The Cost of Perfection
I am a fan of The Voice, because despite its artifice, it demonstrates some of the issues inherent in the journeys of creatives who want to make a living from their creativity.
I am a particular fan of Boy George, because he gives useful, if not popular, advice. Many of The Voice judges extol the virtues of the contestants, particularly those on their teams, in very uncritical and unrealistic ways. They tell them how wonderful, talented and special they are, but being wonderful, talented and special, doesn't always equate to commercial success.
You also need a polished product to sell, marketing savviness, and sometimes a dash of luck.
The reality is that the most commercially successful creatives are not necessarily the most talented. In fact, if they are truly special and unique, I would argue they are less likely to be successful, particularly if they are writers seeking commercial publication.
The folks putting up the money to produce artists, of whatever kind, are quite understandably averse to gambling their money on the unknown and untested.
Most writers are familiar with publishers/editors saying how much they crave the new and fresh, whereas I would argue that they really crave a version of something already successful ie that they know will sell too. That's why so many successful books generate books with highly derivative plots that get publishing contracts, a marketing budget, and so enjoy at least some success too.
On Sunday night (27 May) Boy George said to a contestant: 'Perfection is the enemy of completion', and I went 'wow'. Never was anything truer of writing and yet writers are so often caught between the endless struggle to get it right, and to get it finished.
And which one, do you think, is more likely to lead to success?
As I have blogged before, I am in the process of splitting up The Kira Chronicles trilogy into a 6 book The Kira Chronicles series. I had thought it would require a tweak here or there, but it has required a lot more, and therefore eaten up a lot more time than I had planned.
I'm presently on Book 3 -The Secrets of Stars, and I'm filling in small plot holes and fixing the occasional mistake (like wrong character attribution) that slipped past me, Allen and Unwin's editors, and the proof-reader.
The trilogy wasn't perfect but it earned out a reasonably-sized advance and more through royalties. It continues to earn well through PLR and ELR too. So, take Boy George's advice to heart: do your best, but get to the end!
I am a particular fan of Boy George, because he gives useful, if not popular, advice. Many of The Voice judges extol the virtues of the contestants, particularly those on their teams, in very uncritical and unrealistic ways. They tell them how wonderful, talented and special they are, but being wonderful, talented and special, doesn't always equate to commercial success.
You also need a polished product to sell, marketing savviness, and sometimes a dash of luck.
The reality is that the most commercially successful creatives are not necessarily the most talented. In fact, if they are truly special and unique, I would argue they are less likely to be successful, particularly if they are writers seeking commercial publication.
The folks putting up the money to produce artists, of whatever kind, are quite understandably averse to gambling their money on the unknown and untested.
Most writers are familiar with publishers/editors saying how much they crave the new and fresh, whereas I would argue that they really crave a version of something already successful ie that they know will sell too. That's why so many successful books generate books with highly derivative plots that get publishing contracts, a marketing budget, and so enjoy at least some success too.
On Sunday night (27 May) Boy George said to a contestant: 'Perfection is the enemy of completion', and I went 'wow'. Never was anything truer of writing and yet writers are so often caught between the endless struggle to get it right, and to get it finished.
And which one, do you think, is more likely to lead to success?
As I have blogged before, I am in the process of splitting up The Kira Chronicles trilogy into a 6 book The Kira Chronicles series. I had thought it would require a tweak here or there, but it has required a lot more, and therefore eaten up a lot more time than I had planned.
I'm presently on Book 3 -The Secrets of Stars, and I'm filling in small plot holes and fixing the occasional mistake (like wrong character attribution) that slipped past me, Allen and Unwin's editors, and the proof-reader.
The trilogy wasn't perfect but it earned out a reasonably-sized advance and more through royalties. It continues to earn well through PLR and ELR too. So, take Boy George's advice to heart: do your best, but get to the end!
No comments have been added yet.
