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“I love to read, but you can’t make a living from that.”
It’s a line I hear regularly from my students and clients when I ask them their favorite interests or skills.
I recently attended two excellent conferences: Killer Nashville, for writers of mystery, thriller, and suspense novels, and the Midsouth Conference of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), for writers of children’s and young adult books.
There were some notable differences between the two conferences. Killer Nashville featured a rather gruesome mock crime scene room where participants could analyze and solve the murder. The opening talk at SCBWI featured a charismatic puppeteer/writer for Sesame Street and the Muppets, who shared stories about Jim Henson. At Killer Nashville, I picked up a clever bookmark featuring a female detective, a gun, and lots of blood spatter. At SCBWI, I picked up an equally clever one featuring a fluffy sheep with attitude from the book “Wally Does Not Want a Haircut.”
And yet, whether college-aged or newly-retired, there was a common thread throughout both conferences: the love of reading and the desire to find a way to incorporate it into a vocation. As expected, many of the authors (published or not) had not given up their day jobs: at Killer Nashville, they included lawyers, active or retired military, police officers, and college professors. At SCBWI, they were teachers, artists, librarians, and well, yes, college professors. (Hint: professor is a great career if you want to read a lot.) All were bridging that gap between vocation and avocation with reading and writing as the thread.
One agent at the SCBWI conference, Linda Camacho from Prospect Agency, who has also worked at Penguin and Random House, opened her presentation with a compelling line: “I’ve made a career out of loving to read.” Every day she reads pitches and manuscripts, finding the ones that have publishing potential, and then working with her clients to shape the final project. She described receiving an average of 25 queries a day; some agents receive 100. (Keep that in mind, writers, when you are querying an agent: you better send your absolute best product!)
Another agent at the same conference, Alex Slater with Trident Media Group, described the reading he does— from what’s hot in the bookstore, to what people are posting on Twitter, to what is printed in the trade publications— all in an effort to find the next breakout author or book. He spends a lot of time with his clients, reading their manuscripts, and helping them rewrite and shape their work before he ever shows it to a publisher. He noted that the agent’s role has taken over what used to be the role of the editor. Editors don’t have time to nurture and shape new writers; the agent needs to ensure that the writing is close to perfect before the editor sees it.
Fortunately, you are not alone in your desire to read. There’s an entire industry around the reading and writing world, so start thinking about your personal strengths and where you would best fit in (click on the highlighted links to learn more):
- Teaching: From elementary language arts teachers to professors in virtually all fields of study, teachers and professors constantly read to keep up their knowledge and understanding of new developments in their field.
- Coaching
- Writing
- Law and paralegal
- Library & related
- Literary Agent
- Publishing
- Journalism
- Book Production and Publishing Services such as Ingram Publishing.
- Book Sales/Business: From Amazon, Barnes & Noble, independent bookstores, to book sales rep for publishing houses.
- Managing writers’ retreats and conferences, writers’ cruises, literary tour groups, etc. Even conferences built around your favorite genre or character.
- Professional Associations
How do you get started? Here are 5 tips:
1. Start with your love of reading. What do you read? What are your favorite books (including comic books and graphic books) and how do they influence you? How can you connect what you read with what you might want to do? My college pleasure-reading of self-help books like Wayne Dyer’s Your Erroneous Zones and Eric Berne’s Games People Play pretty much predicted my future career in the field of counseling and career coaching. How is what you read a potential clue to a future vocation?
2. Educate yourself. Investigate the career fields mentioned above including the job titles, education requirements, and how to get started. How do you want to interact with the book world? Do you want to write, sell, produce, edit, or support the writers? Go to writers' conferences and network with agents, publishers, booksellers, etc.
3. Intern or take an entry-level position in an industry related to your interests. Consider working in a bookstore to learn about sales and marketing; publishing house internships; volunteering at after-school tutoring/writing programs, etc. Start a writer’s group or a reading group. Offer workshops or classes based on your interests.
4. Investigate entrepreneurial opportunities which will use your talents. Open a bookstore. Start a coaching or marketing business for writers. Write a blog targeted to readers. Create an online journal or publication. Write free-lance pieces. Read the Writer’s Market for guidance.
5. Are you also an artist? The market in children’s books and graphic books is still booming—and here it helps to be a writer-illustrator, rather than just a writer.
Basically, any profession which requires you to think will benefit from your interest in reading. It’s time to put your reading skills to work!
©2017 Katharine S. Brooks. All rights reserved.
