The Equation

An equation, by definition, has two sides.  Each side ultimately balances the other.  Being a writer is not an equation.  Being a published writer is.

I recently had lunch with a friend who is a published author; I’ll feature his book in a post shortly.  As we talked about the long process it took to get his book into print, it dawned on me that I may be a writer, but I still need to play the publishers’ game.

As writers we write what we want to express.  We are literate, intelligent, and full of emotion that finds satisfaction only in the written word.  Publishers represent the other side of the equation if we want to become published writers.

Publishing is a business while writing is a creative enterprise.  As a writer it is easy to think that we don’t need to please anyone.  Our thoughts are our motivations and our souls are laid bare on paper.  Anyone should want to buy such valuable material.

The publisher has to guess how many books might sell.  “What is your book like?” my friend asked.  “Who do you write like?”

My answer, perhaps unfortunately, is that I don’t know anyone who writes like I do.  Ray Bradbury used to.  Rod Serling used to.  H. P. Lovecraft used to.  Edgar Allan Poe used to.  Not that I claim to be as accomplished as these masters, but they were my inspiration to write the weird tale.  The tale that no one buys anymore.

The Twilight Zone is considered by many to have been one of the most literate primetime television series ever.  Each episode was based on a weird tale, many of them Serling’s, and audiences in the 60’s loved them.

We don’t read so much today.  Tales longer than 2000 words are too long because who’s got the time to read so much?  My friend Steve, who works in publishing, says he has barely enough time to read what lands in his inbox.  And that’s just non-fiction.

I guess that if I want to be a published writer I’d better start paying attention to the math.  And write what everyone wants to read.  Vampire romance, anyone?