How To Define Success - It Depends
It may sound trite to state the obvious but defining success depends very much on each individual and her or his personal paradigm. This statement, counterintuitive at times, is even more true for novelists.
Sometimes success isn't what it seems. I write Sci-Fi / Fantasy novels, my shortest story (at 43,000 odd words) qualifies as a novella. Short story writers tend to have a different traditional market, but in order for someone like me to join the SFWA it takes a paid sale to a qualifying venue, read Trad Publisher, no Self Publishers or Vanity / Subsidy Publishers allowed.
As Groucho Marx once sent in a wire: "PLEASE ACCEPT MY RESIGNATION. I DON'T WANT TO BELONG TO ANY CLUB THAT WILL ACCEPT PEOPLE LIKE ME AS A MEMBER".
Humorous as that statement may seem, it makes sense. Consider an author (as in a novelist) who sells 1,000,000 copies of his / her book, who hits the NY Times list, and so on. If that author did the SP route, as far as the SFWA is concerned that author is not qualified for membership while someone who made one qualifying sale to a Traditional Publisher that didn't sell over 20,000 copies is a professional.
In this hypothetical case the author who sold one million copies isn't considered a "commercial success" and therefore a professional while the author who sold at most 20,000 copies is. Perhaps it's time to separate the words commercial and success.
Through the years I've read some wonderful books in many different genres, and conversely I've read more than a few I wish I hadn't. The best reads I had were when the author had a fresh story or a very unique take on an old story to tell. The worst reads were when the author was either churning out more of the same in order to meet a contractual obligation for "commercially viable" or using past acclaim to sell a book that wasn't worth reading.
In the past year I haven't had the opportunity to read (much less write) that I once had. I have a strict taskmistress who keeps me busy most of the time. Point of fact, if the Wife hadn't gotten off early I wouldn't be sitting here, I'd be busy entertaining a young mind better than my own.
Yet in the past year I've gained access to some wonderful books by authors who may not be "commercially viable" but who are professional in what they do, weaving a tapestry of words that entrances the reader to suspend disbelief while stepping into another world.
At present it looks like it will be a while before I can release my next two books (a year if not six), but that's not a problem. There are some wonderful writers (TP and SP) who deserve a lot more acclaim and I'll be doing what I do -- working on other stories as I can while weaving small tales for a better mind than mine.
Sometimes the truest measure of success is the lives we've touched and enriched, even when the world at large never hears about it.
Sometimes success isn't what it seems. I write Sci-Fi / Fantasy novels, my shortest story (at 43,000 odd words) qualifies as a novella. Short story writers tend to have a different traditional market, but in order for someone like me to join the SFWA it takes a paid sale to a qualifying venue, read Trad Publisher, no Self Publishers or Vanity / Subsidy Publishers allowed.
As Groucho Marx once sent in a wire: "PLEASE ACCEPT MY RESIGNATION. I DON'T WANT TO BELONG TO ANY CLUB THAT WILL ACCEPT PEOPLE LIKE ME AS A MEMBER".
Humorous as that statement may seem, it makes sense. Consider an author (as in a novelist) who sells 1,000,000 copies of his / her book, who hits the NY Times list, and so on. If that author did the SP route, as far as the SFWA is concerned that author is not qualified for membership while someone who made one qualifying sale to a Traditional Publisher that didn't sell over 20,000 copies is a professional.
In this hypothetical case the author who sold one million copies isn't considered a "commercial success" and therefore a professional while the author who sold at most 20,000 copies is. Perhaps it's time to separate the words commercial and success.
Through the years I've read some wonderful books in many different genres, and conversely I've read more than a few I wish I hadn't. The best reads I had were when the author had a fresh story or a very unique take on an old story to tell. The worst reads were when the author was either churning out more of the same in order to meet a contractual obligation for "commercially viable" or using past acclaim to sell a book that wasn't worth reading.
In the past year I haven't had the opportunity to read (much less write) that I once had. I have a strict taskmistress who keeps me busy most of the time. Point of fact, if the Wife hadn't gotten off early I wouldn't be sitting here, I'd be busy entertaining a young mind better than my own.
Yet in the past year I've gained access to some wonderful books by authors who may not be "commercially viable" but who are professional in what they do, weaving a tapestry of words that entrances the reader to suspend disbelief while stepping into another world.
At present it looks like it will be a while before I can release my next two books (a year if not six), but that's not a problem. There are some wonderful writers (TP and SP) who deserve a lot more acclaim and I'll be doing what I do -- working on other stories as I can while weaving small tales for a better mind than mine.
Sometimes the truest measure of success is the lives we've touched and enriched, even when the world at large never hears about it.
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