Come with me in my time machine, as we travel to the 1980s, the good old days of publishing, before Twitter or TikTok or the phrase “personal brand” had even been invented, when a publisher could make an author’s career.
Leah, what a beautiful post! I’m so honored to be included here! I would only urge everyone here to read my reply in that Ask Polly column and see if you come away with the sense that by instructing the letter writer not to blame herself for her lack of sales, I’m urging her to give up or to believe that there's nothing she can do. She, like so many authors, believes that her bad sales numbers mean she’s a failure, and I tell her:
“You did what you set out to do. You were successful. You even got paid for it. You even published it. You even worked your ass off to promote it. These are all huge, rare successes.”
If I replied by telling her all the things she could’ve done or should do next time, I would’ve sounded like the mother in “Election” (great movie, btw), telling Reese Witherspoon’s crying high school overachiever, “Maybe you should’ve made more posters.”
Instead, my aim was to empathize with her and let her know that she’s not remotely alone in feeling the way she does. And I’d argue that it’s healthy and even oddly helpful for authors to face the uncomfortable reality that no matter how many marketing dollars are behind their books and no matter how much effort they put into promotion, there’s a good chance that they won’t sell as well as they want them to. Grappling with that reality is *always* difficult and discouraging, but you can’t let it prevent you from throwing your entire body and mind into your work, your art, your passion, and your promotional efforts, too. You can’t let the world’s bad noises about commerce trick you into believing that you’re a failure because of sales numbers.
Writing and promoting a book is hard. It’s a victory to get through that process. Or as I wrote at the end of my column: “You write because you believe in it. You still believe, even now. You crave love, and that part of you isn’t humiliating. It’s sad and pure and true. It’s a gift.”
But speaking of gifts, I loved your promotional advice here. I don’t know if you answer advice letters from authors, but if you don’t, maybe you should because you’d obviously be great at it! Once I finish my next book, I will be back to soak up allllll of your guidance! Thanks for bringing so much optimism, joy, and humor to this subject, and thanks again for discussing my column in this excellent post.
Thank you so much for this thoughtful (and gracious) response to my piece! My advice is definitely in the Tracy Flick mode (I agree: great movie), while yours was aimed at the heart and soul of the writer. My newsletter is filled with bossy advice about what I think other writers should be doing, so welcome! :)
Goodness, what alchemy here - heart advice meets head advice! (not that kind, sorry, I'm 12.) Grateful to both of you for your work, and all you offer, head and heart, to writers.
Wow, I loved reading this. Jim Wilcox was a professor of fiction and head of the MFA program at LSU when I was there. I was doing an MFA in poetry so I never had him as a professor and never knew his story. But he's a really lovely man. This whole piece gives such an interesting new perspective to the old, sad, woe-is-me story of being a writer today — thank you for that. Maybe it IS one of the best eras to be a literary novelist (or poet, or writer of whatever genre)!
I loved "Polite Sex!" There were several writers of the 80s and 90s who stopped doing big books that I was absolutely obsessed with, including T.R. Pearson, Wilton Barnhardt (Emma Who Saved My Life), and Frederick Barton (The El Cholo Feeling Passes).
Wonderful article. I cant believe what a defeatist Heather H is!
I work in public relations (which is basically sales) and--as my boss annoyingly but rightfully says- there is no limit to ways you can promote the client. Same goes for a book, movie or any creative project.
Leah, what a beautiful post! I’m so honored to be included here! I would only urge everyone here to read my reply in that Ask Polly column and see if you come away with the sense that by instructing the letter writer not to blame herself for her lack of sales, I’m urging her to give up or to believe that there's nothing she can do. She, like so many authors, believes that her bad sales numbers mean she’s a failure, and I tell her:
“You did what you set out to do. You were successful. You even got paid for it. You even published it. You even worked your ass off to promote it. These are all huge, rare successes.”
If I replied by telling her all the things she could’ve done or should do next time, I would’ve sounded like the mother in “Election” (great movie, btw), telling Reese Witherspoon’s crying high school overachiever, “Maybe you should’ve made more posters.”
Instead, my aim was to empathize with her and let her know that she’s not remotely alone in feeling the way she does. And I’d argue that it’s healthy and even oddly helpful for authors to face the uncomfortable reality that no matter how many marketing dollars are behind their books and no matter how much effort they put into promotion, there’s a good chance that they won’t sell as well as they want them to. Grappling with that reality is *always* difficult and discouraging, but you can’t let it prevent you from throwing your entire body and mind into your work, your art, your passion, and your promotional efforts, too. You can’t let the world’s bad noises about commerce trick you into believing that you’re a failure because of sales numbers.
Writing and promoting a book is hard. It’s a victory to get through that process. Or as I wrote at the end of my column: “You write because you believe in it. You still believe, even now. You crave love, and that part of you isn’t humiliating. It’s sad and pure and true. It’s a gift.”
https://www.ask-polly.com/p/i-published-a-novel-and-no-one-cares
But speaking of gifts, I loved your promotional advice here. I don’t know if you answer advice letters from authors, but if you don’t, maybe you should because you’d obviously be great at it! Once I finish my next book, I will be back to soak up allllll of your guidance! Thanks for bringing so much optimism, joy, and humor to this subject, and thanks again for discussing my column in this excellent post.
Thank you so much for this thoughtful (and gracious) response to my piece! My advice is definitely in the Tracy Flick mode (I agree: great movie), while yours was aimed at the heart and soul of the writer. My newsletter is filled with bossy advice about what I think other writers should be doing, so welcome! :)
Goodness, what alchemy here - heart advice meets head advice! (not that kind, sorry, I'm 12.) Grateful to both of you for your work, and all you offer, head and heart, to writers.
Wow, I loved reading this. Jim Wilcox was a professor of fiction and head of the MFA program at LSU when I was there. I was doing an MFA in poetry so I never had him as a professor and never knew his story. But he's a really lovely man. This whole piece gives such an interesting new perspective to the old, sad, woe-is-me story of being a writer today — thank you for that. Maybe it IS one of the best eras to be a literary novelist (or poet, or writer of whatever genre)!
Wow! He comes across as a really genuine kind person in the profile (which opens with him volunteering at a soup kitchen)
Not the eviscerating satirist Leigh Stein calling me one of the funniest women on Substack! Oh my god, if my middle school boyfriend could see me now
your middle school boyfriend is one of my most engaged subscribers so I’m sure he will
Sterling. Yes, he had a hot name!!!!!
i think this newsletter was so powerful, it made Tik Tok come back !
I’m a witch
duh, knew it. and your powers are increasing, WE LOVE TO SEE IT
Saving this for when the paperback of my latest comes out this year! This is amazing.
oh man those ideas were just off the top of my head but you’ve given me a good idea for a crowdsourced post on paperback launches!
I did a new release party for my paperback release. (The hard cover was during Covid so I figured I had a second chance…)
I, too, would be interested in a paperback launch post! I've got about three months and have no idea what to do.
👀👀👀👀👀
Yes to all of this.
This piece had me upgrade to paid- it’s honest, great reading and even has some rare optimism about being a writer today. Thanks.
Appreciate that, thank you!
Excited for the live conversations! Thank you!!
So many great conversations. I'm stoked!
Leigh, great great great post! I drank in every word.
Now this is the response I was looking for.
Thank you for this, Leigh!
I loved "Polite Sex!" There were several writers of the 80s and 90s who stopped doing big books that I was absolutely obsessed with, including T.R. Pearson, Wilton Barnhardt (Emma Who Saved My Life), and Frederick Barton (The El Cholo Feeling Passes).
I loved "A Short History of a Small Place"
Me too!
Thank you for the great analysis of the current publishing world, but mostly for such a thoughtful profile of James Wilcox.
Wonderful article. I cant believe what a defeatist Heather H is!
I work in public relations (which is basically sales) and--as my boss annoyingly but rightfully says- there is no limit to ways you can promote the client. Same goes for a book, movie or any creative project.
This is such a great piece- so much to unpack. Insightful and empowering.