As far as I can tell, the only place luck comes into play is the market itself.
Example (a true story): An acquaintance spent a year writing, rewriting, revising and polishing the best damned vampire YA novel she could produce. Her multiple crit partners went over it with a fine-toothed comb. Her eyes bled from proofreading. Her query and synopsis shone like the top of the Chrysler building.
A month after she snagged an agent's interest, Twilight dropped, and suddenly every editor was looking for the next YA vampire novel to cash in on the trend. Within a year, the YA shelves were teeming with them -- sparkly knock-offs and a few non-derivative works, my acquaintance's among them.
Her lucky day? Would her book have sold as easily if Stephenie Myers hadn't opened the door? Perhaps not. Some fortunate coming-together of circumstance was at play there, but we'd like to think her hard work paid off and she would've sold it anyway.
On the other hand, have you read a few of those knock-offs? Blech. Clearly, some folks spent a lot less time and effort on their books than did my friend. They DEFINITELY got lucky. (Which isn't to say those authors weren't careful about grammar, spelling, formatting and following publisher guidelines.)
Another example: My very best friend is a multiple award-winning YA author. At the end of her last contract, she found herself with an unsold manuscript that every editor deemed, "Wonderful, but too dark for the current market." (It's based on the opera "Carmen.")
She was getting rejections on partial subs that asked her to send the book when she finally got it published, because the editor loved the story and wanted to read the rest of it, but couldn't sell it to her current board. This happened more than once.
The happy ending to the story: She changed agents and continued to sub it till she found an editor willing to stand behind the manuscript. It's now on St. Martin's schedule for fall of 2010.
My point? Hard work is its own luck and without it, your chances plummet. But the market is a fickle, unpredictable thing, and circumstances do come into play. Good, well-written books get overlooked (or rejected with "this is wonderful, but I can't sell it") -- sometimes for years -- because editors see no place for them in the current market. Lesser books get published because they happened to be submitted at the right time, to the right place.
Which doesn't negate the original point of the thread. Do the work, give it all you've got every time, and be ready when that "lucky" break comes around.
Example (a true story): An acquaintance spent a year writing, rewriting, revising and polishing the best damned vampire YA novel she could produce. Her multiple crit partners went over it with a fine-toothed comb. Her eyes bled from proofreading. Her query and synopsis shone like the top of the Chrysler building.
A month after she snagged an agent's interest, Twilight dropped, and suddenly every editor was looking for the next YA vampire novel to cash in on the trend. Within a year, the YA shelves were teeming with them -- sparkly knock-offs and a few non-derivative works, my acquaintance's among them.
Her lucky day? Would her book have sold as easily if Stephenie Myers hadn't opened the door? Perhaps not. Some fortunate coming-together of circumstance was at play there, but we'd like to think her hard work paid off and she would've sold it anyway.
On the other hand, have you read a few of those knock-offs? Blech. Clearly, some folks spent a lot less time and effort on their books than did my friend. They DEFINITELY got lucky. (Which isn't to say those authors weren't careful about grammar, spelling, formatting and following publisher guidelines.)
Another example: My very best friend is a multiple award-winning YA author. At the end of her last contract, she found herself with an unsold manuscript that every editor deemed, "Wonderful, but too dark for the current market." (It's based on the opera "Carmen.")
She was getting rejections on partial subs that asked her to send the book when she finally got it published, because the editor loved the story and wanted to read the rest of it, but couldn't sell it to her current board. This happened more than once.
The happy ending to the story: She changed agents and continued to sub it till she found an editor willing to stand behind the manuscript. It's now on St. Martin's schedule for fall of 2010.
My point? Hard work is its own luck and without it, your chances plummet. But the market is a fickle, unpredictable thing, and circumstances do come into play. Good, well-written books get overlooked (or rejected with "this is wonderful, but I can't sell it") -- sometimes for years -- because editors see no place for them in the current market. Lesser books get published because they happened to be submitted at the right time, to the right place.
Which doesn't negate the original point of the thread. Do the work, give it all you've got every time, and be ready when that "lucky" break comes around.
Oh, I was born literate and articulate, was I?
