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Hot take: "Everything will suck, your book will flop, publishing will screw you over, your craft skills will shrivel up and die, have the lowest expectations of your life" is not useful advice for debut authors, I say as someone whose 1st novel comes out in 2020. 1/8
Realism? Yes. But no one writes a book bc they want it to flop. No one revises it a dozen times and spends years querying and submitting and revising more--putting in the work--bc they want their book to fail. Might it? Yes, it might fail! Be prepared to write another book! 2/8
But it is persistence & hard work & hope & lots of luck & love & want that keeps us going. I genuinely think it is harmful only to talk about the debut experience so negatively. It sets a level of expectation that causes new authors to devalue themselves and their work. 3/8
"Most new authors don't get a book tour so I won't ask about that." or "I want to shop my film/TV rights but most books don't become movies so why ask my agent." or "I won't win so why promote my work for awards?" Low expectations can keep new authors from helping themselves. 4/8
Should new authors find their community and listen to stories from those w/ experience? Yes! Listen to publishing podcasts, talk to friends w/ varying jobs and experiences in the field. Read essays, read twitter and these "everything is terrible" tweets. (Bc sometimes it is!) 5/8
But also DO NOT SET LOW STANDARDS FOR YOURSELF. Assert your desires (in a respectful way). Don't NOT ask for what you want from your team bc you assume based on fatalist stories you won't get it and don't deserve it. This is how people think they shouldn't be paid to write. 6/8
If you want some good debut author advice, check out @MaryRobinette's Debut Author Lessons ( http://maryrobinettekowal.com/journal/debut-author-lessons-signing-stock-for-bookstores/). It's almost a decade old and it's still generally great. So, yes, realistically, writing and publishing is hard and most of us won't get everything we want. 7/8
But do not set low standards for yourself as an author. Do not stop writing bc you hear everything is terrible so why bother. Do not be afraid to unabashedly love your characters and stories and to make more of them. Aim high, even if you don't make it. Work like you can. 8/8
