(This question is part of a larger subseries called Perpetual WIPs: Mid-Career Authors. For the remaining questions, see here.)
Has your career vision for yourself changed from when you were first starting out, and how?
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Yeah, in a lot of ways. I think I oddly have bigger dreams now. I came to YA from another, very different field of writing, and while I was proud of the YA manuscript I was querying, I’d written it on kind of a lark. If I hadn’t found YA representation, I don’t think I would have been too upset—I would have gone back to what I’d been writing before, which I’d liked a lot. Once I’d signed with someone and we’d sold that book, then the books after that, I had to very quickly reimagine my life.
Now that I’m a lot more settled in what I’m doing, I’m more aware of the possibilities and my own limitations. I know I like to say yes to people and I need an agent to remind me when I can say ‘no’ (not just push me to take on as much work as is offered). I know I’m most comfortable when I have a good team around me and I feel safe—that’s when I feel like I can take stylistic and creative risks. Right now, I love my publisher and my team and want to continue working with them for as long as that relationship makes sense. I have a lot of different kinds of books I want to write, and I want to feel supported in that.
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I think like a lot of authors, when my first novel sold, I thought “I want to publish spectacularly!” Three novels later, my goal is to publish sustainably. I’m not hoping for huge advances and national tours (because, come on, how many of us get that?) but to start diversifying my writing across genres, to work with my agent to pitch myself to the conferences and opportunities and events that make sense for my lifestyle, etc. Writing isn’t my primary source of income, but it is a source of joy (mostly…okay sometimes…) and I’d like to continue to be able to do it!
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When I first started in publishing, I mainly wanted to see my books on shelves in bookstores. Now I am interested in critical success and improving my writing from book to book.
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Oh, absolutely! Since signing with my current agent, I’ve felt free to take bigger, bolder risks with my projects. And with that freedom comes a HUGE flux of ideas and confidence. I never saw myself writing middle grade and I have now. I never thought I’d have the opportunity to pitch adult projects and I am now. It’s been really freeing and great for refilling my creative well. I’ve pushed the lines of story telling and craft and have produced works that have—if I may shoot the hell out of my own horn—shocked and awed people. Moved them to tears, even.
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In some ways. My goal has always been about sustainability. I wanted to build a writing career that paid well enough for me to survive. I didn’t need to be rich or famous, though those things would be nice. And that goal hasn’t changed. My understanding of what it takes to build and maintain a sustainable career as a writer has absolutely changed though. Every day is a hustle, and you have to be thinking two or three years into the future in order to stay afloat.
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I didn’t have a vision six years ago, to be honest. I could only think about the book I was holding in my hands at that moment. I couldn’t think years down the road or think about multiple projects on multiple tracks. Now I want to be doing everything, in all categories (but not all genres, thankfully.) I’m more assertive (and more aggressive too, though I try to temper that into assertiveness.) I enjoy the strategy of timing, spacing books out, and putting books in order to grow an audience. But I’m also more sure of myself as a writer. I know what kind of stories I enjoy telling and exploring, and I want to tell those stories. I know I need to make those stories marketable for publishing–that’s part of the job too–but I’m not willing to consider compromising the heart of a story. I also am more thoughtful, or I’m trying to be more thoughtful, about giving myself the time and space I need to write longer work by writing shorter works that can be published on a faster timeline in between those longer works.
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When I was first starting out, I thought I’d stay in one genre. But after talking to some industry professionals who have been in this for decades, they all had the same advice: diversify. Whether that’s through self-publishing, different publishing houses, different genres, all that matters is really expanding your portfolio so that if one project fails, everything doesn’t come crumbling down. I took that advice to heart and have spent the last year working on new avenues of writing.
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I had a lot of the big dreams a lot of us have when we start out: lots of money, big movie deals, instant bestseller status. I haven’t achieved any of those things yet and may not ever, but other things are more important to me now. Like being able to sell books year after year after year, even if none of them make a splash, even if all I ever do is just make a living. I have kids now and bills to pay and I think consistency is more important to me now than stardom.
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I definitely have a stronger eye on diversifying than I did at the start of my career. I don’t want to get stuck in one category, one genre, especially when publishing consistently falls prey to trends. So where first I wanted to firmly be The Author Who Does This Specific Thing, now I want to be The Author Who Does This and That. Getting an agent who was on board with that and who’s willing to do everything I want to do was very important to me.
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When I started out, I naively hoped I would find one of those elusive author-agent-editor relationships that lasts forever. Now, several agents and editors in, I am so glad to have had those rose-colored glasses ripped from me because I see my career as having so much more potential. It’s never fun to lose an agent or editor, but once its happened (once, twice, thrice….) the industry starts to feel more like the business it is instead of a landing site for dreams.
The Daily Dahlia 