Is writing books still worth the effort?
I know writers at every level who are asking that question, from new writers I meet at writers conferences to authors with multiple published books. This week I will make a case against writing a book, and next week I will make a case in favor of it. Please jump in with your own ideas or considerations I may have overlooked.
Here are some reasons not to write a book:
1. The Market is Already Flooded.
For me, this is one of the most discouraging reasons of all. Bowker, the organization that publishes Books in Print, reports that 347,178 new books were published last year in the United States. Let that sink in for a moment. Picture 10 books lined up in front of you. Now picture 100. Now 1,000. Now try to see a warehouse filled with 100,000. Now triple that. And you want to pour out your heart and soul to add one more book to that enormous pile?
The statistics are actually even more daunting than I have indicated. More than a million additional public domain books and reprints were also published last year, so a writer of a new book has to compete with those too. If you want to look at the figures for yourself, see the article on Bowker’s website here.
Of course I am mentioning only the books published in 2011. Let’s not even think of the millions of books published in the years and decades and centuries before that, or the ones that continue to pop up every day.
2. In the New World of Publishing, Books are Devalued.
Thanks to how easy and inexpensive it has become to publish e-books, books are no longer the valuable, prized possessions they used to be. Right now I couldn’t even tell you how many unread free downloaded books I have sitting in my Kindle. I don’t even recall the titles or authors of half of them. Those books are in addition to the many other impulse-buy 99-cent books that are there, along with a smattering of $2.99 books that I haven’t yet opened. This trend toward cheaper books is good for consumers in a way, but if a book costs about as much as a medium soda, will I value it about that much? What message does that send to publishers and readers about how much authors should be valued?
I remember when buying a book took a greater amount of thought and deliberation and even financial sacrifice than it does now. When my favorite authors came out with new books, I often wanted them right away, so I would buy the hardcover copies (and still sometimes do). I remember walking the aisles of a bookstore (remember those?) holding one of those books and debating whether or not I could afford to plunk down the $20 or $25 to purchase this valued object. Now, I have plenty of reading material to last me for many months, if not longer, without spending a penny.
3. Authors Must Shout to Be Heard.
In this new publishing era, the writer bears more of the burden of marketing his or her own books than ever before. Traditional publishers have shifted that burden to their authors, and many new books are self-published anyway (more than 200,000 books were self-published in the United States last year alone). Being an author today, whether you’re self-published or traditionally published, feels more and more like being in a crowded room in which everybody is talking at the same time—and they’re LOUD—and you have to yell even louder just to be heard.
When my first book was published, in the mid-1990s, being a writer felt like digging deep into the most important things of life. It meant shutting out the outside world for a time, to get at the core of the book. I figured the only thing a publisher or reader would ever want from me was a good book.
In the new era, by contrast, being a writer feels like having to court the world, make it “Like” me. I have to “build a platform,” establish myself on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, and the list goes on. I have to yell louder than the other writers, or be ignored. It’s not what I had in mind when I became a writer. It’s also not what I’ve ever had in mind as a reader. I don’t care about daily Facebook updates from the writers I love. I just want to read their books.
Being a writer used to mean writing a book. Now it means selling a product. Some writers have embraced this with a passion. Some have taken it in stride. Some have squirmed. Some have shriveled.
Whenever I contemplate these things, it’s hard to keep Ecclesiastes 1:2 from seeping into my thoughts: “Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher. Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.”
Comments 15
Sadly, I agree with a lot of this post. But gaining the attention of the crowd who “tweet” and “twitter” is not my primary goal in writing. It sounds terribly cliche, but I write to discover what I think and in some mysterious way what God thinks about whatever the subject may be, and most radical, what God thinks about what I think. Is there any connection? Is there any truth to be found in my thinking and writing? I don’t know and won’t know unless I try to write it down and share it with others.
So, this morning I took my dog-eared journal to Starbucks to read to my husband. Talk about LOUD. The man at the table next to us was deeply and LOUDLY engaged in a conversation on his cell phone. “What I’m saying here in my journal is . . . CAN YOU HEAR ME? . . . NO? Let’s just go sit in the car where you can HEAR me. OK?”
Writing is like any other calling, I guess. You get up everyday and say, “yes, I will write today. So, help me, God.”
Author
It’s so true that during the writing hours themselves, it’s important to do all you can to shut out the “noise,” both physical and psychological. I know some people who do most of their writing at Starbucks, but I don’t see how. I like going there, but not to write. I can’t concentrate there at all. But the vanilla lattes sure are good! I wish you well with your own writing, Emily.
I can’t think of any reasons not to write. As Gwen Stefani has said, “My life is writing itself.” I’ve been fortunate in my career. I’ve never had difficulty getting published. Earning a lot of money is another story, though I’m forty years into my writing life and I’m still paying my bills and supplementing book royalties with teaching and speaking. It’s the best kind of life for me–but I do understand why newcomers to this field would be discouraged when it comes to writing and publishing books. But when it comes to writing–well, there’s never a good reason for not writing as far as I can see.
Author
Thanks, Karen. The way you handle your writing career makes you a role model for me and many other writers. I know you have influenced many writers at the writers conferences where you teach and elsewhere.
You and Emily both focus on the joy and necessity of the writing itself. I certainly agree with that. The heart of my complaint, especially in my third point, has to do with all the things that take writers away from the actual writing. Those chores are the challenge for published writers. I think the first two points are even more of an issue for writers trying to break in to publishing.
I write textbooks. A different type of writing, but we are plagued by the same questions. By the time the first copy of a new edition is published and rolled off the press, the publisher has invested half a million dollars. And the book (on health care ) is already out of date….there is already some new knowledge to replace something we stated as fact in the book. So when I think of “why more books” I really think of why more hard copy text books. Why not electronic only that I as an author would update every month, and you as a reader would pay a subscription to read and use as a reference.
Author
Yes, Vicky, this is a great point to raise, and your idea about e-books that are frequently updated might be the way textbooks and certain other kinds of books are handled in the near future. It would make sense with books on topics in which the material is constantly changing. It certainly changes the traditional role of the author. The writer is no longer someone who sits and agonizes over the writing, then releases it to the world, and then is done with it. In this newer model, the book is never really finished.
I think the reasons for writing a book are different, of course, than the strategies involved in buying a book. I begin researching my next book purchase for my Kindle when I’m about 80 percent done with whatever I’m reading at the moment. The purchase of a new book is a daunting task for me because — much like choosing a worthwhile movie these days — I use as many sources as I can before making a decision. For instance, I’m now considering buying “Father’s Day,” a memoir written by Pulitzer-Prize winning author Buzz Bissinger, because it was recommended by a friend. But that’s only a starting point. I also will review Amazon to see what readers of this book have to say. Then I will listen to Bissinger’s interview on the Diane Rehm’s show along with an interview of Bissinger on Morning Joe on MSNBC. I guess I’m willing to go to this much trouble because I value a good book so highly and have been burned by the discount books that often get more promotion than they deserve. And as your blog points out well, Joe, there’s so much “noise” and clutter in the media landscape today that finding that gold nugget is increasingly difficult. Indeed, writers today must be savvy users of multimedia to some extent. But so must readers.
Author
It’s true that the new era brings challenges for readers as well as writers. It used to be that readers relied on traditional publishers to act as “gatekeepers” to assure that quality books were published, but with more than 200,000 self-published books a year now being released in addition to those traditionally published books, how do readers sift through them all to find quality books? I have heard it compared to the way YouTube videos gain prominence. Word-of-mouth builds momentum behind certain videos that eventually go viral. Maybe it’s that way with books. But the danger is that many good books get lost in the flood of over-hyped bad or mediocre books. Maybe that’s unavoidable. There is nothing “fair” about the process. But for writers, it’s daunting.
As someone why has been trying to break into the industry for more than a decade, I have heard all these arguments before and I am sadder each time they are repeated (to clarify: the reasons make me sad, not the messenger, as he is a close friend). For those without the revenue to enter the market through self-publishing, other options seem so daunting as to discourage their attempt. Without faith, pursuing a career in writing seems like vanity or madness. It might be vanity or madness, but at least the pain of waiting for rejection is lessened to a degree.
“Of making many books there is no end.” Yes, the world of publication is a discouraging world, particularly so because much of what sells is junk. This is even more true of poetry than of novels. So for me there remains only one reason for continuing to write both: it’s simply impossible for me not to write. Audience and sales, when they come, are nice-to-have rewards for what I would do anyway.
Author
Yes, and you are fortunate that you have found an audience in multiple genres–not an easy thing to do!
Yes, all those reasons are depressing, but I just can’t be convinced to the argument. For lots of reasons but I’ll give just one. There may have been 300,000+ books published last year, but it’s phenomenal how hard a time I have finding books that interest me.
So the more people who throw their books in the vast pool, the better chance I have of finding that certain author who has a style/slant/take on life that delights.
Why attempt a battle against an enemy that outnumbers you? Why continue to search for the one heart that beats like yours and hope for love when so many marriages fail? Why attempt the impossible when life is short and time could just as easily be invested, with more hope of success, in the probable? If writing books is all about the numbers for a writer, and it is for many, then it absolutely makes sense to seek a more likely profession, such as, perhaps, a mortician. Career choices are important and publishing, these days, is not for the faint of heart or those on the brink of eviction. But some of us will continue to work our day jobs while in the margins of our lives, we strive to be like our Father, who has been a storyteller from the beginning. Writers desire to be read, so we do what we can to be published and found, by even just a few. We are hard-wired to be moved and influenced by stories. Creativity is in our DNA and since the world was first spoken into existence, words have been a powerful currency in the creation of worlds. Maybe, the epitaph of the novelists of this age will be, “They continued to write, though their words sold for pennies in the marketplace, while others drew crowds with light shows and theatre, the storytellers quietly bled onto the page and formed a resistance that transfused countless hearts who read alone at night in the dark.”
As someone who’s working on a novel and hoping to publish soon, I’ve definitely been discouraged by these obstacles. But though the flooded market may make it difficult for anyone to find your book–that is, if you can sell it–it also encourages me to make sure that when I write, I’m not just adding to the pile. And I hope that if I can make writing into a career, it won’t matter how much other writers value my book, as long as I think I’ve written something valuable.
I’m sad to hear that you have to work that hard to publish a book. It seems as if it forces you to hold this uncomfortable balance between viewing writing as something you love to do and as a business. But maybe as a college student social media marketing will be more natural for me… 🙂
I am a trader to me generation. I don’t Tweet, I barely get around Facebook, and if you have watched me try to text someone on my Dumb Phone you probably laughed. The way our world communicates changes so fast these days it is really fascinating and scary at the same time. But I wonder if similar questions were asked when the Gutenberg Press started making books available to the masses for the first time? The art of communication underwent a change almost as radical as that time as we are seeing today in how e-publishing and electronic readers like the Nook and the Kindle. More people have access to published works then ever before. I think the real question behind the question that has been posed here is: Does the value of my work as a writer diminish if it has not been published in the traditional manner we have been accustoming to for the last 50+ years? I personally will read something that interests me no matter what format it comes to me. I have recently discovered the ability to download sample chapters works from author’s web sites in PDF form, and enjoy it. I would be happy to own a Kindle and make that my main source of reading. However when it comes to the books I LOVE, I will always buy the real book. As cheesy as it may be, I like the tactile sensation of reading a book; the way that the pages feel, how they smell after you have owned the book a while, the places that are worn down you have read them so often. The cost effectiveness of publishing a printed book as opposed to an electronic book will really come down to weather or not there is a market place for hard cover and paper back books. For me there will always be a desire to own the books I love, by the authors I love, and feel the pages turn as I dive into a world that is not the one I live in. I may have to pay more in the future due to supply and demand, but now we are talking about the Business of publishing, not the craft of writing. Every artist, no matter what their medium, must face the reality that in order to make a living off of their art they have to play the business game. As a writer, you have to ask yourself why you are writing the story. Then you need to finish the story. The final step is that you need to figure out how to best communicate that story to the world at large with out compromising on why you wrote the story. In 100 years we may not even call them books, but they will still be stories crafted just like they are now: with the pouring out of the heart of the author to tell the tale that they need to share with the world because that is who they are. We started with oral tradition, moved to written word, and who knows what will be next. But that does not change the fact that stories will always need to be told by people how need to tell them.