Why do You Want to Write?

By Author, Anthony Santoro

Tell me – what sort of writer do you want to be? A good writer? A great writer? A rich writer or a famous one? Indeed, why are you writing? Do you write simply because you like to write? Is whether you’re good, bad, rich or famous just peripheral to the fact that you like to write and enjoy the craft?

Working out why you write and what makes you want to write is not a bad place to start. Truthfully, it’s better to just get on with writing; but if you ever get off track from that and get caught up in the perils of wondering “will anyone publish my book? Am I a good writer?" etc, you can fall back on this, get it sorted out and get back to writing, quick-smart.

Some writers start their book by imagining their manuscript as a film or TV series. There’s nothing at all wrong with focussing on the end product. It’s only a problem when this idea of the end product gets in the way of your own creative writing.

There are many writers (and I, myself, was once included in this bracket) who sit on their manuscript for years, too scared to send it off to a publisher. Yet, if you asked them they would tell you they were desperate to get published. This equation, unfortunately is problematic: you can’t get your manuscript published without sending it off to a publisher! Unless you’re planning some sort of “miracle-publishing” where a publisher calls you up and says, “Hey, I just had this amazing sixth sense that you have written a manuscript that is absolutely awesome and which I believe I would like to publish!” or you’ve chosen to self-publish, there’s simply no other way around it.

You have a manuscript. You want to get published. You have to send it off!

Now I know that you can quote me all the statistics on the likelihood of being published, such as “but only one in one-billion manuscripts given to publishers actually make it to print!” (I know those stats aren’t right but I’m parodying the point here!) The important thing to realise is that a writer simply needs to steer clear of such emphatic nonsense. Really such things are even less important than what colour socks you’re going to wear today. The odds, to say the least, are overwhelming in favour of you not giving up your day job. For that exact reason they don’t matter and, as a writer, are not your concern.

The main point is: don’t worry about getting published. For a writer, getting a book into print is the least of their problems. Getting published can appear – but is not by a long, long, loooooong country mile – the end in itself. On the other side of getting published, there’s a whole new world called ‘marketing’ and, a writer busy putting their imagination down onto paper should be even less worried about that when they’re writing their book. I know, I’ve been through it all!

Look at it like this: a publisher will publish your book if they think it’s marketable and you’re marketable. Essentially, they want something that people will go into a bookstore and buy, preferably, a lot of times. It is a business decision and not necessarily a reflection of the writer’s skill. They’re not heartless; but, to have a business at all publishers need to make marketable decisions, otherwise they will not be able to print anyone’s works at all and there will be no books in bookstores, whatsoever.

So essentially, all a publisher is saying when they say, “We are interested in publishing your book”, is, a) they think you’re a great writer and, b) they are willing to invest money in it to see if the general public agree. Truthfully, publishers would love to publish more writers’ works but, are bound by market pressures not to.

If you’re not getting my point, I’ll say it: Don’t worry about getting published, not getting published etc, etc. Concern yourself with being happy with what you have written. That’s the most important thing; it has to be. Why? Because, if you’re not happy with your story you certainly won’t be giving it to anyone else to read and asking for their opinion on it. No, no, no, no…

Then, there’s rejection. Don’t worry, again. Rejection doesn’t kill you. And, truthfully, if you’re happy with your own writing, confident of it, a rejection will have minimal, if any, effect. You will be writing away, sending off manuscripts, but, really, not giving a damn either way if they are rejected, praised, published, etc.

If you think about why you’re writing and what you’re trying to achieve, I doubt it’s fame, friends, praise, fortune or a book on a shelf in a bookstore. More likely, it’s that you’re trying to tell a story – yes? So, tell it. Someone may want to read it. Good.

Well, then, time’s ticking away – stop wasting time worrying about getting published and start writing!


Anthony Santoro is an author of fiction and businessperson. His first novel was published last year and his second is to be published later this year.

The above article was extracted from Issue 1, Writers' World, the official ezine of the Writers' Resource Centre - http://www.writersworld.com.au/ . It will featured in the upcoming book, The Writer's Therapist, due out in late 2008.

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