I was recently in conversation with a publisher interested in having me write something. Just what that “something” should be has shown me that we have widely differing viewpoints.
I had a project I’d been working on that I knew would need to be handled by a very different sort of publisher. They still wanted to see it and then agreed it did not fit their market. I mentioned a scaled-down concept which they could publish. Then the terminology changed and it was a “gift book and those don’t sell well.”
Ok. I gave them a third idea, based on a recent talk I gave. It was rejected because it “doesn’t age well.”
I was advised to “extend the Happy Catholic brand.”
If there is one thing I do not like it is hearing myself referred to as a “brand.” Let’s face it, Happy Catholic the blog (and the book) are me. I blog about what I am interested in. If people like it that is because I somehow hit an intersection of faith and other interests that make us all resonate alike.
To me, the two ideas I offered previously were Happy Catholic “brands” (shudder). They are things I am passionate about and interested in. Both are also things that those who I showed them to really liked. I realize that “what people like” may not always be marketable but I was confused by the brand extension concept. Asking for clarification brought back a vague description that didn’t make sense to me.
A friend who is being published by this company said this publisher only wants ideas that are “evergreen.” In other words will it keep selling for a long time. I was seized with a horrid vision of a sort of “Dummies” series based on my blog. Just plug in the different spiritual concepts and out rolls another book.
Profitable, yes. But is it “me?” Hmmm.
Don’t get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with writing to spec. I do ghost writing which is just that. It provides needed work for me, content for my clients, and inspiration for those who read … or so I hope. I certainly enjoy writing all the pieces and often they form part of my personal spiritual journey as I work my way through the concepts.
However, there is also the integrity that comes from letting an artist, if I dare to apply that word to myself, be themselves and express their passions in a unique, sometimes seemingly unmarketable way. I am actually content to just write for myself. If it languishes in a drawer that’s ok too.
My husband brought up Steve Jobs and Apple. He said, “People forget that Apple was wildly unprofitable for decades before they hit it lucky with the iPhone which fueled new interest in their computers and then led to the iPad. Steve Jobs always said that he made products he wanted to use. That’s an artist too, just working with technology. Passion matters or nothing original ever gets made.”
Thanks to Steve Jobs, now hailed as a marketing genius, we have Pixar, the iPhone, and more. I have podcasts to make and to listen to and they form a big part of my life.
At the CNMC I met a young man, Ryan Trusell, who is expressing his artistic passion in a way that seems counterintuitive. He has written a Catholic zombie novel as a series of letters, Ora et Labora et Zombies. These are actual letters which are mailed out weekly, one at a time, to subscribers. Readers learn of the struggles a husband goes through to reunite with his wife after a strange plague begins to disrupt civilization.
Will Trusell be able to make a living or even a profit on these letters? I hope so. But no one knows. He didn’t do a marketing study first. He just plunged in.
The idea is not “evergreen” but it is hugely creative, daring, and follows Trusell’s passion for returning to “hands-on” arts. Few, if any, publishers would ever take on such a project. For those of us who subscribe, however, there is great satisfaction in being part of this project and experiencing this story one letter at a time. We enjoy waiting in anticipation week after week for the mail to deliver another actual letter for us to devour. Hopefully Trusell will make a profit and be able to turn his hand to other projects. If nothing else, he is providing tangible entertainment that we will remember. That is a worthy goal as well.
This artist, Ryan Trusell, is following his muse. Few of us will have such original muses to follow or those that ask us to step out on a limb to quite such an extent. Yet as writers, as artists, we must remember in the midst of the struggle to make our voices heard … and also a living … that originality and passion are factors the publishers and marketers often forget. Until they are successful.
As Catholics we must listen to that inner voice and realize that often what God asks for is not marketable. Publishers must make a profit or we would have no books. (I don’t even like to think about that.) They have the balancing act of finding the art and getting it to the public. That is not our job. Writers have the task of holding true to their originality, passion, and vocation as artists. Sometimes we too must follow our muse, step out on a limb, and produce something that is counterintuitive to the marketers.
And on “brand”:
Think of it as a part of your personality. You know how you have friends from all these different parts of your life, and it’s tempting to invite them all to every party, but actually sometimes it’s better to have just subsets — maybe a little mixing things up, but not too much? I see it like that. I’m not being “fake” if I talk medieval history with my SCA friends, and curricula with my homeschool friends, and sports with the guy at the office party. And in real life, I talk all three with all three groups — but in different proportions, and from different angles.
When someone says, “We could do Happy Catholic brand”, what they’re saying is: This is who comes to our party. They like that topic. You’ll have their attention if come at your message from that angle.
Not a bad thing. Not at all.
And then it’s up to you what party you want to live at for the next couple years. :-).
I think a lot depends on your purpose. I’m pretty sure my editor at Liguori is going to tone down some of my humor on my catechist book (she said she would — whether she goes through with it, I don’t know). That’s fine with me. My goal for the book is to get the tool out there into the hands that need it; people who want my amazing personality can look elsewhere. Also in this case, I have some confidence that my editor knows how to make sure that what I say won’t be misread by the very diverse target audience for the book — that’s her job.
When I critique fiction, I’ve got something completely different in mind — not how to make the author please everyone, but how to help the author better entertain the desired readers. I’ve had at least one time that I said, “I don’t think _____ is going to play with all your readers,” but allowed that if that was his message, it’s his message. Not my job to love everything, you know?
There are lots of writers who are so true to themselves that they just self-publish. Others take their true-to-my-self manuscripts from publisher to publisher because they know that’s the way to get the most readership so their project will be beneficial to many. Somehow the trick is to write what you are inspired to write and trust that whoever sees it are the ones meant to read it, no matter how many.
Your ideas are valuable and pursuing them your mission.
I like Christian’s last sentence.
I have to wonder: what is the point of writing a “Catholic” book — or any book, article, blog, etc. — if no one is going to publish it (and, hence, few will read it)? You may be “being true to yourself”, but you are spending time, effort, and talent on something that ultimately will benefit no one but yourself. Is this in line with God’s desires for us?
Very true … which is why I said this:
“Don’t get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with writing to spec. I do ghost writing which is just that. It provides needed work for me, content for my clients, and inspiration for those who read … or so I hope. I certainly enjoy writing all the pieces and often they form part of my personal spiritual journey as I work my way through the concepts.”
🙂
Nancy sums up well the overall concept.
Though I also can’t help thinking of Emily Dickinson. Presumably her poetry meant something to her which did not need to be published to make it of value. Of course, when they were discovered after her death those poems gave all of us something valuable. Am I Emily Dickinson. Of course not. However, there is something common to all creative spirits that says, perhaps, that although publishing is a good thing, the value of the work is not necessarily only in that. As I said, working on each piece, I find my spiritual side nourished. My fiction has not seen the light of day and may never. For one thing there is little of it and it isn’t that good. But when I have been working on it steadily there comes an exhilaration that can’t be matched by the nonfiction work. In and of itself, that expression has value to me. 🙂
Specifically on depictions of sex. I love Bud McFarland’s description
in one of the novels (Conceive without Sin, House of Gold, and Pierced by a Sword) of his trilogy. The couples have just wed in the Church and are retiring for the afternoon. End of chapter. The next chapter consists of: “The Marriage was consummated.” Next chapter……
That’s the right treatment. No need for exquisite detail when it’s not needed. This, unfortunately, became a mainstay especially during the satanic sixties when ‘juicy’ (and gratuitous) scenes in literature and its film derivations. God Bless.
“Sometimes we too must follow our muse, step out on a limb, and produce something that is counterintuitive to the marketers.”
Catholicism has been full of contrarians who achieved great things, e.g, Joan of Arc the Warrior-Babe, St. Francis the Squirrel-Petter, Bl. Teresa, and P.Pio.
Not that being contrary in itself is a great achievement.
Thanks Julie for the affirmation.