Hey friends, we’re back with Jane’s second column for us and um let’s just say it reminded me of my favorite catch-phrase from one of my almost-favorite movies, Zombieland.
Now then, if you missed last week’s column here it is (it was all about business partners):
Alright now, I give it over the Jane!
I’ll never forget being at a friend’s party when I was cornered by her father, a lifelong surgeon, whose weekend hobby was photography. My friend had raved to him about my skills and knowledge about the business of writing and publishing, so he hoped I could tell him the necessary steps to earn money for his photography once he retired.
At first, I wasn’t sure what he meant, but after asking him a few questions, I realized that he assumed there was a 1-2-3 step process to becoming a paid photographer—the same kind of process that he followed to become a surgeon. But there is no process. When it comes to art, you can’t force people to like what you create, much less pay for it. Supply far exceeds demand in most creative fields. But the surgeon imagined that if he secured the right credentials or met the right people or paid someone to promote his art, he would level up “automagically.”
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career in the book publishing industry, with a focus on author education and trend reporting. This column, THE BUSINESS OF BEING A WRITER tackles career strategy and industry myth-busting across every publishing path for writers at each stage.