Minor League Lessons: Becky Mushko

This first appeared as a post in April 2011.

Note from Leona: I first met Becky Mushko at the Christopher Newport Writers Conference a few years back; she was reading from one of her vanity-published books and putting on an outrageously awesome act in the process. I still have that book, but more importantly, I’m still keeping in touch with Becky; and her steadily increasing skill and savvy over the intervening years has been a lot of fun to watch, as has tracking her growing notoriety and well-deserved recognition. With an award-winning, traditionally published YA novel, Ferradiddledumday,  now under her belt, and a second, Stuck, just released, I thought it was time to invite her in for a talk about what she’s learned. Becky is living proof that people can start out with self or even vanity publications and turn it around into a traditional success story–but she’s also not afraid to point out that it’s the hard way round, and not a good path for most people to walk. Enjoy!

For 17 years, I’ve considered myself a writer. I taught for decades before I actually wrote anything worthy of publication. Then I won some regional writing contests, did some freelance writing, and wrote a humor column for ten years. I even wrote a novel.

Not knowing that writers typically go through a string of rejections before achieving success, I quit submitting my novel to publishers after two rejections. At a writers conference ten years ago, I met Melanie Rigney, then editor of Writers’ Digest, who advised I self-publish. “You’ll make more money,” she said.

A few months later, my novel won an arts council’s fiction contest, and the prize was partial payment to self-publish. I figured if the council believed in my book, I should, too. I shopped for printers and soon had a thousand copies. Because the arts council arranged appearances for me and generally acted as my publicist, I was able to sell out my press run, buy a nicer computer, put some money in the bank, and do a second run.

At the same 2001 conference, I also meet a representative from a vanity press. Their books looked nice, and the prices were reasonable. Consequently, I vanity-published two collections each of my previously published columns and short stories. While I didn’t make a lot of money, I didn’t lose any either. Bookstores rarely carry vanity-published books, however, so I had to sell them at speaking engagements and other appearances.

Selling books became a hassle, and I no longer wanted to pay to publish. But when I began querying agents and publishers, I ran into problems. My previous book sales were very low by commercial standards, and I couldn’t be a debut author. Larger commercial presses wouldn’t be interested in my work.

Fortunately, I found a reputable small press which published my Appalachian folktale Ferradiddledumday in 2010, and my middle grade novel Stuck in 2011. I didn’t have to pay to be published, I was given boxes of free author copies, my books are available both online and in bookstores, and my publisher promotes me regionally. I earn modest royalties and receive invitations to do readings. I’ll never be a New York Times best-selling author or get an agent or be published by a big NY house. As writing goes, I’m in the minor leagues.

During the last decade, I’ve learned a lot about publishing:

Self-publishing (or vanity publishing) is not the way to get your foot in the publishing door. I’ve encountered several people who tell me they want to self-publish (or vanity publish) their novels “to get the attention” of an agent or publisher or to get their work “out there.” I tell them doing that won’t achieve their desired results. Publishing, I’ve learned, isn’t a field of dreams. It’s a business. True, some authors have done well by self-publishing. But they’re the exception and they usually have a book that fits a niche market. Few novels are niche. “Out there,” despite the ease of self-publishing and vanity publishing, can be a desolate place.

A good writers group, crit group, and beta readers are necessities. A writers group should share information and experiences about publishing opportunities, scams to avoid, techniques, etc. A crit group should give in-depth help to your work-in-progress and suggest ways to make you manuscript more effective. Beta readers should read the whole manuscript and make suggestions or help you polish it for submission.

Attend writers conferences. Besides attending the workshops at a conference, talk to attendees, especially ones who have successfully published. Exchange business cards.

Acquire writing credentials. Submit stories to magazines. Enter legitimate writing contests. Write a column for a local publication.

Use the Internet: Research agents or publishers so you won’t get scammed. Absolute Write and Preditors & Editors are good places to start. Use social media—Facebook will help you connect with a lot of people who have similar interests, and Twitter can help get your word out.

Blog. I once heard an agent say at a conference that your blog is your column. It proves you can write, and write consistently. Don’t just blog about your work-in-progress. Blog about your interests and things you do—and read other people’s blogs.

Build your website before you actually need one. It helps people find you and learn what you’ve been doing. Even if you don’t have any published books, you should at least have a welcome page, a bio, and some samples of your writing—and links to your blog and Facebook page. My publisher requires me to have a website.

Support your local bookstore and library. Both places will be more amenable to letting you do readings and signings if you aren’t a stranger.

Keep improving your skills. Take writing classes or workshops. Read books that will help you write better. Two of my favorites are Noah Lukeman’s The First Five Pages and Constance Hale’s Sin and Syntax: How to Craft Wickedly Effective Prose.

Don’t pay to be published unless you’re writing for a very small niche market and you already have a readership in place. Commercial publishing, even with a small press, is much more satisfying than self-publishing or vanity publishing.

I wish I’d known some of these things when I first started writing. But it’s never too late to learn.

 Becky Mushko is a retired teacher who lives in rural Franklin County, Virginia. She has won multiple awards for her writing, including the 2010 CNU Writers Conference Fiction Contest, the 2007 Virginia Writers Club “Back Page” and “Golden Nib” Contests, the 2004 and 1005 Lonesome Pine Short Story Contest, divisions of the Bulwer-Lytton Bad Fiction Contest in 1996, 1999, and 2008, and many more. She is the writer behind “Peevish Advice”, a regular humor column that ran in “Blue Ridge Traditions” for ten years. She now blogs regularly about frugal living, has had her short fiction and poetry published in several places, and currently has two novels out, Ferradiddledumday (YA) and Stuck (MG).