What more?

I'd like to thank Brian for hosting this amazing month long blog festival, showcasing writers and their talent. It wasn't easy to come up with a final post to end this amazing extravaganza...until it hit me when I asked myself...

WHAT MORE?

Those two words alone sound awkward but if we add a few words to make a longer sentence we end up with...

What more than respect can an author expect who has spent months/years penning their passion onto paper in the hopes of an agent or publisher accepting his work. Respect you ask? Yes! Are writers just numbers nowadays in the writing world? Is it or is it not true that without writers a publishing house would not exist? So yes, writers demand respect and respect is offered by acknowledging them as a crucial part of the writing world. 

But let's not get carried away here...respect is a two-way street just the way it is in our general lives. You walk down the street and accidentally bump into someone...first reaction should be to turn around and apologize to that person. Yet I have seen people do the opposite, point the finger and blame the victim for not watching where they were going. Now how does this compare to the 'respect' in the writing world?

Seeing how the epublishing world has grown, all or most of the transactions are done online now, so how you communicate your message is important, for example:

EXAMPLE 1:

Just wondering if you finally got off your butt and actually figured out when my cover art will be done. Thanks, I won't hold my breath waiting for a response but in the off-shoot you do reply to me I'll have the ambulance waiting to revive me from my shock.

This wasn't a word for word but an exaggeration of something I did receive and it wasn't from one of our contracted authors. It has been changed around but the gist of the sarcasm and rudeness is there. I laughed at this, believe it or not, found it to be a clever way to get my attention and I responded, although my gut told me this author would not be a good mix with the family we have so far, I couldn't resist. My gut was right. That email warned me the type of person this author finally turned out to be. So in this case, the 'respect' factor came from the publisher, not the author.

EXAMPLE 2:

Hi, Lea, hope this email finds you well. I was just wondering if there's any way possible to have my book ready by such and such a date because I have an opportunity to attend the XYZ Conference and they are more than happy to have me rent a table and showcase my book.

This example has no pushiness, no demand, just the facts of an important upcoming event, if the possibility is there to have the book ready. This isn't as much 'respect' yet it is...the author isn't demanding but asking because either (A) the author knows the deadlines and work needed to finalize a book and rushing isn't an option, or (B) the author has no clue the behind-the-scenes details and work by editors, cover artists, publisher, but in both cases the 'respect' of how the request was asked is there. So when the mutual respect of how a request is penned a publisher will try to accommodate if at all possible.

What it all boils down to once again is publishers and agents having an understanding that writers are crucial to their survival. To me, at least, this is an important factor that plays a big role how I interact with the authors. When authors know the publisher appreciates their work these same authors, as you have witnessed this month, will showcase and proudly promote their work.

So what more than a mutual respect of each other's (writer and publisher/agent) dedicated workload and appreciation of time and energy put forth by both parties can there be? That one word alone sums up what a house needs in order to ascertain their authors feel at home.

Thank you, Brian, for this blog and for the month long theme you hosted.