Writing and the Economy

I do this thing where I compare other things with writing. I do it, sometimes a lot, and often the people around me (who rarely are writers) scoff like I’m just trying to be included in the conversation. But I’m not. And I’ve mentioned a lot how job hunting and the economy in general has begun to look a lot like the publishing world.

Of course you work to polish your resume, polishing your job history to look as good as possible. Don’t lie, but that job chasing kids becomes training in childcare, the job cleaning stalls at the local barn becomes skills in barn management and ringing three hours straight through a liquidation sale becomes “fast paced cashier and customer service skills”.

Now you go hunting for something that might, maybe, a little bit at least, fit. You can see, at least, how the skills used in shelving books could be used in office filing. So you fill out an application or submit a resume.

And that cashier is money handling is bank telling, so you apply there too.

Sort of like Market A published a story about steampunk vampires, so maybe they’ll love your historical urban fantasy about shape shifters. And Market B says they like anything in the realm of SF/F/H, so you submit.

I mean, apply.

And you wait. And you hear nothing. Or maybe you get a confirmation that your submission application has been received. And you wait. And maybe you get past the first round, that is, you get an interview. And maybe you get a rejection notice. Usually though, you hear nothing.

I take that back, the markets I’ve submitted stories too have replied and with comments far more than any of the places I’ve applied to.

So you get discouraged because you know your work, fiction or in the flesh, is good, and worthy (I mean, you’ve held other jobs, and successfully, so you can’t be a complete loser, can you?) There’s just TOO MUCH out there, since everyone with a computer is looking to get published these days.

It is really really rough. Even when you consider that 90%+ of stories out there are crap (and likely as many people aren’t suitable for or even interested in the job their applying for, then of course you immediately wonder if you’re just delusional in thinking you aren’t in that 90%). But then you rally yourself back because despite the odds you have credits to your name, and you have really positive comments back from people who like your work, or your presence and they encourage you.

And a lot of these jobs don’t really have hard requirements. GED or better, preferred cash handling experience. willingness to learn. (The “real job” equivalent of good grammar, following submission guidelines and clean copy.)

But there are so many people looking for jobs and so few jobs available. And why would an editor buy your story, even if they like it, when they could buy one from a Hugo-nominee, or someone with more credits and name recognition than you? Yeah, content is king, and the story absolutely matters more than name or anything, but its also pretty much safe to assume that those better sellers, more established writers than you also have more job experience going for them. They get rejected too…but when you have about 7 months “traditional” job experience in the last 10 years and someone working on their PhD is competing with you for a job at Staples…

So you lose out, and you know you can’t afford the cost of going to school. And no one seems willing to step up and give you that chance to actually get more job experience because you don’t have as much job experience as the people (stories) you’re up against (though you’re passionate and determined and a fast learner)…

But there are always places to apply (there are always places to submit), and you have more stories so you can try the same market over again (places only keep apps on hand for 30 or 60 days so you can reapply after that, and hopefully have more luck next time). Plus, everyone one knows what you call a stubborn writer who never gives up: Published.

But sometimes you just can’t stomach the thought of any more, because you find yourself on that edge of determined called disillusioned. And you’re looking down into depressed. But you know depressed leads to desperate which leads to outright stupid (um, like that “adult video chatter” job) and “cloud of misery that infects everyone around you”.

And you’d rather be unemployed (and unpublished) than that.

So you back off, let it go, remind yourself that it’s quarter after three in the morning and yes, the job hunt search engines (filled with work at home scams, calls for Avon reps, and the occasional “real” job) will be there in the morning when you will feel better because you won’t be bleary-eyed from exhaustion and might not misspell your own name (oh, wait, that one’s happened in story submissions too.)

Everyone tells you to stay determined and it’ll happen. You even know that’s true (because it’s how you found your last job, right? Admit it, you worried that your last acceptance would be, in fact, your last.) But it’s just hard to see that from where you are.

And like submitting stories, every time I think I have a chance, I think I have the skills needed or else I wouldn’t be wasting the editor’s manager’s time by submitting. And I even start thinking “You know, I probably would like working there…” then I feel that much stupider when no one calls back.

But there’s only one major problem with this analogy. In the publishing world it’s not personal, it’s your story that’s being evaluated. On the job market it really is you they’re not calling back.

So to all those other people out there hunting for a job. You can’t give up. It’s one part hard work, one part skill and one part blind luck. And you know what they call a writer who never gives up? Employed.