This was an overheard statement from the conference this last weekend. Now, you will need a lot for context for this statement for it to really make sense. But before I dive into this, let me just say that this is a cautionary tale of "learn how to do something before you dive in head first."
As I have said before, there are a ton of writers who self-publish and fail horribly (note my comment I ALWAYS make. People can succeed in self-publishing so this is in no way a negative slam against this approach). These authors fail because they have not gotten what they want from sending things to editors or agents OR, when they get on sites such as Query Manager or read books with lists of editors and agents, the come up with no one representing their work. Clearly, these people are not open to creativity, they will say. So they self publish.
You have heard me talk about this before.
OK, so back to our author. When the author sat down at a table with another author, they were talking about what each wrote. This author state, "I write a mix of Cyber-punk, mystery, thriller, sci-fi and fantasy all rolled into one story." Hmmm, intriguing. This alone should start to tell you a lot.
But wait, there is more.
During the conversation, the author stated "I have a character that was only supposed to be there for one chapter. In the end, that character ended up being the main character." Um what?
In both of these situations, it came down to the author not planning ahead. Not knowing what to do. Not knowing the business. And simply put, running blindly into brick walls!
So why did this author fail? I think you can see it!
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