{"id":129,"date":"2014-10-15T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-10-15T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.curtiscchen.com\/journal\/2014\/10\/15\/i-will-not-get-paid-this-much-for-any-of-my-novels\/"},"modified":"2014-10-15T09:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-10-15T16:00:00","slug":"i-will-not-get-paid-this-much-for-any-of-my-novels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.curtiscchen.com\/journal\/2014\/10\/15\/i-will-not-get-paid-this-much-for-any-of-my-novels\/","title":{"rendered":"I Will Not Get Paid This Much for Any of My Novels"},"content":{"rendered":"

But it’s nice to see that publishers still believe in science fiction.<\/p>\n

Last month, this bit of news showed up in the Publishers Lunch<\/a> daily newsletter:<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n

Try not to think about the fact that Weir originally self-published his first novel, The Martian<\/i><\/a>. Or the fact that he also<\/i> got a six-figure publishing deal<\/a> for that<\/i> book. Or the fact that The Martian<\/i> is now being made into a movie, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Matt Damon and Jessica Chastain, scheduled for release in November of 2015.<\/p>\n

That way lies madness.<\/p>\n

One of the most valuable lessons I learned at Viable Paradise<\/a> (which is happening again this week<\/a>, by the way) was this:<\/p>\n

Do not compare your own writing career to any other writer’s career.<\/b><\/p>\n

Everyone finds a different path to publication. Everyone has a different story—literally. Keep writing. It’ll happen. And meanwhile, make sure you’re enjoying the ride, because it’d be a shame if you didn’t have some fun<\/i> during those years (and yes, it will take years<\/a>).<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n

In related news, huge congratulations to my fellow Pacific Northwest writer Jason Gurley<\/b>, who just sold his novel Eleanor<\/i> to a publisher<\/a>! (Oddly enough, his book was also self-published originally, and it also went to Crown—just like The Martian<\/i>. Coincidence?)<\/p>\n

Jason and I, along with thirty other authors, will be attending Story Con<\/a> this Saturday at the Fort Vancouver Community Library<\/a>. If you’re in the Portland, Oregon area, stop by and check out the panels, readings, and signings—I’ll be moderating a panel on flash fiction<\/a> which I promise will not be boring!<\/p>\n

<\/a>
www.storyconvention.com<\/a><\/small><\/div>\n

\"Curtis\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

But it’s nice to see that publishers still believe in science fiction. Last month, this bit of news showed up in the Publishers Lunch daily newsletter: Try not to think about the fact that Weir originally self-published his first novel,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[49,21,11,16,12,79,61,9,39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-doinitrite","category-fairuse","category-publishing","category-theiinmeat","category-thisbusinesswecallshow","category-vp12","category-waitforit","category-writing","category-youarenotthework"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtiscchen.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtiscchen.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtiscchen.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtiscchen.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtiscchen.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtiscchen.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtiscchen.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtiscchen.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtiscchen.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}