by Kate McMurray
TIP: Think big and take risks!
I read a really
fascinating article recently about “imposter syndrome.” I suspect a lot of
creative women suffer from this particular ailment. In a nutshell, imposter syndrome
is feeling like you’re a hack or a fraud despite the contrary evidence of your
success. As women, we’re often taught to downplay our accomplishments, to never
boast to loudly, so I think a lot of us have internalized that to the point
where we don’t think our successes are deserved no matter how hard we work for
them.
A related problem for
creative people is not aspiring to bigger things. There’s this notion of being
a starving artist and the assumption that comes with it that being successful
is somehow a betrayal of art or selling out. One of the things that I find particularly
notable about RWA and the chapters I’ve been involved with is the way we’re all
so supportive of each other. We celebrate success. Our successes deserve celebration.
I love that and it’s one of the reasons I stay involved. Writing a novel is not
an easy thing to do, nor is publishing one, and we should all celebrate those
accomplishments.
I think we should also
aim higher.
Here’s where imposter
syndrome comes in. I was talking to a friend of mine recently who is
considering selfpublishing. He told me he didn’t care if he made money from the
book; he just wanted people to read it. That’s noble, and if you’re not looking
to make a career from writing, maybe it’s the right attitude. But there an
awshucks-iness about that, too, the attitude of, Well, I’ll never be Stephen
King or Nora Roberts, so if I only sell five copies, that’s fine. I don’t know
about you, but I have bigger dreams than that. I’m fond of telling people I
want to be Nora Roberts when I grow up. Why not aim big?
The way publishing works
now, you can make a decent income by publishing regularly and being smart about
marketing. Maybe you won’t be Nora Roberts famous, but you can earn enough to
live on. That’s true even if you publish in a niche like LGBT romance or write
in a genre that seems to be slumping like historical. Every time one of my
writer friends quits his or her day job, I am so psyched for them. A book angel
gets her wings, I think.
There are a few ways to
break out of the imposter syndrome rut.
First, write your crazy
idea. By the time this is printed, National Novel Writing Month will be over.
NaNoWriMo is a breeding ground for crazy ideas. That forced writing time means
sometimes you think, “Well, this is nuts, but word count, so I guess I’ll write
it.” Genius is born in those moments. Why not run with them? “But no one’s
buying lesbian historical sci fi,” you argue. Nonsense. No one knows what the
next big thing will be, so why not give it a stab? The books that have lately
really stood out from the crowd do things a little differently They’re
historicals that take place in unusual settings—not the Regency, in other
words—or genre mashups—Paranormal creatures in the Jazz Age! Romance on a
starship!—or they take that crazy idea and turn it into a compelling story. You
want a book that stands out, not that blends in.
Second, try new things.
Not just with your writing. Try a new marketing plan. Go to a conference you’ve
never attended before. Offer to guest post for a blog you’ve never written for.
Try self-publishing or submitting a story to an anthology call or doing
something that defies the convention wisdom.
I think it’s easy to
fall into the trap of doing what’s safe and familiar. It’s easy, too, to settle
for the first offer. We worked so hard to get published, and the first time
someone says, “I want to publish this story,” you want to jump for joy and say,
“Yes!” But are you really making the wisest choice for your career? Or, once
your book is out there, you tend to stick to promotional spaces where you feel
safe—your own social media accounts, author loops you belong to, etc.—but don’t
branch out. It’s important to let your fans know you have a new book out, but
it’s important to find new readers and grow your career as well.
Think big and take
risks! Books always benefit from innovation and authors trying new things, so
why not be on the cutting edge of that?♥
Kate McMurray is an
award-winning author of gay romance and an unabashed romance fan. When she’s
not writing, she works as a nonfiction editor, dabbles in various crafts, and
is maybe a tiny bit obsessed with baseball. She’s currently serving as
President of Rainbow Romance Writers, the LGBT romance chapter of Romance Writers
of America. She lives in Brooklyn, NY. Visit her at www.katemcmurray.com.
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