Jim Hines talks about his experiences in getting used to how slow the publishing industry can be sometimes. Whether it’s short stories taking a year or more to get rejected, or a publisher making an offer on a novel after more than two years…the reality is, getting the story written and revised is often only half the trial (if that) of getting published. The industry is constantly burping and hiccuping, with editors switching houses at a moment’s notice, marketing budgets getting slashed,
Even with his history of being published, Hines isn’t guaranteed a shoe-in on every contract he submits for. This can be greatly frustrating for those of us who have to sit and twitch until the rejection letter returns from the last agent who requested a partial. However, Hines also makes a good point that the delay…however many years of work it takes for you to get a story published, is not wasted. That is time for you to be improving your craft, developing new stories, rewriting old ones (as long as they are worth the effort) and making yourself a better writer altogether. Maybe that first novel isn’t as good as you thought it was. Do you want to get it published in a hurry, only to look back in a few years and wish you waited, or didn’t publish it at all because of how bad it turned out?
Perspective sucks, doesn’t it? Mainly because it requires patience, something few of us enjoy. But in the end, it may be for the best.
I see that smile.