Quote:
Originally Posted by gmw
Obviously, I think that's a good decision, Gregg. We put too much of ourselves into all the parts of our writing to expend it carelessly.
Exposure comes in many different ways, including luck. Work is a big part, and you've been putting that in (well, more than me). But patience is the other one. As just one example, Hugh Howey was 7 books and 2 years* into his publishing** apprenticeship before his success with Wool. From his website come these words:
I've only just found that quote, researched in order to make this post, but it makes me quite happy. I'm two years but only three books into my publishing apprenticeship, only seven books to go! 
Of course, it pays to remember that the journey is different for everyone. I read about a lot of different experiences before I published my first book. They kept my expectations from getting too high, and helped me to understand that this was a long-haul thing, not something that would happen the moment I hit the publish button.
* Measured from date of his first published book as given in Wikipedia.
** As opposed to his writing apprenticeship, which has presumably been much longer. |
Yeah gmw. Good post. (First one here I've ever read with footnotes!) Other people are making it without writing schlocky self-help books. We can too. Right?
And you never know, good things might happen a lot faster than we think.
