Have you got hustle? Hustle is that part of the whole writing process that ensures you’re at the top of your game. It’s that intangible quality that others refuse to give. It’s that extra five minutes for edits. It’s the additional time spent following an agent or publisher’s submission rules, building a relationship on Twitter; following trends and knowing the market. It’s courtesy and ability to work with everyone along the path. It’s the X factor. However, it won’t mean much unless the fundamentals are there first, like:
- Is this what you want? Why? What’s your goal tomorrow? Goals in a year, five years and ten years from now? If that sounds like an 10th grade counselor, it’s because your 10th grade counselor was right.
- Can you write? It’s not for everyone. It takes time to hone the craft, in whatever discipline you plan to enter. If you can’t, maybe you ought to try filmmaking, painting, Toastmasters or another means to get your ideas out, or try them all. Just because you can’t write doesn’t mean there isn’t a means of telling your story, though writing is a good foundation.
- How’s your grammar (mine’s pretty good, but not flawless)? How’s your knowledge of the language in which you plan to write (mine’s very good)? How’s your spelling, word choice, sentence structure? I like all of mine.
- If your fundamentals are solid, now let’s get into style. Do you have one? What is it? How’s your pacing and rhythm? (I’m great at this) How’s your ability to write dialogue? (I excel at this) How’s your plot making ability (mine’s not great)?
- Once written, are you ready to close the deal. Eventually you have to stop writing and sell the thing to an agent or publisher.
That last part is, in my mind, where the hustle and savvy kick in. You’ve mined the ore. You’ve extracted the gold. Now, it needs to be sold. And because it has to be sold, hustle has to happen every day. So maybe this is a good time for the ‘Always Be Closing’ lesson and a case for motivation via a scene from “Glengarry Glen Ross.” I offer this scene as a matter of context in competing with THOUSANDS of other writers in a digitally interconnected world. (Warning: lots of NSFW language).
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TROhlThs9qY]
So every day, we hustle. If we get ALL the things in line, it puts us in a position to compete with everyone else who gets all those things right. And that’s all it does. It puts us in position. Nothing more. Agents and publishers get to pick from all those people who got everything right. So that means success is on the way, right? Hardly:
- A photographer will take 100 head shots of an actor client but only one of those will be deemed useful.
- A baseball player gets 500 “at bats” every year but only gets a hit 26 percent of the time if he’s very good. Only 35 players got a hit 40 percent of the time in one season that in the professional game’s 100+ year history. The last time it happened? 1941.
- In reading writers who track their acceptance/rejection stats on the Absolutewrite.com Water Cooler, based strictly on the numbers, its about nine in every 100 submissions that gets green-lighted.
Now, you’d think that would be good, but that’s to the entire spectrum of e-publishers, startups, fledgling companies and others who accept submissions. If the submissions strictly went to professional agents, reps and publishers, that number would be much smaller. Instead of one in 100 queries getting greenlighted, the number would probably fall to more like one in 1,000. However, the Information Age has opened up new means of distribution and marketing that some find agreeable to their goals.
Regardless, it still means in order to get one success, a writer’s gotta write, submit and wait for 100 responses to query. And that’s for one story. Multiple stories require more queries, more time and so on. Every day, we’re hustlin’.
A famous American football coach once said, “You are what your record says you are.” Every day, I’m hustlin’. How about you? Tell me how in the comments. (NSFW language after 0:36 of video below)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5betFZRICVg]
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I am the co-host and creator of "The Science Fiction Show" podcast with my good friends Keith Houin and Michael Wistock. Join us each Friday for a look at all things Sci-Fi in the world of pop culture, TV, film and more. How? Easy! 
My Science Fiction Show crew and I have started reading submissions for "Battlespace." Goal is to have them read and decided upon by April 6. Thanks to everyone who submitted.
My short story, "The Lives Magda Made," was accepted into the horror anthology, "No Rest for the Wicked" from Rainstorm Press. The book is due out in May 2012.
I write a regular humor & lifestyle column at "An Army of Ermas." You can catch up on all my columns
It’s a good reminder for me about the stats. Few other professions expect perfection, and yet we all think we should get the agent on the first query and sell our book on the first submission. Even lawyers lose cases.
I fear I don’t have enough hustle in me, but I’ll keep trying. Thanks for the pep talk.
I’m in a state of perpetual hustle — just like the rest of my writer friends. Once a book/story is published, it increases ten fold so you can keep your name out there and build momentum to the next book/story. It’s a vicious circle, my friend, good thing I love it so. ;)
A good reminder of the perserverance required to make it as a writer. A lesson I should heed. I’m banking on the truth of Stace’s comment to get some hustly momentum when I publish Soul Afflicted. But wife and I also will be hustling for publicity, which to me will be just as important as the writing itself (presuming the writing doesn’t suck.)
whilst I admire your die hard mentality, the 80′s capitalist schtick still grates terribly on me. We’re dreamers and artists right? Not middle-american salesmen (not even by virtue of tenuous metaphor). I understand the need to get your writing out there and that it’s 10 per cent talent and 90 percent hard work but spare me the heroics.
Emma, thanks for your comment.