A Series of Small Breaks
Hoo, boy. To say I’ve been surprised with the success of Tell Me What You Did is an understatement. It spent about a week as the #1 paperback (of all fiction and non-fiction) on Barnes & Noble and is currently #5 on B&N and in its fifth week on the Publishers Weekly bestsellers list. As the saying among writers go, it only took 20 years to become an overnight success.
A common question I’ve received over the years: what was your big break?
I can tell you–big breaks for writers are scarce. I know this from my own experience and in interviewing hundreds of writers over the years. Impossibly rare is the person who suddenly gets an idea for a book, writes it, and sells it for a six-figure advance. Those writers are unicorns, and I know of, perhaps, two.
Nearly all writers don’t have a big break, but instead a prolonged series of small ones. It’s easy for me to grouse about my first three books not selling and then the publisher of my debut novel going out of business. But profound joy is found in those small breaks.
Small break #1: Writing a novel. If you’ve done this, you have accomplished a task most folks will never do. I don’t care if your book stinks–celebrate yourself!
Small break #2: Getting an agent. Of course this doesn’t mean your book will sell, but landing an agent is incredibly difficult. I had over 75 agent rejections before getting mine, and nowadays it’s even more difficult.
Small break #3: Selling your book to a publisher. Yes, there was no advance and your eventual royalties were outpaced by what you spent on self-marketing, but you’ve got your foot in the door.
Small break #4: Getting favorable, critical reviews. Your third book got a starred review from Kirkus and Publisher’s Weekly. That’s a big deal, even if it doesn’t seem to move the needle much on sales.
Small break #5: Winning awards. You beat out the competition! Even if it’s a small award, you took home the gold. Take time to savor the victory.
Small break #6: Making a bestseller list. Depending on the list, this could be classified as a big break and you should toast yourself. Even if you’re on the list for a day (or sometimes, just hours), you’re rising to the top.
Small break #7: Seeing your book in the airport. Whoa. Is that really my book?
Small break #8: Attaining national recognition. You did it. Your new book is in nearly every bookstore in the country. This doesn’t mean you have enough money to retire or that your next book will do as well, but you reached place you always thought unattainable. Go out to dinner and order the most expensive thing on the menu.
Those eight small breaks took me ten published novels (thirteen total) and 22 years. I am clearly not an overnight success, nor are most writers. But success isn’t just the destination, it’s finding the joy in the journey, never giving up, learning from your mistakes, and always finding new ways to rediscover your love of writing.
If you have the passion, success will follow. It might just take a little time.