Conquering the Evil Nos
Most writers hear a lot of Nos.
There’s the Fast No: A rejection just a couple of days after you send off your manuscript.
There’s the Slow No: A rejection months—or even years—after you send something off (This is pretty bad; after a year of no response, when I had basically forgotten I’d sent off a story, one publication rejected me twice, for the same story, in the same week. I guess they really hated it.)
And finally, there’s the Passive-Aggressive No: This No looks like an acceptance because your piece was actually accepted, and it’s only until months–or years later–when the publication never actually publishes your work that you discover that you’ve been rejected yet again.
I believe that good work does eventually get published, and when I’m not drowning in self pity (kidding, kidding) I try to use rejection as a chance to revaluate and revisit my work, and hopefully, make it stronger. And in the event that I can’t find someone to publish the work, but I feel the story or novel is strong enough to go out into the world, I think there’s nothing wrong with self-publishing. Below, you’ll find my essay about self-publishing—why we should be open to reading self-published work and why it may be particularly valuable for writers of color. (Writers who are not of color should note that I wrote an entire essay about self-publishing in New York without ever once bringing up Walt Whitman.) Enjoy!
“Get my book–$1. $1 for the whole thing. Read the back. Good story for only $1.”
I first saw him at last summer’s West Indian Day Festival–a corn-rolled man in his early twenties, backpack full of books trying to tempt passersby to buy his latest novel. The man made me take notice: I’d seen people on the street before selling their $1 poems (that is, the price = $1 per poem), but an entire novel was a bargain–and this young author knew it. He’d get right in your face, his head so close you could smell his hair grease, walking up to people and waiving his book under their faces, telling them in an ominous voice to buy his book or they’d regret it. I couldn’t help but smile at this young writer’s aggressive self-confidence as he metaphorically thumbed his nose at all the major bookstores.
You know major bookstores. Major bookstores have “colored” book sections, an “African-American interest” or “Latino Interest” implying that only persons of color are interested in reading books by authors of color, or worse yet, that the books that we colored read can be confined to one tiny section. But I see us all the time reading—on subways, brownstone stoops, those cute little outdoor cafes–our heads tucked into novels, newspapers, semi-inspirational books on how to get ahead.
And so as this young writer’s T.A.S.M: A Mystery Novel competed with national flags, jewelry, oxtails, Michael Jackson t-shirts and Obama hats for people’s spending dollars, I felt that there was something noble about what he was trying to do. A lot of my friends complain self-published literature is too ghetto, too lacking nuisance, but at least these writers have a chance of getting read, and that’s more than many writers can say. In the past, we’ve been supportive—too supportive—of traditional avenues that could care less about our culture or our art.
We know the value of creativity and reinvention because we already did this for hip-hop—we took the classic R&B of our parents, appreciated its artistry, and used it to create wondrous new art. I hope that today we’re doing the same for literature.
Tags: people & things I like, self-publishing, writing, writing process
January 28th, 2010 at 7:19 pm
Go for it. I will purchase your book. We could also start a publishing company! Why not? We just need to think about distribution. Why not publish everything electronically and let purchasers download it onto their Kindles, Sony Readers, and laptops. I know the publishing industry is concerned about electronic media!
January 31st, 2010 at 4:56 am
Hey Michele–that’s a great idea! I’ve been reading your blog and enjoying it, and I’m curious to read more of your fiction. I’m enjoying writing on my blog, and as I learn more about distribution and publicity, I do plan to venture out and start publishing fiction in electronic form. The Internet has opened up so many wonderful opportunities–and I’m excited and willing to take advantage of all of them! :)