Enjoying the Failures of Others

[Peg Herring]

Well not really. I mean we're nice people, right? We wouldn't actually enjoy hearing someone else's woes.

But it helps. I just read an interview with a multi-published writer (over 100 books) who admitted to a lot of failures over the years: wrong book, wrong time, wrong publisher, etc. She made the point that it isn't always the author who fails, and we have to remember that or we'd all throw the monitor out the window.

I lunch every once in a while with another writer, and we always end up trading stories of failure. Her quest for someone, anyone, to read what she's written. My quest to sell books in a terrible economy with only my tiny voice making the effort. I always leave feeling better just knowing someone understands the frustration and feels exactly the same way.

Then there's blogging, where others tell their stories. Yup, we've all got 'em. The contract that was promised but never materialized. The company that went belly-up before they actually got the book on the shelves. The un-hyped releases, dropped into a largely uncaring world with only the author to promote.

Failures. We all have our stories, and we all seem to enjoy hearing about someone else's struggles. It's a lonely business, and knowing that others are tempted to dump that monitor is somehow cheering. Ironic, but there you are.