To Market, To Market

Writing, it has often been pointed out, is a lonely business. One thing that every writer has to remember it that it is just that – a business. If you’re going to succeed as a working writer, you’d better remember that.

Somewhere, long ago, a division was erected that created a line between literary and popular authors. The thinking that constructs that separation states that authors are either on one side of the fence or the other, but very rarely straddle the divide and land in both camps. Literary writers teach college and write books that few besides the critics will ever read. Popular authors write tripe for the masses. Once in a great while there are exceptions. Those few exceptions are what every author aspires to be.

It may come as a surprise to many a high school reader, wading through their Grapes of Wrath, but John Steinbeck was never a widely acclaimed literary author. Most of the critics derided him as a facile observer, rather than an original literary force. John Irving was one of the few to successfully pull off a two-category hit with The World According to Garp. The public and the critics loved him. The point is, this division is pretty arbitrary and all depends on who you’re talking to. There is no hard and fast rule. But both of these men sell a lot of books and made their living as writers. Isn’t that really the point?

Much of what sells and what doesn’t is completely a matter of chance, timing and luck. There were a number of books investigating the Knights Templar and the secret messages embedded in Leonardo Da Vinci’s work before Dan Brown hit with The Da Vinci Code; some of those books were a lot better read. But there’s Mr. Brown, pulling down millions, enjoying the kind of success that comes to a very few authors, while those other scribes toil in anonymity. Where’s the justice?

Well, if you want justice, call Judge Judy, because you’re not going to get any sympathy here. Writing a book is only half the battle, and maybe not even that. Once it’s down on paper, edited and put together in the absolute best form that you are capable of, it’s time to sell the thing. Dan Brown knew his market and turned out to be a pretty good salesman. Decry the petty demands of capitalism all you want, you don’t get paid if you don’t sell, and if you’re not selling then why spend all that time writing in the first place?

Yes, yes, there are the pleasures of the craft. It’s why we write in the first place. But the pleasures come a lot more pleasurably if you’re getting a check. No doubt about it. That’s when you’ve got to get out there and toot your own horn. Because no one else is going to do it for you.

Think that your fantastic turn of phrase and original plot line are going to take care of all that nonsense for you? Think again. Here’s a depressing little secret. Good writing has less to do with good sales than you think.

This past week I was given a screenplay to cover; turns out this particular script is going to be made into a movie. It’s got the greenlight, it’s going into production.

Guess what? The story sucked. Horribly. Basically a road trip, it’s about a quartet of buddies who head to Vegas for a bachelor party and end up losing the groom. They have less than forty eight hours to find him and get him home to the wedding and they can’t remember where to look because they were all so drunk the night before that they – each and every one of the remaining three – blacked out and have no recollection of the events of that transpired. Along the way there’s a stripper with a heart of gold, an Asian crime lord, and a chain of events so implausible that it made me hurl the script across the room in disgust. This screenplay sold for one million dollars.

I’ve been reading John Grisham lately, looking for his structural hooks and plot points. Have you ever really read a Grisham book? There are so many grammatical and syntax errors that it’s laughable. This guy is one of the world’s bestselling authors. This is an actual excerpt from Grisham’s The Client:
“They’re trying to convince Memphis PD to release the car so we can go over it. It’ll probably take an hour or so. … Washington’s called Memphis, and we should have the car in a couple of hours.”

Huh? That excerpt is part of one conversation. So then, which is it? An hour, a couple of hours? But the writing isn’t the focus here, it’s the story that sells. Stories that are deliberately crafted to make movies. Mr. Grisham sells a lot of them.

So does writing matter? Of course it does. If nothing else, an author should strive to craft his very best prose, simply to combat all the bad writing that’s out there. And a good story can only be improved if it’s well written.

But make no mistake. If you’re in this to make a living, and not teach creative writing, published randomly by small literary journals and the obscure university press, then you’ve got to work with an eye on the marketplace. Write and then be prepared to sell your work by understanding your market and promoting yourself. Write well and with passion for your work, but understand that writing is only half the battle. If we’re lucky, it won’t slip any further down than half.

— Ric Hess, Feb 18, 02:56 PM

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