Here’s a recent letter that touches on the “P” word:
Dear Betsy, My wife has a terrific idea for a book, a kind of sourcebook or compendium. She doesn’t work in the field, and has no qualifications that particularly scream Expert. Having said that, she has a prestigious MFA and excellent publications from small literary magazines in multiple genres. Assuming she had a knockout proposal, could she sell this book? Or would she get the No Platform cold shoulder? Sincerely, “R”
Dear “R”, First, I have to admit that I am always a little grossed out when people write on behalf of their spouses. What’s up with that?
Look, it’s impossible to answer without knowing the field– one field may be more forgiving than another. For instance, if she wanted to write about skin cancer then by all rights she should head up Sloan Kettering’s skin cancer department. Her other credentials aren’t nothing and may attest to her writing skills. We’ve all sold proposals whose authors had less than perfect platforms. It’s just so much easier when they do.
I used to work for an editor in chief who was obsessed with platform. In fact, he barely wanted to consider a writer who wasn’t from the Ivy leagues for starters. Ditto, journalists had to work at the top tier papers he deemed worthy. It felt like he had a scorecard for every project and if you could tic nine out of the ten attributes, you might get to acquire the book. While I was ripshit about this at the time, the unfairness of it all, as I grew up in publishing I saw how helpful it was to have the right platform. I came to see that not only my uptight boss but the rest of world wanted authors with mega-watt credentials. That’s how you got booked on TV! If you were from a top tier organization, the media would pay attention. Look how much coverage Frank Bruni is getting for his book about overeating, for example. If he had been a food critic for the Fuckme Herald, I doubt his book would have gotten any attention. Well, that’s not fair, I haven’t actually read it yet. The good news is that books and authors break through all the time, people without formal education or advanced degrees, people with sketchy resumes, people who couldn’t find their way out of a paperbag. It still happens, maybe with less frequency. The world is still blessedly unpredictable.
Did I answer the question? Your wife has a chance in hell unless that proposal really does come at the earth like a meteor. Now, can I ask you a question? Is this really about your “wife”?
Filed under: FAQ, Protocol, Publishing |
Betsy Lerner 
I agree with you, Betsy. There’s something oddly disquieting about a person who asks questions on behalf of someone else, unless that someone is a child. In fact it implies that the someone for whom the question is asked might as well be a child, or else it seems there is some veiled attempt on the part of the questioner to get information for himself. This applies especially to writers, who ought, one would hope, to be able to write for themselves. Though of course there might well be some perfectly understandable explanation here and our cynicism is unwarranted.
When I saw that the poster was asking a question about his wife’s work, I thought he was asking it without her knowledge because he loved her, and he wanted to surprise her with the answers that he gathered.
Love is neat: people write books about it.
Dear Betsy:
My cat has a terrific idea for a book, a kind of sourcebook or compendium, or fancy shopping list . She doesn’t work in the field — she’s strictly a house cat — and has no qualifications except for a prestigious MFA (ha ha, that’s a joke: if my cat had a prestigious MFA she’d be writting this letter herself!!) and excellent publications from small literary magazines in multiple genres, if I know what “genres” mean and I think I do.
Assuming she had a knockout proposal, could she sell this book? Or would she get the No Platform cold shoulder just because she’s a cat?
P.S. I’m enclosing my phone number so that when you call me back you can hear my kid’s ADORABLE voice on my answering machine. Or you can find me on Facebook, where I’ve put my kid’s ADORABLE picture up instead of my own. My kid’s name is Tiffany Caylee Taylor Madison Camryn (I used to watch a lot of night-time soap operas in the 1990’s) — isn’t that unique?!
It is a little odd that he’s writing for her, but on the other hand, I think it’s adorable that he’s taken an interest in his wife’s ambitions. Maybe he’s her official assistant and is just trying to learn more about the business?
Obviously, there’s a lot to learn but that’s true of all of us.
Gee, we have to be from the Ivy League? Why? I graduated from the college ranked #1 by Forbes last month. Ahead of all those Ivy League schools. Except in the fine print, what people don’t realize is one of the factors Forbes calculated into their rankings was debt upon graduation and since the Military Academy PAYS its students, never mind have a debt ( except for the minor detail of five years service with the bonus of getting blown up in the I or A) that kind of skews things. But, alas, that also is a platform I use.
Writing a non-fiction book about something which you are not an expert in, is almost a futile exercise. Of course, you might have this most wonderful dog in the world named Marly– but that author also was a professional writer for years beforehand so knew the craft.
Writing is a PROFESSION. People treat it like the lottery. I’ve taught thousands of wanna-be writers over the years and 95% don’t want to learn anything– they want validation. Sorry. Actually go play the lottery. The odds are the same and it’s a lot less work.
I’m not being cynical. I’m saying take this seriously to those of you who want to get published. Everyone in it does. Just found out my editors at S&S got fired. My former editor at Random House got fired. It’s a serious business.
It’s also the greatest job in the world. There’s nothing I want to do more. Because it’s my passion. You can build a platform, but it takes time. My friend Katherine Ramsland is one of the foremost investigators into serial killers. That doesn’t she was a serial killer– well, I hope not. She studied, networked, got a degree, went to work, built up years and years of expertise. I’ve spent 32 years building my platform and still am adding to it.
So, good luck. Seriously. It’s called hard work.
Well said, Bob! Writing can be a job that pays the bills. Writing fiction is a hobby for 99.99% of those who do it.
MFA, MBA, Iowa State, Columbia: who cares? If you have risen to the top in the Widget field, I’ll take a look at your Widget book. If it’s terse, lucid and otherwise appealing, I might buy it.
Betsy, thank you for a thorough and insightful answer.
Yes, I asked the question on my wife’s behalf. Tara H. had it right: I just wanted to do a little of the legwork so she didn’t have to.
Thanks again.
Good for you, R !
I declare, people are so cynical these days!