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Getting Published
Part II

Why we write and why we publish

by D. J. Herda

FADE IN:

IN THE WRITER’S DEN

Herda is sitting at his desk, swiveling in his chair, his pipe smoke rising lightly from the bowl into the soft illumination of a lamp in a distant corner.

HERDA

When I began freelance writing at the tender age of 14, I wanted to believe that I would become a hot-shot published author within three or four months--you know, a real child prodigy, an ingénue of world-class distinction, a literary scion, practically.  Amazingly enough, it came true.

Herda pauses briefly.

Well, part of it came true.  I did believe it.

Herda clears his throat, looks around, and continues softly.

Course, the rest of it I missed by a long shot.

INTERVIEWER

Well, still. I mean, trying to get published when you’re 14, when you’re still only a kid, barely a freshman in high school.  That’s a little ambitious for anyone, don’t you think?

HERDA

I do today, but only because I know better.  Back then, it was just a matter of time.  A week or two or three or six ... how long does it take for a manuscript to wing its way from Chicago to New York?  How long does it take for a contract to come back?  You sign it, send it off, wait another few days for the fifty grand advance, and it’s a done deal.

Interviewer, interjecting, motioning toward several of the author’s books on the shelves hanging over his desk.

INTERVIEWER

Well, you did all right in the end.  How many books have you published, now?  Forty?  Fifty?  I mean, you certainly can’t complain.  Most writers would give their right arms to do what you’ve done.

HERDA

Sixty-eight or seventy.  I lose count.  Just about the time I bring a new one out, one or two of the old ones go out of print.  If I can’t go to Amazon and count them there, I just can’t keep track.

INTERVIEWER

Wow. You must be proud. You really were an ingénue.

Herda looks suddenly animated.  He shakes his head and swivels away from the Interviewer, pauses, then swivels back.  He grabs a pen from the desk and shakes it at the Interviewer like a teacher at the lectern.

HERDA

Ingénue, my ass!  I was too afraid not to write.  Writing was my world. I fell in love with writing at first sight and never could let go.  I ate, drank, and slept the notion of becoming a famous writer.  Not just any writer, you understand.  Not a newspaper columnist or a magazine feature writer or, God forbid, some goddam advertising copy writer who spends his life penning a bunch of clever ditties about some goddam can of Campbell’s tomato soup or something.  Not that kind of a writer.  But an honest-to-God published author with a best-selling book to his credit and lots of money in his pocket.  That was my way out.  It was the only hope I saw ...

The interviewer squints and leans forward.

INTERVIEWER

I ... I don’t understand.  That was your way out of what?

HERDA

You don’t get it, do you?  I was dumb, I was smart.  I was frightened, I was emboldened.  I was a kid, I was an adult.  I was introverted, I was extroverted.  I was a nobody, I was a somebody.

The Interviewer shakes his head.

INTERVIEWER

I’m afraid I’m not following you.

Herda looks over at his books, at some thirty or forty of them sagging ominously on the shelf above a dust-encrusted bust of Shakespeare.

HERDA

I was all of those first things before I became a writer.  I was all of those second things after.

The author peers into the darkness.

I was everything I ever wanted to be once I'd become a writer.  I was nothing I ever wanted to be when I wasn’t.  As a writer, I'd have the world at my doorstep.  I'd have life opening up before me.  I'd have opportunity, love, respect, fame.  I'd have women throwing themselves at my feet, for chrissake.  Women—at the age of fourteen!  I can’t imagine I would have known what to do with them, but I sure as all hell would have had a good time finding out.

The Interviewer squirms uncomfortably in his chair.

INTERVIEWER

Well, when did you finally get published?

Herda chuckles.

HERDA

Published, or published with a book?  I got published at the ripe old age of twenty-two.  I didn’t see my first book in print until two years later. Maybe three.  Worse, still, it was a dog.  It was non-fiction.  I wanted to be a novelist.  I didn't want to write non-fiction.  I hated it.  But ... I figured one book is better than no books at all.  Besides, it might be a way of sliding into fiction writing somehow.

INTERVIEWER

It was the first book you ever wrote?

Herda grins, his eyes growing distant. The grin fades suddenly and his eyes turn wild.

HERDA

First?  First?  It was my fifteenth or twentieth!  I’d written that much before I ever saw a by-line.  I’d written every day, every night, often all night long without a moment’s sleep, written and packaged up my writing and sent it off to New York and waited.  And waited.  And waited some more.  And then, when the waiting was done and the news finally came in the form of a sealed envelope with a publishing company’s logo in the corner, I tore into it—but not without stealing away first to my little garret, not without squirreling away somewhere from my parents’ sympathetic eyes.  I had to go off alone before I could muster up the courage to open it.  Because I knew what I’d find when I did, and I didn’t want them to see my face.  I didn’t want them to see my disappointment.  Most of all, I didn’t want them feeling sorry for me, saying something stupid like, Why don’t you give up this writing business?  It’s not the end of the world, you know.

INTERVIEWER

And that was the worst part?  Having to hide your disappointment from your parents?

Herda shakes his head.  He pauses, looks down at his feet, cradles his head in his hands.  Softly.

Dear Author, Thanks so much for your recent submission.  While we found it to be well written and interesting, I’m afraid it’s not something we have a need for at this time.  Our decision in no way reflects upon the quality of your submission.  Good luck in finding a suitable publisher for your work.  Sincerely, The Editors

The author raises his head and leans forward slowly.

Do you know how many pre-printed rejection slips like that I received from the time I began writing at the age of fourteen until I published my first magazine article eight years later?

The Interviewer shakes his head.

Well, neither do I.  But I know it was enough to destroy mere mortals.  I know it was enough to bring stronger men to tears.  I know it was enough to make me pray to God each and every night.  Dear God, if I can’t be a published writer, please, please, please take my life back, because I don’t want it anymore!

The Interviewer clears his throat.

INTERVIEWER

What kept you going?  Through all those rejections?  What kept you going back for more?

Awkward pause.  Herda turns away.  Softly.

HERDA

My need to be somebody.

FADE OUT:

THE END

*     *     *

To write or not to write ... that is not the question.  We all know we have to write, and most of us know we have to publish.  We crave seeing that by-line in print.  We long for recognition on the street, in the office, from friends, relatives, and strangers.  We want somebody to come up to us and ask us for our autograph.  We need somebody to come up to us and ask us for our autograph. 

Are we sick?  Are we depraved, abnormal, bounding on the very fringes of lunacy?  Probably, but no more so than any other artist.

Artists in all disciplines share one very peculiar yet universal need: to create.  Strangely, that very act of creating is often not enough.  We also need to share.  We need the applause that comes from a fine performance, the accolades following a brilliant concert, the rave reviews on the heels of a first major novel.  We need all of that, most of us, because of who we are ... artists.

When I was a kid, I used to think that being an artist meant being somebody who did something artistic, like painting, sculpting, or writing.  As I grew older, I came to realize that artists aren't artists because of what they do; artists do what they do because of who they are.  And that is the beauty and the agony of it all.

So, the question is begged: are you an artist who is satisfied without a by-line?  Or are you an artist who craves publication, attribution, recognition?  If you are the former, I feel sorry for you.  And envy.  You will never know the thrill that comes with seeing your writing in print, seeing your by-line staring up at you.  And you will never know the agony that comes with one rejection slip after another.

It must be nice, writing for the mere sake of writing, being satisfied with the act for the very purity of the act, itself.  It must be a simple, warm, wonderful feeling.  But, for the rest of us, we need to get busy.

Today  Write a query letter or a book proposal.  It should take you no more than 15 - 30 minutes.  Keep it short and snappy.  If you're not sure how to proceed, check out Writing a Winning Query Letter for suggestions and format.  If it's something you've been meaning to write for a while, make it happen.  Reduce the idea to a single sentence, then expand on it from there.  Remember: don't get bogged down in details!

Tomorrow  Go through back issues of GEWL's market listings and find some publishers who seem like a good fit for your project.  Check out the newsletter's Archives to access past issues; then click on The Mag Markets or The Book Markets for each newsletter.  Try to find at least six viable candidates.  You can also check out Writer's Market and other market listing sources, available at bookstores and libraries.

The Third Day  Check your query letter or proposal one last time for typos and phrasing, and then print out a copy to all the publishers on your "viable candidates" list.  Include an SASE and send them out.

Of course, the hard part follows--the waiting.  But, if you follow this advice every week for one full year, you'll end up with 52 different proposals and more than 300 letters out circulating.  Before long, you'll find a publisher's reply in your mail box at least weekly, and probably daily. 

Sooner or later, one of them will say, "Hey, I like this idea.  If you can hold it to 3,000 words, I'd like to see it on spec."

The rest ... is up to you.

 


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