Okay.
Well.
So…
This is an article about…
See those words? It’s called procrastinating. Probably 90% of the videos on YouTube in one particular genre start with those words. Yes, I know it’s a video on (whatever) – I saw the title of the video and clicked on it.
Knock it off! You don’t have to use those words to start your video!
What does that have to do with the 99.99% of writers who will never get published?
It’s simple. 99% of writers never submit their books for publication.
Garage bands by the millions record demo tape after demo tape, and end up years later saying, “we just never got the break.” No, you just didn’t send your demo tape out with photos and a cover letter! You can’t get discovered if you don’t send it out!
Why don’t more writers take a chance? In a word, fear. There’s three kinds of writer fear, and following are solutions to those fear.
- Fear of rejection. Rejection hurts. I know it. As a very strange segue, I’ll tell you I had a dream about reading this article several years ago. I don’t know what that means. Hmmm. Anyway, getting back to my thrilling article, No writer wants to be told your book isn’t good. Every rejection letter essentially says, “you’re ugly, a waste of a human being, and your mother dressed you funny. And your book was so-so.” That’s not what the letter says, but that’s how we perceive it. How to fix this? Become an expert on writing. Become a Grammar expert. Become an authority on the Oxford Comma. Fester to tell strangers at coffee shops the 27 point process you have for editing your novel. Then put all of this into play. Send your novel excerpt out to those Writer’s Digest “manuscript review” services. Many of them are $5. That’s right, five dollahs. Listen to what they say, research how to fix that, send it again. Send it twenty times if you have to. Yes, that’s a hundred dollahs. How much do many writers spend on a vanity press? A lot more than a hundred dollahs. Spend the hundred dollahs. When they start saying things like, “Your manuscript is publish ready”, that’s a sign that your manuscript is publish ready. What do you do now? SEND IT OUT TO AN AGENT. You rehearsed this twenty times now by sending it to the editor reviews! It’s easy – do it!
- Fear of Success. Yes. It’s strange. More people statistically are afraid of success than failure. Get over it. Your novel is crying out for people to read it. You’re afraid to try because you don’t think you deserve this, you feel like a fraud. How to Fix this? Practice sending the book out – to one of the editor review services I mentioned above. Now practice writing interviews with yourself. Huh? Yes. You need to accustom yourself to a success most writers will never receive. If it’s crippling you, then get it over with. Get used to it. Someone has to be a best selling novelist, why not you? What do you do now? – send the book out. You’ve practiced for success. It’s time you accepted it.
- Fear of not being good enough. It’s a variation on number one. You write your novels and keep them hidden.Why? You’re afraid you’re no good at it. It’s why some people take up art or a musical instrument, then stop. You’re afraid you’re no good at it. The funny thing is, most of the people with this fear are actually really good! How to fix this? Write a lot of books. Edit them. Revise them. Edit them. Nobody’s looking. Enjoy dwelling in your safe novel, and have a good time. Next? Manuscript review. Only one person is looking at it. They’ll never remember you or your book. You’re safe. Take their advice. Do the things they say. Do you know what you just did? You overcame your fear. It wasn’t good enough, someone read it, gave you feedback, and you survived. Keep doing this until your novel is ready. What do you do now? Send the book out for publication, and immediately get busy on the next one.
- Fear of Clowns. There’s no cure for this. It’s a real fear, and logical. Clowns are evil. (shudder)
Conclusion
Most fears are irrational. You have to overcome them. Fears that prevent your book from being published must be stomped on hard, and you have to condition yourself to fixing them immediately. Which fear do I have? All four. And this article is more for me than you. But tag along and fix yourself along with me.
Let’s stop procrastinating because of fear, and get it done.
It’s why we wrote the books in the first place.
