One of the publishing truisms I experienced very early on in my writing career is that no one really cares whether you write your book or not, let alone whether you ever publish it. I realize that is a fairly sobering way to begin an article, but sometimes ripping the band-aid off is the best way to go.
Now, if you’re still reading this article and haven’t closed it in favor of something more “flowery” about the publishing business, then I have something worth considering. While the world will be just fine without your book, you should still write it. This is not me coming at you with the Wayne Gretzky “you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take” or the Steve Jobs “real artists ship;” this is about the fact that things can only really happen if you put them out into the universe first.
I’ll share two brief examples about what I mean:
First, in 2012 I wrote a blues novel. I sent it to my literary agent, and she never responded to the submission. Later, when I submitted my next novel, she responded to my inquiries about the former book with this: “Oh, you were serious about that? I thought you knew that book wouldn’t sell.” Undeterred, I decided to indie publish the book. She was right. No one cared about the book, which was reflected in its lackluster sales. Roughly six months later, I received an email from a French translator asking if I still held the French language rights. Thinking it a prank, I almost didn’t respond. Thanks to a little online research, I discovered he was a real person. I consented to have him translate the book, and, with my permission, he pitched it to a publisher he worked with in Paris. The editors loved the book and acquired it, where it would be published in two different versions, receiving critical acclaim from Rolling Stone France and Le Monde in the process. If I didn’t put it out into the universe, that wouldn’t have happened.
My second example is more recent. I indie published a novel composed of one hundred 100-word chapters, a first of its type. Several months later, I received an email through my website from the Chief Narrative Officer of a video game company who’d not only read my book, but made it required reading for the company. He wanted to know if I’d be interested in working with them on their intellectual property. As a result, I am now a senior writer with the company, in addition to my other jobs, which now include serving as a university creative writing professor and freelancer for Writer’s Digest magazine. None of this would have happened, if I had elected to not publish the book.
So, yes, it is true that no one is sitting around at this moment saying, “Man, I can’t wait to get my hands on the next collection of Afrosurrealist microfiction!” But that doesn’t mean that the universe doesn’t have something in store for my work somewhere else down the line. For that to happen, I have to do my part and write the book and get it out there. I hope that you will consider doing the same.
About the Author
Ran Walker is the author of over twenty books. His short stories, flash fiction, microfiction, and poetry have appeared in a variety of anthologies and journals. He is the winner of the Indie Author Project’s 2019 National Indie Author of the Year Award (selected by judges from Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, IngramSpark, St. Martin’s Press, and Writer’s Digest), the 2019 Black Caucus of the American Library Association Best Fiction Ebook Award, and the 2018 Virginia Indie Author Project Award for Adult Fiction. Ran has taught workshops across the country, including Writer’s Digest conferences in both New York and L.A., and is an Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing at Hampton University. Prior to becoming a writer and educator, he worked in magazine publishing and practiced law in Mississippi.