Inspiration from The Art of Fielding

"The Art of Fielding" is a new novel from author Chad Harbach. Harbach's novel has received several rave reviews and made some best seller lists. The novel tells the story of a young college shortstop who suddenly has trouble making a throw to first, and how his life impacts the lives of other people at the college. But just telling the plot doesn't do the book justice. This story is riveting even if you don't know anything about baseball.

The true story of how the novel came to be published is even more fascinating, and can be an inspiration for all of us developing our own content. Harbach worked on the novel for over ten years, while performing various other jobs in the New York literary world -- freelance writer, magazine editor, etc. He never made much money. But while he was doing these other jobs he kept writing his novel, constantly cutting and rewriting to make it better.

Finally, Harbach thought the novel was ready. He sent it to several publishing houses, who rejected it. He sent it to several book agents, all of whom rejected it -- except one. With some final revisions and a push from the agent, the novel was sent to other publishing houses, and became the subject of a bidding war. One company paid $750,000 for the rights, and after ten years of hard writing Harbach became an overnight success.

I want to stress that this is a modern story. The Art of Fielding was released this year. Aside from the happiness we feel for Harbach, we can all learn some lessons from this inspiring story:

1. Persist. If you think you have a good story, whether you're writing a novel, a poem, or a web video, keep working on it. You can only be defeated if you give up.

2. Content is king. A good story in any medium, whether it's print, film, television, or any media still not invented, is going to find an audience.

3. Get good feedback, but stay true to your vision. Harbach received a lot of advice from friends, writing workshops, and editors over the years. Good, constructive feedback can help you improve your content. But you must know where the heart of your story lies, and always stay true to what excited you about it in the first place.

Keep developing your content. If it's good, you may end up in the same situation as Chad Harbach sometime soon.