5 Big Bad Media Myths

Every time I have a prospect tell me their goals for their book is to sell a lot of copies, I respond the same way: “The media has done an absolutely terrible job and showing you the reality of what it takes to publish a book.”

I continue: “Movies and TV shows make it look like you have an idea, you write it, it gets published, and it sells a million copies. That’s not how it really works.”

Then I tell them the truth: It takes at least a year and tens of thousands of dollars. “I’m not telling you this to dissuade you. You might be the exception. Your story might really be the one that goes viral and sells millions of copies.” I say. “I’m telling you this so you know the reality.”

Most of the time, the prospect is surprised, and that’s the end of that. They don’t pursue the project because they didn’t know what it really entails: a lot of time, money, and emotional investment, with no guarantee of success.

I decided to research ways the media has done this terrible job I alluded to, Here is the first part of what I found.

1. The Myth of the Overnight Success. The media likes to tell the stories of J.K. Rowling, Stephen King, and E.L. James (real name: Erika Mitchell) as tales of catching lightning in a bottle. It only seems true.

Rowling got rejected twelve times before Bloomsbury and Scholastic took chances on Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s/Sorcerer’s Stone. Rowling became a billionaire from the series—the only writer ever to do that. While other authors, such as Grant Cardone, have net worths as high or higher, Rowling is the only one who made her fortune solely from the Harry Potter property, although it came from film rights and theme park licenses as well as from book sales.

King shopped his debut novel Carrie around, and got thirty rejections. He got so angry and frustrated, he threw the manuscript in the fire, only to be rescued by his wife. Actually, King had numerous short-story rejections, and as the story goes, by age fourteen he had so many that the nail on his wall couldn’t hold them all.

As we know, Carrie eventually was published by Doubleday and has sold millions of copies in hardbound and paperback.

James is closer to a true lightning-in-a-bottle story in that she self-published, and the book went viral before being picked up by Vintage But along the way were some rejections. Reports indicate at least two agents declined to sign her.

Again, any prospect might be the second coming of these writers—and nothing could please me more—but it’s not likely.

2. The Myth of the Writing Process. The media often shows an author hard at work writing or typing away as the music swells and the words fly out of the author’s keyboard and onto the screen, then the screen morphs into pages with the words on them, and then the pages scroll into a book, and then the book is on a production line, and then the book is on a bookstore shelf, and then many people buy it, and then you see the book atop a bestseller list.

Please, spare me the montage. It’s false.

The reality is far less glamorous. Books require multiple drafts (one I recently completed totaled sixteen drafts), structural rewrites (that same book started as a “Wonder Years” type of story before we narrowed the focus), beta readers, and several rounds of editing, page and cover designing, and proofreading.

It’s really not very inspirational. It’s more industrial, mechanical, and engineered.

3. The Myth of the Isolated Genius. Many authors are portrayed in the media as solitary geniuses whose personalities are prickly and temperamental. “Leave me alone and let me write!” they bellow to their loved ones.

While it’s true that many authors (and ghostwriters) do write alone and have goals of writing a set number of words a day, they are not all geniuses, and some are very nice people.

J.R.R. Tolkien was widely considered a gentleman. Ursula K. Le Guin refused a Nebula award to protest the treatment of Polish scientist Stanislaw Lem. Judy Blume warmly received the people she met at book singings.

This is in sharp contrast to Ernest Hemingway, Harland Ellison, Truman Capote,  Charles Bukowski, James Joyce, and Vladimir Nabokov, who were widely known to be rude, arrogant, malicious, and volatile.

The truth is most successful books are team efforts: agents, editors, marketers, publicists, designers, and sales teams all contribute.

4. The Myth of the Publisher’s Role. A former client didn’t understand that the publisher’s primary objective is to make money. Therefore, an author needs to show the publisher how the author sees this book as a moneymaker. That comes in the form of a marketing plan.

My client seemed to think that the story would sell itself and that would be the marketing plan. That’s not how it works. Authors are expected to build platforms, grow email lists, cultivate media relationships, and actively market their work—especially in today’s industry.

Movies and other media suggest that once a deal is signed, the publisher handles everything. That’s a myth.

However, hybrid publishers do handle everything, but you have to pay for it.

5. The Myth of the Wealthy Bestseller. Many prospects tell me they want to be a bestselling author. They make it clear that they’re banking on book sales as the means to make money writing the book. The media has perpetuated this myth by showing authors living in wealthy enclaves or in a big house with lost of furniture and comforts of wealth. 

There are several problems here. First, the odds of becoming a New York Times bestseller is something like 0.08%. According to author Olivia Blacke, winning the lottery—which would make you more money than writing a book—and being struck by lighting twice have better odds.

Second, landing on a bestseller list only guarantees one thing: You’re on a bestseller list. It doesn’t guarantee wealth. Making such a list may not produce lasting income unless there are strong sales volume and long-term backlist sales. To have backlist sales, one needs a backlist of titles. Most of the prospects who contact me would be first-time authors.

These are just the first half. Next week, I’ll cover more media myths I found.

Feel free to read and check out my other posts related to ghostwriting. Go to https://leebarnathan.com/blog/