It does not get easier > Likes and Comments
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It's a cruel, crazy business, publishing. In fact, one could argue that it isn't really a business at all, but more like a chuck a luck wheel at a carnival. One of my three former agents, a fellow I like very much who could never manage to sell my work, told me that 90% of all books published don't make money. I have no idea if that is true, but even if's "only" 50%, that says a lot about the gatekeepers' ability -- or inability -- to read the market. Hang in there. I enjoy your work very much, and I admire your pluck. Thank you for not giving up. BTW, I am a long-time resident of Natick, MA, have a stepson who went to Wellesley HS about the same time you were there, and have a memoir coming out with Avid Reader next March, the year I turn 80. It doesn't get any easier, but as you know as well as anyone, the joy is in the work itself; any recognition is just icing on the proverbial cake.
Wellesley? Avid Reader? Natick? How do we not know other?
About 1% are published from the slush pile. Well under 10% earn out their advances. One percent OF that one percent get advances in excess of $100,000, which sounds respectable until you realize 15% goes to the agent and the 85K remaining or so is paid in thirds over 18 months. And taxes, etc. So to be a novelist earning a solid $150K a year on your own steam is not a gamble rationally taken.
The joy IS in the work, but the trick is being able to keep doing it. Recognition is … whatever. I'm past all that. Now I focus on the love the craft and the arguments I need to make to others about the value in creating it, reading it, and studying it. The humanities are under attack. I know some lines of defense that are not being used. I want to get into the fight but it's tough.
I'll look for your book. Thanks for the kind words.
Here is the advice I like to give to young people who are interested in the arts. It comes from Jackson Browne's "Running on Empty." "Gotta do what you can just to keep your love alive./Try not to confuse it with what you do to survive." He wrote that when he was about 28 years old. I don't know how he got so wise at such a young age, but if you want to be, say, a landscape painter or jazz trumpeter or short story writer, the key is to find a way to keep your love alive and not quit or give in to cynicism as you struggle to pay your bills.
You can email me at jedojim@yahoo.com and we can get to know one another better in a non-public forum.
Derek, greetings,
So sorry to hear this history. As you know (from a previous discussion re the cover) I loved 'Girl in Green'. Time for a reread, this time will have to be a library copy as I have purchased two previous copies and sent them out into the universe (not by choice, but they have obviously found a home on someone else's shelf.
I don't understand why Radio Life was never published in the US! My local library purchased it at my request. Norwegian By Night was a book that, for a while, I was recommending to anybody who asked me about books.
Norwegian by Night was such a pleasant surprise that introduced me to this author. The Girl in Green was a gorgeous wrenching experience. American by Day is a masterpiece that would have pushed its way onto my Top 10 of All Time list of novels, if I could be persuaded to keep such a thing.
I am now off to the interwebs to track down copies of the novels not sold in the US presumably due to the short-sightedness and likely stupidity of an American distributor. Harumph.
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James
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Jul 02, 2024 04:25AM
It's a cruel, crazy business, publishing. In fact, one could argue that it isn't really a business at all, but more like a chuck a luck wheel at a carnival. One of my three former agents, a fellow I like very much who could never manage to sell my work, told me that 90% of all books published don't make money. I have no idea if that is true, but even if's "only" 50%, that says a lot about the gatekeepers' ability -- or inability -- to read the market. Hang in there. I enjoy your work very much, and I admire your pluck. Thank you for not giving up. BTW, I am a long-time resident of Natick, MA, have a stepson who went to Wellesley HS about the same time you were there, and have a memoir coming out with Avid Reader next March, the year I turn 80. It doesn't get any easier, but as you know as well as anyone, the joy is in the work itself; any recognition is just icing on the proverbial cake.
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Wellesley? Avid Reader? Natick? How do we not know other? About 1% are published from the slush pile. Well under 10% earn out their advances. One percent OF that one percent get advances in excess of $100,000, which sounds respectable until you realize 15% goes to the agent and the 85K remaining or so is paid in thirds over 18 months. And taxes, etc. So to be a novelist earning a solid $150K a year on your own steam is not a gamble rationally taken.
The joy IS in the work, but the trick is being able to keep doing it. Recognition is … whatever. I'm past all that. Now I focus on the love the craft and the arguments I need to make to others about the value in creating it, reading it, and studying it. The humanities are under attack. I know some lines of defense that are not being used. I want to get into the fight but it's tough.
I'll look for your book. Thanks for the kind words.
Here is the advice I like to give to young people who are interested in the arts. It comes from Jackson Browne's "Running on Empty." "Gotta do what you can just to keep your love alive./Try not to confuse it with what you do to survive." He wrote that when he was about 28 years old. I don't know how he got so wise at such a young age, but if you want to be, say, a landscape painter or jazz trumpeter or short story writer, the key is to find a way to keep your love alive and not quit or give in to cynicism as you struggle to pay your bills.
You can email me at jedojim@yahoo.com and we can get to know one another better in a non-public forum.
Derek, greetings,So sorry to hear this history. As you know (from a previous discussion re the cover) I loved 'Girl in Green'. Time for a reread, this time will have to be a library copy as I have purchased two previous copies and sent them out into the universe (not by choice, but they have obviously found a home on someone else's shelf.
I don't understand why Radio Life was never published in the US! My local library purchased it at my request. Norwegian By Night was a book that, for a while, I was recommending to anybody who asked me about books.
Norwegian by Night was such a pleasant surprise that introduced me to this author. The Girl in Green was a gorgeous wrenching experience. American by Day is a masterpiece that would have pushed its way onto my Top 10 of All Time list of novels, if I could be persuaded to keep such a thing.I am now off to the interwebs to track down copies of the novels not sold in the US presumably due to the short-sightedness and likely stupidity of an American distributor. Harumph.
