What would I do differently as a writer if starting over in 2024?
Ask the Author Podcast Transcript
Episode 36, 12th February 2024 \ \ Subscribe
If Jodi had to start over again as an author in 2024, what would she do differently? Jodi Gibson, author of REINVENTING EMILY BROWN answers this curly listener question.
Intro
In the intro, Jodi Gibson welcomes listeners and reminds them that it’s okay if their creative life is lived around the gaps and margins of other activities. Jodi loves that as an author, no two days are the same.
Show Notes
- Tip 1: Don’t be impatient
- Tip 2: Learn structure
- Tip 3: Read with your writing hat on
- Tip 4: Pick a genre and stick to it
- Tip 5: Market more effectively for self-published books
Episode Transcript
This week's question came directly into my email inbox and this person has asked to remain anonymous, which is perfectly fine, so I will read you the question.
If you had your time over and were only just starting writing and publishing now, what would you do differently?
Wow, what a question. When I first opened this email, I must admit my first reaction was a knee jerk…nothing. I wouldn't change anything, because I'm a firm believer in that we do what we do in the moment, because that's all we know in the moment. But as I closed the email and thought about replying and it played on my mind over and over again I began to slowly let my mind contemplate what I perhaps would do differently if I were starting over again.
Of course there are things because hindsight is wonderful. We can look back and we can see all the things that we would have and maybe should have done differently. But the beauty of moving through time is learning and learning from mistakes, learning from failures. I think that's really important, just gaining that learning and that knowledge and that experience and wisdom through practice, through doing things that perhaps, if you did look back, you would do differently. But I am going to answer this question and I'm going to approach it in a way that may not be specific examples of what I would do differently, but maybe in a more general sense. So more general things that I'd perhaps tell my younger writerly self.
Tip 1: Don’t be impatient
Don't be impatient. Yes, if I had my time again, I would definitely tell myself to be more patient, to don't be so impatient, don't rush, and this is probably the hardest thing to learn as a new writer, because when you decide you want to be an author, when you decide that what you're writing is something you would like other people to read, all you want to do is finish the book and see it in your hands out on the shelf.
Whatever and there seems like there's an urgency, because when you immerse yourself in the writing world, particularly the online writing landscape, you see so many people getting book deals, seeing their books published, putting out book after book, and it feels like it's constant. And it feels like you're being left behind. You feel like that if you don't do it now, you're going to be, you're going to miss out, and that's just not true. In fact, if you rush to publication, if you rush your novel, rush the pitching of your novel, or if you rush to self publishing, it could, in fact, be detrimental to your long term career.
And although it was about seven years from when I first started writing seriously until my first book was published, and although I put everything I could into making that book the best it could be, in hindsight because that's what we're talking about I probably feel like I rushed the process because I was just so keen to get that first book out there.
So my number one tip is to be patient. Do all the things you need to do to make yourself a better writer, to make your stories better, and do all the things that will make you a better author and don't rush the process. You won't miss the boat, I promise.
Tip 2: Learn structure
My number two thing that I would do differently if I were starting out all over again is to learn the craft that matters, and that is structure.
When I first began writing, I honestly had no idea what I was doing. Yes, I'd been writing forever. I'd been journaling for years. I'd kept a diary as a teenager, written short stories. As a kid, I loved writing essays in English, but all of that is totally irrelevant when it comes to writing novels. So what I did first up, of course, is what most new writers would do, and that's do all the courses, buy all the craft books, study, learn and repeat.
Now, looking back and knowing what I know now about writing, I think I'd be less focused on learning all the things and more focused on learning what makes story work, and that is the structure of successful stories. You can learn all about character setting, pacing, tension, and all of that absolutely has its place. You do need to know all of that, but to begin with, you have to understand the basic foundations of a story, and that is structure. Particularly when it comes to writing commercial and genre fiction, structure is everything. But here's the thing you don't know that when you first start out, when you're all green, when you're jumping in and thinking you're going to write this novel, it's all new, it's exciting and you just want to learn it all. You just want to know how to do it. So I do acknowledge that my learning is a combination of all of the things I've done over the years bringing me to where I am now. So I'm not sure if I could have done it differently.
But because this podcast is all about advice, I would definitely suggest, if you are a new writer, focus on learning about story structure as your number one priority and all the other things, all the character learning, the setting, the pacing, tension, all of that that builds on top of structure.
Tip 3: Read with your writing hat on
Read books with your writing hat on. Now, of course, you have to read for enjoyment. That's why we read and that's why we are writers, why we want to be authors, because we love stories, we love books and we love reading.
But something I would do more of a lot sooner than I did perhaps would be really analyse a book to see what makes it work or, in some cases, what makes it not work, and it comes down to firstly, like I mentioned in my previous point, understanding structure. I 100% believe that analysing books and even movies, because in movies they really have to nail the structure. They can't waffle on like you can sometimes do in a book.
So I'd really focus on analysing successful books and movies and pulling apart the structure, pulling them apart, seeing what's working, what makes them work, identifying things such as the inciting incident, the midpoint, the turning points, how they build the tension towards the climax. I'd really make a point of understanding the key scenes that readers expect to see, for whatever genre it is, and how these books do it. This is something that I actually love doing now because it's helped me so much understand story structure and, yes, it does make it harder to read for enjoyment these days, but ultimately I'm an author and that's what I want to do, so I'm happy to accept the fact that my writing brain is always on when I'm reading and in some cases it actually makes the book more enjoyable because I can go oh, I know it, I know why they did this. This is fantastic. So definitely read more books with your writing hat on.
Tip 4: Pick a genre and stick to it
Pick a genre and stick to it, Jodi. Now look, when I first started out writing my first book and it was a book I had in my head for so long was a book that made me want to write and want to be an author, and it probably straddles a few different genres. It's like rural romance, slash drama, but that's not what I write in now. I write feel-good fiction.
So, although I do not regret my first book, I've already said I do love and I am proud of my very first book. But if I was starting out again, I would definitely pick a genre and stick to it, at least when you're starting out. I would write numerous manuscripts in that genre. I'd read that genre. I'd really study the genre, study the books that are selling in that genre, study the marketing techniques and the social media that's working for that genre. Pretty much I'd learn all there is to know about the genre and stick to it for a while, especially if you're planning to write commercial fiction.
It's so important to get your genre right and really understand it now if that doesn't mean that that's the only genre you can ever write in. But I think when you're first starting out, knowing your genre inside and out is the best way for you to write the best book you can write. And you can, I think, target publishers and agents better because you know what genre you're writing in. So you know you need to approach publishers and agents who publish in that genre and if you're going to self-publish, then you will understand the ins and outs of how to publish and market yourself in your genre. When you indie publish and, I think, knowing what your audience expects from you, that is really important to make sure that your book delivers on that.
So genre is key and I do believe you have to fully understand your genre to write successfully. So, yes, this is something I learned the hard way, something that I'm still learning and, like I said, it's not it doesn't mean that that's the only genre you can ever write in, but definitely if. My advice would be if you are just starting out, pick a genre and stick to it, learn it, nail it and then move on from there.
Tip 5: Market more effectively for self-published books
Okay, so number five this is my last tip, or last thing that I would perhaps do differently if I was starting out all over again, and this is one that I'm really only just coming to terms to, so I might not be able to articulate it properly yet, but I thought it was an important one to mention, and it is in regards to self publishing.
Now, when I decided I wanted to self publish, I decided that I was going to self publish like I was a traditionally published author, and what that meant was I was going to make sure my book was indistinguishable from a trade published book so a professional cover, professionally edited, proofread, formatted, professionally designed all of that so that it could sit on the shelf or sit on the online store and a reader would look at it and not be able to tell it was a self published book. And that is totally something that I say is imperative.
If you want to self publish, this is not something that you should in any way deviate from. I believe that you need to make your book as good as it can be and look as great as a traditional published book it does look. However, I also decided that I was going to promote and self market myself. Just as a trade publisher would market and sell and promote a trade novel, I was going to have a launch, a promotional campaign, a marketing campaign. I was going to rub shoulders with published authors and do what they did be out on the scene and just immerse myself in the trade world as an indie author.
Now the thing I learned is that doesn't work, not completely as you think it should. On paper it all sounds great and you think it should work, but it actually doesn't. And the difference is bookshops Now bookshop sell traditionally published books. They focus 95 percent, I would say. Now that's not a statistic I've drawn from everywhere. It's just, I would think, fairly accurate that bookshops they tend to focus 90 percent on traditionally published books and it's really hard to get distribution into bookshops. It's a lot easier than it used to be, but even if you have a distribution channel, it's still hard to get on the shelf of a bricks and mortar bookshop and it's even harder to have your booksellers unless you know them personally or push your books like they do push the trad books because there is marketing behind them.
So if you're self publishing, your marketing and promotion has to be a one, of course, but it has to be different approach than traditional methods. I'm not going to go into what that would entail. That's definitely a topic for another podcast episode in the future, maybe. But if I were to go back in time, this is 100 percent something that I would change in my approach to self publishing. I'd understand, yes, that my book needs to be indistinguishable from a traditionally published book, but my marketing and promotion needs to be done differently.
In Summary
But, as I said, it is really hard to look back and regret anything. Life is about living and learning, and the same applies for writing. We need to learn and experience to be able to grow as writers, and I believe we need to do it as organically as possible. So, of course, I'd love to change a few things now in hindsight, but all I can do now is move forward with the knowledge and the experience I've gained and hopefully all of that thrown together makes me a better writer. So you absolutely have my permission to go out there and make mistakes, fail, get rejected, write rubbish, because it's all going to make you the wonderful writer that you were always meant to be. Anyway, I hope that has helped someone out there and, on that note, thank you for listening.