What I’ve Learned From Each of My FAILED Books

I’ve written seven full books… and I’ve made a *lot* of mistakes.

Each of those books failed in different ways, so let’s go over the lessons I learned from them so that YOU don’t accidentally do the same dumb things that I did!

During the last stream, the subscribers voted that we go over what I’ve learned from each of my failed books.

Watch a short version of the stream here or scroll down for what we wrote.

What I’ve Learned From Each of My Failed Books

• I’ve written a total of 10 books, all of which I have tried to get published or which have been published
• And all of them have failed in different ways
• Today I want to go over the first 7 of them, and talk about the mistakes I made for each, what I learned, and how my failures can help YOU write the most successful story possible
• For each of them I’ll share my query letter, a snippet of the beginning, then the top 2 things I learned, so let’s start!

Disclaimer: The books that we’re going over today are all failures *in my opinion.* What constitutes a success or failure in writing will vary wildly from person to person. 

For some, just finishing a book is a success. But for me, I personally consider a book a success when it sells enough copies to show that there is a demand for more. That is my personal, subjective opinion, and yours will be different.

#1. The Wager
(My 1st book!)

The query letter I sent to agents: 

Attn. XX,

I read on YY that your interests include ZZ. I think that my novel THE WAGER might interest you.

There was only one thing eighteen year old Songo could do after he found out his love Shasho had died: bring her back to life.

With a heavy heart, Songo embarks on a suicidal journey to the sacred Top of the World, accompanied by his two friends: the devout Genjo and naive Choha. Unlike his two traveling companions though, Songo doubts that they will actually find the all-powerful being at the Top of the World to grant their wish and bring Shasho back to life. But when the three boys come face to face with secrets that they find along the way, they discover that they know absolutely nothing about the world in which they live.

THE WAGER is a story about friendship, heartbreak, growing up, and discovering the meaning of life. It is part exploration of humanity’s struggles with faith versus reason that will appeal to adult readers, and part adventure with a dash of fantasy that will appeal to young adult readers as well, similar to Philip Pullman’s THE GOLDEN COMPASS. It is complete at 190,000 words long, and it can easily be divided into two or three shorter stand alone novels if deemed appropriate.

THE WAGER is my first novel. I am eagerly working on my second. I would be happy to send you the manuscript for review.

Thank you very much for your time and consideration. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,

Scott Wilson

• There are definitely some issues with the query:
  • The names are confusing…
  • The intended audience is too wide…
  • And 190,000 words is WAY too long…
• …but it sounds kinda interesting, so how does it start? 

The beginning of the book (that I sent to agents):

Chapter 21.9
Present day on a world far, but not too far, away from ours

“It’s my fault Shasho died!” Genjo screamed. “I killed her! I killed Shasho!”

Things were not looking good for the two boys. Genjo was dangling over the edge of the mountain top, saved from plummeting to instantaneous death only by the other boy, Songo. He was lying down flat on his stomach on top of the ice-covered ground, one of his sweaty arms hanging over the mountain edge and clasped onto Genjo’s arm. Songo was far from secure himself though. He had dug his exposed toes and the fingers of his free hand into the icy ground just to not be blown right over the edge by the bitter cold mountain wind, but that wasn’t going to be enough. He could feel his grip weakening every second. And, as much as Songo didn’t want to admit it, slowly and surely, Genjo’s weight was pulling him down over the edge of the mountain, and there was nothing he could do about it.

[Skip a bunch of back and forth shouting]

Genjo and Songo fell all the way down, through the clouds, past the bird-like Sopes, and slammed into the ice over a thousand feet below, dying instantly. THE END

Chapter 1
Twelve years before present day

Songo thought it was a ridiculous costume, and nothing his mom could say would change his mind. There was just no way around it. It was awful! It was terrible! It made him look like a giant popsicle with a poop on top!

Lesson 1: It doesn’t matter how cool your story gets later if the beginning is boring/confusing/bad.

Lesson 2: Your first book is not going to be a success, it’s a learning experience (like all things you do for the 1st time).

#2. Someone Else’s Shoes
(The “appeal to audience,” trying to write something more “normal”)

The query letter I sent to agents:

My novel SOMEONE ELSE’S SHOES is multicultural fiction with a fantasy twist.

Guy Pearson has been disillusioned by life after college. Years at Starbucks have jaded him into thinking that his customers aren’t any more interesting than the drinks he serves them. 

But when Guy finds a pair of golden shoes that allow him to step into the lives of others, he discovers that “ordinary” people are anything but. The cashier, the homeless woman, the Middle-Eastern immigrant, the single mother, and more all have lives that shock Guy with their passion, heartbreak, and intimate connectedness. Guy must decide what to do with his newfound power, but it’s not an easy choice. Especially not once he discovers an unimaginable secret hiding inside the person closest to him.

SOMEONE ELSE’S SHOES draws on my years of driving a public bus overhearing conversations, and having lived vicariously through my wife as a Starbucks barista.

Lesson 1: Doing your research for selling your book is just as important as the research for the content of your book. Any agent would know right away that I didn’t know what I was talking about when they read the incorrect “multicultural fiction.”

The beginning of the book (that I sent to agents):

Guy pulled the lever on the spout of the metal coffee urn, letting loose a stream of decaffeinated sludge into a portable cardboard box with a bag inside, the whole time thinking, “I paid $80,000 to get this job.” But he couldn’t think that way for long. It could lead to chugging a bottle of coffee urn cleaner to end it all. Guy was pretty sure there was a rule somewhere in the Starbucks handbook against doing that. Urn cleaner was expensive, and employees were expected to commit suicide on their own time and dollar.

“Hey Guy, not to rush you, but can you please hurry up with that box of coffee?” Guy looked up with bleary eyes at the bright, shining face of Tom, the shift manager. He looked like that sun with the baby face from Teletubbies, even down to the little giggle of joy he gave after dispensing his command. How someone could have such a nauseatingly sweet smile for even one second was beyond Guy, but Tom had been wearing it nonstop since 5:00 a.m. The only way Guy had endured was by imagining squeezing Tom’s head in a juicer and seeing what kind of sugary syrup came out.

It was peppermint, mostly.

Lesson 2: It doesn’t matter if your unlikeable protagonist gets better later, they need to start off compelling too, not just a bunch of complaining.

#3. The College Zodiac
(My nonfiction passion project)

The introduction to the proposal I sent to agents: 

Eleven years ago I thought I was ready for college. I’d taken AP classes, gotten great grades, and even chosen a reasonably priced state school. And yet today all I have to show for it is a worthless degree and a ball and chain of debt.

I thought I was doing everything right. So where did I and the thousands of others like me go wrong?

To find out, I’ve spent two years interviewing college students, graduates, admissions officers, and guidance counselors to see if I could uncover our mistakes.

We made a huge discovery: the high school students who enjoyed more success after college were the ones who had savings to pay for college, certainty about what to study, and life experience outside of school.

I used this information to create the College Zodiac, where each combination of the three factors represents one of eight different Zodiac Animals. (For example, I am a Disillusioned Piglet!) By reading the stories of graduates in the same Zodiac Animal category as themself, current high school students can peek into their potential futures and see how to avoid common mistakes.

Lesson 1: Unless you’re a celebrity or you have a PhD in your field, no one will care about your non-fiction book.

• After no agents wanted the book, I made a website
• Booked talks at libraries, schools, etc.
• Sent the book out to guidance counselors, teachers, etc.
• …but no one cared/showed up, and the few that did were angry at me for telling some students that college right after high school might not be the best idea

Lesson 2: People aren’t looking for a savior, they just want to live their lives and be happy.

#4. Acting Normal
(Writing what I know, no research required)

The query letter I sent to agents:

Twin brothers Oliver and Alex have fallen in love with the same woman. Again. It’s not surprising: women weird enough to give them the time of day are hard to come by. Oliver is obsessed with counting things, and his brother Alex has difficulty feeling empathy for anyone. Even at his job as a “doctor actor,” where he assists hospital staff in telling families that their loved ones have passed away, Alex can only observe in awe the emotions they feel that he cannot.

But despite their peculiar brains, Oliver and Alex’s hearts are just like anyone else’s. When a woman became their friend in college, they clashed over her with catastrophic results, estranging them for years. Now it’s happening again with Tina, a woman whose life is ruled by anxiety. 

Tina helps Oliver and Alex feel normal in a world they otherwise suffer through. Neither is willing to give her up without a fight. Through a series of awkward dates, a party that fails epically, and desperate acts of revenge and forgiveness that don’t go anywhere near as planned, the three of them help each other realize you’re only as weird as those who love you think you are.

Lesson 1: Just because you think something is plausible/believable, that doesn’t mean other people will. Not a single reader liked/accepted the idea of Alex being a “doctor actor.”

The beginning of the book (that I sent to agents):

Sometimes I wonder what it’s like not to have to count everything. Maybe it’d be nice to watch a movie without counting the words that the characters are saying, or read a book without having to stop and count each sentence. Maybe it’d be nice, but just thinking about not counting makes me feel sweaty and sick, so I’m going to stop now.

“Oliver do you need any ketchup, sweetheart?” my mom asks. She’s sitting across from me at the dining room table, gently nudging a plate covered in McDonald’s ketchup packets toward me. I look down at my plate of potatoes, my second plate of green beans, and my third plate of cube-cut meat. I don’t need ketchup for any of this. I want to tell her that, but before I can, I have to process the words that she put onto the conveyor belt in my head.

Oliver do you need any ketchup, sweetheart. That’s six letters plus nine letters plus ten letters plus another ten letters, totaling thirty-five letters. It’s already a bad number, but I have to finish counting the whole sentence. There’s seven words, so added to the thirty-five letters, that’s forty-two. Then I wrap it all up in a nice bow and add the final one, counting the one sentence, for a total of forty-three. A forty-three is only one point. What a bad sentence.

Lesson 2: Just because you understand something/think it’s cool, that doesn’t mean other people will. Not a single reader understood Oliver’s counting, and I laid it on way too thick at the beginning.

#5. Artificial Wings
(The “appeal to audience” try take two)

The query letter I sent to agents:

All his life, Carus has longed to fly in the sky with wings of his own. If only he’d been born a girl….

In Carus’s world, girls are born with wings and the gender roles are reversed: boys take home-ec, learn to cook, and are expected to look pretty, while girls show off their strong wings, play Skyball in the air for gym class, and perch themselves on ceiling-chairs in the cafeteria to catcall down to boys. 

Carus feels like he’s the only boy in school who dreams of having wings. He wants to fly and be able to do everything the girls do, but he has to keep those feelings buried deep inside. Boys can’t fly, and that’s just the way it is.

Until now. An extremely controversial invention – artificial wings for men – makes Carus’s dream into a possible reality. What’s more, the doctor who invented them comes to Carus’s town to correct a mistake that she made years ago: removing the wings Carus had at birth. 

It will cost Carus his friends, his family, and everything else to confront his rigid society and get his wings back. But along the way he’ll make an important discovery: even if you’re different, you’re never alone.

Okay, interesting… so how did I choose to start this story?

The beginning of the book (that I sent to agents):

I know it’s a dream for two reasons. First, I have the same dream all the time. Second, I’m flying around in the air with wings of my own.

But that’s impossible. Boys don’t have wings; only girls do. Everyone knows that.

Still, in my dream I ignore that fact and keep soaring through the open air. With every flap of the massive feathered wings sticking out of my back I shoot forward faster and faster. The wind rushes past me, blowing over every curve and crevice of my body as I glide through the sky like a fish through water. When I pass through a sun-warmed cloud the moisture trickles against my face, covering it in sweet rain droplets. I close my eyes and savor the taste; I know it won’t last much longer.

Lesson 1: Don’t start with a goddamn dream sequence OR a classroom lesson on how your world is different. Dreams have no stakes, and lessons are boring.

The next scene of the beginning (that I sent to agents):

I wake up with a jolt. Crap. I fell asleep during home-ec class again.

All eyes in the classroom are on me. The other Creton High School junior year boys are giggling while Mr. Hesti, our teacher, stands at the front trying to look stern in his frilly apron and oven mitts.

“Welcome back to class, Carus,” he says. “Now would you like to tell us what the next step in baking this cake is?”

“Is it, uh, cracking the eggs?” I ask.

The entire class of boys bursts into laughter. Well, everyone except the person sitting next to me: Thees, my best friend.

“It’s preheating the oven to 350 degrees,” Thees answers. Mr. Hesti gives me a disappointed look then nods at Thees.

“That’s correct,” he says. “Now if you wouldn’t mind staying conscious for the rest of class, Carus, I’d appreciate it.” 

I breathe a sigh of relief and mouth a silent “thank you” to Thees. He gives me a friendly wink. Of course he knew the right answer. Thees is a natural when it comes to things boys are expected to do: cooking, fashion, makeup, cleaning, pretty much everything I’m terrible at. Thees even looks like the perfect boy with his long blonde hair done up in a ponytail, not to mention his perfectly-ironed pink skirt and matching blouse.

It’s always seemed weird to me that boys are the ones walking around in dresses and wearing makeup, but apparently I’m the only one. It’s completely normal to everyone else.

Lesson 2: When writing a different world, don’t smack the reader with the differences or else the writing will feel stilted. Instead, just let the differences ripple through your scene/writing organically.

#6. Metl: The ANGEL Weapon
(The book that got me an agent and got published)

The query letter that got me an agent:

Thirteen-year-old Caden isn’t even a Nobody. He may have been stripped of his name and family like all the other kids at the Home, but while they sleep in warm beds, he’s an outcast who spends his nights in the horse stables, gazing at an illegal photo of the father he’s never met.

Ever since the technological apocalypse, all metallic devices and remnants of humanity’s advanced past have been outlawed in an effort to appease Metl—Earth’s artificial second moon, worshiped as a mechanical god in the sky. Those caught with any sort of Iltech are “erased,” and their children are sent to the Home to save their technologically-tainted souls.

But not everyone is a believer. One night, a fiery red X appears on Metl’s surface, signaling its discontent. Even more troubling, the same red Xs begin to glow on Caden’s palms. What does it mean? Is he human or machine? And why is he being visited by a seven-legged spider robot?

To uncover the answers, Caden must find his father, a nearly impossible task. Worse yet, Caden’s days are numbered. With every passing minute, Metl is growing angrier … and closer. It has started on a collision course with Earth, and it’s entirely Caden’s fault.

Lesson 1: Don’t jump at the 1st agent to offer representation

• In the contest I submitted the query in, three agents requested the manuscript, and one offered representation
• When the other two declined, I was so excited to get started that I went with the one who offered representation
• Instead, I should’ve taken a break, and spent a month or so sending out the book to other agents, to get other opinions
• Even if I still went with the same agent, I could’ve made a more informed decision
• And a different agent could’ve helped with the next lesson:

Lesson 2: Assume that you have ONE book to tell the story 

• After years of failures, I was so excited to be “noticed” that I was sure that my double-book deal was amazing. I expected it to be a hit and to finish the seven-book series I’d had planned
• …but unfortunately that didn’t happen
• I don’t blame my agent/publisher, but I think a different agent/publisher could’ve seen the story’s potential, then had me make some changes to make it work as more of a stand alone story with series potential, rather than Part 1 of 7
• It’s a vicious cycle: Having an incomplete story makes readers unexcited about a book, which brings down sales, which makes the possibility of sequels go down too
• I’m proud of Metl and love the story, but knowing what I know now, I’d definitely change things to make it feel more complete

#7. Metl: The Last Wish
(Doomed from the start LOL)

Since the first book didn’t sell well, the sequel sold even worse.

The back of the book summary that was published:

Caden may have saved the world from Metl, but the journey to find his father has only just begun. 

After months of being on the run as fugitives, Caden and Annika arrive at New Darien, a town unlike anything they’ve seen. The entire population is forced to dig up Iltech from a giant hole, all day every day, while under the watch of a massive robot.

Caden and Annika want to avoid New Darien at all costs, but the townspeople beg “King Caden” to help them. Caden doesn’t want to be anyone’s king, he just wants to find his dad. But perhaps the path to finding him is closer than he thinks.

Lesson 1: If you’re lucky enough to have a sequel, make sure that you answer the lingering questions from the first

• Sequels are hard because readers want the “same story” but “completely different,” and I went a bit too “completely different” 
• I love the sequel, even more than the first one, but my POV as the author is different from readers, because I know everything
• In my mind I was expanding the world, opening it up for what was to come next, but readers were mostly looking for closure on things from book one, and they didn’t find that here

Lesson 2: Readers want passionate, active protagonists, not mopey/unsure ones, no matter the circumstances

• In the Hunger Games, when Katniss volunteers in place of her sister, she doesn’t mope or feel unsure, she makes an active decision to do the best she can to win
• In Star Wars, when Luke’s aunt/uncle are killed by storm troopers, he doesn’t mope or feel unsure, he makes an active decision to fight against the Empire
• And in my book, when everyone thinks that Caden is their savior… he mopes and feels unsure about it
• Even if it’s realistic to have that reaction, it’s not what readers want to read, they want the protagonist to be active, assertive
• A bit of hesitation/nervousness is fine, but more than that gets annoying, and I wish I’d leaned into making Caden accept his role as “savior,” perhaps even letting it go to his head
• …although to be fair, it was already doomed 🙂

In Summary!

• The PROCESS is the most important part of writing
• Before I started, I read about lots of other people’s mistakes, did my best to not make them myself, and in the process made new mistakes and learned a lot from them
• I’m still not a perfect writer, and never will be, but I’ve gone from writing trash to having 2 books published (even if they weren’t successful), and now getting full manuscript requests from agents, which 10-years-ago Scott would be very jealous of

If you want to join us and help write a story by trolling in chat, or share your own writing for feedback, then we’d love to have you join us on Twitch.

And you missed the stream, you can still watch them on the YouTube channel or watch the full stream reruns.

Hope to see you next time, friend!

Top images: Pakutaso