Seasoned Writers' Traditional Publishing Lessons

Whether you've published a book already or are honing your craft for a developing work, learning about the experiences of published writers can help you see what the light might be like at the end of the tunnel. Here are tips from Mac Crane, whose debut experimental, fragmented novel won the LAMBDA Literary Award and was a New York Times Editor's Choice recipient, among other honors, and David Wright Faladé, author or co-author of five nonfiction and fiction books, including the post-American Civil War novel Black Cloud Rising, which has been called "richly detailed" and "grippingly told."

The two often shared similar takes about the traditional publishing path during an August online event offered by the Writer's League of Texas. Yet they sometimes diverged in their equally successful career approaches while answering questions from staffer Sarah Renee Beach. The questions related to:

Experienced writers shared the value of keeping career and craft priorities in mind, while flexing on content details (credit, 8photo on freepik).

Balancing Writing and Publishing Needs

Wright Faladé noted favoring letting the content inform how you write forward, as was true with Fire on the Beach. He'd originally planned to develop a novel about the African-American men who provided pre-Coast Guard lifesaving services in the 1800s. After uncovering enough factual information for it to be nonfiction, that no longer made sense. As he put it, "the project dictates the form, the shape, the vehicle."

When it came to his most recent work, a post-WWII novel set in Paris called The New Internationals, he chose to remove nearly 200 pages and rework the novel to be for YA readers after learning that more agents might be interested in that subgenre. "The thing that's most important [overall] is stick-to-it-iveness, and a willingness to keep reworking."

The genre challenge Crane noted involved having to let go of the idea of publishing a memoir, due to difficulties finding acquisitions editor interest in a sports-centric work. However, they stuck to their guns when it came to pursuing a totally different genre for their second, more traditional literary work, than their dystopian, speculative fiction debut, I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself. Reaching diverse audiences drove that choice for the semi-autobiographical A Sharp Endless Need, which covers first love, the ins and outs of being a young athlete, and growing up queer in a small town.

Authors can succeed with different approaches to driving marketing and related outreach efforts (credit, KarlyUkav on freepik).

Determining Professional Boundaries

Wright Faladé has worked with several different agents in nearly a decade due to his first one retiring and other factors. But his works have ultimately landed with the same independent literary press: Grove Atlantic. "With a big house, it's easy to get lost [when it comes to having your work promoted]," he said. Among the other pluses he noted for sticking with the same press are the connections they help you build over time at book festivals and such.

Crane purposefully switched to an imprint of Penguin Random House for their second work, though they noted having had a good first experience with Catapult Press (whom I've proofread for). In addition to being drawn to Dial Press by a particular editor for book two, Crane said they also wanted the greater attention to their work that a bigger publisher might offer.

They also may have a more hands-on approach to book promotion overall. For their second novel, Crane paid for the tour for that book, adding that "the week that I was on tour, I sold the most books." Meanwhile, Wright Faladé shared that he'd advocated more for himself on his first book, but by the second, followed Grove's lead — after letting them know his availabilities. "So much of what we do [as writers] is relational," he said.

Seasoned writers learn to juggle publishing expectations and writing projects, as their craft skills and confidence grow (credit, freepik)

Evolving Your Definition of Success

Both multi-book authors shared feeling a huge high when they first landed publisher interest in book one, and then an eventual let down over time. As Wright Faladé put it, after initially receiving Scribner interest, "I thought, 'I have arrived. Seven years later, I was like, 'What happened?' "

Both noted definite pluses that they've gained over time, however, beyond having a greater confidence and skills to complete a book. In particular, they shared having a better understanding of the publishing world and what they can control in the book-development journey. Wright Faladé said, "I'm very craft obsessed. You write the best book that you can, and then it's out of your hands …. and you just keep moving."

In his case, the "moving" includes being sure to have other works to focus on while your agent is shopping a current project around.

Crane talked about the challenge of your definition of success related to getting caught up in things like whether readers like one of your books much more than another. "It's been easy to fall into conventional measurements of success," they said, such as always thinking about the next goal, and making comparisons with other writers.

"Having writing friends and the writing community that uniquely understands the struggle [is important], but having nonwriting friends helps contextualize things."

So, they both noted, does balancing your writing life with other activities. For Crane, focusing on the joy and wonder that their children approach life with has been "really helpful in longevity" as a writer. And Wright Faladé teaches in the MFA program at the University of Illinois, develops opinion pieces, and more.

As he put it, "[Being a writer] is just one of several pieces of my life that I hope to be able to lead."

By Barbra A. Rodriguez, who coaches authors on developing their work of self-help, memoir, or other nonfiction, as well as historical fiction, whether at the idea stage, in need of manuscript editing or developmental review, or ready to self-publish or learn the process of agent pitching.

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