Why Writing Novels Continues to Be a Popular Craft

If you're a novelist, the power is in your hands. It's odd because writing novels is so unprofitable for so very many writers. "I want to sell novels" is not typical today, almost borderline crazy, because the craft supposedly pays so low.

That isn't the point. This article offers opinion and facts on why so many novelists continue in the face of rejection.

Publication is Publication -

Once you get established as a novelist, no matter how big or small your advance is, publication means instant credibility. It means someone liked your work! It means you may sell movie rights, or break into other fields with your experience as a novelist. That is saying the money will come. The long road there will be worth it, because on a money standpoint your career options have doubled.

If the Money Does Come -

You may not sell the screen rights to the piece, but just experiencing the art of novel writing is quite powerful. Power novelists are the kind of novelists who continue in the face of rejection. They are artists working, usually, in more than one field. A good novelist will toe the line of many different fields, experiencing each with a different thought. For example, famous and infamous novelist Clive Barker is known as a horror writer. Yet he's also an accomplished painter and writer of dark fantasy. Ever since "Hellraiser" and "Books of Blood" his horror has been tainted with elements of fantasy. Stephen King is a similar story.

Painting Words -

Do you think most painters sell their very first painting? Do you think job hunters get the first interview? Yes, novelists usually have to work a minimum of 3 months on a project, with most going at a rate of 1-2 novels completed a year. A painter needs a gallery ... a novelist needs volume with high quality. Novel writing is tough. It's an art.

It's an Art -

Novel writing shouldn't be about profit. Still, getting your name on the cover of a book published by a New York publisher like Penguin certainly means something.

Selling -

The craft is often focused on early by artists, who are then told the odds are against them. There is always a need for good novelists, more today than good short story writers. Sure, the film has been the true story form for the past half century. People generally watch, and buy, more films than books. Yet the true art is, they spend $8 on a novel and can be entertained for a week. That's what makes novelists powerful.