5 Industry Myths
Author: Sherrilyn Kenyon
Original Publication Date in Love Notes: January 2006

You can tell I’m on deadline crunch for a book, otherwise I wouldn’t have time to write an article. Seriously though, as 2005 closes and 2006 is about to begin, I find myself with my typical nostalgia for the way things used to be, and as I was talking to a writer bud of mine, we started discussing things we wish we’d known way back when. As we chatted, I realized that some of those myths still persist even now. So to clean the old slate and make way for the new, I thought an article which addressed some of those continuing myths might help other writers.

1. You need an agent to sell. It’s actually much easier to get a publisher than it is an agent. Agents are wonderful things to be sure, and I don’t know what I’d do without mine, but believe me when I say this: no agent is soooo much better than a bad one. And I should know. I had quite a few of less than stellar ones early in my career. Thankfully none of them are still in the business. But that being said, I also made seven of my sales on my own, without an agent. You can too.

Spend time educating yourself on the business of writing and on contract law. Even if you do have an agent, you owe it to yourself to understand what you’re signing and to read each and every contract yourself. No matter how great an agent is, he or she is human and mistakes happen. No one watches over your career better than you do.

If you would like to see model contracts, samples are available to the public on the Science Fiction Writers of America website http://www.sfwa.org/contracts/ and a good beginner book on the subject is CONTRACTS IN A NUTSHELL by Claude D. Rohwer & Anthony M. Skroki.

2. If you don’t have an agent when you sell, this is the perfect time to get one. Not necessarily. You have money that you, yourself, have earned. No one helped you to get it. You’re the one who submitted the book, you’re the one who did all the work about putting it in the hands of the editor. Before you hand off 15% which you could use to help promote that book, think twice about calling an agent. I had three different agents take that 15% I’d earned and then never represent another book I wrote again. Essentially, I gave my money away and got nothing for it.

Please don’t make my mistake. Most agents aren’t going to be able to do much with a beginning author once the offer has been made. There are some contract terms they can negotiate, but for most publishers, they’re negligible terms that won’t matter much in the long run. My advice, based on my experience, is to use that sale you made after you’ve signed the contract to contact agents and see who is willing to represent you for the long haul. Find the agent who believes in you and who sees this as the first step in a much larger career. Don’t just throw your hard-earned money away on a gamble. Take your time picking out the right agent for you.

3. You have to write to market in order to sell. If that were true, I wouldn’t have a career. At all. I envy writers who can write to market. I’m not now, nor have I ever been one of those people. In fact, the one time I attempted this, I got the absolute worst rejection of my career: No one at this publishing house will ever be interested in developing this author. Do not submit her work to us again. That’s one rejection I wish my agent hadn’t shared with me. But it taught me an important lesson. I’m not a market writer. I’d rather create the trend than follow after it.
I truly believe in what Samuel Adams once said: No man yet has become great by imitation.

Don’t let anyone tell you how to write your book. Follow your gut and you’ll never go wrong. Yes, it’s harder to walk this route, but sooner or later you’ll make it and trust me when I say from experience that victory is so much sweeter when you’ve made it on your own terms.

4. You have to make public appearances and do book signings to promote yourself. Again, I never, ever did those early in my career. For over fifteen years, I worked in bookstores and one thing I learned is that book signings can actually harm you. Let’s say that as a beginning author you do 20 signings to promote your book. The stores order an average 35 copies of your book and at each signing you sell an average of three (many stores you won’t sell any at all). You will most likely end up with about 630-640 books being stripped at the end of this. On an average beginning print run, that’s a chunk of returns.

If you are great at hand-selling your own work, then by all means do so. But if you’re like me and you’d rather be beaten than talk about your own work, it’s okay. You don’t have to do book signings to make it. Do what makes you comfortable.

5. Blogging is a great way to get people discussing you and your books. Anything that gets people to discuss your books is fabulous and I’m all for it, but one major caveat: blogs shouldn’t be used to discuss your personal business. Remember these are read by people who may have radically different ideas and beliefs than you have. Not to mention, many authors tend to discuss how much they make and a lot about their private professional business that would infuriate their editors if the editors saw it. And since it’s public domain, there’s a good shot the editor or her boss could see it. Don’t shoot yourself in the foot. If you’re going to blog, keep your private business private.

This is also true of bulletin boards and loops. Just because you have to sign into something, doesn’t mean another person can’t hit forward and send it off to someone you don’t want to see it. Not everyone online is your best friend, nor do they hold your best interests at heart.

This isn’t an easy business. No doubt about it. But you know, a good friend of mine once said many years ago when I was feeling really glum, “How many people get to live a dream?” She was right. Writing is a dream that all of us here share. Whether or not we’re published, whether or not we ever get published or publish again, writing is a dream. We’re not talking about writing, we’re doing it. If you find even three minutes a day to sit down and write one single sentence, then you are a writer. Wear that badge with honor.

We have a new year ahead of us, with new challenges and opportunities waiting. Carpe Diem (or for those like me Carpe Noctem). Seize your destiny and follow your dream this year. I wish tons of happiness, but most of all, I wish you all tons of contracts in 2006.

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Sherilyn Kenyon/Kinley MacGregory is a multi-published NYT best-selling author and MCRW member. For more about her books, check out her web sites.
http://www.kinleymacgregor.com & http://www.sherrilynkenyon.com
http://HunterLegends.com (paranormal/fantasy/Dark-Hunter)
http://KnightsAndHeroes.com (historical)
http://LordsofAvalon.com (medieval fantasy)
http://BADAgency.com & http://RachelFire.com (contemporary)

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