Forward progress...

[j_cheney]

No work on DD yesterday, but I did rewrite section 4 of IS.

Once again, I'm supposed to have a great day. Given how normal most of my recently-predicted 'great days' have been, I'll take this with a grain of salt.
As far as your work is concerned, today may well be the day where you get the green light for something you have been waiting for...an issue is being resolved, you are gaining acceptance. Who knows, there might even be a promotion on the cards. But most definitely, your situation will be more secure.

Talked last night with a friend about what gets a book sold (someone who's also getting no love from agents).

I think there are 5 contributing factors, and one need not have all five to break through:
1) Talent
2) Perseverance
3) Marketability (like being a sixteen-year-old, or recently dead, or having talked to a Presidential candidate)
4) Knowing the right people
5) Luck (the editor/agent doesn't spill coffee on their pants and use your query to mop it up.)

Any other thoughts that don't fit into that list of 5?

Comments

[sarah-prineas.livejournal.com]

Serendipity. Which is kind of like luck, but means all the other things lined up at the right time, too. Maybe synchronicity is a better term.

Also, I think of the five that #4 and #3 are the least important. The axis, in my opinion, is luck, talent, and perseverance, plus the synchronicity...

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

I originally had Timing on the list, but took it off, but I think it dovetails with synchronicity pretty well.

#3 and #4 are the kind of things that will get a first book published (like Joe the Plumber's book, or the book by that 16-year-old Harvard applicatn that later turned out to be partially plaigarized). They will not help build a career, but they do, at times, get people published who otherwise would not be.

[sarah-prineas.livejournal.com]

True, but they don't generally apply. I mean, for the vast majority of books...

The term you want for #3 is "Platform."

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Yes, I think that's a good word for it. Basically, something around which to mobilize interest....

[reudaly.livejournal.com]

Don't forget the Eragon kid. He's a mix of #3 & #4 -- a 16 year old who has family in publishing.

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think the Marketability came in with his age....oooh, look, a story written by a kid!

[reudaly.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's what I thought, too. I only saw the movie - and if the movie is ANYTHING like the book, I saw ALL the other books/movies he ripped from - and not creatively. But he was 16...

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Yes, it was somewhat....derivative....

[reudaly.livejournal.com]

Let's see, I saw it once, and this is what I remember:

Star Wars, Star Trek, Anne McCaffrey

I know there were others, but it's been a while. We've all done our derivative work - mostly when we were 16 - and there's a reason they were never published.

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Exactly!

[reudaly.livejournal.com]

The shuddery part is that he then went on to write what? Three more? And in the meantime, did he learn ANY craft?

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

I haven't read them to know....can't bear the thought of parting with the money.

[reudaly.livejournal.com]

Yeah, me either. I didn't feel like spending the money on those *or* the Twilight series.

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

;o)

[sarah-prineas.livejournal.com]

Hmm. You should do this again, but this time for how to have a writing career beyond the first-book-sold. Could be interesting!

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Now that is a totally different proposition. Perhaps I'll think about it tomorrow.

I was distressed once when a very talented author got dropped by a publisher...who had just picked up another author for a 3-hardback deal.

The old author had fabulous reviews, is well respected, but the series they put out wasn't quite 'blockbustery' enough, and the publisher stopped promoting it after the second book.

The new author had good blurbs from a couple of really famous people, went to the right workshops, etc.....and when his first 'blockbuster' novel came out, Publisher's Weekly panned it (and yes, the panning was deserved). They didn't review the two sequels.

Lesson learned by me? Nothing guarantees that you'll get the next contract. The publishing world is fickle. You jsut have to keep trying....which is where #2 comes in, I guess.

[david-de-beer.livejournal.com]

Serendipity. Which is kind of like luck, but means all the other things lined up at the right time, too. Maybe synchronicity is a better term

you know, you have just summarized Malcom Gladwell's entire book in one line -- The Outliers.
it examines the succesful and often how surprisingly fortunate they were to be in the right place at the right time and with the right background.
luck is far more prevalent than most people are comfortable with, re: success in any venture.