I'm interested in being part of a writer community that shares my values. My block right now is that I'm still in the outlining stage in my current project.
just getting around to listening to this.... stand strong Kristen. I'm not ready for your service yet, still fighting my way through the first draft. (Hard to admit 'publicly' I'm still building my first draft...) But making better progress over the past few months. You inspire me to keep moving forward.
Kristin, firstly my sympathies. It's hard enough to start a line of business without having inexperienced, self-interested tyre-kickers telling you how.
But I'm also old enough to remember the early days of Preditors and Editors (1997) and you'll appreciate that there's some cultural momentum dating from a time when some agents and editors had valuable developmental roles, while some were just extractive. It was Silence of the Lambs territory back then.
In modern publishing, those opportunities haven't diminished but they have shifted. The gatekeeping has collapsed so it's not as easy to exploit, yet it's a wilder terrain now with growing desperation. Consultancy lives and dies by the 'three Rs' of Reputation, References and Referrals. Along with your success stories, your ethical transparency and accountability *is* your reputation.
And here you might want to tread carefully on how you present this service. Among the questions that might separate constructive from extractive service are:
* How can I know if I'm *not* ready? Do I just have to trust you? Do I have to pay the whole fee to find out?
* What does a K McT critique actually cover? What critique frameworks or criteria do you use? What questions do you explore, what evidence do you use and why is that better than what I could get cheaper (or free) elsewhere? Is it a critique of characters, drama, setting, story organisation, viewpoint, scene-level focus, organisation, expression, art, marketing strategy? What is in and out of scope? Does it produce a reaction or a prioritised set of issues to address and guide as to how to learn to do so?
* How do I know that my subscription won't just get me a $1,200 license to read your own 'how to publish' book and a canned plan?
* What qualities will your plan have? How will I know it's the right plan for me? What recourse do I have if it's not?
* Can I see samples of what you have supplied others? Are there testimonials?
* What if the project takes years instead of months?
* What if during the project, you stop trading?
* Can I stage payments against milestones? Against time?
* What if I don't want the whole service?
* What assurances do you have that the community will honour my copyright? My commercial interests? What are your community guidelines? What's the escalation?
* What privacy, confidentiality, non-disclosure do you uphold?
* Do you hold any professional indemnity insurance? Do you have a certificate of currency?
These are more quibbles than you'll ever get from a motivated client, but you could get any of them from a legitimate punter. And the more of these you put to bed early and publicly, the less that Reputation and References may later suffer from nasty surprises.
So please treat them as the constructive suggestions of a guy who has run a consultancy biz for 25 years and has just about seen it all. It's your biz and your risk so run it as you see fit, but I hope they may help.
What a great article. I'm no writer---yet---but I like learning about the whole process and would love to do it some day. I personally feel like I haven't read enough yet or done any solid writing drills. I'm taking one course that I've been neglecting for awhile, I'm not serious enough as of yet
"Never mind that I’m paying for hosting, design, advertising, and taking time away from my actual income-generating work. Never mind that I’m building something that doesn’t exist yet and won’t have revenue until it does."
This is what a lot of people don't understand about entrepreneurs. They're the ones taking the most risk. They're using their savings to fund their business. They're literally giving people jobs. If you as an entrepreneur fail, you lose your business. An employee can just go somewhere else. All that capital lost. As an entrepreneur you're dealing with the most uncertainty relative to an employee, who for the most part knows the set hours and pay.
Frustrating how people overlook this. I see you though Kristin🫵🏾🥹
Well, this is awkward. Have been working on an article on the nature of criticism I plan to submit for Black Market Fiction, and actually criticize that Roosevelt quote. Good thing it is a semantic criticism, rather than substantive.
The "critic" he describes I prefer to label a complainer instead, because critics are also doers and in an arena, if a different one. My definition of criticism requires a defense/reason for it, making it more an action than a complaint which lacks a reason (beyond feeling like complaining).
I feel like it must be stupid human instinct to group ourselves into class systems. We can’t help it. The upper or lower class. The haves vs the have-nots. In your case, you’re hearing from those who haven’t yet tried (and find it safer to remain untried) vs those like yourself who would have the audacity to get in the arena.
Unfortunately, this class division intrinsically becomes an identity. That’s where the anger and vitriol come in. Because, how dare you move into a different class system. Who do you think you are? In the South we might say, “Don’t get above your raising.”
It aches to watch someone else rise above the stature you’ve accepted as part of your victim self-identity.
But it should ache. Have the audacity to step into the arena.
Some more thoughts formed while shopping, Kristin, in case they may be useful (while noting that all of these are also a headache -- you're welcome):
* What is a 'project'? How big is it? Does it have to be a novel? Can it be a graphic novel? What about an audiobook? What if it's multiple products bundled? What if it's a series?
* What if I want to change the genre, setting, characters, plot, viewpoint, style?
* Can I suspend it? Can I cancel and get credit on a new project?
* Can I split a big project into two little projects? If I shrink it, can I get credit?
* What are your service levels? If I am having a problem, how soon will I get an answer? What if you don't answer?
* What if you want to change your terms of trade?
* Are you a registered business? Do you have proof of registration?
* What are your guarantees or warranties?
* Is there a service agreement?
* What's the escalation path in case of dispute? In which jurisdiction are disputes resolved?
* Are you a member of any guild or professional society? Do you have proof of current membership? Do any standards or codes of conduct apply?
* What if I'm not a sole author but in a collaboration?
* What if I'm a ghost writer under contract to someone else?
* What personal or private information do I have to give you? How do you manage it?
(Not trying to be difficult -- I only began to realise that there's some significant business model development to be done here, and plenty of edge-cases and potential failure modes to think through.)
I'm interested in being part of a writer community that shares my values. My block right now is that I'm still in the outlining stage in my current project.
just getting around to listening to this.... stand strong Kristen. I'm not ready for your service yet, still fighting my way through the first draft. (Hard to admit 'publicly' I'm still building my first draft...) But making better progress over the past few months. You inspire me to keep moving forward.
Kristin, firstly my sympathies. It's hard enough to start a line of business without having inexperienced, self-interested tyre-kickers telling you how.
But I'm also old enough to remember the early days of Preditors and Editors (1997) and you'll appreciate that there's some cultural momentum dating from a time when some agents and editors had valuable developmental roles, while some were just extractive. It was Silence of the Lambs territory back then.
In modern publishing, those opportunities haven't diminished but they have shifted. The gatekeeping has collapsed so it's not as easy to exploit, yet it's a wilder terrain now with growing desperation. Consultancy lives and dies by the 'three Rs' of Reputation, References and Referrals. Along with your success stories, your ethical transparency and accountability *is* your reputation.
And here you might want to tread carefully on how you present this service. Among the questions that might separate constructive from extractive service are:
* How can I know if I'm *not* ready? Do I just have to trust you? Do I have to pay the whole fee to find out?
* What does a K McT critique actually cover? What critique frameworks or criteria do you use? What questions do you explore, what evidence do you use and why is that better than what I could get cheaper (or free) elsewhere? Is it a critique of characters, drama, setting, story organisation, viewpoint, scene-level focus, organisation, expression, art, marketing strategy? What is in and out of scope? Does it produce a reaction or a prioritised set of issues to address and guide as to how to learn to do so?
* How do I know that my subscription won't just get me a $1,200 license to read your own 'how to publish' book and a canned plan?
* What qualities will your plan have? How will I know it's the right plan for me? What recourse do I have if it's not?
* Can I see samples of what you have supplied others? Are there testimonials?
* What if the project takes years instead of months?
* What if during the project, you stop trading?
* Can I stage payments against milestones? Against time?
* What if I don't want the whole service?
* What assurances do you have that the community will honour my copyright? My commercial interests? What are your community guidelines? What's the escalation?
* What privacy, confidentiality, non-disclosure do you uphold?
* Do you hold any professional indemnity insurance? Do you have a certificate of currency?
These are more quibbles than you'll ever get from a motivated client, but you could get any of them from a legitimate punter. And the more of these you put to bed early and publicly, the less that Reputation and References may later suffer from nasty surprises.
So please treat them as the constructive suggestions of a guy who has run a consultancy biz for 25 years and has just about seen it all. It's your biz and your risk so run it as you see fit, but I hope they may help.
Best of success for this work.
What a great article. I'm no writer---yet---but I like learning about the whole process and would love to do it some day. I personally feel like I haven't read enough yet or done any solid writing drills. I'm taking one course that I've been neglecting for awhile, I'm not serious enough as of yet
You’re doing it exactly right; starting where you are and building up. That’s the surest way to success
"Never mind that I’m paying for hosting, design, advertising, and taking time away from my actual income-generating work. Never mind that I’m building something that doesn’t exist yet and won’t have revenue until it does."
This is what a lot of people don't understand about entrepreneurs. They're the ones taking the most risk. They're using their savings to fund their business. They're literally giving people jobs. If you as an entrepreneur fail, you lose your business. An employee can just go somewhere else. All that capital lost. As an entrepreneur you're dealing with the most uncertainty relative to an employee, who for the most part knows the set hours and pay.
Frustrating how people overlook this. I see you though Kristin🫵🏾🥹
Well, this is awkward. Have been working on an article on the nature of criticism I plan to submit for Black Market Fiction, and actually criticize that Roosevelt quote. Good thing it is a semantic criticism, rather than substantive.
The "critic" he describes I prefer to label a complainer instead, because critics are also doers and in an arena, if a different one. My definition of criticism requires a defense/reason for it, making it more an action than a complaint which lacks a reason (beyond feeling like complaining).
I feel like it must be stupid human instinct to group ourselves into class systems. We can’t help it. The upper or lower class. The haves vs the have-nots. In your case, you’re hearing from those who haven’t yet tried (and find it safer to remain untried) vs those like yourself who would have the audacity to get in the arena.
Unfortunately, this class division intrinsically becomes an identity. That’s where the anger and vitriol come in. Because, how dare you move into a different class system. Who do you think you are? In the South we might say, “Don’t get above your raising.”
It aches to watch someone else rise above the stature you’ve accepted as part of your victim self-identity.
But it should ache. Have the audacity to step into the arena.
I think you’re right. The difference in viewing writing as a job to be done vs an intrinsic identity (and all the inflexibility that implies)
Great article, and timely as ever. Cannot wait to get started. 💪
I didn’t realize anyone quoted that speech without including the part about critics. It loses meaning without the full context.
Some more thoughts formed while shopping, Kristin, in case they may be useful (while noting that all of these are also a headache -- you're welcome):
* What is a 'project'? How big is it? Does it have to be a novel? Can it be a graphic novel? What about an audiobook? What if it's multiple products bundled? What if it's a series?
* What if I want to change the genre, setting, characters, plot, viewpoint, style?
* Can I suspend it? Can I cancel and get credit on a new project?
* Can I split a big project into two little projects? If I shrink it, can I get credit?
* What are your service levels? If I am having a problem, how soon will I get an answer? What if you don't answer?
* What if you want to change your terms of trade?
* Are you a registered business? Do you have proof of registration?
* What are your guarantees or warranties?
* Is there a service agreement?
* What's the escalation path in case of dispute? In which jurisdiction are disputes resolved?
* Are you a member of any guild or professional society? Do you have proof of current membership? Do any standards or codes of conduct apply?
* What if I'm not a sole author but in a collaboration?
* What if I'm a ghost writer under contract to someone else?
* What personal or private information do I have to give you? How do you manage it?
(Not trying to be difficult -- I only began to realise that there's some significant business model development to be done here, and plenty of edge-cases and potential failure modes to think through.)
This is AI written but I appreciate the sentiment. The Arena is lonely indeed