Competition or Cooperation: What I Have Learned

And are you in need of book marketing advice and guidance?

When I first heard the theories popularized by Charles Darwin, I internalized them. Species compete, and if resources are limited, then they compete for the same resources.

The plant or animal that wins is the one who is stronger, healthier, smarter, or had some kind of advantage. That individual survives. Their genes get passed on.

This was called natural selection.

Likewise, a human who uses tools and strength to her best advantage out-competes everyone else. Losers are weaker.

Why I bought into this theory as a root metaphor I do not know. Probably it was told to me early by my father and reinforced over and over in school.

So I competed.

Years went by. I kept competing. Then I learned bit by bit that animals are as likely to cooperate and nurture and tend as they are to compete. Individuals and species often work together for mutual benefit. A great example is a bird rookery where, when birds nest in proximity, they can more easily communicate, defend territory, and share parental duties.

Unfortunately, the publishing industry followed the model of natural selection. To a writer the industry offers contests, prizes, space on pages, space on shelves, appearances on TV shows, keynotes at conferences, money from library funds, scholarships. A few people win, a lot of people lose. The model should be called unnatural selection.

I bought into that model the same as I had Darwin’s theory. Let natural selection.

I no longer am a believer or a follower of the theories upholding competition. I believe in cooperation.

This means that we have to change the model of the writing world or at least our writing community to be

• more like a rookery and less like a battlefield

• more a star-spangled banner and less a hierarchy

• more a wildflower-spangled field and less loneliness at the top

• more a circle and less a ladder

When the theory of natural selection died for me, everything changed about the way I approach writing and my writing life.

1. I enter few if any contests.

2. I submit very few pieces for publication.

3. I apply for few if any scholarships.

4. I don’t wait for someone else to choose me.

5. I choose myself.

Every workshop I lead—every course I teach—every project I guide—is based on this root metaphor:

• that we have enough resources to go around

• that there is room at the table for all of us

• that we all have a right to our dreams and goals

• that all of us can move a civilization forward in a way that a few celebrities cannot

Compete if you like, but don’t forget that being picked or not picked does not reflect on who you are; and leave space for working together.

This is on the wall of, if I remember correctly, Story & Song Books in Fernandina Beach, Florida.

Workshop in Book Marketing Next Week Live Via Zoom

Next Thursday evening, April 24 I'm teaching a 2-hour online workshop on marketing a book. Your book. This workshop is for you if you

• have a book out

• anticipate one coming out

• published one that didn't sell as well as you'd hoped

Even if you have a publisher who is supposed to market your book for you, an author has to help with marketing these days. Or should.

I lay a bunch of info out in this class. This is my best thinking & these are my best ideas, strategies that have worked. Some of the things I say will surprise you. Some you will have heard before. I'll say right now there's no miracle—there's only work, but it's fun, uplifting, mind-bending, generous work.

Tuition is $44, tax-deductible if you report writing income. The session will be recorded.

Access the Mysterium: A 2-Hour Workshop Online Via Zoom

At work in every piece of good writing is something beyond craft and mechanics. It can’t be codified, seen, or proven. But it’s there:

Spirit. Invisibles. Magic. Mystery. Myth. The Imaginal Realm. Dream-worlds. Intuition. The Unconscious.

How does a writer access this mysterium?

Please join me, Janisse Ray, for a live online workshop in How to Magic to be held Tuesday, April 29, 7-9 pm Eastern Time, Live-on-Zoom. You will be sent the link for the event when you register. Tuition is $33. If you are unable to attend in person, the workshop will be recorded and you will be sent a link to access the recording.

I will be talking about our relationship with spirit in many of its forms, from gut feeling to dreams to divination. We will examine deeper sources of power, ways to tap that power, and ways to transfer it to the page. This workshop is about finding meaning in words, reanimating language, and turning to invisibles in order to help us better our stories and ourselves.

Come Write Your Own Story With Me—A Summer Course in Memoir-Writing

You have so many stories. You’d like to get them down on paper. Sometimes it’s hard to know where to start. It’s hard to keep going once you get a few words. Writing feels like work when it should be fun.

Let me help you write your own story.

This is a memoir course for writers of all levels. No experience needed. It takes place on Wednesdays from 11 am to 12 noon Eastern Time, starting June 4 and ending August 20. Your investment is $300, an hour with me each week, plus a promise that you’ll work another hour on your own.

No life is too large, no life is too small. Use your memories, family photos, scrapbooks, diaries, interviews, and memorabilia to help you fill out the details of important stories in your life. Your stories are gold.

Escape to your writing space for an hour each week spent with me to work on your own life story.

Here I am in a recent Zoom workshop.