NaNoWriMo: 50,000 Reasons to reconsider Traditional Publishing ~ Guest Post by Tiggy Johnson [17.12.2009]
Of the 32,173 novels created during this year’s National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), you’d hope at least a handful will be worth publishing. Some of these are not actually finished, but the contest’s rules state a winner just needs to complete 50,000 words towards a novel, not necessarily to have written the story’s end. Of course, I am using the word ‘just’ lightly. Very lightly.
Writing 50,000 words in one month is not easy. I know, because I am a 2009 NaNoWriMo winner. I’m also one of those mentioned above, having achieved the word count but not (yet) finished writing the story. I suspect it’s impossible to obtain an exact figure for how many of the 32,173 winners have, or will, finish their novels, let alone how many should be considered for publication.
No doubt many will land in various slush piles around the world, revised or not. Editors might want to thank or curse CreateSpace for offering every NaNoWriMo winner a free proof copy of their novel (1), although many writers may not choose that option. Some will seek publication the traditional way, with an established mainstream or independent publisher.
Why wouldn’t they, when NaNoWriMo boasts more than 40 published novels over its ten year history, not including those that are subsequently self-published? Included in those forty-something books is Canadian author Sara Gruen’s ‘Water for Elephants’ which topped the New York Times bestseller list during 2007. Also included is Perth writer Simon Haynes’s [ ‘Hal Spacejock: No Free Lunch’ ], the fourth in a four book science fiction-comedy series (2,3) published by Fremantle Press.
Hayne’s novel seems to be the only novel by an Australian NaNoWriMo’er to have been published, but I doubt it will be the last.
Perhaps it’s something an independent house should consider. With more writers registering and winning the contest every year (4), it’s reasonable to expect that more NaNoWriMo novels will appear in bookstores over the coming years.
This is not to say they should pump out something like CreateSpace do, leaving the rewriting and editing completely to the writer. But why shouldn’t an independent publisher work with an author to fully develop a manuscript begun as part of NaNoWriMo?
Some American publishers call for NaNoWriMo novel pitches at the beginning of November and, of those that are finished in time, select one to develop with the author with publication in mind. One advantage of doing it this way might be the (free) promotion of the imprint during November, as well as any potential hype when the book is later released. I imagine such a book would receive ample reviews, given the mixed opinions regarding the quality of writing produced during NaNoWriMo.
One reason a publisher might not choose to commission a novel this way is the relatively small pool of Australian writers participating in NaNoWriMo, although more than 1,000 Australians were 2009 winners (5). The risk that one of these is good enough and suits the publisher’s list might be too high to make such a commitment. But there’d have to be a way around that, and wouldn’t it be worthwhile with all the talk it would generate? For instance, a publisher could nominate a specific submission period for receiving completed novels, with some way of confirming the author actually participated. Any contract would, of course, also have to include the standard ‘if we don’t receive a submission of suitable quality’ exemption clause.
What are your thoughts?
NOTES
1) The CreateSpace offer includes the option of listing the (self-published) book for sale on Amazon.
2) The first book is available as a free eBook, just follow the link.
3) A fifth book is due in 2010 and a sixth in 2011.
4) There were 21,683 2008 and 15,333 2007 winners, growing from just 6 in 1999.
5) I used the overall winner rate of 19% for NaNoWriMo participants that registered their region as Australian (6217) to estimate 1196 Australian winners.
Tiggy Johnson is a founding editor of Page Seventeen, which is produced annually and boasts work from several new writers in each issue. Her own writing has been published in several Australian journals and she maintains a personal blog at www.tiggyjohnson.blogspot.com.
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Comments
Zoe D — 17 December at 11:49AM
I think it's a great idea, as long as there is a dedicated NaNoEdMo directly afterwards. Let's also promote the critical and highly skilled task of editing. Sometimes this is the greater challenge, but intensive review of all that hard work should be mandatory.
Tiggy Johnson — 21 December at 11:20AM
I agree intensive review should be mandatory, and really, I think (hope) writers know they need to do this before sending a MS off. I know you didn't necessarily mean this, but there actually is a dedicated NaNoEdMo, in April (50 hours of editing in one month). Leaves time for a break before getting stuck into it. While it's great that there's a dedicated event to help motivate writers to get stuck into this huge task, I'd like to think the fact they'd made the effort to write the first draft might be enough motivation.