{"id":10664,"date":"2015-08-20T07:09:48","date_gmt":"2015-08-20T14:09:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nerdseyeview.com\/blog\/?p=10664"},"modified":"2015-08-20T07:32:34","modified_gmt":"2015-08-20T14:32:34","slug":"some-thoughts-after-book-passage-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nerdseyeview.com\/blog\/2015\/08\/20\/some-thoughts-after-book-passage-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"Some Thoughts After Book Passage 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Capture\"<\/a>
Mark, Stephanie, Andy, Juliane, Anna, and Lisa (via my Instagram <\/a>feed)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

1. Things Happen at Writing Conferences<\/h3>\n

In the middle of my second day at the Book<\/a> Passage Travel Writers and Photographers Conference<\/a>, I went to get coffee. I shared the counter with a Bay Area literary agent. “What are you doing here?” the agent asked, and then he saw my faculty tag. “Oh, you’re teaching. What are you teaching?”<\/p>\n

I told him about the class I was co-teaching and asked about his time at the conference. “Are you taking pitches?”<\/p>\n

“Why, do you have one?”<\/p>\n

“I do, but that’s not why I asked, I just wondered if people are taking the time to pitch you.”<\/p>\n

“I’m not getting much,” the agent said. “And you know what… The industry is tough. Memoir is awfully hard to sell. Everyone thinks they’re on the hero’s journey. Take some advice from me? Don’t be on the hero’s journey.”<\/p>\n

I shrugged. “I’m not that special,” I said, “plus, the thing I’m working on is only partly about me.”<\/p>\n

“Do you want to sell it? If you want to sell it, there’s no reason for you to keep working on it. How far along are you? If you’re far enough along and it’s good, I can get you an advance to finish it.”<\/p>\n

“I’ve got 25,000 words.” I told him about my project. “I’ve been working on it on and off for about three years, in 5000 word chunks.”<\/p>\n

“You’re that far along? Send me your proposal. And I tell you what, don’t tell me there are no comps, that just means there’s no market for it and I’ll tell you no. Get me your proposal, I’ll get you a seven figure deal.”<\/p>\n

I laughed and shook his hand. “Seven figures. I AM IN.”<\/p>\n

“Seriously,” he said, and he handed me his business card. “Send me your proposal. The kind of thing you’re working on, typically it’s a 10,000 dollar advance. Maybe I can get you 13. Send it,” he said. “Really. I’d like to see it, it sounds good.”<\/p>\n

Later in the day I told this story to another writer — one who has several published books — and she said, “Don’t blow this off. That is how good things happen, in this kind of low key way. Don’t let this sit, promise me you won’t let it sit.”<\/p>\n

It is good to be in a place where these kinds of conversations can happen.<\/p>\n

\u00a7<\/p>\n

2. Do. Not. Write. For. Free.<\/h3>\n

On the first night at dinner, I sat with a delightful woman who was very excited to share about the writing work she was doing. I didn’t have to ask the question, another attendee asked for me: Are you getting paid?<\/p>\n

“No, she said, “but…”<\/p>\n

I pounced. “We may not see each other again this weekend because you’re not in my class. But you are going to look up ‘Should I Work For Free<\/a>‘ and you are going to learn to love it. You are going to print it out and put it next to your desk where you write.”<\/p>\n

Many web businesses and publishers who prey on the aspirations and naivete of writers by “offering them the opportunity to get exposure for their work.” I have been that writer. But once I learned how the web works, I stopped writing for free and for very low pay.\u00a0 I won’t put guest posts on heavily monetized blogs. I won’t read the Huffington Post, and there are a bunch of other places that are persona non grata in my reading list for not paying their writers or for paying them very poorly while they live on Park Avenue.<\/p>\n

If the publisher is making money, you should be getting paid too. Period.<\/p>\n

Don’t listen to me, listen to Mavis. Respect yourself.<\/p>\n