Metaphorically Speaking
As the quest to be a published author is not unlike going to war, imagine your manuscript as a…weapons system.
If you are an arms manufacturer or a builder of military aircraft or vehicles, success is all about selling. Get a government contract and you’re in business. Because if you can’t, you’re not.
Nothing sells faster than a new weapon proven highly effective, extremely dependable, and easy to use at a reasonable cost.
Case in point: a weapons system comes in with a 90% rating for a $10 billion price tag. Unfortunately, to get the product to a 98% rating would cost $150 billion.
What had potential is suddenly a bust.
What’s your excuse?
Too many novels that go unpublished fail because they are submitted at 90% and the author believes that ‘pushing the envelope’ on the work is not worth the investment.
Not about typos or grammar gaffes or that 3rd paragraph on page 42—at 90% the work is not yet at the “correction stage”—what’s needed a PUSH. Either the story lacks high-enough stakes or a unique conflict or compelling metaphor. Something is missing and the author refuses to believe the story can possibly be deepened and made marketable.
Not so much about change, but completion.
That’s no way to go to war.
There’s another weapons system’s trap too many authors fall into, but so does the US Government which last week christened a billion-dollar hunter-killer submarine with a 99% rating. The only thing the boat lacks is a mission.
Same with too many manuscripts that boast terrific grammar and spelling and excellent punctuation—Everything an editor could hope for except an audience. It’s about the writing rather than the reader. Who would pay money for this book? What’s in it for the reader?
Are you ready to be published? Only if you’re ready to go to war.
If you are an arms manufacturer or a builder of military aircraft or vehicles, success is all about selling. Get a government contract and you’re in business. Because if you can’t, you’re not.
Nothing sells faster than a new weapon proven highly effective, extremely dependable, and easy to use at a reasonable cost.
Case in point: a weapons system comes in with a 90% rating for a $10 billion price tag. Unfortunately, to get the product to a 98% rating would cost $150 billion.
What had potential is suddenly a bust.
What’s your excuse?
Too many novels that go unpublished fail because they are submitted at 90% and the author believes that ‘pushing the envelope’ on the work is not worth the investment.
Not about typos or grammar gaffes or that 3rd paragraph on page 42—at 90% the work is not yet at the “correction stage”—what’s needed a PUSH. Either the story lacks high-enough stakes or a unique conflict or compelling metaphor. Something is missing and the author refuses to believe the story can possibly be deepened and made marketable.
Not so much about change, but completion.
That’s no way to go to war.
There’s another weapons system’s trap too many authors fall into, but so does the US Government which last week christened a billion-dollar hunter-killer submarine with a 99% rating. The only thing the boat lacks is a mission.
Same with too many manuscripts that boast terrific grammar and spelling and excellent punctuation—Everything an editor could hope for except an audience. It’s about the writing rather than the reader. Who would pay money for this book? What’s in it for the reader?
Are you ready to be published? Only if you’re ready to go to war.
posted by Kevin at
7:38 AM
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