Read part 1 first here!
NOTE: I’ll probably make a few more posts that will go more in-depth about each topic, so stay tuned!
Also, disclaimer: I include some conversations I had with people at the conference. These are not direct quotes, but rather playful replications of what was said, in order to get the emotion and point across. Some flourishing has been added.
The Best Writers are Business People
This sentiment comes from a conversation I had with the conference director. Truthfully, it’s not an easy sentiment to swallow. Most writers are first and foremost concerned about the craft of writing. It’s a very startling to suddenly realize that there’s a whole business aspect to writing. At first, it’s not a muscle that writers easily flex.
It takes a lot of knowledge of marketing, deadlines, and professionalism to be financially successful in this industry. We talk a lot about wanting to write as a job, but that’s the thing isn’t it? It’s a job. In a regular job, we still have to respond to emails and learn about the industry we are in. The quicker we can accept it as a job, the sooner perhaps we can make it a life-long career.
So perhaps, it might be worthwhile to take a business class of some sort. I’m willing to give it a try.
Lawyer Up
Get a lawyer sooner than you think. I listened to one session from a literary lawyer and I was astounded from all the things that I did not know. I have a general understanding of how some copyrights work and I pride myself in being a top notch Googler who’s happy to research-hunting. However, that one session convinced me that no matter how much I research, it will not compare to the breadth of knowledge that a lawyer has.
Creative licensing is so so so very complicated and there are more trappings in it than you might think. So get a lawyer to review a contract and other things.
Make Writing Friends
This was also another thing that was constantly reiterated at the writing conference. Building your writing community of people who have the same goals that you do. You’ll be surprised with how much knowledge you can accumulate as a group. You can learn from each other’s mistakes and tell each other about writing resources. These are the people who are your first editors and will hold you to your goal. Also, they will be the people to write book reviews for you in the future, which will help your book sell.
To summarize, an agent said this to the entire conference during breakfast one day:
‘Look around you in this room. Isn’t it wonderful that you’re all coming up in the industry together? These people will be your first editors, the ones who support you through your writing journey. Don’t lose contact with them.”