Scoreboard Status Writers’ Style. Have you ever heard this ponderous question? “If a tree falls in the forest, and no one is there to hear, is there any sound?” Well, let’s ponder this one. “If your book falls into the marketplace, and nobody notices, are you still a real writer?”
That doozy has been frying in my brainpan for some time now, and I’m not alone. More and more of us are deciding to quit the writing game. We not only consider ourselves losers there, we’ve concluded that we aren’t even up on the scoreboard.
We toil long and hard and believe we’re writing strong stories, but don’t sell many books. We don’t make much money either. What we thought of as a writing career is behaving more like a writing hobby. And, the IRS may be about to make that hobby status official.
Been there. Am there now. The only book sales I’m sure of are the copies I send to reviewers, because good reviews are supposed to make all the difference. My reviews are stellar, and no difference has been made.
Many authors report a similar experience. Their reviewers are generous, enthusiastic, even ecstatic. Still, sales figures don’t budge enough to get them even into the minor leagues. We’re playing pickup ball on the sandlots of scribes.
Before we start sputtering over the obvious injustice – let’s sprint this sporty metaphor back to the scoreboard concept. Who is up there in lights anyway? Whose numbers soar high, then higher still, over and over again?
The “Why?” of the above questions is in the last phrase, “over and over again.” These are repeat performers, repeat big sales performers, like our beloved Stephen King. Their identities repeat as well. The same bestseller names sell best, as I said, over and over again.
They are the superstars. According to a recent Sunday New York Times article, once you’re a superstar, you stay a superstar. Everybody knows your name. You’re a proven, recognizable commodity, and readers feel most confident buying a brand name. Plus, there are only so many superstar slots on the board, and those are pretty much filled.
I succumbed to the blues notes of that tune several months ago. I stopped writing anything other than the occasional blog post and a regular column. Then I read the Sunday Times article, felt the truth of it, and somehow that turned me around. “WTF am I doing?” I shouted.
After I stopped writing, I became a less satisfied person. Anyone in my family will bear witness to this. So, started writing again. I picked up my novel-in-progress, shoved Patrice, my beleaguered heroine, into hot water, and turned up the temp.
Then, one morning, after a subsequent writing session, something happened. I was standing in my bedroom listening to a conversation between two people who only exist in my head. Patrice and John, my hero, were saying things entirely new to me. And, guess what? It felt great.
So, to hell with the scoreboard. Whether or not the marketplace acknowledges the presence of my stories in its midst, I am still a real writer. How about you?
Alice Orr – www.aliceorrbooks.com
A Wrong Way Home – Alice Orr’s Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series Book 1 is a FREE eBook HERE. Enjoy!
A Time of Fear & Loving – Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series Book 5 – is available HERE. Praise for A Time of Fear & Loving: “Alice Orr is the queen of ramped-up stakes and page-turning suspense.” “Warning. Don’t read before bed. You won’t want to sleep.” “The tension in this novel is through the roof.” “I never want an Alice Orr book to end.” “The best one yet!” “Budding romance sizzles in the background until it ignites with passion.”
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I’ve felt the slump for the past month. Nothing seems good enough, active enough, in-depth enough, etc. etc. It’s a downward spiral that’s hard to pull out of and the ‘why bother?’ hits hard and without mercy. Thanks for this reminder that no matter what, we write because living without that part of oneself is only half-life.
Hi Brenda. Slump times are the worst. The winter doldrums don’t help. But it’s mostly, or so it seems to me, a matter of identifying who you write for and why. In the final analysis, I think we have to write for ourselves, for the kick it gives us. When that kick disappears, it can be a signal that you need to take some time off, go to ground, rest, lick the wounds the slings and arrows of the writing business are bound to inflict upon you. Then, when you find yourself yearning to get back into the land of you writer’s imagination, climb on your merry-go-round pony once more and resume the ride. If the yen doesn’t return, maybe it’s time to try something else. Only you can make that choice and only for yourself. This is your own one life after all. Live it in the passion lane as much as you possibly can. My heart and my good wishes go with you for all of that. Love and Blessings. Alice
So true! It’s easy to get discouraged.
Without writing, I would definitely not be a happy person.
Thanks for posting. 🙂
Hi Amber. You are very right. It is easy to get discouraged, and, as always, discouragement is closely tied to expectations. We are constantly confronted, even teased, with the stellar performance of others and encouraged to expect the same of ourselves. Some will achieve those lofty goals. Most will not. The expectation we must put front and center, in my opinion, is to do the work we love and try our best to get better at it. Blessings. Alice
An excellent article, Alice. I’ve only recently taken my seat at the published authors’ table, so the current state of things is all I know–being a tiny guppy in a big pond, having to hustle for readers and recognition. I’m lucky in that I don’t need my writing income to eat or keep the lights on, so I’m able to write at a reasonable-for-me pace. I figure that, with these tiny baby steps, I’ll eventually build an audience who look forward to my next book, and that’s good enough for me.
Hi Sadira. I congratulate you on your attitude. It takes a real professional to be realistic and understand that one step at a time can be a satisfying, even invigorating pace. The secret is to grow your love for the work the more you do it. I wish you a lovely career and lots of joy in the exercise of the truly beautiful gift of being able to call oneself a storyteller. Blessings. Alice
Hi Alice –
Been struggling with the same issue all year now. Plus I am having a fit with the book that is supposed to come out this year. The editor is “improving” it, but all these improvements made me feel as though I was the worst writer in the world. I vowed it was going to be my last book, but one day, out of the blue, I realized I needed to write. Then comes this article! Thank you! I’ll be polishing up my urban fantasy because I love the story and I want to see what happens to my characters!! love you!
Hi Kathye. I love you too. I understand exactly what you’ve been going through, especially the part about having your story “Improved” by an editor. I remember one case, when I was traditionally published, there were so many revision suggestions and revisions I actually lost track of what the story had originally been for me. Why I had originally imagined it. That’s a major reason I moved to indie publishing. I had written a very personal memoir of my breast cancer experience, and a well-respected editor told me I needed to omit what I considered the heart of the story. So I moved on, but this isn’t the answer either. The money is really unreliable, and the marketing demands are crushing. Then, like you, I realized that I need to write, because it feeds something essential inside me. I’m sorry you’ve had a difficult year. There’s been a lot of that going around. Just don’t give up on the adventure if you can help it. Keep on, as you said, questing to find out what happens to your characters, because no sales outline will ever tell you that. Blessings. Alice
yeah. Same thing in the art field. My studio fills up with finished paintings that no one buys, but I keep painting. Smaller, though. They take up less room and I have sold a few.
Hi Suzanna. I think this phenomenon is happening all over the place, especially among those of us involved with creative pursuits. On the other hand, many of us are finding out exactly what you said, that we keep on doing our work anyway. My explanation of this is that the work fills a place within us that would remain empty , or at least a lot emptier, without it. I was just looking at the scarf you gave me years ago. You painted a dragon on the silk, and it is till beautiful today. We have to be dragons as well, dear Suzanna, dragons protecting the entrance to the cavern where the treasures of our own imaginations are kept. Blessings. Alice
Hi, Alice! Loved your post. A few months ago I was complaining about slow sales. Obviously complaining a bit to often because my hubby who retired a couple of years ago asked, “Why don’t you just quit?” I stared at him and thought for a long while before I spoke. I said, “Because writing makes me happy.” It’s not selling books that necessarily makes me happy although that is nice. It’s the writing in and of itself.
Hi Joan. You hit the nail right on the head. We do this writing thing because it makes us feel good. My day always goes better when I start it out with writing. I may be a bit fuzzy in the head after that writing session, but I manage to get the rest of my life done. The fuzziness, of course, comes from having spent time in the alternate universe of my imagination, and very little could be more pleasurable than that. So, let’s simply keep on with it, whether civilians understand or not. Blessings. Alice
Alice, I could’ve written this same blog post 🙂 My conclusion is the same as yours. We are writers. Our words count. Much love and blessings to you, my friend. LG
Hi Liz. Nobody I know has ever worked harder at making their writing career a success than you have. Still, the uphill grade can be super discouraging. Then, as you said, we remember the real bottom line, that we are writers, and to stop writing would necessitate turning off a very important part of ourselves and our psyches. Let’s hope we never have to do that. Blessings. Alice
I love how you listened to yourself. If my writing works for five people, I’m happy. I would love to have more, but…. the stuff you mentioned.
Hi Vicki. I love that I listened to myself too. I sometimes forget to do that. I listen to all of the supposedly wise and practical voices that sound like they must be much more intelligent than the voice of my own heart. Well, of course, they are not. Plus, I love listening to my characters too. When I stop writing, they stop coming around, and that’s a lonely place for a storyteller to be. Blessings. Alice
Once a writer, always a writer….
I sell waaaay more copies in person than I do online, and I’m fine with it. Would I like to hit the NYT Best Seller list? Sure! But I don’t sweat over it. Six people bought my latest book on Release Day, and I was thrilled, largest one-day sales since 2015, when my publisher folded.
I’ve been at this for ten years, and have seen authors crank out the books, rise to the top, only to ‘burn out’ and never to be heard from again, unless they’ve friended me on FB. My goal was never to make a rocket trip to the top, then fall. I’ve subscribed to the ‘slow and steady’ philosophy, and I think it’s working.
Kudos to not giving up, and yes, that’s an AWESOME feeling when you realize the voices in your head are back!
Hi Kenzie. Wow and ditto to everything you’ve said here. Selling in person is also lots of fun. You get to smile straight into the eyes of someone who is about to read your story. What a thrill that is. I agree with what you have to say about slow and steady as well. I didn’t start out with that as my goal. I wanted to shoot for stardom. But I was a book editor, then later a literary agent, and I had to write around the edges of those responsibilities, which I happened to love. While that was going on, I came to enjoy having a life that included my writing but reached beyond it too. I feel fortunate to be doing that still. Kudos is right for not giving up, on ourselves or on our stories. Hooray for us. Blessings. Alice
I think after honing your craft and learning to tell a great story, the next step is cracking the marketing nut, and it’s a tough one. FB ads, AMS ads, Bookbub ads. Those are the difference between one great writer and another who is selling. Personally, I seem to suck at the marketing, but when I gave a large percentage of my royalties away to someone who knows how, suddenly my books (same writing) sell like hotcakes. I think the happy medium is keeping control of your books if you like to be indie and like to keep the majority of your royalties, and then hiring a marketer. I’m going to try that next.
Congratulations Sydney on finding your personal road to sales satisfaction. There are many of us who don’t make enough royalties to afford a marketing professional, but if you can do that, it’s great. I wish you continued and growing success. Blessings. Alice
Hello, Alice,
Thanks for a great post. I’m so glad you’ve gotten back into writing. I personally think we authors NEED to write, in the same way as we need food and water.
My take on the Scoreboard issue is a bit different, and perhaps more hopeful. I don’t necessarily WANT to be a superstar. And I certainly don’t want to be constrained to writing basically the same book, again and again. What would be the fun in that? I’m an author, NOT a brand. I like to try new things, be creative, continue to grow rather than being stuck in a rut.
Meanwhile, there are hundreds of millions of readers out there. Readers whose tastes vary a lot. If I can connect with a few hundred, or a few thousand, who like my writing, that’s my definition of success.
It’s a big world, and a big pie. We all have a reasonable shot at a piece.
Every writer needs to hear this. Thank you, Alice!
Thank you Valerie for your support. I agree that this is a message whose time has come. We write because we feel lousy or at least disgruntled when we don’t. That’s the way it is with me anyway. Here’s to feeling good within ourselves and about ourselves. Amen. Be well and happy. Alice
Wonderful article, thank you for saying this! I definitely needed to read it, because I’ve been feeling the same way.
Hi JJ. Thank you for your comment on today’s post. Most of the time I post teaching articles about writing technique. This post came from my own experience and what seems to be out there among author colleagues. I am so gratified that my thoughts also spoke to you. If writing makes you feel better about your life, my advice is to stick with it. That’s the yard stick I’m using meself now. Not to get too heavy, but it’s become a soul thing. Feed your soul. I wish you well with that and all else. Alice
Thanks for the reminder, Alice.
Hi Anna. The truth is I was reminding myself. We can get so caught up in who is performing how well, and feeling we’re losing out somehow, that we should be scaling the ladder faster, more aggressively, more whatever. The love of it, the fun of it, the privilege of being capable of making a story appear where there was only white space before. What a gift that is. What a blessing. I needed reminding of that. So of course I opened my big mouth and reminded everybody else too. Thanks for noticing and letting me know you did. Alice