News
10 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ OCTOBER 30, 2017
Each November for the past 18 years, thousands of writers have taken the National Novel
Writing Month (NaNo WriMo) challenge: each attempts to create a draft of
a 50,000-word novel in 30 days. With
word-counting apps, participation
badges, writing prompts, pep talks, and
in-person events, the NaNo WriMo nonprofit helps aspiring writers meet this
goal. This year, executive director Grant
Faulkner expects up to 350,000 aspiring
writers to join the writing marathon—
eventually adding to the tally of traditionally published books that were conceived during this hectic month of
writing.
“We’re a tiny nonprofit, so we can’t
truly track all of the NaNo WriMo novels
that have been published—so, we rely on
authors to tell us,” said Faulkner, who
took his post at the organization in 2012.
When NaNo WriMo projects get published, participants report them using a
form on the site. The nonprofit currently
lists 449 traditionally published novels
that began as NaNo WriMo projects. At
least 80 of those books ended up at the
Big Five publishers.
Faulkner thinks those figures are very
conservative. “We’re bringing in a lot of
outsider authors, and we’re allowing
their voices to be heard in the world,” he
said. NaNo WriMo has charted “
astronomical” growth since 1999, when Chris
Baty launched the movement with 21
other writers in the San Francisco Bay
area. It continued to grow every year,
becoming a 501(c)( 3) nonprofit in
2005.
Each year, teams of volunteers around
the globe guide participants through
online forums and local gatherings. In
2016, more than 900 “municipal liai-
sons” organized events across six conti-
nents. The marathon also supports young
writers in about 5,000 classrooms with
workbooks and curriculum materials.
The organization projects that up to
80,000 students and educators will also
participate this November.
This outreach has created publishing
networks in places where writers used to
struggle to find support. “Authors live
all over and frequently don’t have the
same kind of in-person coworker com-
munity that someone with a more tradi-
tional job model might have,” said Kate
Brauning, the senior editor at Entangled
Publishing. Brauning has worked on two
NaNo WriMo manuscripts from the
author Julie Hammerle: Artificial
Sweethearts and Approximately Yours.
“NaNo WriMo helps to replace that
writing community a little.”
“It’s been wonderful for the publishing
industry,” said Laura Apperson, an editor
at St. Martin’s Press. Three St. Martin’s
novels began as NaNo WriMo projects:
Lydia Netzer’s Shine Shine Shine, Rainbow
Rowell’s Fangirl, and Nora Zelevansky’s
Semi-Charmed Life.
Though Apperson hasn’t edited a
NaNoWriMo manuscript, she has taken
the novel-writing challenge five times.
“If you have a community, you’re a lot
more motivated to write; you’re a lot
more motivated to start shopping your
book around,” she said, explaining how
the writing marathon has influenced the
industry.
Author Elia Winters has published six
of her NaNo WriMo efforts, landing
To Take Part in
NaNoWriMo
Aspiring Writers
One of the NaNo WriMo’s writing groups
during last year’s event.
deals with Carina Press, Harlequin,
Pocket Books, and Samhain. She’s taken
the challenge 17 times over the course of
her writing life, but it wasn’t until her
10th marathon that her work found representation: Saritza Hernandez, the
senior literary agent at the Corvisiero
Literary Agency. “People who stick with
NaNo WriMo year after year are going to
get better at their craft,” Winters said.
“If you’re only dribbling and drabbling
your words and take 10 years to finish a
single book, you might never be able to
traditionally publish.”
Eric Smith, an author and PS Literary
associate agent, counts a few NaNo WriMo
participants as clients. “I appreciate the
fact that NaNoWriMo gives writers a
challenge to get the story out,” he said.
“Writers can get hung up on the idea
that one day they’ll write these books.
This is a kick in the pants.”
One agent saw her established authors
making use of NaNoWriMo’s adrena-
line-inducing effects. “If they have some-
thing under contract, a lot of my already-
published authors will arrange their
schedules so they are doing NaNo WriMo
as their first full draft,” said Kristin
Nelson, founder of the Nelson Literary
Agency. Her client Hugh Howey wrote
early drafts of Wool and Sand during
NaNo WriMo. Ally Carter, another
client, quit her day job and drafted Don’t
Judge a Girl by Her Cover during the
writing marathon.
Aspiring author Scott Reintgen wrote
a 61,000-word novel draft during
NaNo WriMo, but it ended up getting
rejected 53 times. Even though he
couldn’t find representation for that first
manuscript, he kept writing. Reintgen,
who is now represented by Nelson, published his debut novel Nyxia with Crown
Books for Young Readers in September.
“You’re building muscles and you’re
leveling up and you’re getting better
with every single word you put on the
page,” Reintgen said. “That’s what being
a writer is all about,” he added, reaffirming that NaNo WriMo models one of
publishing’s fundamental virtues: endurance. —Jason Boog
