DON'T BE THE TORTURED ARTIST

 

You’ve got your deal. They’ve recognised your talent. It’s time to don a cravat and expound to the masses.

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Or maybe not, because I know writers whose book contracts haven’t been renewed because they have regarded themselves as “the talent”, rather than one cog in a bigger machine. When I got my first publishing deal, my goal shifted, so that my next ambition was to get a second deal, because it meant they trusted me to deliver.

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The publishing company is a business, and relies on writers, editors, marketing and salespeople to make the business profitable. As a writer, you are as dispensable as every other writer there. You may think you are the talent, but there is a queue of people just behind you who are just as good as you, and maybe even better, and who will take your place.

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For the people who work in publishing, they just want to do what every other person does, and that is to do their job with the least hassle possible. If you are the writer who is always sending emails demanding that they do more, or berating them on the phone, or refusing to listen to their editorial suggestions, because you are “the talent”, you will be the writer who only ever has one contract. You will be too much hassle, and they will endure you only for as long as you make them enough money to make it worth it. As soon as your star fades, and it will, stars always do, they’ll drop you. And they’ll enjoy doing it.

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Think of it this way: if there are two writers whose sales haven’t set the world on fire and the publisher is deciding which one to keep on, who gets the gig? The one who is a complete pain, always moaning, always late with their work, who makes editing a chore? Or will it be the writer who produces consistently good work, who meets deadlines, who engages with the publisher in a professional and courteous way, who listens to suggestions constructively? The writer who is getting the second contract is obviously the latter.

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It goes back to stop patting yourself on the back. Go into a large bookshop and see just how many books there are out there. You’re just one in a cast of thousands, so make it easy for your publisher. It could be the difference between getting the next contract, and not.

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Now on to the squeamish stuff: the money.