And this was smart. Because maybe those people, who were saying no all those years were too polite to say, “We don’t know how to sell this, and oh, you need to make it better, too.”
Writers are not exactly inclined to make things better unless someone asks them to. I mean, we are always hoping, wishing, and praying that our last best effort was good enough, right? And sometimes it is and sometimes it isn’t. In Gary’s case, after over a decade of working on his novel, he zoomed past the finish line to publication-quality writing.
A lot of writers don’t know what publication-quality writing is. And that’s okay. The key is, if you don’t know what that means and you want to be published, either by yourself or by a publisher, you need to not only find out what publication-quality means, you need to write that way. And learning to write well enough might take you some time, and money, and classes, and practice–lots of practice.
Even in the Internet age, I think some folks are still confused about writing and publishing. I think they still want to believe that writers just sit down, write crap, wave a magic wand over it, and then they are done. But that’s not how it works at all. Writers craft in drafts. Writers draft and draft and draft. And then they draft some more. And in between those drafts, they get feedback. They get feedback from professionals, not pals. They work with folks who can help them become better writers, who often cost money to hire. These people are always picky and sometimes are even fairly ruthless on the page. Ruthless, for example, in eliminating typos or word repetitions. Because most writers need someone to be blatantly honest about the quality of their words.
I don’t know how often Gary paid or didn’t pay for editorial feedback on his novel, but I do know this: Gary works as a professional editor. So I am thinking maybe if you hear that a professional editor needed feedback on his novel, you will also be motivated to get some feedback on your aspiring-to-be-professional work, as well, whether you are an editor or not.
Recently, someone suggested to me that Gary might not be ready to present his success strategies to other writers because his success was so fledgling. To which I want to gamely reply, Like heck it is! Gary’s success goes all the way back to 2005, when he got in the game with the other professionals. He has been in the publishing game for the long haul. What we are seeing now is the payoff of over a decade of affirming to himself that he could sell his book better than anyone. Apparently, that is exactly what he needed to prove to himself because that is exactly what he is doing.
So, I’d like to offer a standing ovation to Gary Corbin for sticking with his dream of publishing his novel, Lying In Judgment, for making it better, and for knowing when it was time to take his success into his own hands. Well done, Gary. You are a terrific example for all writers, and especially for novelists who are only a few decisions away from deciding to approve of themselves.
Oh, and by the way, I have jury duty this week, and I swear to God, I didn’t do it. But what if I had…?
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