I don’t keep precise statistics on how many queries I receive each year, but it sure seems like there are more of them every week. I’m at 16,600+ e-mails sent this year, and the vast majority of those are responses to queries. Just about every stranger I meet who finds out what I do for a living has a book they want to talk about. Writers are filling chat rooms and discussion boards, discussing their work and trying to get a leg up.
Is it just me or are there more writers out there than ever before?
And if you agree with the premise that there are more people writing (me = guilty as well)…. why do you suppose that is? What’s behind it? I mean, it sure doesn’t seem like there are vastly more people reading books than before, and it’s never been more difficult to find a traditional publisher.
Is it the meteoric success of prominent authors hitting pay dirt? Is it the economy? Is it a cultural moment, kind of how everyone learned how to Swing dance in the 90s? Is it the Internet and computers and the new transparency of the publishing industry, where it’s easy to figure out who to query and who publishes what? Is it the self-publishing boom?
Very curious to see the responses.
Raejean says
I definitely believe the ease that came with the PC and the internet has made writing more accessible, but those have been around for several years. The economy has people looking for creative ways to support themselves and self-publishing has increased the means, but writing has so much competition it's almost like playing the lottery.
For me and the writers I know, writing is very introspective. We define ourselves and our hopes and dreams by the stories we write. Getting published is a culmination of that journey.
Bill Mabe says
Your blog–you get more queries because your blog is so popular.
Recession–as already noted.
Celebrity/easy money culture–everybody wants to be a star or at least get rich.
Success of people who are *seemingly* ordinary people, like JK Rowling (she seems ordinary)–if they can do it so can I.
Technology–internet makes research, getting story ideas, and sharing tips on writing easier; (being able to use a word processor instead of a typewriter also helps, though that's been true for a while)
Probably a little of all of these.
Gordon Pamplona says
Hmmm. Everyone already gave the reasons. And herds make me nervous. Very nervous. Time to quit writing books and use my creativity to build dollhouses instead.
Laurel says
Technology.
Not only is it easier to type an MS but many more people have typing skills than 15 years ago so thinking while typing is much more organic.
Research requires internet access, not hours in the library and interviewing people who work in the job your MC holds.
Once you've completed an MS, the internet again makes the research easier. Hop online and find agent listings instead of going to the library or buying the most current edition of Guide to Publishing.
Querying is easier now that it doesn't require the USPS.
The combination is death on agent inboxes.
Jens Porup says
The same thing happened in ancient Rome. Legions of wannabe writers produced tons of papyrus scrolls, all saying very little indeed.
See my essay on the topic, here.
Anonymous says
Writing equals staycation, or whatever people call it when they stay at home and don't go anywhere on vacation. I think writing is cheaper than going to Disney Land. Just a thought.
Also, podcasts like "I Should Be Writing" and "Grammar Girl" also encourage folks to write, and those podcasts provide a lot of information to write well.
What seems to be missing is a good way to identify a good editing service for all these drafts. If I google novel editing services, how do I filter out the good from the bad?
Steve Fuller says
The same percentage of people are writing books. Twenty years ago, there was just no way of knowing so many people were writing books. Technology connects people in a way that gives us a window into their personal lives.
Nathan Bransford says
Just wanted to chime in to say that I definitely agree that Baby Boomers retiring and working on the book they've always wanted to write is one of the important factors. This is especially apparent at writing conferences (though Baby Boomers might just be more likely to be able to afford writers conferences).
Eric says
I agree with the people who are saying technology, especially word processing versus typewritering. But I think a big part of it is blogs. You go online and find a blog about something you're interested in, and the writer is really charming, and you waste all this time reading the words of all these people on all kinds of blogs, and you see that any topic is legitimate, even the misuse of quotation marks–it's charming!–and the bloggers have people commenting on their blogs and saying nice things about them, and you're like, "Yeah, that's the life for me."
Except maybe a blog is too much daily pressure and exposure, so writing a book is something you can still be an introvert about, which of course most of us are. And you can get it nice and polished and send it out when you're "ready." And people will think you are charming and send you flattering comments.
I'm serious. It's the blogs.
karen wester newton says
I think it's a combination of things:
1. Computers, word processing, & printers make it easy to create a clean, tidy m.s.
2. The internet makes it easy to do research without leaving your house.
3. Baby boomers have aged to the point where they're looking for that second career, the one that's always been their dream but they had kids to feed & put through college before.
4. Self publishing is now a more affordable option, if you can't get an agent or an editor interested in your book.
Marsha Sigman says
I think its a combination of several things. I started writing before I researched the process of becoming published, so I didn't have any ideas going in that it would be easy. I knew it would be hard but that didn't stop me.
I think its the economy and an atmosphere that makes us want to try and realize our dreams. Also, the Twilight story. What happened to Stephenie Meyers was one shot in a million but it inspired so many to believe it could happen to us.
The Internet and the ease with which we can submit our efforts is just icing on the cake.
Josin L. McQuein says
A lot of people have "write a novel" on their to-do lists for "someday". Since a good number of those people have been downsized, they have the time to do it.
Add that to the number of TV shows that feature main characters who are best selling authors (Bones, NCIS, and Castle just to name the 1st three I thought of), and the fact that those shows give a skewed reality of what a successful writer's life is like, and it's little wonder that people think it's an easy way to cash in quick.
The perception is that a writer does nothing for most of the day, bangs out a few hundred pages in their spare time and then walks the MS into an agent's office and says "I choose YOU! Aren't you honored?" Then the agent hands the book off over lunch for a million dollar advance, after which the writer sits down with said editor and designs everything from the cover to the layout before being sent on a whirlwind publication tour of signings and morning show appearances. Then the book's a surefire hit — all within a matter of weeks.
I'd say that most of those people don't take the time to discern how much of that presumption is Hollywood and how much is fact. That's why so many of them get frustrated and go for vanity publishers when there's no immediate lunge for their work. The speed and easy of vanity publishing fits the Hollywood model, and that's enough to convince someone who doesn't know better that it's the way to go.
Everyone seems to think that the ability to write a sentence = the ability to write a book, or that bad grammar = voice in a book. And that being an "author" comes with a certain amount of assumed intelligence and respect.
Also, emails are quick and cheap. There's no need for printing off huge chunks of MS to send off by snail mail or to pay for rolls of stamps now. Agents are only a click away.
Anonymous says
I think storytelling is archetypal and it is a human obsession to hear and rehear or tell and retell stories.
At times when life is bleak, stories hold us up and become like food for the starving.
I believe that what has changed included:
The Word Processor
and
Electronic Submissions
without which writing would be just too too burdonsome for many.
(Remember those little white-out strips you had to hold over the typewriter keys?)
Oddly, I just reread "The Clowns of God" by Morris West. It was a Bantum book, published in 1980, 22 weeks on the NYT Bestseller list.
I was completely blown away by the typeset typos, the off-center registration, and other flaws we have come to believe we must never see in a "professionally published" book.
Kristi says
It would take too long to explain my thought processes here so this is my short take on it: While technology may lend itself to people writing who might otherwise not have attempted it, I think the increase in numbers is more due to a cultural shift – which is impacting much more than just writing.
Ellen Painter Dollar says
I think it has to do partly with the rise of newer forms of publishing–especially blogging and memoirs. I realize that many agents and editors say that the age of memoirs may be passing, and that they are only interested in memoirs from famous authors, but so many of my favorite books of the last decade have been memoirs or collections of autobiographical essays by not-so-well-known people that have somehow become big sellers. As a college student, I loved writing and did it well but never considered being a writer because I associated writers with novels, and I just don't have the skills for fiction (yet). But as I read memoirs, blogs and other nonfiction forms, I realized I could be a writer even if I'm not cut out to be a novelist. I'd be interested to know if my observation, though, is supported by agents' and editors' submission stats–Have you seen an increase in nonfiction proposals that are either autobiographical or that build on the authors' blog topics? (You have probably answered this question somewhere previously. Going to search the site right now!)
Matilda McCloud says
I worked at a literary agency and also read slush at a publishing house–several years ago. Believe me, A LOT of people were writing books then, too. We were overwhelmed. I guess being able to send queries via email has increased the number of queries agents receive. It took a little more effort then to photocopy and send your ms etc, so that cut out a few people–but not that many. Retired people were writing their memoirs then–pre-Baby Boomers I guess. And by the way, not all of us Baby Boomers are retired. Yikes, we're not all THAT OLD, she says crying into her coffee.
Watery Tart says
I'm inclined to go with D. All of the Above.
A. Economy leads people to try ANYTHING to get out of it and writing is one of those things (both freeing time of true talent, and putting pens to paper than have no business)
B. Blogosphere and networking give lots of advice to help people navigate both writing and submitting (the latter successfully, jury still out on the former).
C. A couple badly written books making millions (sorry for breaking rules here, not trying to point fingers, and not saying they shouldn't have been published because obviously they were SALES successes, but they DO give the impression anyone can do it).
I suspect both more is written AND people are getting their finished works out to more people because they are more desperate to have it work.
Rowenna says
I think internet culture has emboldened writers–they're read on blogs, they commiserate with fellow writers on forums, they get advice and feedback and learn how to publish, and doing those things is a lot easier than it used to be. So more people are stepping out as writers, feeling like they can whereas a decade ago it must have been at least a bit more mysterious.
What I wonder is, if it is a cultural thing, will it stick around? I may have learned to swing dance in the 90s but I still dance…most people who learned don't. Just because someone starts to write now doesn't mean they'll continue to publication–I bet many first novels will get the rejections and decide not to perservere, write another book, learn the next dance step. Just a hunch…
liznwyrk says
In a country that is so divided, with family so far away, and old modes of community are fading, there is no sense (and I would argue this is because of, not in spite of, the internet and fragmentation of media) that any of us feel like we are being heard. Writing is a way to say I AM HERE.
Lydia Sharp says
The number one thing I see stated out there on Introduction-type discussions in social networking/writing forums is this:
I'VE BEEN WRITING FOR AS LONG AS I CAN REMEMBER (SINCE BEFORE I COULD TALK EVEN!), AND THOUGHT I'D TRY TO FINALLY GET MY STUFF PUBLISHED.
Yes, that is as scary to me as it no doubt is to everyone here that reads it.
Julie says
Its funny that you mention this and I do think you're right. The flood is heavier, but I have never actually met someone who writes except through writers blogs and other writing engagements. I never talk to people who are working on getting published at the grocery store or watching my kids at dance class.
Whenever I tell people I have written three books they can't believe it and they all say "I could never do that" but obviously someone is?
Rachel Menard says
I think the economy is a huge factor. My friend's sister and her husband are both jobless and using their time to write SEPARATE vampire books. Be forewarned.
Erin says
In my humble opinion? Blogging.
So many people have blogs, and so many other people enjoy reading blogs of people they could be friends with, that the dream of being A Real Writer seems more tangible and reachable than ever before. Especially with a handful, or even dozens, of blog readers telling blog writers "You should so write a book!" Even if they have no clue what actually goes into writing a book.
Anonymous says
Fora for book publishing statistics at Dan Poytner's Para Publishing. Many inline links to statistics resources at Bookstatistics.com Interesting stats.
"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics."
—Benjamin Disraeli
Anyway, people write because they have something to say, and are weary of being interrupted while saying it. A book is, for all intents and purposes, a dramatic monologue, novels more so but disguised as narrative discourse.
Technology certainly makes writing easier. The yellow pad writer is a revenant cliché anymore. Word processor software makes organizing, composing and compositing, rewriting, and revising enormously simpler than double spaced pencilmanship. Typewriters, especially the manual ones are even more archaic.
W^3 communication enhances the ease of discourse. Correspondence turnaround is seconds instead of weeks or months.
Internet publication of writing blogs, online workshops, writing advices enhance writers' skills and confidence levels.
The apparent ease of access to the marketplace through online citizen publishers, literary agents, book manufacturers, and editors encourages more flow.
It's a Bell curve supply and demand though. There will be a new age of literature in short order, once the marketplace settles out again for awhile, when the overabundant supply becomes more manageable and the demand is more qualifiable, again, due to the Internet providing easy access to a broad range of literature that's not solely dictated by gatekeepers. Self-selection will become more of a market force than it's ever been.
There was a time when I could count the number of agents I'd shook hands with, figuratively or literally, on one finger, but the number of heads of state on all my fingers and toes. It used to be easier to shake a U.S. president's hand than meet a literary agent. Agent cloistering was commonplace once upon a time. You-all used to keep your vocation a secret so that you wouldn't be bombarded with all the unsolicited over the transom manuscripts. Welcome to the networking age.
What's next in the publishing kingdom? A new level of gatekeeper is emerging. Query/manuscript screener and advice services will become the point of initial access to agents and publishers, is dawning.
Marilyn Peake says
I think the main reason is computers and the Internet. It’s easier than ever before to do research for a novel (Internet + Google, rather than doing research in the library and printing out information on coin-operated copy machines and absolutely needing to travel to a place to see what it looks like), type (type and then hit the delete key to erase mistakes, as opposed to typing on typewriters, feeding in individual sheets of paper and using white-out to cover up mistakes), edit (same reasons as for how much easier it is to type manuscripts today, plus the existence of computerized spell checkers and grammar checkers and online dictionaries), print (printer right next to the computer, as opposed to making multiple copies of a manuscript at a copying store), finding agents (constantly updated online lists of recommended and not recommended agents, as opposed to outdated published books about agents) and querying agents (mostly by email, rather than typing and taking queries and manuscripts in stamped envelopes to the post office and then waiting to receive a reply in the mail). Many famous writers originally self-published: Edgar Allan Poe, Virginia Woolf, Mark Twain, to name just a few. However, in the past, writers had to have direct access to an actual printing press in order to self-publish books, so they were frequently wealthy.
I also think that in today’s economy, some people are probably writing while unemployed which increases the total number of people writing books.
Jamie says
I think it's a combination of those. Books and movies are an escape and right now it seems like a lot of people need that escape. So if you can't necessarily spend money on books (and if for some reason you don't want to go to the library) … you sit down and start writing. You write yourself out of this world for a while… then you see things like Twilight, the Harry Potter series, Golden Compass, the Dresden series on Syfy … you see all these book to movie things and it looks effortless. Not saying it is, but it LOOKS effortless because suddenly there's this book you didn't know existed and it's already a movie!
But I also think that a lot of people are coming out of themselves with the rise of technology. Things like NaNoWriMo (for better or worse) have opened up this world to people who always wanted to do it but never thought they could.
People are creating. It may not be gold every time, but that's pretty cool to see when we're constantly going higher tech.
Jude Hardin says
I think a lot of people are still under the (false) impression that a published book equals instant wealth.
Anyone who has ever finished a novel, though, knows it isn't easy, regardless of the technological tools at hand. It's hard work, and it's very unlikely any appreciable amount of money will ever change hands.
Just Another Sarah says
Unfortunately, I agree with Cary's question, up above…it seems like there are tons of writers, but that not all of them are so worried about the quality. Maybe it has to do with the idea of self-publishing (which I think is a very bad idea, myself), and maybe it has to do with the writers groups available, like others have mentioned. Maybe for some it's a get-rich-quick thought; which is kind of silly, really.
I am forced to admit, I used to frequent some fanfiction sites, and I have to say that I saw it there, too. The sheer number of stories out there is phenomenal. Some stories were fantastic, some even to the level of the original authors…and then some would write, "PLZ REVIEW! NO FLAMES!" And they'd have something you couldn't really follow. But I suspect that the idea of having written something that somebody else has read and even thought about gives you some sense of worth, of importance, a bit of a presence. It doesn't matter your age, your gender, your social situation. So perhaps, even with lower quality, the quantity of writing is getting people started in something that allows them some form of release. And that's not such a bad thing, after all.
Sorry–really long note. Great blog!
RLS says
For me, it's the computer in general and the internet in particular. If I couldn't query electronically, I'd never have the energy to post at the rate I did.
Also, I found all the word processing features essential. Back in the day, (I'm 42) of the mere type writer, white out and literal cut and paste sent me running towards other creative endeavors.
Susan Quinn says
I know the secret! Find out why in my new book Ways to Surgically Remove the Book Inside coming out in December 2009 from Author House!
Seriously, I think the commenters above have it covered: technology, the percieved ease or payoff of writing a book, and more people with time on their hands.
Question: How recent is this uptick? Are we talking the last year, a sudden surge? Or slowly building over the last several years?
Christina Kopp says
Wired.com had an interesting article several months ago (https://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/17-09/st_thompson) entitled "The New Literacy." The article argues, among other things, that the rise of social networking sites and texting has led to average Americans using the written word more than ever before. If you didn't have to write for school or work, you usually didn't write to communicate. Now, though, we write quite often in our daily lives, and although this style of writing uses its own sort of grammar and lexicon, it does require an understanding of audiences. A professor from Stanford argues that this new literacy trains people to understand their audiences and change their style to suit whomever they're addressing.
I'm not sure this translates into more completed books and queries, but I think it plays a role. The more we write in our daily lives, the less likely we are to view writing a book as something beyond us.
The problem, of course, is that no matter how much we write in our daily lives, writing well is a skill that takes a great deal of concerted study (though not necessarily formal study) and directed practice. On top of all that, perhaps there's the talent factor, as other debates on your page have suggested, though I still think it's pointless to discuss talent because we can't control what we can't control. ;-D
Another problem: the "new literacy" means that people are spending so much time writing that they're not doing much reading. It is difficult to write well if we don't expose ourselves to a variety of styles and ideas.
Maybe all of this new writing doesn't have a place in publishable books, but I do think it's encouraging that people are writing more. Writing requires an active kind of thinking that the passive entertainment of the twentieth century (radio, TV) didn't often encourage.
L... says
I kind of think you would see fewer queries if we all went back to snail mail. When a writer has to shell out six bucks to send off a full then you know they're serious.
An e-mail? Type, type, type, spell check, send – kind of like commenting on a blog. 😉
Vacuum Queen says
Sure seems that there are more people getting 15 minutes of fame…and a book deal. So maybe regular Joe Schmoes at home think they can write a book if someone from the Hills can. Or, "hey if that guy who makes witty Twitters can get a book deal, why can't I turn MY blog into a book?"
I really do think that's part of it.
And yes, I do also think the internet's easy access to agents and publishers and their world makes those of us who enjoy writing think it could be us just as easily as any other writer. Why not try to query and see what happens?
lotusgirl says
Maybe it's all of the above. One thing that just struck me is that more people know how to type these days. One less obstacle. The fewer things that stand in someone's way the more likely he is to get to the end of the path. What do you think of that one? When I was young hardly anyone I knew could type. Now everyone can even little kids. Just a thought.
AM says
Thanks Matilda.
I have been wondering if the numbers are inflated because agents are accepting emailed queries and that has made it is easier for writers to (1) resubmit to the same agents and (2) to submit to agents they would not have considered (due to genre, tastes, etc.) if they had to snail mail the queries.
Nathan's comment above seems to suggest that as a possibility.
Other than the agents blogs (which have now been around 5 years I think), the internet and writing software has been available for a long, long time. That’s why I was wondering about the time frame of this upturn.
Certainly, since Nathan has been blogging, the writing, internet and blogging technologies have been prevalent.
Perhaps the last, late-late technology adopters have just come online?
Anonymous says
Books have replaced screenplays (the early 90's were a time when spec scripts ie., Shane Black's 'The Last Boy Scout,' were sold for millions of dollars) as the cultural lottery ticket du jour.
Blogs & blog comments seem to reflect this: there's more chatter about deals than books. In fact, I have a difficult time remembering comments about books read on your blog, for example (except when you've posted a book specific topic.)
Partly, I think this due to the blog's identity (by an agent.) But even that, pulling some veil back on a previously illusive – sorry, ellusive – business feeds into the frenzy.
The bigger fantasy, I think, is one of escape e.g., "if I sell 'my book' (generic, any book) then I will be free to retire to Ibiza, Marbella, the Canary Islands." Which reflects, I think, a basic disconnect between advances for first time writers and reality.
How many people, I wonder, read or heard about S.P's $1.5 million dollar "holding fee" (or, whatever it was before she resigned) and then tuned into hear she stood to make another $7.5 million (or, total.) Not to get political but she is basically, a hockey mom with few credentials who, through a stroke of genius or stupidity, was plucked from a small town and given a platform. Like other reality show contestents, she engenders this sort of America-as-Las-Vegas lotto life everyone seems to have enrolled in. Conciously, or unconsciously, people identify with get-rich-quick (and without much to back it up) scenario, the underlying lucre being shelled out by … publishing companies.
Ergo, this mania is all Knopf's fault!
Harper K. says
I agree with the 80-odd fine folks before me. But also: I think there's been a growing fascination among people with how the sausage is made with regard to our entertainers and our entertainment. In the days of getting our news mainly from print media and 30-minute news programs, it was tough to come across interviews with authors that were more than 5-minute PR placements. These days, the Internet is chock full with in-depth interviews with authors, screenwriters, TV and music producers, etc. And when people start to learn about how something is done or made, some of them think they can do it, too.
Writing a novel can be done at home, with fairly cheap equipment, without having to relocate to NY or LA, and with plenty of virtual writerly company on the Internet. So, umm, who wouldn't want to do it? (wink) That is, until you get to the murky middle of that fourth revision and you realize you haven't seen the sun in a while…
Also, the self-esteem-building culture that's been going on for the last decade or so probably has a lot to do with the upswing in people taking on the monumental task of writing a book. When I was a kid, I distinctly remember my 5th grade teacher and my mother actively discouraging me from sending out my 166-page handwritten novel manuscript for publication. To be fair, I'm glad they did. Sort of. I continued to write, but I never thought of myself as someone who could maybe, possibly be published until I was 25 and ran across the blog of a 25-year-old YA author. These days, I wonder if a 13-year-old me in 2009 would be one of those kids asking on message boards and blogs if I should include my age in my query letter.
Ink says
I think it's a confluence of factors leading to a tipping point. Technology, access, the boomers, the author mythology, etc.
There's two others, however, which I haven't seen anyone mention.
1) We're at the apex of a culture of individuality. People become celebrities without any discernible talent (sorry, Reality TV). The promotion of individuality is everywhere, even if it's often a sort of herd individuality. It's all about you… so everyone's told. There's been a big shift in the cultural dynamic – less and less are people defined by their jobs, but rather by their leisure pursuits. People, more and more, have little investment in their jobs. Look at employment turnover rates and you'll see some startling changes in the last fifty years. A job is just a job. You go and earn money to live. And the real you comes out after. Do you mix dance music tracks in your basement? Make Youtube videos? Go to scrapbook conventions? Write a novel? People are increasingly defined by these choices, and increasingly pushed to express themselves in these ways. Thus we get a lot of writers.
2) Games of the role-playing variety. Look at the proliferation of these games over the last few decades. They're everywhere. And these game players are employing some of the crafts of a writer. They're creating characters, plots, story arcs, conflicts… over and over again. They plan adventures, campaigns, sometimes incredibly complex and fluid stories with moving and shifting casts of characters and players. I think it's a small step for many of these players to take that step and start writing down these stories in fictive form. They already have a world, a plot, a character that they love and are emotionally invested in. Why not make him real and share him with others? A book!
Fantasy dominates this market, fairly often. And I'm guessing if you add up the various forms of fantasy (adult, YA, Epic, Urban, Paranormal, horror) you'll find that this is the leading genre queried. Am I wrong?
Megs says
My take is more along the lines of kids grew up and were taught to be practical, but over the last however many years, my generation came up being taught to follow our dreams, creative is better, practical is what you make it. Instead of keeping to our secret writings, we realized through the thriving internet reading/writing communities that it was possible to have an audience. Everyone keeps saying it's possible and you have a generation (or two, my dad's seems similar) that no longer believes you have to put aside your creative half, get practical, and only work in a "respectable" profession.
That's my take.
Anonymous says
I'm a freelance telecommuting editor. But for a computer, e-mail, the Internet, and a dry roof over my head, I'd be hopelessly unemployable.
My work comes in via e-mail attachment and file share sites. Spends a little time on my monitor being read and marked up. Goes out via e-mail. The checks come in the mail from some of my clients, others deposit directly to my bank account. I've never even been face-to-face or talked on the telephone with most of my clients. Huzzah! for the digital age.
Anyway, it's all writing. The one thing that technology has done is compel writing as a manner of communication. We write because we write.
Robert W. Leonard says
The internet has probably changed things in this area in two big ways. The first being that many authors are no longer quiet about their writing, wondering if everyone will mock them. Another is the online push for fellow writers to keep going, making many, many people who would have usually quit, not.
I imagine that most people suckered in by the allure of fame are also the ones who give up quickly. Like a teacher who started because of long Summer vacations. There is a reason the majority of teachers don't last 5 years in the field. It's a lot more work than it looks like.
Anonymous says
@ Christina Koop: thank you for posting The Wired link … I'd missed the piece and it's an interesting mix of cultural and business.
Kerensa Brougham says
I actually think that in part, it's another instance of people wanting their moment in the spotlight. It's a way to get your name out there, to be "famous" or leave your mark. Add that to the reasons mentioned above (it's "so easy to write a book," etc.), and away we go!
Heidi the Hick says
It's easier now. Anybody with a word processor and internet can bang up a few words and call it a book, get a few quick tips on finding an agent, and hit send.
What hasn't gotten easier is sticking with it long enough to turn it into an actual book.
Plus we have a very weird culture of quick cheap celebrity now. Anybody can have be a household name for 15 seconds!!!
And writing just seems like such an easy thing to do when you're slouching around at home in your Mort Rainey bathrobe.
ella144 says
In the past few decades, writing (and reading) has become an integral part of daily human interaction, more so than at any other time in history, because a large part of the Internet is dedicated to writing down information, thoughts, events, and opinions.
Moreover the flow of written word is increasing everyday. It doesn't surprise me that increase includes books since they are one of the oldest, and most beloved, forms of sharing ideas with others.
We've all heard friends and strangers both say "One day I'm going to write a book." (Heck, we've all said that ourselves.) While the Internet connects people to information, more and more people see others JUST LIKE THEM are writing and getting published, and writing is no longer an unobtainable dream, but a real and tangible goal.
At the same time, they learn how to be published (if they bother looking) and where to send their magnum opus for publication. They learn tips for making their manuscripts more favorable to the people receiving them.
To sum up, though it is more difficult to get published because of the economy and the increase in submissions, it is also easier to learn how to be published because that information is more readily available than it ever has been before.
John Peterson says
WordPerfect vs. Smith-Corona + transparency.
Grimmster24 says
At first thought, my money's on the GIGANTIC ease of communication available to us now, via the Internets, so that, yes, we writers CAN easily access information about agents, publishers, and editors.
On another note, the word verification for me today was "tingshte." What a cool non-word. 🙂
Marilyn Peake says
Reading the comments about Baby Boomers retiring, I think it’s relevant to add that on average people are also living longer and healthier, so are physically able to do more – including write books – during their retirement years. Other societal changes also probably result in more people writing books. Women who stayed home to raise children used to be expected to clean house and cook all day. Now, many write books. When books had to be typed or written out longhand, it was practically impossible to write at work. Now, it’s possible to write on computers at work and on all kinds of electronic gadgets while commuting by train. In many ways, the modern world is very conducive to writing.
Stacy McKitrick says
Age may have something to do with it. I've always read, but recently I've been reading A LOT. I had more free time (kids grown) and wondered if I could write. Once I got that first book finished, it opened a flood gate and I want to write more (and I want to be good). I never knew I had it in me. It certainly wasn't planned!
Marilyn Peake says
Thinking about all the points made so far, I think the Internet has also led to a certain kind of book being able to be written quickly and selling many copies: the kind of book (many of them YA) that sounds exactly like blog chatter. It’s not literary, the grammar and background research is often filled with errors, but the author’s able to capture “blog speak” very well – the kind of chatting that happens on regular blogs about everyday life, celebrity life, and so on. It’s not self-conscious, barely edited, often breathless and oh-so-cool. Does that make sense? Anybody else know what I’m talking about?