Is an Authors' Union there only for successful writers?

How do you over(live) as a writer? 16 May, the Authors' Union organised a meeting at Pakhuis de Zwijger in Amsterdam around that question. The answer: by being successful! 

The afternoon is sold out. People on the waiting list are eager to get in yet. Not only members of the Authors' Association can buy a ticket for the meeting How do you (over)live as a writer? Non-members are also welcome. All people who want answers on how to build a living as a writer. They probably want to get a publisher, debut their book and then write many subsequent books for an ever-growing audience. 

Or no, rather bang into the world of literature all at once, bam, only to be able to explain to others at an Authors' Union meeting how you went about it. 

A long writer's life

Because the stage belongs to the people who made it. 

Manon Uphoff, for example. She is on the panel responding to the question: How do I become a brand (and do I want to)? 

A fun sparkling talk it will be, led by Sabrine Ingabire. 

As far as Uphoff is concerned, there is a big difference between coming up with a brand for yourself as a writer, and making the best work you can and hoping your work finds an audience. The goal is not to become a brand, the goal is to have a long writing life. That requires money and an audience. Among other things, Uphoff gives writing coaching and courses for a fee. 

And she is not the only one. Writer Frank Westerman says two coachees a year earn him more than all his books. 

Fixdit

For Uphoff, she also benefits greatly from Fixdit, a collective of women authors working hard for more attention and awards for the female voice in literature. Strong together. Fixdit makes podcasts and has provided reissues of forgotten female authors. Furthermore, the literary agency Sebes & Bisseling takes care of her business affairs. 

Jasper Henderson of publishing house Thomas Rap explains how his publisher thinks about a writer's future. What are his themes, could he make a foray into another genre, perhaps write a newspaper article on a particular topic? 

Sustainable writing is what it's all about. 

Likes

Social media? According to Henderson, nobody believes anymore that a high number of likes means that all those people will then buy your book. Only the youngest on stage, poet/writer/spoken word artist Asmae Amaddaou (@asmaedeschrijver) - Instagram photos and videos, says she is often approached via Instagram. Her editor at the Bezige Bij even sent a DM to get in touch with her. 

Poet of the Netherlands and spoken word artist Babs Gons has yet another writing life. She made her name by performing on stages. You can too. 

Survival mode

I myself have been in survival mode since my debut in 2016. (Before that, too, actually.) So I'm very curious about the answer to the question: How do I survive (after) my debut? My own debut did not go unnoticed, but I did not receive any awards, nor did it ever come to a second printing. 

For most writers, by the way, success does not fall into their lap with the debut. But then how do you persevere? Are you crazy if you keep writing? Should you hope that one day you do get success? And what can you yourself do about that success apart from writing good books? 

Cockroaches in your pool 

All three of the people who have to answer these questions did make successful debuts: writers Rinske Hillen, Gijs Wilbrink and poet Dewi de Nijs Bik received rave reviews and newspaper attention. Their stories of how they survived their debuts are as relatable and meaningful to me as tips on how to keep your pool free of cockroaches. Or tips on how to survive when you are chief guest during Book Week. 

Question from the audience: what do you do when you are framed as a writer from the Achterhoek? Write the next book with a different theme, says Gijs Wilbrink. 

And super nice if your agent advises you not to say yes to three requests for a writer's gig in one day. With most debutantes, fortunately, that is not necessary. 

Still, one piece of advice I can totally relate to: start working on your next book before you get good, bad or no reviews of your just-published book. Always write on. 

The System 

What I am also very curious about is the theme 'Publishing inside or outside the system?' Wouldn't it be nice if you could stop depending on publishing houses and build an empire yourself? 

My conclusion after the panel discussion with columnist Eva Hoeke and publishers Daphne de Heer and Tilly Hermans is: better within the system. Publishing a book involves so much. Distribution is an important thing. Just try entering a bookstore. Booksellers are already dying for books. You can only get outside the system if you have already had success in the system. 

Take publisher Daphne de Heer of Velvet Publishers. She and her friend publish three queer/LHBTQI+ books a year because they were missing that kind of book in the mainstream offerings. She has no ambition to bang on that financially, but every book that comes out is a moment of great happiness. She, too, says: I could not have done this without all that experience at publishing houses and my contacts. 

Hats off

The name of comedian and writer Paulien Cornelisse naturally comes up. She was a big name even before she started publishing books herself. 

Eva Hoeke is a former Volkskrant columnist. Her outrage was great when the newspaper sacked her, but now she earns 1,700 subscribers to columns about her domestic loves and sorrows on Eva Hoeke - Hats off much more than she gained from her pieces in the Volkskrant. Nor could she have if she had not already amassed fame from the Volkskrant. 

In short: just as you need capital to get rich, you need success for success, and only success makes free. 

Competition 

Numb I feel as I walk to the train after the final sessions and drinks. Was the intention of the day to eliminate competition like this? Which makes you wonder if writers are each other's competitors. Writers are perhaps the most avid readers in the Netherlands. The more writers, the more readers. And certainly as an Authors' Union, you have to squeeze your hands with any writer who wants to join. 

I am not alone. If I have learnt one thing over the past few years, it is that it is complicated for the bulk of writers to keep or find a publisher for their book, whether it is their first, second or sixth book. Because many books sell moderately. 

The average reader has no idea. For them, lesser-known authors do not exist. Isn't an Authors' Union there precisely for those less successful writers too? I would love to know how you survive if you don't break through and are not admitted to subsidy land. What kind of work combines well with writing? How do you get a column in the Volkskrant? 

Instagrammable writers

In the audience, I sat next to a lawyer who writes books in addition to her four-day job. I know people in education who write thrillers in addition to their jobs. A friend of mine is a writer and visual artist who works in the postal service. I myself produce a magazine three days a week.
I want to share experiences, cheer each other up, instead of, even if we are among us, giving up on successes, setting the pecking order, adopting instagrammable poses and craving a stage with people who have made it further. 

And yes, besides that, I'd love to hear what it's like to be chief guest of Book Week, but I'll read that somewhere. 

P.S. At the session on 'Publishing inside or outside the system?' were also self-publishing authors. Respect. José van Os, for example. An enterprising type who hit the ground running with her book 'Droptarot'. She had the idea for the book for some time and it had to and would come: josevanos.co.uk/ I'm not going to buy that book, but that doesn't matter. That guts and perseverance, that's what I'm learning from.