The Land of Nobodies

Rest assured in the weeks to come I will discuss other types of publishers and the steps after convincing someone of your brilliance. But we shall take a brief detour this week to talk about a depressing reality in the writing world – it’s tough out there.

As I told you in my first post, I’ve written plenty of books, but I am unpublished. To those in the publishing industry, this means I am a nobody. Until my first book is published and sells to X number of people who are not friends and family, I will always be a nobody. Does this affect me as a person? No. It is just the way of the publishing world. Once you’ve made money off complete strangers who turn around and love your book, recommending it to everyone else, then you will be a somebody.

Being a somebody means publishers will see your name with dollar signs attached. You will have agents ready to offer their services to get you better publishers. And eventually, being a somebody means you get more money.

But, back to us. For every writer that you can name off the top of your head, there are ten other published people who have not reached that level of success. And there are a hundred other nobodies below them, madly writing, editing, blogging, and crying over their unfair position in the writing world.

Alas, we cannot change the writing world easily. But we can acknowledge the fact that the world of publishing is a harsh reality where we all need friends.

I urge you this week to explore the writing world this week. There are tons of free sites where writers can band together and discuss the intriguing lives. You will laugh. You will learn. You will occasionally get mad. But in order to be a writer, you must befriend other writers to learn from. Find people who think differently than you. Though they may get on your nerves, they will see things you don’t. If you need suggestions on such things, I will recommend both the NaNo site and the forums for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (fondly known as ABNA). Even if you have not entered the contest or tried NaNo before, both are welcoming to newbies and are full of great advice.

Embrace the Land of Nobodies. We will live here for a long time, much longer than any of us will like. But you will grow to respect other writers who achieve success you do not. You will make new friends. And you will all dream together of joining the Land of Somebodies.