To succeed, where better writers failed

A bittersweet feeling

Now this is all pretty lowkey, but things are looking good this year.

I’m looking forward to a very possible book deal, I’m one of the three finalists of a major science fiction short story contest, and I almost finished editing my horror/magical realism book.

What’s maybe even more important, I feel I’m starting to reach out to some readers. Recently more than one person came forward to me and said that my stories left a lasting impression. Someone told me that I’m writing the things they wanted to read, and that no one else was writing.

While I don’t want to overstate the importance of anything - it’s very unlikely that you’ll see my name colonizing bookshelves internationally - this is, by any account, success. It surely beats curling up in a corner and weeping on my own perceived flaws as a writer!

At the same time, I’ve been talking with one of my peers. The guy has several books self-published - we’re talking two high quality, mind bending standalone sci-fi novels and a fantasy trilogy published in two languages. I have no idea how this author hasn’t been traditionally published yet - let alone why he wouldn’t rise to critical acclaim.

He told me how he was thinking of dropping writing completely. This wasn’t out of the blue - “I’m out of juice,” he said. And he had been straight up mistreated by a couple of industry professionals. We’re talking bait-and-switch setups where a deal is suddenly off the table and other unsavory practices.

Needless to say this rubbed me off the wrong way. If the publishing industry was meritocratic in nature, this author should already be hitting the shelves. Of course, the premise is wrong - the market doesn’t care about merit.

My mind goes back to all the people we don’t know about, people who really had shit to say, words to bleed on the page, people whose ideas would deserve to be read. How many of them get lost in this constant struggle? How many throw the towel early? How many of them are just lost to attrition?

As in life, it’s clear that you need a great dose of luck to make it as a writer. A heavy dose of being able to network and being at the right place at the right time is surely involved. It’s hard to gauge my own merits in light of this knowledge. After all, it’s hard to find any joy in winning, knowing that the game is heavily skewed.

However, I’d like to avoid giving more arguments to my own imposter syndrome. If you’re reading this post, chances are you are struggling with this too - or you might in the future.

How to deal with success, when better people are failing?

1. A rising tide should lift all boats. Meaning - it’s good to keep being humble and most of all, helpful, to people who are a little behind on the journey. And this is put in the most basics of terms. The more successful I will be, the more I should struggle to share what I know and uplift others.

2. Publishing is a zero-sum game. Every book I sell will likely translate to some other writer, losing a book. While this is true, we shouldn’t aggravate the fact by punching down on other writers, especially wannabes.

3. One thing is to properly assess toxic market practices, another is to enforce them. As the above point, it’s fine to publish and prioritize your own stuff - it’s not to pretend you are in an elite club and start milking other writers (publishing some online course or a manual, perhaps?).

The market is bad, maybe it always was. But it doesn’t hurt to be idealistic and try to avoid the dog-eat-dog mentality. I’m frankly tired of reading the usual “us vs them” redderick on social media, especially in writers’ circles, when those energies would be better spent trying to change how things work.

End of the rant.

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Partially inspired by Noah McAllister’s struggling without success, a youtube video very relevant to pursuing the craft.