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The Publishing Roller Coaster

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Blogger: Mary Keeley

Just when we think the industry might be settling down for a while, we learn of another publishing house acquisition here or discontinuation of a line (usually fiction) there. Add staff changes and career re-directions to the mix and you get a more complete impression of the publishing roller coaster. Writers can genuinely enjoy the journey if you are prepared.Roller Coaster_images

If you keep up with industry news, you’re probably aware of at least some changes. If not Steve Laube listed most of them on his blog two days ago, here. Since then I’ve learned about two more changes, which haven’t been made public yet, and an announcement by Barnes & Noble that they are entering the print-on-demand market with the launch of Nookpress.

It’s enough to make us dizzy. Perhaps more than ever before, you need an agent to advise you, negotiate for you, and act on your behalf, because things can slip through the cracks in the midst of so much change. Following up on proposals sent to editors who have left a publishing house, checking up on the PR department to be sure a client’s review copies have been sent out, double-checking product descriptions on distributor sites—these are some of the things that occupy an increasing amount of agents’ time. Writers need to be more involved in checking up, too, and keeping your agent informed when you suspect your editor, designer, marketing or PR teams may have fallen behind on their plans.

Serious matters to be sure, but a view from the bright side is the best way to actually enjoy navigating the topsy-turvy publishing industry. Life experiences have a way of refining a skill that will serve well to meet future challenges, big or small. Let’s have some fun today. Looking back, share a past experience that taught you to develop a new skill, which you use to this day in your writing life. It can be silly or significant. I’ll start us off.

When I was a busy mom with very young children, my oldest daughter came home from first grade one day and told me she had to stay back at school while the rest of her class went on a field trip. The reason: I had forgotten to return the necessary signed permission form. I felt awful for her! That was a turning point for me. Overnight I became an organized mom with a PLAN for every day and never neglected a permission form again. I can laugh about it now because I see my drastic mom-failure reaction from a big picture perspective. Today, the organizational skills I acquired so quickly, and continue to hone, serve me well in my agent role, helping me to keep up with the constant change and even enjoy it.

Okay, your turn. Maybe your experience gave you an overcoming attitude. Maybe it prompted you to learn a skill you need in your writing life. The story you share might instruct, comfort, encourage, inspire, and help to prepare someone else to ride the waves of the writing life with greater ease and enjoyment.

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  1. One thing I learned on the mission field has been solidified in every aspect of my life.

    Always be prepared.

    Prior to my first trip to Bolivia, I asked one of the team veterans if I should bring an extra change of clothes in my carry-on luggage.
    (Insert ‘know it all’ tone here) “Noooooo, why would you do that? We’ve never had any luggage go missing.” And then I got the distinct impression that my faith on God’s provision was being questioned, and she not so secretly thought I was going to be a problem if I didn’t tow the line.

    So what happened?

    After a fiasco of a trip down there, including an overnight delay in Miami, I spent my first 4 days and nights in Bolivia, in the same outfit. Did I mention I had to sleep in my clothes? By the end of those 4 days, I’d merely look at her and her face would go red. It’s tough when the self appointed Queen Bee gets stung.

    Soooo, NOW? It’s team policy for each member to have everything they need for a 2 day delay IN THEIR CARRY ON LUGGAGE! No excuses for why you aren’t ready to hunker down in the Panama airport overnight. Be prepared.

    If I’m doing something for which preparation is involved? I will not go in unless I feel I’m 150% ready. I just won’t. And if that means not formally engaging a very nice lady from a publishing house, then so be it. I’d rather wait and be ready than be a wreck and host my own epic fail.

    Because I already do that enough as it is. 😉

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  2. Goodness, I think my writing and my children’s school work are the only organized things about my life. I have 3 rowdy little boys, a social boardgaming husband who often has guys up to play games until 3:00am, and I live at a Bible Camp where anything can happen at any time of day. But I’ve learned that if it is really important to you, you will plan it out just a bit, and then your dream has a chance.

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  3. To begin with, I don’t see why we SHOULD expect things to be smooth.

    Jesus went from Palm Sunday to Good Friday in less than a week, and just when He probably thought it couldn’t get any worse…”Please let this cup pass from Me”…it did…”Why have You abandoned Me?”

    We’re preferentially given the “feel good” parts of the Bible, and usually only the nasty bits to point out how we’re sinners and how, if we just own up to it, everything’s going to be peachy.

    But there are really no temporal guarantees, and the basic plan for dealing with either publishing weirdness or terminal illness needs to address that.

    What it means, to me, is fostering a spirit of appreciation of the good that exists in most moments, and an attitude of perseverance, because in almost all of the worst moments we can still do something.

    Even if that ‘something’ is a bit of self-care to keep our spirits up (recall Jesus’ feet being washed with oil, and how He rebuked the Apostles who objected to that use of resources).

    The other thing I try to keep in mind is that no amount of ‘in my head’ preplanning will necessarily reflect what’s going to happen.

    I also try to keep both a mental and material reserve for just those contingencies.

    In 1942, Adm, Yamamoto Isoroku, the architect of Pearl Harbor, planned the capture of Midway, an atoll in the northern Hawaiian chain. All of the scenarios he wargamed to develop contingencies were predicated on the Americans conforming to his expectations; and the one wargame scenario in which the officers representing the American command did something unexpected – attacking from Yamamoto’s flank – was rejected as ‘impossible’.

    What happened? The Japanese naval communications code had been broken, and the Americans knew Yamamoto was coming. They appeared on his flank, and presented a problem which was difficult, and eventually insuperable. The Japanese lost the heart of their finely-crafted fleet, and lost the advantage with which they began the war – it was a loss they could never make up.

    It’s significant that even within the disaster that overtook the Japanese on June 4, 1942, there were chances for at least partial redemption, but they were thrown away.

    Why? Doctrine. The Japanese navy had developed a way of doing things, and they simply could not make changes on the fly. In all fairness, few navies could, when faced with that situation – but their doctrine was rooted in an institutional culture that was based, in part, on pride, and they could not back down. The concept was beyond their ken at the time.

    So, the last point is to know when to cut one’s losses, and head for the exits.

    Because tomorrow is another day.

    (Bet you never expected to hear Admiral Yamamoto and Scarlett O’Hara quoted side by side.)

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      • it is not good practice to assume willy-nilly something’s impossible, but sometimes time, space, and available resources can make a positive outcome, however desirable or desired it may be, very, very unlikely.

        A small success can form the basis to reach that which seemed impossible, or at the very least can be satisfying in its own right.

        The “it’s better to aim and miss the mark than to aim low and make it” aphorism is stupid, because it sets up a concept of singularity. Life’s not that, and a glorious defeat…is still defeat.

        That was exactly the Japanese problem in the closing stages of Midway (effectively, the afternoon of June 4). They had one undamaged aircraft carrier at that point (having lost three), and a quick withdrawal would have preserved that vessel (with the trained ‘capital’ of its intact crew) as a fighting unit.

        The decision to try to reverse an unfavorable outcome cost them dear, and availed them nothing – not even the legacy of a grandly doomed enterprise, because they lost the war, and losers don’t get to write the history books.

  4. Oh Mary, what a story! Thanks for sharing, you just made this mom feel not so alone!

    That’s been the key for me – not going it alone. I was a highly independent young person, terrified to ask for help, and suffered from deep anxiety. When I hit rock bottom with my anxiety and began to share honestly about my struggles with a few close friends, my life changed from the inside out. Learning to be honest and authentic about my struggles and fears is the biggest key to my writing. Not only does it keep me true to myself, I find as I share my struggles, other women (and men) find the courage to be honest with others about their struggles too.

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  5. When I was a kid, my parents divorced. While I lived with my mother, I lived to please my father. In his sweet perfectionist state, I could be crushed knowing I disappointed.

    The Lord showed me that I should never let another have that kind of control. Only God.

    While I live this life with others, I should be living and writing to please God. That is freedom.

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  6. Thanks for sharing your story, Mary. I’ve come close to forgetting permission slips. It seems like when we let our kids down that’s when the permanent lessons and changes are learned. 🙂

    For me, I think the biggest lessons have come from walking through years of infertility. Learning who God really is, and who He says I am—with or without children— was a huge lesson. And learning to trust that His plan is best for me, even when I don’t understand the disappointments of the moment.

    For writing, I’m learning to trust His timing and His plans for my journey. And to persevere as He works in me and through “my” writing. Clinging to Him during this long walk and remembering my place on this road doesn’t define me. He does.

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  7. Oh, Mary…

    I don’t know one mama who hasn’t felt the sting of perceived failure. Big or small, I think all of us can think of those school-related matters or other life issues that prick our heart with regret. As unintentional as they may be, our oversights can upend us or we can learn from them. And from my mama-heart to yours, I understand how you must have felt with your little one.

    I’m sure as moms we internalize those times and remember them differently. Our kiddos are more resilient (and forgiving) than we think. (Praise!)

    I hadn’t planned to share this today, but perhaps it’s the Lord urging. So–for the one who’s dealing with insecurity, sorrow, or longing–this is for you:

    In 2003 our world came to a screeching halt. Our oldest child almost died as the result of an illness we’d never heard of before. While we were thankful, after much testing, that the diagnosis wasn’t cancer, it was indeed a journey that would last almost six years.

    Writing took a back seat. Instead of fiddling with subjects, verbs, and adjectives, I learned new words. Words like: bleeding out. Ulcerative colitis. Transfusions. Remicade. J-pouch surgery. Ileoanal anastomosis. Stoma. Colectomy.

    As our Heavenly Father healed our child in a way we’d not planned, dreamed, or hoped, I began a new writing project. I jotted thoughts by our child’s hospital bedside–on napkins. I called them “napkin notes.” They were my way of pouring out my pain to God and a cathartic healing for this broken mom.

    Fast forward a few years. I started to write again. I signed with my dream agent. The very next day, my daddy had an aneurysm. Four months later, my husband was downsized from his 20 year career in management he was set to retire from. Shortly after that, my mother had open heart surgery. Just like you, friends, there were other dips and valleys.

    Fast forward to today. Our son is an educator of bright, impressionable minds in the career earthly physicians doubted would be possible. My husband has a new career, and my mama and daddy are aged, but still with us. We live close by in a cozy, little niche called the Ozarks.

    To the one who’s struggling today, I’d like to say this: hold on! God does indeed have a plan. YOUR plan might not be HIS vision for your life. His way truly isn’t our way.

    BUT when the wind of change begins to blow in your direction, what you thought you longed for will be usurped by a new season. A bright, new blow-your-socks-off kind of a season. It’s the season called “God’s best.”

    I’m not special, different, or held in any particular high esteem. I’m just a Jesus-lovin’ gal still on the journey, too.

    Go. Write. Believe. Most of all–don’t. Give. Up!

    Reply

    • Cynthia, this is beautiful and poignant. So glad you shared.
      What we “longed for will be usurped by a new season”.
      A season we can trust, no matter how much we feel like we’re groping in the dark, He is near.

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    • Thank you Mary for this post that offers hope the the ever changing publishing world. Keeping up seems near impossible at times.

      I am grateful for the sharing here, all of it, and Cynthia, I need to read what you wrote. It seems a season has fallen upon our family that makes a past season look tame.

      A decade of my life was lived at Peds ICU in several hospitals going through revolving doors for three of my four children. New medical words and terms replaced my then non-fiction writing world. I can so relate to what you said ~ ITP, platelet transfusions, oncology, neurology, Type 1 Diabetes, Celiac, auto-immune clusters, Lupus, half-body cast, Ketoacidosis, zero blood sugar, grand mal seizures, tumors, brain damage, skin grafting, dead muscle and tissue, amputation.

      I barely wrote in my journals back then. And I thought my family would never again see such a season again. Yet God is faithful. All three of those children grew into loving, gifted, productive, young adults.

      Change comes, but God never changes.

      The roller coaster Mary mentioned is a ride that thrilled me as a child and teen. I found it exhilarating to go back several times and get on again and again, arms wide open in the air, my hair flying everywhere.

      I can’t say I feel the same way today.

      What I do know is how grateful I am for the guidance and wisdom of our agency in the middle of the uncertainty of this profession.

      Thank you, Mary for addressing this subject so honestly. Thank you to all of you who shared and opened your hearts.

      Reply

  8. Mary, thank you for your transparency.
    And if it makes your mother’s heart feel better, I forgot to take one of my kids to camp.
    Yup. TOTALLY forgot the poor sweet child had camp! I still feel terrible, and that was ten years ago.

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  9. Comforting indeed, Jennifer. I doubt my daughter or your son remembers that day–certainly not with the remorse we feel anyway. But the memory continues to be a reminder to not put things off.

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  10. After heartbreaking betrayal split friendships I’d had since HS, I learned to guard my heart.
    The challenge is still letting people in when it scares me. The Lord is direct and firm in helping me set boundaries.

    Also, based on the shifting faith views of a loved one, I believe the Lord is giving me unique perspectives. Not only is my faith walk growing, but I’m able to write from a place that will hopefully illuminate “treasures hidden in the darkness”. (Is 45:)

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  11. Mary, Thanks for your blog about the changing scene. My career before writing was in education. Almost every year there was some new program to be learned and implemented and something old to be left behind (sometimes we didn’t want to abandon the old but had to) The writing industry has some of that same feel to it. I’ve only been reading blogs in the writing field for a year but am already noticing trends and the “newest and coolest” ways to write, publish, and market. It’s been eye opening. I had no idea. I feel like I’m growing through stages as a new writer, quite possibly I’m a teenager right now. . . .There is so much to learn and know, but it is nice to not be totally ignorant anymore. I just started receiving B & S blogs this week and I can already tell this will be a good place to be. I’m glad to be a part of this community.

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  12. Hi, Mary!

    I grew up on the road with my family in revival evangelism ministry. My siblings and I were homeschooled in a travel camper, oftentimes working on our schoolwork in the backseat of a big farm truck which we used to pull the camper from one church to another. Between all-day Bible conferences, revival services, and camp-meetings, we learned to be flexible, sometimes staying up late or working through the weekend to get our schoolwork finished on time. Many times those memories help me to be diligent with my writing during those times when “life happens” and my schedule is rearranged beyond my control. 🙂

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