Things to Consider Before Choosing a Writing Program
Published September 22nd, 2009 | 
The truth is, most writers don’t have advanced degrees in creative writing and most probably don’t need one. That is not to say there aren’t advantages to attending a writing program. For one thing, you have a structured literary space to work out the kinks in your writing. If you are mostly self-educated writer, a writing program will expose you to methods and ideas that you may not discover on your own. Most importantly, you meet and are mentored by experienced, professional writers.
But not all writing programs are necessarily equal. While, in reality, you learn pretty much the same thing book-wise, prestige and the quality of professional connections, sadly, often mean more for the career-oriented scribe, and attending the Iowa Writer’s Workshop carried more weight than attending a program at Podunk University with a less well-known faculty. Although, attending Podunk University will matter more than perhaps getting an Online masters from an unaccredited institution. Such online programs are usually fine for business administration or similar fields where you’re already established in your career and you’re just looking to add some educational/training achievements to your resume to make that next promotion more likely. For writers, however, you have to be mindful of your goals. If you just want a little feedback an social opportunities with other writers, join a writer’s group and save yourself a lot of money. If you’ve written a novel you think has bestseller potential, attend a few writing conferences and press the flesh with as many industry insiders, agents, editors you can. However, if you are looking to break into print in prestige literary journals and also want to teach writing, attend the best writing program you can get into and don’t look back.
No Writer Ever Became a Bestseller By Setting Out to Write a Bestseller
Published September 19th, 2009 | If you’ve ever been part of a writer’s group or creative writing workshop, you know there’s always at least one person in the group who’s overly concerned with the commercial potential of their writing. You know the type I mean — follows publishing trends religiously. Reads every Writer’s Digest book available on how to write a bestseller. Right now, I’m sure there’s a bunch of young (and not so young writers) working on a vampire novel just because books like the Twilight series have made vampires fashionable again.
The problem with writing based on trends, just because you think it will make money, is that trends change. While the top writers who spawned the trend, having built-up a solid fan-base for their stories, may continue to be successful even when their subject matter is no longer so fashionable, the also-rans who jumped on the bandwagon late will usually fail. Not only because, by that time, most publishers will not be interested in what they are writing, but because, when your writing comes from an insincere place spawned for purely mercenary reasons, readers can tell.
That’s why you should never choose a genre or subject that don’t, first and foremost have a passion for. Remember that most writers are not commercially successful, so writing solely for money is one of the dumbest reasons there is to pursue creative writing. Choosing a genre is not like picking out patio furniture. It’s starts with what you enjoy reading. If you don’t like reading mystery novels, for example, you probably won’t enjoy writing them and you won’t know much about the conventions. Understand, the fans of mystery fiction will know more than you and an editor or literary agent who deals with mystery fiction will certainly know more than you. So, if you write a mystery novel just because Robert Parker or P.D. James consistently land on bestseller lists, you probably won’t write anything worth reading or publishing.
I’m not saying this to discourage you poor newbie writers — I’m saying all this to educate you. See, I’ve always believed that a good story, well-told can always find an audience. The caveat being that good stories, well-told come from an honest and pure motivation. A true and pure reader can smell the opposite in a work of fiction like a fart in a car. So, it starts with what you like to read. With what you write when you have all the time in the world and are free from the pressures of your day. What is it that gets you off as a writer? Well, what gets you off is ultimately what will get your readers off.
Self-Publishing? Huh?
Published September 2nd, 2009 | When it comes to “self-publishing”, you can bet that whatever side of the equation you find yourself on, you will find an equal number of people taking the opposite side of the argument. Is self-publishing a good or bad option for writers? This is the question posed over at Pimp My Novel, a book marketing blog published by a self-proclaimed industry insider. The blogger’s conclusion is that it’s a bad option for writers. Well, I’m not here to argue about whether or not self-publishing is a “best buy” for writers. My own opinion has always been that self-publishing is neither an inherently good or bad option for writers — just that most writers who self-publish go about it stupidly.
With self-publishing you, the writer, are the publisher. A lot of writers seem to forget that part. They think that all they have to is write a book, get it printed and send out an announcement on on Facebook or whatever, saying, “Hey guys, I published a book. Please buy my book” and they’ll have a bestseller on their hands. Take a look at most self-published books and what you see is a) a book that’s badly written b) amateurish cover art and c) a book that probably hasn’t been edited or proofread a lick and d) a book that probably hasn’t been vetted for legal conflicts.
There is a great deal of responsibility that goes along with the self-publishing option. Even if you get the book just right, you still have to get it into hands of readers. This isn’t so easy — especially when you consider that the whole mainstream literary-industrial complex is prejudiced against books that are published outside of the boundries of traditional publishing. And, no, this is not a conspiracy theory — walk into any book store. Even so, self-published books do occasionally succeed — not as often as the champions of self-publishing would like to believe, but more than most would even realize. It’s not just a matter of dumb luck either. It’s a matter of ability, smarts, determination and publishing knowledge. So rather than telling writers self-publishing is bad, educate them on how self-publishing can work for them because, I gotta tell ya — the way things are going for traditional publishing, self-publishing may be the only viable option left for most writers a generation from now.
