‘We Just Published That Story’
You took the time to write your very best book, only to suffer the anguish of seeing another writer beat you to the punch. Now what?
‘Don’t Hurry’
As writers, we’re often advised, “Don’t hurry. Take the time to write your very best story.” And, of course, it’s good advice. But once you’ve been at it for a while as an author, this commitment to creative languor can lead to some wrenching growing pains.
This happened to me recently. In late 2019, I had one of those magical experiences we writers strive for: I was attending an MFA alumni program, and one evening I landed in the bar next to a literary agent. It turned out she was from Northern California, where I’m from, and was therefore aware of and interested in topics explored in the novel I had been working on for over a decade, a novel set in a Silicon Valley startup during the late-90s tech boom. The conversation covered many of these topics and lasted for nearly an hour, and at the end of it, she said, “Look me up!”
Which, of course, I did. As I continued my work finalizing the novel, I looked the agent up on Publishers Marketplace, acquired the last two published works she had represented, and read them. Seeing a number of parallels between the stories in these novels and my own, I began constructing an e-mail to the agent outlining these parallels and the ways my work might fit with her aesthetic. As I had been advised, I was taking my time: I was getting final reads on my pages and considering hiring an editor, and, of course, 2020 was 2020.
Beaten to the Punch
This week, I reached the point where I was ready to start pitching my novel to agents and editors, and, of course, the first step was to finalize this e-mail to this wonderful agent with whom I had at least some level of personal connection. As a final step, I went back to Publishers Marketplace to check up on her again, and I made a heart-wrenching discovery: a book deal she had recently closed that contained this description:
…set in early aughts New York, …best friends and tech company outcasts’ data heist takes a turn when one, the lone black employee at their firm, is killed in a car accident — as the other stumbles upon her online friend, they uncover her hidden online lives and buried secrets…
My story is set in Silicon Valley, not New York, and it doesn’t include any data heists, but it is set in 1998 — essentially the same as the “early aughts” — it does include diverse characters and a pivotal car accident, and it is constructed around buried secrets. In short, this agent has just sold a story that is, in many ways, similar to mine. There’s no way she’ll be interested in my book now.
Soldiering On
I don’t recount this tale to impugn the idea of taking your time and writing your best book, because everything starts with that. Even if an agent or editor then goes on to drag you through the mud with endless revisions, only to dump you in the end, the simple fact is, neither that, nor its opposite of immediate acceptance, smooth sailing to publication, and unexpectedly strong sales, will ever happen if you don’t write your best book in the first place.
No, I’m recounting this tale both to get it off my chest and to illustrate how small speed bumps along the writer’s journey can be emotionally jarring in ways that make it hard to pick oneself up and soldier on. I of course immediately berated myself for not getting the job done sooner, for not pitching the book to this agent right away, before it was finished, and for any number of other things I could have done differently along the way. But I quickly recognized that none of that would do any good, and the only choice I had was to dust myself off, continue down the list of potential agents and editors, and keep on pitching. What’s more, the writer’s journey absolutely requires that we do this over and over again.
Closing Thought: Don’t Sell Yourself Short
So, if you have an agent or editor who is gentle and supportive, certainly thank your stars. But don’t sell yourself short: you earned their confidence in the first place by taking the time to write your very best book. And if you’re like me, still grinding it out in the pre-publication phase, these are lessons you can take away from my experience:
Get those conversations with the gatekeepers — agents, editors, publishers — wherever and whenever you can
I still plan to reach back out to this agent, for instance, just to get myself back onto her radar, and perhaps congratulate her on closing that deal for the book that is so very similar to mine.
If a gatekeeper says, “Look me up,” do it, and do it quickly
This is one thing that doesn’t require the creative languor that your writing does. Use whatever resources you have, whether it’s Publishers Marketplace, Poets & Writers, or former teachers, classmates, or other writers in your circle, to learn more about the gatekeepers and enrich your queries.
If someone does beat your to the punch, set that knowledge aside and keep on pitching
The bad news and good news is that there are something like 4 million books published each year: bad news because of all the competition (we all knew that); good news because your unique story will always have a place.
Keep going
Finally, you can add me to the hundreds of writers on Medium who advise you to keep going, to persevere, to keep developing your craft. I realize that infuriating discoveries like the one I made in Publishers Marketplace this week make this a very hard thing to do, but really, as a writer, you don’t really have any other choice.
So don’t sell yourself short. Be your own best advocate, but start by taking the time to write your very best book.
