“I occasionally get all into an art motivation sort of book, and this oneâs under-read.
I think I identify hardest with the idea that if you finish something, go ahead and put it out into the word. Make a few bucks.
People will tell you that putting lackluster books up on the kindle store yourself will kill your chances of being traditionally published. And they might be right, I wouldnât know because Iâve never had a publisher tell me, âListen, we read that piece of shit where thereâs a bikini car wash to save an arcade? Weâre going to have to pass on this manuscript on the basis of that one being shit.â
I DO have a couple suspicions on the matter.
One is that publishers are going to begin having a difficult time not working with authors whoâve self-published in some capacity before. Those folks are going to be tough to find eventually.
Two, and the more important one, is that I suspect there are a whole shitload of books out there, sitting in drawers, that weâll never see because someone is too chickenshit about ruining their chances with the great people at Penguin Random House.
Itâs the last day of 2022, so Iâm feeling expansive and like I want to give a little advice. And that advice is:
Keeping your art in a drawer because youâre afraid what snobs will think of it is no way to live your life.
Hiding your first book doesnât actually make your second book any better.
If you do land with a major publisher at some point and put out a hit, man will it be to your advantage to have a back catalog up for sale, a catalog you own and donât have to cut anyone else in on. Can you imagine if Andy Weir had another book out when The Martian hit? And I worked in a library when The Da Vinci code hit, and man, all of a sudden we were moving a lot of copies of Deception Point. I bet most of you donât even know about Deception Point, but I can just about guarantee Dan Brown has a cabin heâs named Deception Point.
To me, worrying about that stuff is like worrying what the popular kids think of you in high school. Lean in, Iâll tell you a secret: they donât think about you at all.
Same in books. WW Norton does not have an opinion on you or your work. They donât know you exist.
I want to encourage everyone to be brave this year. Dust off those manuscripts and put them up for sale. Maybe you make 50 cents. Shoot, thatâs 50 cents more than you had before. Thatâs one person whoâs read your book, a 100% increase from last year! “