Like me.
I’ve always been a reader. A bookworm, if you like. And like many readers, I also wanted to be a writer. Specifically, a novelist. I won two school writing competitions in high school and even went on a creative writing camp, but the endless essays of high school and university didn’t leave much time for personal reading or writing.
I didn’t know much about the publishing industry.
Okay. I didn’t know anything about the publishing industry.
I started reading for pleasure again when I got a job, but I wasn’t interested in writing: I already spent enough hours a day in front of a computer, writing client reports and our company newsletter. I had one colleague whose wife was writing a novel. I asked how it was progressing: he said she was still in the research phase, which was going to take her a year. I asked a few more times but stopped asking when I got a look that said she wasn’t making much progress (or not making as much as her husband thought she ought to be making).
I had another colleague who announced one day that he’d finished his novel. I asked when it was going to be published. Yes, I really thought it was that easy.
When I started researching the craft of writing and the business of publishing, I soon realised that many of my assumptions were incorrect. In particular, there were six myths I’d heard about writing:
- Anyone can write a novel.
- Writers work alone.
- Writing is a good way to earn some extra cash.
- Running spell check is enough editing.
- Getting a novel published is easy.
- Writers write. The publisher does the rest.
Are you laughing yet? Or do some of my naïve ideas sound eerily familiar?
I’ve since discovered my ideas were misguided. But I’ve also discovered there is an element of truth in some of them.
Myth #1: Anyone can write a novel
This is both wrong and right. Anyone can type 80,000 words and call it a novel. Slapping a cover on it and uploading to Amazon isn’t hard (it can’t be, given the quality of some of the novels on Amazon).
But writing a good novel is hard, and not just ‘anyone’ can do it. It takes patience, perseverance, and practice. And most people don’t make it.
Myth #2: Writers work alone
We sit in our attic room, scratching away for weeks and months and years, and eventually produce a work of staggering genius that has the publishers beating a path to our door, each one waving a larger cheque (or check) than the one before.
If only.
Writing is a team effort. Just like it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a team to write a novel. If you don’t believe me, check the acknowledgements page in the novel you’re currently reading and count how many people the author has thanked.
Myth #3: Writing is an easy way to earn some extra cash
If you’re prepared to make money writing scam recipe books (using recipes copied from dodgy websites) or scam self-help books (using advice copied from wacko websites) or other scam books (using information copied from Wikipedia), then yes, writing can be an easy way to earn extra cash. Even better, hire someone on Fiverr to ghostwrite (or ghostcopy) the book for you.
But is that writing? It’s certainly not the writing dream so many people have. In reality, pursuing a career as a writer, especially a novelist, is going to cost you a lot of money before you earn anything from it. Most pre-published writers have a day job to pay the bills.
Myth #4: Running spell check is enough editing
Once the manuscript is written, editing is just a matter of running spell check (or Grammarly, or a similar programme), followed by a quick read-through to make sure spell check hasn’t missed any your/you’re or their/there/they’re errors. That’s editing.
No, that’s running spell check. Editing goes into a lot more detail, and a good novel will have one gone through several stages of editing before it is published (not to mention being read and red-penned by critique partners and beta readers before it goes to the editor). And then it will be proofread—which is different again.
And don’t get me started on using Grammarly or a similar programme instead of an editor.
The general consensus among the editors I know is that Grammarly is correct around half the time. The challenge for authors who need help with spelling and grammar is working out which half. Accepting every Grammarly suggestion could well leave your novel worse than when you started.
Myth #5: Getting a novel published is easy
Check out your local bookstore. Check out the publishers of those novels. Getting your novel published by one of those publishers isn’t easy. It’s a long way from easy.
But the advent of vanity publishers and self-publishing make it easy to find a publisher. Any vanity press will take your money, tell you you’ve written the next great American (or Australian or British or Canadian or New Zealand) novel, and for another $10,000 they’ll be able to put your novel in front of influential Hollywood producers (and take a first-class holiday in some swanky resort).
But self-publishing platforms such as Amazon and Draft2Digital provide newbie authors with a no-cost way of getting their novels published and printed and on sale. And it’s not difficult. But authors soon find that writing and publishing was the easy part . . .
Myth #6: Writers write. The publisher does the rest
This is the final myth, and is one that continues to drive new authors to traditional publishers. They don’t want to be involved in the publishing or the marketing. They want to write. Period. The problem with this myth is that all authors, no matter how they are published, all authors have to do more than write.
Even traditional publishers expect authors to contribute to their marketing efforts. At the very least, these will include a website (which the author pays for), social media profiles and regular updates (which the author undertakes herself, or pays someone else to manage), and attendance at certain industry events and conferences (which the author pays for). These efforts may or may not sell books.
Self-published authors have sole responsibility for marketing — there is no one else. They can just write, but then it’s likely no one will buy their books.
Myth or Truth?
Yes, there is an element of truth in each of these myths. But more myth than truth. Oh, well. Back to the writing . . .
What a great post Iola! Yes it made me laugh and yes some of those ideas sound familiar.
One myth I was believing was how long it would actually take to write a novel. I decided to be generous and give myself a whole year. Ha! A few years later …
:o)
Well, if we could write even 500 publishable words a day, we’d have a novel in a year. Unfortunately, as I’m sure you’ve discovered, not everything we write is good, let alone publishable.
Great list Iola! I’ve also heard the myth that ‘All an author needs is a great imagination.’ They do need imagination, but they also need determination, tenacity and follow-through. I think grit is a far more important quality than raw talent!
Good point – talent without tenacity will never finish or publish a novel (or any other book).
I think I believed, at least, some of those myths (and possibly others too) without actually quantifying any of them. I think reality has hit… very hard, since I got serious. Oh well, back to the editing.
PS I don’t use Grammarly, I use the other one, and I think it is correct about a quart of the time. Fortunately, I heard early on not to trust these ‘tools’ too much.
Yes, a lot of “writing” is actually revising and editing what we’ve already written. I think a lot of people underestimate how complex that is.
A very interesting post, Iola. English Grammar was one of my better subjects at school and often I cant make sense of what Grammarly says. I am concentrating more on reading than writing at the moment, but jot down thoughts as they come to me. Thank you for sharing these thoughts.
It’s a worry if Grammarly’s potential customers can’t actually understand the advice! Personally, I haven’t used it enough to notice. I installed it but found it slowed Word down too much, so I deleted it after only a couple of days.
This is such a great post! And, yes, I laughed. Readers and prospective writers need to read that whole section about the editing process! Writing is hard work and takes commitment. I have immense respect for a good book, because it took a long road to get into my hands.
Thank you, and I’m glad you got a laugh out of it. We all need a good laugh at times 🙂