I received a comment in Facebook last week from an author. She noted that she had not submitted any writing to an agent or an editor yet because "she was still afraid to." I get it! This is a big jump. However, with that said, I do want to remind all of you that you do not have to be a published author to be successful.
Writing is one of the few hobbies out there that you can turn into a profession. Too often, writers who have been crafting stories, or writing poetry are often "encouraged" by their friends to publish. I put that word in quotes for a reason. That encouragement is often showing up in the form of pressure. They finish their story, tell their critique partners they typed THE END and suddenly they are being pushed to send that project out.
Don't jump yet!
There are a lot of things you need to consider before you make that jump. Let's look at a few.
DO YOU KNOW THE BUSINESS OF PUBLISHING? Too often I find writers having really no idea about the business of publishing. They don't understand genres. They don't understand word counts. They don't even know how a book goes from their computer to the bookshelf. Along with this, they really don't understand what makes a book tick. You have to take the time to study publishing, not just, how to write a story, but all aspects of it. This is a job! If you think about your undergraduate work for your profession, you took classes to understand what you were jumping into. You need to do the same thing with your writing.
CAN YOU WRITE WITH FIRM DEADLINES? When you wrote as a hobby, you wrote when you wanted to. If you weren't in the mood, you didn't write. When it comes to writing as a profession, you have to write with deadlines. Your editor will want books on a deadline. If you submit a project to an editor or agent and they request more, they expect to see that writing ASAP. Not when you are ready to send it. If you are writing a new novel that is not under contract yet, you need to still set a deadline. You have to be able to say "today, I am writing x-word count" or "today I am going to write chapter 4".
ARE YOU READY FOR REJECTIONS? Be braced, there will be rejections. There will be bad reviews. There will be days when your editor or agent doesn't like what you just wrote. This will happen so put on your big person pants and be ready for it. I don't care if your family and critique partners loved your stories, the writing has to be ready for market and the general public. If you can't handle someone telling you the truth, go back to your writing as a hobby!
IS YOUR FAMILY ON BOARD? Since you will have to write daily, your family needs to be there to support you. They have to pick up the slack around the house when you have writing that needs to get done. They have to be there for you when you need to go to a writing conference. They need to be there for you financially when you need a good computer, office space and the conference fees. They need to understand your needs.
DO YOU HAVE TIME DAILY TO DEVOTE TO YOUR CRAFT? When I say daily, I mean daily. This time needs to be set aside for writing, marketing, reading for research and so forth. Again, as a hobby writer, you could just work when you wanted to. Every day, you need to do something. And no, you cannot just say you got on Twitter to see what other's have done. When I say do something for YOUR craft, it means for YOUR writing and that Work In Progress.
DO YOU HAVE A CAREER PLAN? Great! You finished that first story. What else do you have. Just because you finished one, you need to be ready to dive into the next project soon after you typed "THE END." This does not have to be a follow up to your story, but you have to have something. Remember that editors and agents are not looking for "one-hit-wonders." Your career is based on a body of work and not just one novel. Where do you see yourself at next year? In 5 years? Oh, and if you think your career involves quitting your day job with this novel, you are mistaken.
Just some things to think about.
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