Interesting point-
I forget where I read this, so if someone else recognizes this advice, feel free to remind me where it came from. Miss Snark? Not sure. Anyway, I’ve been pondering it for a while.
Wanna-bes, amateurs, people like us, often have a tendency to look at the successful types and want to know their secrets. They (we) tend to think that the way to get at those secrets is to ask the person for help, either on the advice level or the “read my manuscript/listen to my podcast/view my website and send me comments” level.
Most ever successful author has a FAQ on their site that has the inevitable question, “Will you read my manuscript for me?” They all reply with, “No, sorry, if I did this for everyone who asked I wouldn’t have time to write.”
I met up with this first hand when I did the crit contest a couple of months ago, and I realized how much text I had to read during my simple little contest. If I did that all the time, I’d never get anything done.
So this advice I’m alluding to. How can you get successful people to notice you and help you? Help them first. Look at it from their POV. You’re a stranger coming to them for help. Have you ever been focused on something, really busy, and someone came to you for help on something that would take up a considerable amount of time? You may think you’re only asking something small, but if you see yourself as one of 100 people asking the same thing of someone, listen to a hundred podcasts, look at a hundred sites, read a hundred novels… it gets overwhelming. But if the same person had a relationship with you, you would be more open to helping them because you know that they would do the same for you if you needed something. So if you come to them showing that you’re someone who is willing to give as well as get, then perhaps later they could reciprocate.
Now the question of how to help someone who a) is probably a stranger, b) is probably far away from you, and c) well, there is no C - I just like to list things in threes. Contact them, tell them how much you admire their work. If you read their blog, perhaps they list something that they needed help with, or a problem in their life. Offer to do a fansite. If they’re a podcaster, offer to play their promo before you ask if they will play yours. If you’re lucky and they’re local, see if they need help with the administrative end of whatever they’re doing. Once you present yourself as someone who gives instead of takes, then they may have a more generous view of you.
I’ve been thinking of this because while I don’t ask famous people to read my novel or listen to my podcast, I do ask advice from people who I’ve made contact with. And I’m starting to wonder whether I am approaching them with a giving attitude instead of a taking one.
About the Author: I am a writer and podcast producer, writing for magazines and RPGs. I am a wanna-be fiction writer with several short fiction, comic scripts, and one novel sale. Playing For Keeps will be out August, '08.
Scott Phillips | Apr 26, 2006 | Reply
You definitely have a point, and I agree with it. I have asked of you and the dragon page guys in the past for info on podcasting, and I feel that I need to do something in return. So should you ever need anything, I’d definitely be willing to lend whatever aid that I can. If I ever get my podcast up and going I will definitely play your promos, cause you are the main reason I started writing again and why I’m thinking about podcasting. Thanks Mur.
Mr. Sock | Apr 26, 2006 | Reply
I’ve also asked you for podcasting help and have wanted to offer help in return. It’s a fine line between asking for help and feeling as though you’re bothering someone and being kind to help another along.
Mur, you’ve given much feedback to your listeners (as well as to me personally) and I sincerely appreciate the help. And as Scott Phillips has written, if you need help, I can do my best to help (promote something on my website to link to a project of yours, etc.) Just let us know.
But taking this in another direction: What I’d must want to hear from successful and even mid-list writers is their story: How did each of them get to where they are? Being a full-time writer and surviving off of that paycheck isn’t easy. I can’t even imagine doing that. Yet many writers do it: This harkens back to your “Don’t Quit Your Day Job” episode. Oftentimes writing doesn’t pay a lot. I’d like to hear the stories of writers: How they obtained their first “break.” Was it through networking (a friend of a friend introduced them to an agent). Did they attend a con and meet an agent there? Did they volunteer for a website and met people that way, etc. To me, these are interesting and also useful stories for those of us who try to be published–and in another light, the stories are also inspiriational!
Scott M. Sandridge | Apr 26, 2006 | Reply
I agree with your point 100%. “You scratch my back, I scratch yours” is the mainstay of every relationship, business and otherwise. Not even the Good Samaritan had time to go out of his way to help everybody. He only helped who he could, when he could. Everybody has their own life to live, and even the most selfless among us can only do so much.
Mur Lafferty | Apr 27, 2006 | Reply
For the record, I certainly don’t mind giving out podcasting advice. I’m not saying that you guys are bugging me.
Aaron Hollman | Apr 29, 2006 | Reply
This is a great point, but I would like to add a thought. People are complex creatures. What works for one author probably will not work for someone else. Everyone has their own writing style.
The point I am trying to make is this: asking your favorite author how they became famous and published may not work for you. You have different life experiences, different ideas, and different ways of doing things.
In my opinion, trying to emulate your favorite author may not allow you to think beyond what that other author has done. I have found this out personally trying several different times to write something in the same style as someone else and each time failing miserably.
I am not saying that published authors can’t contribute to other authors, they obviously can and have only on a more general level rather than a specific one. Stephen King, Orson Scott Card and others have tried to solve the problem of helping many want-to-be authors at once by doing what they do best, writing a book.
That is my two cents.
aaron
Mur Lafferty | Apr 29, 2006 | Reply
Aaron-
that really wasn’t the point. I was saying that if you want something from someone, offer them something first.
If you don’t want advice from that famous author, then it really doesn’t apply.
Anonymous | May 2, 2006 | Reply
You raise a good point, not only in writing but in life in general.
When I was in the SCA, I was happy to clean and tote the armor of the guy who was training me. Then again, it was expected of me. But it did help me become more part of the group that had been there awhile.