The stark reality for aspiring authors

I continuously stumble into blogs where aspiring authors are lamenting the cruel nature of the publishing industry and how their efforts are unrecognized. If the aspiring author could only get the attention of X or if Y would simply read the first couple chapters of their manuscript – then they’d of course understand the author’s brilliance.
What I find a bit sad is that these conversations feed on themselves. Everyone around the virtual table nods their heads and reinforce the concept of how unfair the world is and wish that things were different. They feed upon the angst and build it up so that they are utterly convinced of their own genius and how wrong or dumb everyone else is.
Let’s just take a moment for a reality check that maybe one or two people of that group might actually absorb.
You might think you’re good because everyone around you says so, and some of them might not even be related to you. Heck maybe some of the feedback is even coming from a writers group and even those guys tell you that you’re good. However, you’ve had absolutely no luck with a publisher and agents don’t have any interest either.
Let me give you a clue. Those publishers and/or agents aren’t the ones who are confused. It’s you.
I’d never be deluded enough to think that my writing was anything better than a poor hack’s attempt at stringing words together in a sentence, paragraph, page, chapter, or novel if my feedback is based on what other non-published people think. However most people are deluded. Heck, in the beginning – so was I.
I remember the first draft of my first novel was a shining example of my sheer incompetence. Oh sure, the story was alright. The writing was at least grammatically correct (more than I can say for many others in the Indie scene). But after I went through several rounds of self edits and was quite confident of my own genius did I actually go ahead and hire a professional editor.
It was at that point in time that the sea of red ink splashed across the pages and I realized, “Oh crap! Almost all of their feedback is stuff I agreed with.” Well, to tell you the truth, I needed a few hours for some gnashing of teeth and a few shots of <pick your beverage> before I was at the acceptance stage.
How was it possible that only a few weeks earlier, I was convinced of my genius – and suddenly I have markups on nearly every page of my manuscript? Clearly my self-awareness needed a bit of tuning.
And that’s where I turn to you, the aspiring author.
Write that first draft. Edit it. Get feedback. Rewrite if necessary. Scrap it if its junk. Edit it some more. When you think you’re done, go back and reread it again. Maybe out loud (you’d be surprised how reading something out loud will make you notice awkward phrasing and sentences.)
Only after you’ve scrubbed, gotten feedback, revised, hacked at it, and done everything humanly possible should you go ahead and expose your material to the world (whether it’s the self-publishing one, or it’s the traditional publication).
However I would note that if you are getting nothing but rejections from agents and the publishers turn up their noses at your work – it’s certainly not them. It’s you.
I know what I’ve written will not be taken well by those who probably most need to hear it, but I feel better at least sharing my view on the stark reality that is writing.
I wish you all the best, and for those who know me – they won’t be surprised that I am not wishing anyone any luck.  I don’t believe in it. <See my philosophy on luck>
Just work hard and you’ll find whatever you’re looking for.
-Mike Rothman (Hard Worker)