Crisis. Oh, we writers and how we know that word sooo well. I know many of you have been following this blog for quite a few years and THANK YOU. Lord knows we have navigated a crisis…or fifty. In fact, I took a break from blogging this summer to deal with family crises because kids grow up, parents age and entropy is REAL and happily destroying my clean kitchen as I type this.
What I want to address today is I GET IT. There is a lot coming down the pipeline that can feel very overwhelming. Every breakthrough, sadly, comes tethered to a crisis. It is all a matter of perspective.
The automobile was an incredible invention…unless you happened to be the dude who’d finally inherited his family’s horse buggy empire. Automated manufacturing raised the overall quality of life for millions of people while simultaneously rendering many artisans unemployed relics.
Thing is, we can’t have the sweet without the bitter. That is something that never has changed and never will.
Publishing is highly unique in that is managed to remain relatively unchanged for a really, really long time. These days? An industry that hadn’t changed since the Great Runaway Fish Wagon of 1896 now changes more than a bipolar contestant on RuPaul’s Drag Race.
What is a writer to do?
The Mid-Write Crisis
Right now, I know a lot of authors feel ground down and worn out. I know, I have been feeling it. Widgets and whats-its and apps and audio and video and podcasts and now AI? ROBOTS are now writing frigging books?
AHHHH!
But then I sat down, put away the vodka and cookie dough, and thought this through.
This is nothing new. Writers have always been in a push and pull with market forces, distribution, and the whims of readers. Pulp fiction was a massively popular way to make a living writing until WWII and paper rationing.
DOH!
Then, to overcompensate for the curtailed paper supply, publishers started condensing all the paper into novels long enough to bludgeon the entire Clan of the Cave Bear. I know I am dating myself here, but remember going to a bookstore and deliberately buying a book thick enough to use as a weapon so your dollar stretched as far as possible?
So, the super thick books became all the rage. This was where we saw an explosion in richly verbose books from authors like Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park), Stephen King (It), James Clavell (Shogun), Larry McMurtry (Lonesome Dove). Then, over time, oil prices shifted the market again and the bookstores’ shelving practices evolved. Agents decided that books suddenly didn’t need to be any longer than 90K words.
Was it because readers stopped loving epically long books?
Granted, that was what publishers told us. But the truth was that book vendors could fit a heck of a lot more more copies on a shelf if they limited the word count.
Then, when big box stores took over, most mid-list writers who’d made an impressive living with their super long series, suddenly found they were in a crisis. Big Box stores only wanted to stock the most recent book in print. Instead of making money off 70+ titles, in an instant, these superstars were back to wishing on a star that the ONE book might hit big.
Welcome to the Publishing Hunger Games
I wanna be in District 12. They know how to use Book-Tok!
Kidding aside, what IS new about this profession? Truly. Delivery. That is it.
Earlier I joked about how the invention of the automobile was bad news for the buggy manufacturer, but what did they have in common? Transportation. Whether on foot, on horse, by carriage, or by EV, the common denominator is moving people and things from Point A to Point B. That’s it.
Simple.
Now what about writing? We are storytellers! Humans are a story people, meaning technically we will never be out of a job. That said, while we will never be out of a job, this doesn’t mean we get a pass to do our job the exact same way forever and ever and ever.
I used to pick on writers about the blog. We writers create entire universes that never existed, exotic, alien lands, create new languages but the minute anyone told us we had to blog? We blogged about writing…because we were writers.
***Pro Tip: Readers don’t care about the craft of writing unless we authors screw it up.
Sometimes we can get in our own way. We fail to use that wonderful creativity that helps us shape unforgettable stories and apply it liberally other areas of the profession.
It can be a lot.
We are responsible for so many more aspects of our career—web design, covers, formatting, reviews, social media, branding, audio, blackmailing, puppet shows and flea circuses—but that actually means we are also in a lot more CONTROL over our destiny.
Writers exercise more agency than ever in publishing history.
With Great Power Crisis Comes Great Responsibility
Ultimately, I would LOVE to offer you a Publishing Snuggy but this industry is never going to be One Size Fits All. Trust me, I have been exploring a lot of new ways of doing things over the summer, and it looked a bit like this….
For brevity’s sake, we aren’t going to deep dive this too much today. Before we meet again, however, here are some things I’d like you to ponder.
What KIND of author do I want to be? There is no bad answer, but a pulp writer is vastly different from a James-Clavell-Asian-EPIC-SAGA-author.
Am I good at long-form or short-form writing or both?
How are my technical skills? Does technology scare me, and if so, can I overcome that fear to deliver content in new and refreshing ways? If I am not tech savvy, do I know anyone who IS? Can I upgrade my Model-T to a Space X rocket? Or something in between?
Dream up new stories, yes, but also dream new ways to connect future readers TO your stories.
How are my marketing skills? Do I understand SEO? Is marketing/advertising one of my strong suits? If you’re a marketing SEO ninja by day? Use it! If not? Not a game-stopper. We just need to work around it.
Where am I mentally/emotionally at this stage in my life?
What operational pace can I reasonably expect out of myself? Twelve years ago, I had no trouble churning out 5K words a day, while editing, doing hot yoga, Jiu Jitsu, and rescuing kittens. But, I was also younger. I wasn’t homeschooling a gifted 10th grader while helping my aging mother.
This is a career that will have peaks and troughs of what we are physically, emotionally and mentally capable of doing. Remember, the goal is the long haul. We are in a marathon, not a sprint.
What is my WHY?
Yes, we can talk about how to handle the latest publishing crisis, but that will pass. Then there will be another crisis, and another crisis, and y’all get the point. We have to find a WHY that is robust enough to keep us going through good times and bad. We’ll get cooking and booking until we hit that NEW mid-write crisis that we’ll need to push through.
And, the most important question of all….
Am I Boring? No More Literary Meatloaf!
Believe it or not, audiences are in crisis, too. I have over 520 audio books in my library and yet still have credits sitting there unused. Despite my vast inventory, I listen to my favorite 20-30 books over and over because—to be blunt—there’s just so much BLEH on the market. I also canceled Netflix and almost never go to the movies for largely the same reasons.
It’s already annoying culling through the downright terrible, but you what’s even more tedious? Sifting through the sea of mediocrity. That’s in ALL mediums.
With as much competition as we have in the marketplace, we no longer have the luxury of serving leftovers.
One of the reasons Hollywood and Disney (and others) are taking such a beating is because they quit being brave. Instead of taking any authentic risks, they’re delivering us franchise movie after franchise movie. It’s all CGI with no real substance.
The world really wasn’t desperately in need of Transformers 15.
That, or they are taking successful stories, then making surface changes that require no creativity. Let’s make the Wicked Witch of the West…TEAL, and the ruby slippers chartreuse. Sure, because all audiences were waiting on the Wicked Witch to just be a different shade of green. Gimme a break!
***Note: I am putting this in after the fact. I genuinely had NO IDEA there was a movie version of Wicked coming out until one of you mentioned it in the comments, LOL. Hopefully they will deliver something better than most of the remakes.
Anyway….
Audiences are hungry for really great stories a HUGE secret to success these days? DARE TO BE DIFFERENT and tell a really FRIGGING AMAZING STORY! More on that…next time.
What are Your Thoughts? How are YOU in a Crisis?
Have you fallen for the myth that if you just overcome (Insert BS Life Problem HERE) then everything will even out? Is it easy to fall into wishful thinking? To stumble into nostalgia and lose your focus?
I hope everyone had an amazing summer. Me? I’ve been exploring the joys of replacing an entire sewage system (only one of many glorious adventures.)
Do you struggle to set goals with the increased pace of change? Or, are you excited with the new tools out there and accessible to everyone?
If you have something new and shiny you’d like to share, let me know about it in the comments. If there is something overwhelming you that you can’t seem to figure it out, drop a comment and maybe we can work it out together!
The post Help! I Think I am Having a Mid-Write Crisis! appeared first on Kristen Lamb.
