Reframing professional jealousy + seminars, resources, & the DOJ v. PRH run-down
When other peoples' success feels hard; fall seminars; choose your own adventure; book scandal podcast; interview tips; POC residency guide; a.i. art; DOJ v. PRH run down; new B&N policy; afropunk tea
Greetings readers & writers,
Fall is here! Libra season. Hot tea season. Spiced cider-scented season. The season of beautiful golden hours, when the sun hits the trees just so that the sky is dark but the world is lit up rose gold. And of course, a season of books and celebrating so many new deals and brilliant titles coming out by writers I admire.
I’m also wishing I was one of them.
Do you ever feel jealousy slinking through you when you see your fellow writers checking things off the same bucket list you made for yourself? It’s a sickening feeling, being both wildly excited for someone and cuttingly envious. I don’t know about you, but I often (sadly) turn that toxicity back on myself. As if somehow their successes imply my failures: to be published, to work fast enough, to write a “successful” book.
Needless to say, that kind of thinking is both damaging and unproductive. “Success” and “failure” are entirely subjective! Allowing envy to eat away at one’s enthusiasm is a recipe for resentment, not motivation. In my experience, it sucks all the motivation out of the room. If the mindset is “another’s success = my failure,” then how could I ever hope to achieve anything?
The longer I’m in this industry, the more I learn that we can’t lay our sense of value at the feet of others. It’s up to each of us to treat ourselves with kindness, to honor the work we are able to do, and to show up for that work but not berate ourselves when we can’t.
I find it helps when I reframe my thinking from “all the things I haven’t done” to:
What have I done that I knew would be difficult or maybe even impossible to do?
What obstacles have I written over, under, or around even when it felt insurmountable?
What have I learned? What can I teach?
How can my perception of another person’s “success” help inform my own goals, rather than detract from them?
A rising tide lifts all boats. None of these questions depend on the successes of others, only of our own perspective and perseverance. This may not be my season to publish and that’s okay. Maybe it is for you; maybe it’s not. Either way, I’m proud of you. You’re doing a damn fine job.
Annnd…. we’re back! (So Many) Upcoming Seminars
All events are virtual and require registration unless otherwise noted.
Sept. 22 (7:30PM): MetroWest Writer’s Guild Hybrid Retreat:
Choose Your Own Audience: Marketing Tools for NaNoWriMo NEW!Oct. 1 (10:30AM): Part of Your World: Character-Focused World-building in YA
Oct. 22 (10:30AM): Where Speculative & Literary Meet: Redefining Genre NEW!
Oct. 26 (7:30 PM): Speculative Fiction Variety Hour* - FREE! (email for link) *actually 90 minutes of exploring topics in speculative fiction, genre, and writing
Nov. 5 (10:30 AM): Writing Like a Parent, Parenting Like a Writer
Writing/ Marketing Resources
If you were a child of the 80’s like me, there’s no doubt you encountered the Choose Your Own Adventure books. Author Leslie Jamison has penned a loving history/analysis of the series {The New Yorker} in the style of a choose-your-own-adventure!
Missing Pages is a new podcast of investigative reporting on the biggest literary scandals of the book world from reviewer Bethanne Patrick. For details, there’s a great write up on Patrick and her podcast in The Guardian.
Eight essential tips to help you prep for podcasts and interviews {Writer’s Digest} from author and BMN interviewee, Aileen Weintraub.
Journalist/memoirist Hannah Bae’s “A Person of Color’s Guide to Navigating Writing Residencies” {Catapult} is essential reading for anyone attending (or creating!) writing residencies/retreats to create a safe space for creativity and craft.
I cannot wait for this fall’s Book Marketing Now interviews!
Naseem Jamnia, author of the queernormative, Persian-inspired, fantasy novella The Bruising of Qilwa (October)
Table for 7 Press, a writing group-turned-publisher that combined their skills to explore alternative publishing options (November)
Art Studio
I tried out Midjourney, one of the A.I. art generators that are generating both inspiration and controversy. Have you tried an art (or writing!) A.I.? What did you think of the results? Are robots coming for us artists now?
Industry News
The DOJ v. Penguin Random House anti-trust trial concluded at the end of August {The Bookseller}, with the DOJ claiming the merger would create a harmful “duopoly” and PRH arguing it would instead increase competition.
Publisher’s Weekly has a great compilation of trial coverage.
I also highly recommend reading live-tweets from the trial by reporters John Maher, Bethanne Patrick, and Edward Nawotka.
Other interesting takes include:
Margot Atwell’s on the role of indie presses {LitHub}
Katy Waldman’s on art v. commerce in publishing { The New Yorker}
…and for kicks (and weeping into your teacup): the weirdest quotes from the first week of the trial {BookRiot}
Barnes & Noble has implemented a new policy of only stocking MG hardcovers that are expected to be bestsellers {BookRiot}, creating concerns for debut authors, especially marginalized writers {Medium}. B&N’s CEO sees the new policy as giving power back to local stores. {Publisher’s Weekly}. Industry vet Kathleen Schmitt gives a good rundown of B&N’s overall marketing/policy.
Peter Straub, known for supernatural horror and collaborations with Stephen King, passed away at age 79. {NYT - free link}
Barbara Ehrenreich, author of the social justice classic Nickel & Dimed, passed away at age 81. {NYT - free link}
Tea
It’s also birthday season which means… birthday tea (thanks Mom & Dad!) I am very much enjoying Brooklyn Tea’s Afropunk Brooklyn (a blend crafted specifically for the festival of Black music, art, and culture). It’s a fragrant, juicy mix of peach and tangerine peel blended with honeybush and green rooibos. Perfect with a homemade cookie on a cloudy day.
In the wise words of Dear Sugar: “Do the work. Keep the faith. Be true blue.”
~Allison
Writer & Marketing Coach
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Thanks, Allison. I always like your newsletters (and tea recommendations!!). Your remarks on jealousy resonated with me as someone who has been searching for a publisher for too many years to count. I now have THREE offers - all small traditional presses that I found myself after my agent and I broke up. None will ever come close to breaking even on my financial investment (not to mention time!!!). It has been damn hard, and my list of rejections goes on for pages. But I will eventually be published. I think you will be too. Best of luck!