A Bestseller? It's the easiest to write
(and hardest to get published)
I met, not long ago, a young man who aspired to become a novelist. Knowing
that I was in the profession, he asked me to tell him how he should set to
work to realize his ambition. I did my best to explain. 'The first thing,'
I said, 'is to buy quite a lot of paper, a bottle of ink, and a pen. After
that you merely have to write'.? -Aldous Huxley, novelist (1894-1963)
The first 'Don't' to learn from any lecturers, authors or reluctant speakers on "How to Write for Publishing" is
Don't apply their words of wisdom to your own earnest endeavours.
Do listen for odd tips, but make certain you follow your own instincts.
Here are some more words from a Reluctant Speaker to a Writers' Circle whose members were smart enough not to listen to the 'advice' I tried to offer. They preferred writing for their circle.
Writing - do it your way. Anything else is unworthy of you.
However, if your aim is, not to write, but to produce a bestseller, take time to study the recipes used to manufacture pop bestsellers.
There's the wellknown Mills and Boon recipe, once a detailed and strict formula that was spelt out to contributing writers.
0r, infinitely better, the formula developed by successive thriller writers like Ian Fleming, who built his incredible fiction around credibility of detail.
Fleming, a former journalist and Foreign Office flunkey, focused sharply on James Bond's lifestyle, his brand of cigarettes, his ties, his drinks, his with-it, upmarket social graces - all things which Fleming himself possessed or aspired to.
Frederick Forsyth and John le Carre, two more journalists, were the next leaders in developing this post-WW2 genre. Forsyth simply adapted an international news agency style, and no doubt numbers of relevant news reports. Le Carre added a creditable cynicism to the fictional world of spies.
There was a journalist of an earlier era who found success by adapting the accents and embellishing the tales which were told on the New York racetracks or in some of his favourite "joints". He created, not so much a formula, but a style and patois that has been imitated, but never equalled. To my mind, Damon Runyon's piquant mangling of the English language places him among the stars who make up the classicists of English light writing.
John Grisham, a lawyer, used his background and experience of criminal law to built a different fictional world, one filled with credible detail - and with much more satisfying plots than Ian Fleming. Grisham's formula was firmly based and is easily detected. So, for that matter, is the formula which Agatha Christie built upon the work of earlier Detective Story writers. There are a number of other Detective Story writers whose elegance and wit help them to stand out in the overcrowded Thriller Market . . . but they stray from the basic formula at great risk to their sales.
Another best-seller, Wilbur Smith, hugely advanced a formula that already existed in a colonial form of writing which might be called 'Whiteman in Africa' (a form of adventure-writing used earlier by my friend and colleague Geoffrey Jenkins, and others who in turn fed off the King Solomon's Mines genre of a previous generation). Wilbur Smith belatedly developed a style that became far more sophisticated and erudite. However, it was his earlier books that reached the heights of popularity and mega-sales.
I remember, as an apprentice columnist, meeting a young woman who came to our newspaper office to tell me that her brother had written a bestseller. Eager for some paragraphs to help fill a starkly empty column-space, I asked:
"When (or Where) the Lion Feeds? An odd title. Who's the publisher?
".Oh, it hasn't been published yet", she said, "but its so good it will definitely be a bestseller."
I reported the conversation with a light dash of cynicism . . . Of course her claim proved to be true. The formula was perfect.
What undoubtedly helped to launch the first example of it was the local banning of the book for describing the hero's attraction to the pubic hair of a naked maiden at a pool in the bushveld.
Years too late to try that again.
How to get your work published
Regard your chances with the same optimism you'd sustain in trying to win a lottery.
Never send a full manuscript, even to your agent - if you are able to find an agent.
When doing a broad search for a publisher, send your agent only
1) A summary of one page giving the purpose of your work, its intended audience and competitive books on this theme.
2) a list of chapters and other content such as maps, photos, references, etc, and a brief explanation of why the book should sell. Send all that succinct detail off with a covering note motivating your work.
And that's it. Something that can be read in five minutes.
The catch is that most of the best-known publishers refuse to accept new writers for consideration. They insist you go through the publishing agents.
And the publishing agents, these days, don't want your business! Not unless they get the idea it might be material for a movie.
Agents - and publishers - appear to be hopeless at recognising the writing they are looking for. Every successful author will tell you that he or she was rejected half a dozen times before striking luck. The Harry Potter phenomenon was turned down about a dozen times before some-one happened to get the feeling it might be not be too big a risk in the thriving children's market.
So, count your rejection slips and keep trying.
In any event, if your inner urges insist on it, keep writing.
And don't forget the Web. |
