Sara Paretsky and V.I. Warshawski tell secrets of selling your writing

(Photo by Steven Gross)

What is a writer's best set of tools? What's the secret a writer needs to sell writing, make a living and maintain a presence or a writing career? What's the magic? Sara Paretsky, best selling author of, among other triumphs, the V.I. Warshawski detective fiction series, put the secret succinctly.

Sara, a Chicago writer, says, "In the end, it's all about the word on the page. Carving out time to become internalized enough to think about what you're doing and what it means to you. It's true for fiction writing and, I suspect, it's also true for non-fiction." 

Writers must produce more to remain visible

What, as a writer, you've heard from every corner and every expert is truer today than it has been in any recent period. You have to write -- constantly. Sara is always within that process. She has never done the kind of freelance work you and I do - marketing individual pieces to individual editors and publications, but her process is not a lot different. Even if she takes a couple of weeks off to focus on something else or to clear her mind, she's generally planning, writing, proofing or promoting a book.

"I think a lot of my friends working freelance, pitching articles or stories, have a more difficult time than I do. I know, clearly, I'm fortunate to have established a presence. I had tremendous breaks, as far as timing, for V.I.

I found a niche people were hungry for - strong women in strong roles. I'm lucky to be established now that the market may be turning down.It's really hard for freelancers. They're going through hell. Sales are down,"

Even John Grisham, she says, feels a steep decline in book revenue, at present. Just because of the nature of today's writing markets, we can intuit that Stephen King might experience similar angst . Readers are slowing down their consumption of written material. Anxiety takes up so much space in daily life that reading gets put, so to speak, on the bottom shelf. Ad space is selling poorly in all media.

To stay afloat writers, even Sara Paretsky, have to re-attend to the basics. Voicing a sense of amazement, she says it has been suggested that succesful novelists ramp-up to three book releases a year. Quite a feat.

If you release a new book today, a publisher would be moderately impressed with 27,000 copies sold. Less than that, you'd not be invited to write another. When Sara began, a good writer had the luxury of slow releases to local book stores, not massive campaigns at megamarts. Sara's first book sold 4500 copies. Then, a good indication of success to come. Now, a death knell. 

There is no writers' magic

That means the basics for you, today's writer, come down to getting lots of words on lots of pages, with a full measure of skill and talent. Well crafted work. Well constructed work. Then you must find an agent or a publisher in a time when publications and publishers are biting the dust at an intimidating rate. If you land that hoped for contract, don't fool yourself. Your work is not finished. It has only just started. You have to market that book. No one else is going to do it for you. Sara Paretsky recently hired an outside publicist, but she remembers well her personal marketing efforts. She did it herself for many of her books.

These, then, are the basics, the most important tools a writer can rely upon. First, craft a product that's your ultimate best work - every time. If it's a book, it will have to be your best book so far. If it's a story, an article, an interview, the same standard applies. It must be the best you can do, presented in perfect mechanical condition. No room for error. Second, be prepared to get down and do tons of marketing and promotional work.

Sara's take:

"(Beginning writers) might have grandiose expectations that seldom get met. You have to be prepared, unless you're one of a fortunate few, to work in the trenches. When I began, I'd go anywhere -- any library, community group, or club that was looking for a speaker. I'd meet with people. I did all my own publicity. I was published in just too small a way for the publisher to care about doing a lot of promotion."

Renew your efforts. Create your marketing campaign. Plan your time, and be prepared to multi-task. As you promote your current work -- book, articles, columns -- you have little choice but to be actively engaged in starting your next project.

You can read Sara's blog or visit her Website for news about her novel, Hardball, coming this fall. 
 

Read more about Sara and her views on writing.
Here's another Chicago writer, Libby Hellmann.