Hello and welcome to this Track of Words guest post, where I’m joined by the excellent Amanda Bridgeman – author of books such as The Subjugate, The Sensation, and Pandemic: Patient Zero – to talk about some of the realities of life as a professional writer. As an avid reader and someone who’s fascinated by the publishing industry, I love hearing authors talk about what their careers are really like and what the challenges are, so I was delighted when Amanda kindly offered to share some of her own insights gathered over many years of experience as an author. Whether you’re a writer yourself or just a keen observer of the industry like me, there’s loads of interesting things to think about in this article!
The tail end of 2022 has brought with it two intriguing releases for Amanda: her first Marvel novel, Sound of Light (part of Aconyte Books’ School of X range), and her first Black Library story, the Sisters of Battle short story Reconsecration, featured in Inferno! Presents: The Emperor’s Finest. So read on to enjoy this great article, then follow the links at the end to check out both of these cool new releases.
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This year marked the 10th anniversary of signing my first book contract (Aurora: Darwin). I can’t believe I’ve been a professional writer for 10 years! That said, it took me a long time to actually call myself that. It’s been a tumultuous ride, so I thought I’d share my top 10 lessons learnt.
Lesson 1: Patience
Regardless of what you write, patience is a virtue in the publishing world. EVERYTHING takes a long time. Research takes time. Writing takes time. Editing takes time. Beta-reading takes time. Finding an agent takes time. Finding a publisher takes time. Professional edits take time. Marketing takes time – and actually never ends… Self-publishing is a little bit faster, but you still need to follow most of these steps if you want to release a good book to your readers. It’s a marathon, not a sprint, so stock up on patience before you set out.
Lesson 2: Finding Your Tribe
Publishing is a tough business filled with many ups and downs, so it’s important to find the people who support you through thick and thin. The ones who cheer your wins, commiserate your losses, and critique your work with care. It’s not as easy as it sounds. It’s a bit like dating, I guess. You’ll know the right ones when they come along. So, don’t fall for the misconception that writing is a solitary pursuit. On the journey to publication, you need your support tribe around you, and when you win that contract, you’ll want a good publishing team around you too.
Lesson 3: Finding Yourself
As a writer, it’s important to understand who you are and what you do. Most importantly, don’t try to be something you’re not. I’ve always struggled with the advice to ‘pick a lane’ with writing because it makes you easier to market. I like to try my hand at different genres and formats. I’ve written original novels and short stories, tie-in novels and short stories. I’ve written all different kinds of sci-fi, I’ve written thrillers, and then there’s the different genres I’ve covered in my screenwriting. To me, variety is the spice of life, so I don’t want to be boxed into any one ‘lane’.
For many years I felt like I didn’t fit within the publishing – an industry that does like to box writers, in order to market them. Was I a sci-fi author? Was I a tie-in writer? Or was I, perhaps, a screenwriter instead? Seeking direction to answer these questions, I finally had a good think about who I am as a writer, and that’s when I realised that my strength was my versatility. I wasn’t just one genre or one format of fiction – I was many. Upon the advice of a screenwriter friend, I went even further and narrowed down my own personal logline to really understand who I am: I’m a versatile writer who delivers commercial, character-driven stories, that are equal parts action and heart.
It took me a long time, but I finally found my writing self.
Amanda’s next novel is Sound of Light, part of Aconyte Books’ Marvel School of X range
Lesson 4: Art is Subjective
Now’s a good time to talk about how art is subjective. One person’s trash is another person’s treasure. Yes, Author X may sell a lot of books, but there’s still plenty of readers out there who don’t like their work. This is where you come in to offer an alternative. That’s the beautiful thing about art – there’s something for everyone, and an audience for everything. So next time someone doesn’t like your book, don’t stress, it just wasn’t their cup of tea, but it will be someone else’s. And if you’re having a really down day, go read all the one star reviews for any huge authors you know of. They all get one star reviews too. Why? Because art is subjective.
Lesson 5: Keep Learning
Never stop learning. Just because you’ve had a novel published does not mean you’ve mastered the art. You write the next one and the next one, listen to the reviews and feedback you get, listen to successful artists talk about their craft and see what tips and tricks you can pick up. Keep learning and keep striving to improve. There is no end point. We can always write better. We can always market ourselves better.
On that note, read widely. Read across genres, not just the one you’re writing in. The same goes for writing formats. If you’re a fiction novelist, read comics, short stories, screenplays, and non-fiction. Biographies (both written and documentary form), for example, are great for analysing people, examining their backstories (upbringing and life experiences) and how they shaped who they became. These are fabulous if you want to improve how you write your own characters and their backstories.
Don’t assume you know everything you need to know about storytelling. Be willing to learn from others.
Lesson 6: Don’t Assume
You think you know the facts, but do you really? Don’t trust yourself to know certain ‘facts’ within the stories you create, or assume that editors, proof-readers or beta readers will catch mistakes. We’re all human, we all make mistakes, and sometimes we just don’t know things or have believed falsehoods circulated in society. So, despite what you think you might know, or what you think your team will pick up, double check or even triple check everything and research your facts anyway. You really don’t want to learn in a public review that something you thought was right, is actually wrong.
Lesson 7: Networking
I can’t stress how important this is. There’s a certain amount of truth to the saying ‘It’s not what you know but who you know’. Yes, talent is important, but if no-one knows who you are, you won’t get far. Attend as many conventions as you can. Try to spend some time on social media every day. You can learn so much from the people that you meet (online or in person), and it can set you up for future success.
It’s important to note that those living in markets like the U.S. are privileged in that many of the biggest publishers, editors and agents reside there and it is much easier for U.S. authors to meet these in person at conventions and form relationships, and even just tweet in the right time zones to catch the larger market’s attention, than it is for those of us on the other side of the globe. So, if you’re an author living outside of the U.S. and even the U.K., understand that you don’t have that privilege working for you and sometimes need to work a lot harder to be seen.
Amanda’s first Black Library short story – Reconsecration – is available in this anthology
Lesson 8: Have a crack
If there’s something you want to try your hand at – writing a novel or short story or film, etc. – then just have a crack. What’s the worst that can happen? You can open that closed door or keep wondering what’s behind it. Trust me, it’s better to open the door and have a look inside. If you find what’s inside doesn’t work for you, that’s actually awesome! Now you can close that door and move on to the next one and not waste any more time thinking about it. Save that brain space for something that counts. And if you do open the door to the thing you’ve often wondered about, you might just find something that works perfectly for you. Writing is exploration – of worlds, of characters, of ourselves. Open that door and see what you discover about yourself.
Lesson 9: Believe in yourself
Ladies, the cold hard truth is, if you don’t believe in yourself, no-one else will. People are naturally drawn to confidence, and if you’re not confident in your writing, then readers won’t be either. I have been on so many panels at writing conventions (around the world) and been astounded at the confidence of the Straight White Male Author with one book out, who talks for minutes on end in response to each question. It took me a looong time to find my voice to speak up and try to match them, but I finally realised if I didn’t do it for myself, no-one else would. These male authors saw the prize and were determined to get theirs, so they went for it. And who can blame them? As the saying goes, a closed mouth don’t get fed, so if you want something, you have to go for it. The championing of your work starts with you. Don’t be like me and take years to build up that confidence. Start today. Lean into that microphone. You have every right to take up space.
Lesson 10: Trust Your Gut
Your gut will tell you the truth every time. If something niggles at you when writing, it means something’s not right with your story and you need to fix it. If it niggles you, it will niggle readers too and wind up in your reviews. Your gut will absolutely warn you if something doesn’t stack up.
Your gut will also tell you when something is right and to absolutely go for it. Even if someone else has tried to convince you otherwise. Agents and publishers will overlook you, sometimes for simple reasons like they already have a similar story on their slate. Your gut will tell you if you have something good that you should persist with.
That said, if writing and rejection is causing you too much misery, it’s okay to give up and leave the industry. If it’s not doing good things to your mental health, then step back. It’s a tumultuous ride and requires an incredibly thick skin – particularly with today’s social media, where everyone has an opinion and can hide behind anonymity and deliver it as cruelly as they feel. It can be hard and it’s not for everybody.
However, if, in the face of rejection or trolls, you still believe in yourself and believe there’s an audience for your work, then keep going. You’ll find your place eventually – once you’ve tried opening some of those doors.
Even if it takes you ten years…
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Amanda Bridgeman is a versatile writer who enjoys working across both original and tie-in worlds. She is a two-time Tin Duck Award winner, an Aurealis and Ditmar Awards finalist, and author of several novels and short stories, including the Aurora series, The Time of the Stripes, Scribe Award winning novel Pandemic: Patient Zero, and the Salvation series consisting of The Subjugate and The Sensation, which is currently being developed for TV by Anonymous Content and Aquarius Films.
You can follow Amanda on Twitter, or check out her website for more information.
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I’d like to say a massive thank you to Amanda for agreeing to write this article as part of the 2022 Track of Words Advent Calendar series, and for sharing her experience and insight with us. And congratulations on 10 years in publishing! As I said at the start, I think this is fascinating to read for writers and readers alike, so I hope you’ve enjoyed reading it.
You can also check out my interview with Amanda discussing Pandemic: Patient Zero.
Sound of Light and Inferno! Presents The Emperor’s Finest are both out now (from Aconyte Books and Black Library, respectively) – check out the links below to order your copies:
*If you buy anything using any of these links, I will receive a small affiliate commission – see here for more details.
If you enjoyed this article and would like to support Track of Words, you can leave me a tip on my Ko-Fi page.
Many true words, Amanda!