Ever go to the grocery store to pick out a box of chocolate chip cookies? The aisle is full of varieties, packed in all kinds of boxes and bags, every possible size and color and shape. Mini-chips, dark chocolate, soft-baked, hard.
Now imagine that you’re a baker with the best chocolate cookie recipe ever. Everyone loves your cookies, even your mother-in-law. You finally decide to take them public. So you march to the closest Nabisco factory, recipe in hand. To your surprise, you find that you’re not the only person with a new chocolate chip cookie recipe to sell. There are thousands of bakers just like you, each claiming to have a new and unique cookie, better than the rest. The factory has hired a purchasing agent, just to screen the applicants, but you can’t even get him to try a sample of your cookie. He has boxes and boxes of cookies already, moldering in every corner of his office, piled from floor to ceiling, You leave the factory incensed—and outraged. How will you ever get anyone to buy your cookies if they won’t even take a bite?
What does this have to do with writing, you ask? Well, take a look at that manuscript you’re working on. Don’t think of it as a book—think of it as a chocolate chip cookie.
It’s a matter of supply and demand. There are simply far more books being written today than the publishing industry can possibly handle—just as there are far more cookie recipes than anyone could ever bake. Even delicious ones.
What’s a writer to do?
There’s no easy answer, but it helps to understand that publishing is nothing special. It’s a business like any other, controlled by the same economic factors that affect every other industry, including the need to make a profit to survive. Go to any bookstore. The shelves are already crammed with books. Your job is to figure out a way to squeeze in room for one more.
It also helps to realize that none of this is new. Writers have always struggled to get their books into print. Like baking, it helps to be creative, and like any other business endeavor, it helps to be persistent. In the weeks to come, we’ll profile writers who have made it into print, along with other intriguing news from the publishing world. You might be surprised at what you learn. There are new and inventive opportunities for writers springing up by the day—one of them just might be right for you.
By the way, if you happen to have the best recipe ever for chocolate cookies, please don’t be shy. Send it along. At Screw Iowa! we’re not ashamed to admit we’re addicted. Sometimes a little bit of chocolate is just what we need to fuel the muse.
