The prolific Harlan Ellison
I’ve been a full-timer in the writing and publishing industry for 25 years. That’s a quarter of a century spent begging agents and publishers from down on my knees to not only publish my new novel, but to pay me an advance big enough to last a full year or, at the very least a half year.
Back in ’99 I received the first check on what was to be a quarter of a million-dollar advance. It was $66,000 if I recall. After my then agent, Jimmy Vines, took his well-deserved 15-percent, that left me with $56,100, if my math is correct. Then, after Uncle Sam took his cut, I was down to about $45,000, give or take a grand or two. I was still working for my dad at that point, but it was suggested that I now go full-time so that I could concentrate solely on the writing.
Fair enough, I was young, and I was bursting with story ideas. But a funny thing happened along the way. I was told by my editor to take a break. The publisher would only put out a book of mine every year or two at most. So, what was the rush? But I loved to write, and I loved the feeling of publishing. In fact, I would come to lust publishing.
Fast forward a few years and I began publishing with an upstart indie publisher who would put out as many books as I could write. It was the gold rush days of the indie movement, and I was making money hand-over-fist as they say. But I found myself having to share fifty percent of it with my publisher and another fifteen precent to my agent. Oh well, I still liked the idea of the traditional model where I wrote the words and someone else bothered with the business side of things.
One of my novels, The Innocent (which was originally published with Delactore under the unlikely title of “As Catch Can”), ended up moving 100,000 units in just four weeks. It should have taken then number one spot on the New York Times bestseller’s list, but they were still sticking their nose up at indie writers. Oh well.
But that kind of success got the attention of the major publishers again, and I was able to score more deals and more big advances. But, at the same time, the editors and even my new agent insisted on telling me to slow down.
This kind of approach to writing never suited me. As a writer, writing is what I do. My dad used to be a brick layer. Did he lay bricks for a few weeks and then decide to take a break for six months because the process was making him stale? Does a surgeon operate on you, and then take the rest of the year off? Do commercial airline pilots fly one trip and then not bother with flying again until next year?
All the above would be canned from their jobs if that’s how they went about it. Back when my editor told me to take some time off, I began to realize just how backwards the publishing business truly was. And I was still just a young man. The business makes even less sense today while great manuscripts are rejected because they are not woke or inclusive enough. Can anyone say Marxism or Communism? How about censorship?
The only way to combat the backwards and nonsensical practices of traditional publishing is to start your own publishing company whereby you are the only client. Write and publish as much as you want, how you want, when you want, which for me is every day.
I think of it like this: If I were hired by Paramount to produce scripts just like the writers of yesteryear, I’d be expected to show up at the office every single day and write for eight hours at a clip.
Why?
Because that’s what professional writers are supposed to do.
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I publish a new story every day on Substack. Almost to 900 consecutive days.
Excellent post, Vin. Preach it, Brother.