I've been brainstorming ways I can contribute to helpful causes and the people doing them while sheltering at home. One idea I'm seriously considering is emailing one of my (unpublished and never-to-be-published) novels to people who show proof they've donated any amount at all to a charity. My questions about this are:
1) Is this even a good/feasible/reasonable idea? Am I being self-centered to think people would go for this? (If this isn't a good idea, you can stop here.)
2) I'd of course make a good amount of chapters from the novel publicly available so people know what they're getting, which brings me to a few sub-questions:
2a) I wrote, edited, and queried this novel over five years ago. I queried only four agents, got a full request from my dream agent that never went beyond that, and then shelved the novel and moved on because I knew I could do better (in terms of my writing). I have no intention of ever trying to get this novel traditionally published, and while perhaps not my utmost BEST work, I certainly don't think it's horrible and would make a nice bonus in addition to the fuzzy feelings you get when you contribute to a good cause.
That being said: if I query an agent with a different novel in the future and they google me and see the chapters from this novel, will they understand that I wrote this novel several years ago and have improved since then? Will they judge me only on the work I'm querying with or by this novel as well? Would this impact my future querying in any other negative way?
2b) Should I try to do some fancy link-only pdf when emailing the novel to people, or just say "screw it, we're in a pandemic" and give everyone a link to an uneditable google doc?
If you take to time to read and/or answer all this, thank you! And I'd like to say thank you for your blog and all you do—I've never commented before but I've been lurking since I was thirteen years old! Your advice (and yes, snark) has been invaluable.
Your question is very timely.
This is the weirdest kind of crisis that most of us have ever experienced because the best way to help is stay home!
When my neighbor's house caught on fire one night, all of us rushed over to help save the animals (we did.)
When the City of Portland faced rising flood waters a while back, the mayor got on the radio and said that public works couldn't handle this alone and thousands of people rushed to help sandbag the seawalll.
The first thing many people did upon hearing about 9/11 was rush to donate blood.
It's one of the best parts of us: when there's trouble, our urge is to help.
Except now, we're faced with an enemy that is best fought by staying home (unless we have medical skills or an essential job), not hoarding, not going crazy.
So, your urge to Do Something speaks highly of you.
Will agents understand context? No.
But this isn't really the question. The question is how will this be seen by potential readers? And I urge caution here.
People are VERY sensitive about folks who use a crisis for self-promotion.
And I fear this could be seen as just that, even though it's not what you have in mind.
This novel has value to YOU but not among general readers.
The idea of a gift is that it will be something of value to the recipient.
This novel is unpublished; the characters aren't familiar to us. We're not getting a bonus, we're getting a first bite at an unknown pastry. It might be very tasty, but there aren't any Yelp reviews to guide me.
Your instincts are spot on.
The rest needs some re-thinking.
The blog readers will like as not have some very good ideas here.
Readers?
20 comments:
I suspect many people feel the desire to do something -- anything -- to somehow make things better in the midst of this crisis. I think this does say a great deal about the good of human nature. But we have to be careful not to do things that might be interpreted as self-serving, even if that is clearly not our intention. Sending out your book will, at least to some people, appear self-serving. I realize this is far from your intent, but appearances do matter, particularly if you hope to promote yourself as a writer at some future point.
So how can you help? I help run a food pantry and a soup-kitchen type program in our community. We are busier than anytime in the past, both in terms of people served and in terms of time spent trying to get food and other necessary supplies. It has become my new full-time job and I am very far from alone. Every food program in the country is struggling right now. A lot of people want to give food which is great, but what is needed more is cold, hard cash. Consider: If you bring food to many food pantries, it cannot be used due to virus concerns. But if you give cash, we purchase food from the food banks for much less than retail. Last week we bought over 10,000 lbs of food for a bit under $800 and fed over 400 families. Go online and find your local food pantry. Call and ask them what they need/want. Call your friends and ask them to join in the effort. Together you can and will make a huge difference.
The other issue I'd be wary of is making anything positive contingent on a payment (even if it is for charity). So many people have had their finances ripped apart by the global situation that "donate if you'd like to and are able" comes across much better than "donate in order to get the thing".
With that in mind, one idea that might be ok is putting a short story up on your website for free (accepting that you lose control of it at that point), and adding a link at the top saying "if you enjoy it and are able to, please consider donating to x" I'm assuming that a single pinned tweet saying something like "hey I've put a free story on my website if you want something new to read" wouldn't be too tone-deaf (but someone correct me if I'm wrong about that!).
Beyond that, as far as social media goes, I think creating (or sharing) positive content actually matters right now. I don't mean inspirational posts, but something that makes people smile or feel better (yes, cat pics are included here). The scottish sports journalist who commentates on his dogs has absolutely judged the tone right. There is background stress affecting all of us, and anything that helps someone escape that for a minute or two is a positive contribution, even if it seems really trivial.
And of course, calling and emailing regularly to check in on friends and family or isolated neighbours is one of the most valuable things we can do right now.
And... it's worth checking if there is a local scheme for connecting volunteers with isolated people without friends or family, so that they get a call and a chat each day. That can genuinely be life-saving.
I like Alpha's idea of posting it on your site and saying "if you enjoy, please consider donating to..."
Please don't do this. As an untried author, 'giving' your story away for a donation to any charity will be perceived as self-serving, no matter how you look at it. If you really want to give it away so people can have something to enjoy right now, then do that. Put a link on your site somewhere for the charity of your choice, but don't make your story contingent upon donating. If and when you do get published, people will remember how you treated your 'free' story.
Aphra Pell I Love Andrew Cotter's commentary. It's been hysterical.
I like what Janet & the others have seen. OP, you are thinking of others, which is wonderful.
Other ways to help: you are a writer, perhaps you could offer (skype) tutoring for reading or writing. Or, write a little note of encouragement or a short poem for people you love or only know a little. It could make their day.
I agree with Aphra that I would not make the charity donation thing a requirement right now. The economic part of this crisis is one of the huge parts of this crisis, so the people you want to help might not be able to make any kind of donation.
Anyway, good luck OP. I admire that you are brainstorming this stuff.
I am not sure I would do this. However, along those lines, something that could help is to buy people books that they might not be able to afford on their own during this dark time. And it helps them stay at home with something to take their mind off of everything.
My nephew wanted me to read this Japanese dark fantasy he reads online. But the content is a mess and it is very difficult reading. He simply could not afford the very expensive adult comic in hard copy. The art is exquisite, just gorgeous. So I bought the book (both because I like to support authors and to allow him to have something he could touch). After I read it, I will pass it along to him (he has read the first five volumes that the one very large, very expensive book includes) already. Well, after that, I thought of our Reider who has a book coming out near the end of this month and is worried because she can't do the normal marketing activities.
I passed on the book - A Fatal Finale by Kathleen Marple Kalb to several book groups that have formed around me. My daughter who is locked down with three friends is pre-ordering it now. And a couple of the reading groups that have formed within my school district have put it on their list.
I also love getting these recommendations so maybe do something along those lines? Perhaps, do favorite book give aways. I love that Janet does that with her flash fiction contests. I have discovered so many wonderful authors that way. And work on perfecting your own art and writing so it can be published later on down the line.
In a unrelated story, I ventured out to the store today. I have no mask, can't get one for love or money, so I covered my face with a clean scarf. I achieved obtaining elusive paper towels. When checking out, I asked how so many people had masks, was there a way I could get one? I had tried to order one but they are sold out until at least June everywhere I tried. The young woman who was bagging my groceries said she had an extra mask in her car and would gift it to me. She did. It is a tiny thing, but more than the mask, the kindness was of great comfort. There are angels everywhere. Even though we rarely recognize them when we see them.
I am so thankful for today's post and comments. They may have saved me from making a big mistake.
Last month, I found myself wanting to do something to try to help, too. Part of that desire came from reading things here on the Reef. I got the idea to sing a couple inspirational hymns I like and post them on YouTube. Then I heard about Yo-Yo Ma's call for "Songs of Comfort" in the face of the pandemic. This was right in line with what I'd been thinking of doing! In the last few weeks, I've been studying how to start a YouTube Channel, how to edit videos, etc. My kids were wonderfully supportive of my plan and for my birthday earlier this month gave me a tripod/ring light combo that they ordered. Friday my in-house accompanist (aka son) helped me record the first song: "It is Well with My Soul." I wore mascara for filming. I do not care much for wearing mascara. I do not care much for seeing myself on film, but I watched every take as I considered what I would do for editing. I do not care much for having my face on YouTube, but I was going to do this thing--no hiding under a bushel. Earlier this morning when I was out in the garden, I got the idea that when I got back inside, I'd ask in-house accompanist if we could film "His Eye is on the Sparrow." I had big plans of uploading both videos this week.
But then came today's post.
It never occurred to me that my little plan might come across as self-serving, self-promotion during a crisis. But I can see now how it could, even though that wasn't my intention. I've been disappointed in myself for not getting anything uploaded to YouTube yet. I think sometimes God steps in and slows me down for my own good.
OP, seems to me you're getting great advice. Thank you so much for writing Janet and helping me out in the process. A thought that just came to me: You did do something good. :)
The only parallel I can come up with is a couple restaurants here. These restaurants did not/ do not(?) post prices, they said to pay what it is worth.
Anything above their private price went to food charities and to train homeless people to cook the exemplary food they served. It took a while for them to grow into pillars of the community, but it happened.
If you post the story, do it for free and ask that readers pay if the enjoyed it. If it was a short or corollary tied to something already known you could set a price.
COVID Survival Strategies: When you step out into this vestigial, brave new normal, put you left hand into your pocket and keep it there. It is your personal hand, you right hand is your public hand.
When you come home leave your shoes on the stoop. COVID is a hearty virus and can live three days on a solid surface.
If you live in a place where your shoes might be stolen, put them carefully in a zip-lock baggie, seal it and sanitize the outside of the bags. If going out again, put the shoes on outside your door.
The very wonderful Ben LeRoy offers a free critique of the first 25 pages of a manuscript to anyone who volunteers for four hours or more somewhere, anywhere, doing anything.
I think that's a great way to both give back to the writing community and encourage people to donate and/or volunteer.
On another note, an author whose newsletter I subscribe to sent out a short story last week as a gift to his subscribers. I did not find it self-serving, but rather nice. However, he did not attach any strings to reading the story.
Be well everyone
OP, I love your instinct toward generosity, and I think you are served well by your ability to think through the potential perception of your offer. Aphra's suggestion of offering free content with an optional donation button is a great one. I'm an avid knitter and I see that all the time on Ravelry and other sites where designers share patterns. Posting a free pattern that trends because of current events certainly brings more attention to the designer's work, but most people are cool with that and gladly contribute to the designer's charity of choice if they can.
Amy Johnson, I hope you will post your recordings! Sharing comfort and inspiration is a very fitting use for YouTube, now and at any time. You have a good thing to offer the world, which is more than I can say about a lot of YouTube videos (pet videos excluded, of course).
This is all so tricky to navigate. As authors who publish or want to publish, part of our job is to say, "Look at me! Look at my work!" I think part of the perception problem comes when the author's content seems tangential or irrelevant to the crisis at hand, unless you can spell that out as a plus. "The world needs an escapist distraction so I'm releasing my latest compendium of dinosaur erotica" can work if you're aware of what you're doing and in on the joke.
Amy Johnson - I wouldn't junk your idea of posting videos just because of this post, or at least not without thinking it through further. It really depends on why and how you are going to do it - but I imagine that hymns are a source of comfort for many Christians right now. If you are putting them up for free, and letting people know about them as a way of your community coming together around a shared source of strength, I don't think that would be seen as self-promotion.
And if recording them is giving you a focus and something to do together with the accompanist, then that's pretty worthwhile too.
16 scrub hats going out to the hospital today and then I’m going into mask production for the folks at the home where my dad usually lives. He’s here with me now but he has more than a few friends that are beating their heads against the wall.
The irony of volunteering here in the north is that the virus isn’t here yet in any volume so many people are grumbling that it’s a hoax. Frustrating but I’m glad that they still have the good health to grumble.
Brenda
Well done, Brenda! I'm looking forward to going into mask production after I turn in this draft on April 21, but on Saturday I realized I would need one mask to deliver Easter plants to our parishioners in nursing homes on Sunday. I macheted my way through the laundry room and found my sewing machine under a heap of clothes waiting to be mended, most of them outgrown by the intended wearers a decade ago. I replaced the broken needle on my machine, searched out an empty bobbin, grilled every member of the family about the whereabouts of my nice metric ruler, gave up and converted the pattern to inches, located my fabric scissors at the bottom of a basket of yarn, and cut out the pieces. Then I moved the pile of debris blocking my ironing board, set up the board, searched for the iron and found it under a thick layer of dust next to the bluing agent and a box of Mule Team Borax. Went through a bin of my youngest son's old T-shirts to find one I could cut up for elastic-ish ties. Reflected on his fleeting childhood and thought ruefully of the quilt I had planned to make from these 18 years' worth of T-shirts for his graduation this spring.
Then I sewed the mask, breaking another needle in the process. All in all, it only took 3 hours to make a 15-minute mask. I chose a cute sea creature print, but instead of an adorable cephalopod or fetching jellyfish on the front, I accidentally ended up featuring a blobby yellow sand dollar, the approximate size and shape of a large booger, just below my left nostril. Perfect.
Amy - please go ahead and post your inspirational hymns. I don't think anyone would see that as self-promotional and it will such a soothing balm in this bruised and battered world.
I think the book giveaway is tainted now by so many self-published authors giving their books away for free to drum up a following for themselves. I prefer what others have said above; give away the piece and ask readers to donate if they liked it.
Fearless Reider - make sure you get a photo of that booger mask. Hilarious.
Amy Johnson, I'd like to add my voices to the others here. I'm not in analytical mode right now but singing hymns out into a YouTube channel to bring inspiration to others feels different. Maybe because people know the hymns already. I think that could help people right now. I have a great memory associated with "His Eye is on the Sparrow." I completely forgot that song existed till just now. So, thank you! And please sing!
Thanks for the encouragement, wonderful people. I'm taking your advice and reconsidering.
Fearless,
Your sewing journey mimics my writing journey perfectly.
Thanks for the chuckle.
And Amy please sing.
Brenda
Amy Johnson Ditto what everyone else said. You posting music to YouTube is not the same as what Opie was proposing initially.
Go ahead and do it.
To be honest, I've read very little since C-19 changed our lives. But I have been listening to more music online.
Social Isolation came into play a week before I was to play in my first orchestra concert in twenty years. That hit me much harder than I thought it would. Two weeks later a clarinet player I knew from my last orchestra posted a video of him and his highly-musical family playing a hymn I love very much.
Yes, I burst out into tears.
Then I went searching for more. So much more.
Our written novels, our printed stories, may serve for escapism from the vagaries of the normal world, but music is what we need right now to soothe our wounded souls.
E.M.: Once again, THANK YOU so much! I am honestly overwhelmed by the response from you and the blog community! As for OP, I absolutely agree with the consensus that the impulse is very noble, but the proposal may not be the best way to act on it. That said, I know I -- and just about everyone I know -- are looking for any ways we can find to spread good energy and positivity. That spirit, the same one motivating OP, will get us all through.
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