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.
AM says
"…my generation came up being taught to follow our dreams, creative is better, practical is what you make it."
I am with you, Megs.
I think that besides the procedural changes in the publishing industry and the current economic issues that the most significant and enduring changes are being driven by a generational-cultural shift, which includes encouraged individuality and creativity, fantasy role playing (Ink, you are right) and reality TV.
We are encouraged to dream and to believe that we can succeed.
Sure, technology makes it easier to do, but the reason more people are using the technology today is something entirely different.
Joshua says
Everyone has, or thinks they have, a story to tell?
-Joshua
Jason says
Is it just me or are there more writers out there than ever before?
Yes, because there are more people than ever before.
Jason says
Or…maybe there aren't really more writers per capita, but maybe you've experience more queries as your popularity has grown.
I would actually like to see some numbers though because without numbers this is all obviously guess work.
It's just that my gut tells me that it's more likely that you have changed rather than the world.
Nathan Bransford says
It's really not just me. Agents who don't have blogs are seeing it too.
Joseph L. Selby says
Is it that there are more writers or you have greater exposure and are receiving a larger percentage of submissions? I'd guess the latter. Behold the effectiveness of your blog.
Anonymous says
Nobody wants to be on the RECEIVING end of things anymore. they don't wanna read books, they wanna write 'em. They don't wanna watch TV, they wanna be on TV. it's like the puvblic finally realized, "Hey, I'm gonna stop being a consumer and start being a producer. Why should these other shmucks make all the money?"
Ask yourself 1 question: Which side of the screen are you on? because those who control what's on the screens, get the cash. Those who watch the screens, pay cash. That's how it goes. So nowadays more and more people are realizing that with their cheap PCs. I-net connects and Web 2.0, they can, at least in a small way to start, control what's on the screen.
Which side of the screen are you on? All of us here are on the wrong side. Nathan is on the right side. But, for those of you with your own blog, that's the place where you're on the right side, it's a matter of growing the audience.
Anonymous says
I am going to go a little rogue here (and I like the newer definition of that word–off the beaten path– better than the old one)
but regarding alllll these Vampire novels:
I love them! I have been reading them everywhere, NaNoWriMo has thousands going. What's fun is that it's alot like sitting around with some friends who like to playact and telling ghost stories. The next is better than the last. Such imagination! It's the new American pastime: writing Vampire Novels!!!!
Anonymous says
Anon 11:37:
Put that way, it's Bill gates who's on the right side of all of our screens, now isn't it?!
Anonymous says
Holy crap. This is the end as we know it: I've just gotten word that the first-ever auto-generated novel has been sold to a major house.
it's a genre romance completely generated by a computer program. Early word is it's okay, not great, but nevertheless salable.
What does this mean for the lowly writer banging away on the keyboard when some program is going to be auto-generating the genre novels a dozen at a time?
Robert Michael says
I think some people have stopped BUYING books, but I know personally, I haven't stopped READING books. I have checked more books out of my local library (e-gad) and have begun several books that I had purchased but hadn't found time to read. I believe lots of people have been forced to do this.
As far as WRITING goes, it has always been my impression that thousands of people write. Since I have been involved with writer's groups, guilds, writing classes, etc., I have come to the conclusion that many of them aren't publishable. That might seem judgmental, but it's not different from the screening that agents and publishers already perform.
Anonymous says
i think the web has made it a bit easier to get the word out about your creations, but in the end, people still have to like it. Even if you're a billionaire and you can afford to start your own big house and thereby self-publish your own books–you can't make people buy them–you can get it in front of them, which is an advantage, but at the end of the day they still have to like it. I think people forget that sometimes.
Lisa Dez says
I can say with total certainty that I would never have written a book forty years ago. Partly because I was two, but also because without word processors I would have seen it as too much work. I’m an inherently lazy person. With a word processor, I can get my ideas on paper almost as fast as they’re coming out of my head. Nothing is spelled right and half the time I don’t even write in full sentences because I can always go back and fix it later. And I can write a book in a few months rather than a few years—which is how long it would take me to type a novel and my speedy 3 words/minute when you account for all the errors.
Also, the internet made finding my agent (relatively) easy. I can research agents in my fuzzy pink p.j.s from the privacy of my own home and query them at one in the morning when I actually have time to do things like that.
Rachel says
I've had several friends who like to correspond by postal letters, like me, but we never take the time to do it. While communication is easy now, it takes no effort to toss off an email or text, or just call someone on the phone if you're thinking of them.
But I think there's something cathartic about really putting a lot of thoughts down in an organized way. We don't write letters, we hardly write long emails anymore, so we fill that void by writing stories, books, fiction, non-fiction.
I've never known personally so many people writing books, either. I guess we just need therapy for our crazy lives!
Kimberly Kincaid says
I didn't get a chance to read most of the responses, so sorry if I'm repeating…but I took a break to blog surf in the hopes that it would knock my writer's block off and if I don't actually set a timer for my breaks…well…you know…there goes the afternoon!
I have read on several other agent's blogs that they receive thousands of queries annually. Let me be the first to admit it makes me want to cry at the sheer volume of competition out there. And yet, I soldier on!
I write because I don't really have a choice in the matter. This stuff rattles around my brain and begs to come out on the page and if I don't give in, I'm scared my head will explode or something…
I find the whole "skyrocketing to fame" thing fascinating and hilarious. I put it in the same category as winning the lottery. Only it's harder to do and the odds are stacked against you a little higher. You have to be *good* first to be the next Stephenie Meyer or JK Rowling or (insert a name of your choosing here)- in which case, you probably didn't just start writing, and definitely not just for grins to see if you could get rich quick.
I have met people who have gushed outright when I tell them that I write novels. I am very clear that I write unrepresented and unpublished novels (although not for lack of trying to land either an agent or a publisher, take your pick, haha!), but they don't care. They think it is positively glamorous. I don't have the heart to tell them that I write a lot of my stuff in my pajamas at eleven o'clock at night with one hand in the Cheez-it box, and that more than half of what I write gets edited, deleted or critiqued to the point that I could cry over it. Not glamorous, but like I said, I don't have a choice in the matter. The writing is coming out of me no matter what. I'm really just the medium between my incredibly active imagination and whatever method of transcription is closest.
So if I was in it for fame or glamour…I'd be in deep kimche right now, I guess. I must be in it for the whole "love or words" thing 🙂
Dreamstate says
I think it is a bit like the ADHD thing…
It seems that every third child in a grade school class has been diagnosed with ADHD. When I was in school a few decades ago, there was no ADHD. Correction: there was no ADHD LABEL. Plenty of kids had it, but there was no diagnosis, no label, no attention drawn to it.
I think there have always been a huge number of people writing books, but now it is much more visible. We talk about in email, on blogs, on Facebook.
And it is now easier for people to write it and send it out — write it and hit save and you are done(instead of manually typing it and having to make copies and manually revise and make copies). Hit attach and send and you are done.
Frankly, I think it is too easy now. Anything worth doing is supposed to be hard. That's what makes it worth doing.
Mary Caffrey says
Just this afternoon, I got an email from authonomy, the big publishing company's website for aspiring writers, about a new service: CreateSpace.
You guessed it, these folks edit and help package reader's books for self-publishing.
Yippee! It's pretty cheap, too, for some of the services.
On a more serious note, there are authors who use lulu or PublishAmerica or some such companies to publish books that ARE bought and read by interested readers.
My best example is a lady who writes about the history of her small town. God bless her! Without people like her, history would be lost forever with the deaths of the people who lived it.
There are some stories worth publishing on a smaller scale.
Mary Jo
Jamie says
I think all the things you suggested play a part I also think that blogging and that sort of thing also plays a part – it gives people who like to write little tastes of fame and before you know it they are writing a book.
Bane of Anubis says
Bransford @ 9:47 — I think your comment just killed the exception for a few weeks 🙂
Nathan Bransford says
gordon-
You can state your opinion without demeaning the entire business and all the people published by it with a broad, incredibly rude stroke.
Nathan Bransford says
BofA-
Ha, probably!
Ted says
I read all the comments and here's what I heard:
1. The Internet and PCs make writing and querying a novel much easier than it used to be.
2. If Stephenie Meyer (J.K. Rowling, Dan Brown) can do it without slaving away for years in the academic trenches, why can't I?
3. For various reasons, lots of boomers and stay-at-home spouses now have time to do what they've always wanted to do.
I agree with everyone else.
But no one seems to be focused on the ongoing implosion of the book-retailing market, which I worry will be almost incapable of launching a debut novelist by 2011 or 2012. And that's the earliest those of us querying today could ever hope to see their first novels released.
Imagine how much the eBook/freeBook landscape will evolve between now and then.
Scott says
J.K. Rowling + the Internet + Stay at Home Moms = YA Books up the Ying Yang
Gordon Jerome says
IT'S TRUE!
It's been going on since the late 70's when Stephen King came out with Carrie.
People read these books put out by the industry and these books are so simple-minded, that people figure they can write them too.
I can't believe you deleted my post.
Gordon Jerome says
But no one seems to be focused on the ongoing implosion of the book-retailing market, which I worry will be almost incapable of launching a debut novelist by 2011 or 2012. And that's the earliest those of us querying today could ever hope to see their first novels released.
Now, that's a very good observation. That's something to think about. The publishing market as we currently know it, is failing. But I think what's going to take its place is going to be wonderful. It's a massive wave; one simply needs to figure out how to ride it.
Mira says
I like what everyone said. I'm definitely going for d. all of the above.
I especially liked what Liznwyrk said. And Kristi, I wish you'd say more.
So, I guess the only thing I would add is that for some reason, it is really, really hard to evaluate your own writing. It's much easier to believe that your work is publishable than (I'm guessing here) that your painting is sellable.
The thing about writing – as an art form, it requires participation. It doesn't feel finished until someone reads it. So, that may add to the number of people trying to get published.
On a slight side topic, Nathan, that's an unbelievable amount of e-mails. I hope you take lots of time for relaxation. Engines can't run without sustenance, and you, like all of us, need and deserve time to re-fill and re-nourish!
But I'm also thinking that if you send that many e-mails this year, taking off a few, that's probably about………11,000 people you said 'no' to this year alone.
Oh well. C'est la vie. I was one of those people. I'll live. Of course, I still have hopes, but either way, I'll live, and go on to write. And still benefit from your blog and your advice.
You do a great service to the writing community. You can only agent a few, but you support writers in other ways, and that's enough.
Nathan Bransford says
gordon-
I deleted it because of your attitude, not because of your opinion.
Seriously, Gordon, I hope you'll learn soon that there's no virtue in being horribly rude. Everyone is open to even unpopular opinions provided they're stated respectfully. You're not going to change anyone's mind unless you engage people respectfully and stop trying to tear down everything you personally dislike or disagree with.
JFBookman says
Many many interesting comments. Yes, technology, recession, etc. all help. But there have always been writers all over the place, writing quietly away. Since there was no way for them to get "published" the rest of us never knew about them. It's quite common to hear of people coming across a book or books they've discovered in the attic, and I regularly have clients who want to publish a book their parent or grandparent wrote years ago. So the openness and ease with which you can get into print these days is a big part of it. And I'm all for the little local books, the recipe collections, the local histories, and so on. They enrich us by being available. It just becomes heartbreaking when people begin to think that they will become a "published author" with big sales etc from these books.
Gemma says
1.) The increasing do-it-yourself culture (people getting famous off of Youtube type stuff)
2.) Unemployment = time to write (at least in my case)
Mira says
Nathan – for some reason, I've been worrying lately that my comments here will be misunderstood.
My previous comment. I still have HUGE hopes that we will work together, but I understand that may not happen for a wide variety of reasons. And by wide variety of reasons, I mean you'll say 'no.'
But my point of the post – I think it would be very hard to say 'no' to 11,000 people. And more coming.
I don't know if you struggle with that. Maybe you don't. But I would, so I was trying to make you maybe feel alittle better….? You're only one person.
Also, for people who query you to be realistic about their competition. You're like the football captain, and you can only take….so many cheerleaders to the prom…okay, my metaphor is not working here….
Okay. stopping now.
Christine H says
I am writing my book because I find a little escapist fantasy goes a long way these days.
And, frankly, some of the movies that have come out (like The Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter movies) have sparked my imagination in ways I hadn't considered before.
But, I've been wanting to write a novel my whole life, so it was inevitable this would happen sooner or later. And I agree with the previous comment: unemployment = time to write, although I'm working part time by choice because I have a family now. So I'm busy, but I have more control over my time than I did before.
Nathan Bransford says
mira-
I definitely think about it, and I feel like an angel of death from time to time. It's a big reason why I started the blog.
Anonymous says
Gordon,
If Stephen King's writing is so 'simple minded' how come he is among the handful of mega-mega-mega-bestselling authors in the last half century (or more). Maybe it’s that simplicity that sells. He is a born story-teller.
7 or 8 months ago I was simply a reader. I had never written a single creative word in my life. I had no knowledge of the rules and conventions of writing. I still have a lot (A LOT) to learn about writing. But I am not embarrassed to say that it is to Stephenie Meyer’s credit that I have started to write. Ok, from what I have learnt about writing fiction, she has broken at least half a dozen rules that I can see (especially the ‘said’ and ‘adverb’ rules). Does that make me enjoy her stories any less? Hell no! And I am sure that the millions that have read her books would say the same.
Wilhem Spihntingle says
The abilty to send queries through email has allot to do with it. If the only option was snail mail, I bet the number of queries would drop big time.
Moira Young says
I think it's a combination of things.
Television and movies – characters like Rick Castle (and that show is awesome) make the career seem a bit more glamourous than it is. Suddenly, being a writer is cool.
Technology – Technology is an enabler. We have the Internet (where strangers will praise anything) and we have computers being used by more than just geeks.
Culture – I think technology is combining with our culture (and popular culture) to create a new revolution. Until we further explore the regions beyond our planet, Cyberspace is the final frontier. There are countless books and movies about the character who discovers she or he wants to be a writer. More people are reading in the purest sense of the word (i.e. reading words on a computer screen before them) and more of that is self-published and, um, unedited. Ideas are transmitted faster than ever. Even bad ones.
And then there's the culture of the individual. I forget who pointed this out, but: everyone has a story to tell … but not everyone is a storyteller. And not everyone knows the difference.
All of this creates a wonderful and terrible chimera that will be both a help and a hindrance. If more people who really can't write in the professional sense inundate agents and editors with their work, that makes it harder for the good ones to get their feet in the door. Worst case scenario, it poses a financial threat to the industry, because (for example) what do agents and editors have to do? Employ filters, people who can pre-sort the submissions. Even then the odd "good one" can slip through the cracks. But the more filters employed, the higher the cost, which then gets passed on either to the agent, the author, or the consumer (or perhaps all three).
I think the worst problem we have here is that yes, anyone can be a writer, but we *don't* have the same Standardized Ways of filtering out the ones who really can't write, the way we do scientists, doctors, and athletes. Part of this is because art is so subjective. And since we are all capable of self-publishing in some way because of the Internet (blogs, YouTube, DeviantArt, to name a few), instead of having a natural filter, we've diffused even further.
So the question is, how do we create those filters in our culture without exhausting our precious resources (e.g. agents and editors), or discouraging genuine, deserving authors?
Thermocline says
The internet has made so many things easier to figure out. I don't know much about cars but I could probably find instructions for replacing a clutch, so why not give it a go if I'm inclined?
The same thinking probably applies to writing a book. "I know how to string sentences together, so why not try a novel?"
Vince Czyz says
Dear Nathan:
I recall Joaquim Phoenix's character in "Quill" saying to Geoffrey Rush (the Marquis de Sade), "Writing more than you read is the sure sign of a hack." Or something along those lines. I've been writing seriously since the late '80s (and won a few awards) and I think you are right: more and more people seem to think they have a book to sell. My guess is it's a combination of things. The most important factor, though, seems to be that books that aren't very good and/or that aren't very well written SELL. The average non-writer thinks: *I* had an awful childhood. I can write a best-seller! Another important factor is that art has always been a form of self-help–or therapy. Choose your spin. As society continues to leave people isolated and maladjusted, you have far more "artists" now than you once did. Also, 100 years ago, it would never occur to the average person that his or her diary could be a best-seller. It was private and not considered a work of art. Nowadays, however, a memoir is a best-selling genre, especially if you can get Oprah behind it. If you fictionalize your life story and throw a few of your fictionalized friends in there, make sure there is something for the Oprah crowd–alcholic parents, abusive dad, racism, something politically incorrect–you have as good a shot as anyone. In short: we all know the formula now. And, lastly (off the top of my head, anyway, the overall quality of writing has dropped (houses regularly turn away the next F. Scott Fitzgerald as unmarketable) and this is another barrier removed for the hack.
And they are right. Dan Brown is a god-awful sentence smith, but his sales prove people don't care about beautifully written sentences.
Skyler White says
I can’t explain it, but I love it! The more people interested in books, passionate about words, and at work with ideas the better. I’d rather talk to a cocktail party stranger about the novel they’re writing than what they do for a living, because it offers such a more intimate portrait of who they are. It makes me optimistic too about a country that can sometimes seem self-satisfied, incurious and apathetic, because surely it’s better for democracy that more people are engaged in the work of finding their authentic voice. As for the competition, I like that too. A swarm of amateur naturalists doesn’t drown out a Darwin, but it just might create one. And we could use that. In fact, one previous noter suggested that “in an atheistic world, we try to create purpose out of meaningless chaos” And how great is that! To me, the world *is* godless, meaningless and chaotic, and what better, more noble, more god-like response could there than to create something in that nothing? I’m delighted to know there are 99 other blind monkeys out there in the existential dark typing, until one of us hammers out “let there be light.”
Nick F. says
I don't know that there are necessarily more people writing than ever before, but compare both the publishing industry and the state of the world to when the likes of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle or Emily Bronte were writing. Particularly attend to the latter point. Sure, it's still no easy feat getting published, and just because you get published once doesn't necessarily mean you're going to make a career out of it, but it seems to me it is easier to get published now than in the 19th century.
And more than that, we have The Interwebs™. Facebook, Twitter, forums, etc. let writers connect with one another on a scale never before seen. Whereas in 1857 a man might have been in his study working a novel viewed basically only by himself and a few close friends, with the internet I can now join a writing community website and share my WIP with hundreds or even thousands of fellow writers. Internet means higher exposure for the "closet writers", so to speak.
And just one more point I thought of: I love classic movies. In my opinion, the last truly great, as near to perfect as any film can ever be came in 1969. Not to say there haven't been good films since, but the quality of films started going downwards in the 1970s. And one of my biggest problems with cinema nowadays is there seems to be no original stories left. It's 99% Pirates of the Caribbean this, and 99% Transformers that, and adaptation after adaptation (I'll finish this rant over on my own blog later). Short form: There are a lot of adaptations of books and comic books. Not to say classic Hollywood didn't adapt literature, but I think since 1990, there have been more adaptations of different works than in the days of the classics, where there were multiple adaptations of the same stories. People want to be rich and famous. They can't sing, they can't play a sport, there's nothing too spectacular to shoot them to fame fast. And so they turn to one last thought: If I write a book, they'll make a movie, and if they make a movie I get film royalties and more people will buy my book. Then I can be rich and famous and life will be oh-so wonderful with fire and ice sugar and nougat and everything nice!
At the very least, I know one person who is working on a book because he wants to write, as he put it, "the next Lord of Rings" and he wants to write the next LOTR, by his own admission, in the hopes that it will sell millions of copies and there will be multi-million dollar heavily-lauded blockbuster films made. And those are the reasons, unfortunately, the sample I've read suffers. Instead of trying to tell a story, he's basically writing a mega-blockbuster in novel form. Now novelizations are one thing, but this is like he's transcribing every last little facetious detail with none of the thoughts or background behind it, and just switching the action to past tense when he's done.
~Fin~
Kristen Torres-Toro says
For me, it's just timing. I've always wanted to do this; it just so happened that my "time" coincided with everyone else's.
Adam says
Sure, email makes it easier to query. And it doesnt take a genius to figure out if your queries are increasing that email is part of it. But writing a novel takes work. A ton of work. It can't simply be "I want to get rich so I'll write a book." Because anyone writing soley for that reason will figure out after a few days of hard work that buying a lotto ticket is easier.
There must be something more than that.
Tori says
For me at least, the economy has played a huge role in why I am able to write so much. I have always written, but I have never been this close to finishing a project before, and the economy has given me the time needed to do so. Writing is an escape that I love, and the economy has helped me focus on it more.
I also think that the success of authors out there have given people the impression writers make a lot of money, which is far from the truth in most cases. It makes them think that writing is the easy way out of poverty, that they can become rich overnight.
There isn't a simple answer to this question. I think it is different for every person who writes, whether they do it for fame or for an escape or simply because their family says they can.
Matilda McCloud says
Very interesting comments. Perhaps some of the books like WRITING DOWN THE BONES and the Julia Cameron books have increased the number of writers–you know, people doing their "morning pages" and all that. I agree that the cool factor is part of it–but I'd argue that it's always been cool to say you're writing a novel. It makes one's ordinary life seem a bit more special (and by writing, you spin something more exciting out of the mundane). I'm glad there are so many artsy people now. I know a lot of cool "millennium generation" people so that gives me hope for the future!
MzMannerz says
Rambling thoughts:
I remember one person telling me they were thinking of writing a book, and wanted to know how long it had taken me to write mine. I remember thinking, "It isn't that easy!"
Then I got over myself. I spend a lot of time preaching about the necessity of keeping the arts in schools, of donating to the arts, of encouraging the arts in youngsters and everyone else. Whether or not people are dabbling or are serious is irrelevant, and people who want to contain any art form within some sort of elitist brick wall are not thinking clearly.
I wish I could shake everyone on the street and ask them to write, to paint, to sing, to dance, to do *something* that is artistic. It's the agent's (and publisher's) job to make certain the cream rises to the top, but to suggest that the rest of the bowl shouldn't exist is silly.
Eileen Astels Watson says
I'm going with the increase in unemployment. More time on people's hands whether they like it or not.
Kate says
I, like many, wanted to write and publish a novel one day. But I decided that I wasn't going to do it unless I actually had an idea worth writing about. An idea that actually got me to the keyboard only came to me within the last year. I'm in my 20s, grew up in the internet age, and have a full time job. It didn't really occur to me until after I started writing that I should learn a thing or two about the publishing industry along the way. In the process of learning, I've trashed four works in progress. I'm doing what I can, Nathan, to not contribute to the madness. : )
Christine H says
The Internet has given me a support system I don't think I would have found in my regular life. No one around me writes, and my spouse doesn't even READ.
So being able to connect with other people in the same stage of life, who are doing the same thing has been truly liberating and life-changing.
I thought I was the only Christian wife and mom writing heroic fantasy instead of wholesome romance novels. Boy, was I wrong!
Lisa Schroeder says
I think it's partially the economy and the huge number of people out of work.
And partially the fact that they see Stephenie Meyer, a regular SAHM who had never written a thing before Twilight, and thinking – Hey, maybe I could do that and become a billionaire too!
Nathan Bransford says
anonymizer-
No need to single people out. There's room for everyone and their opinions, provided they're respectful to others.
Diana says
I think it's more like when one is pregnant it seems like every other woman one meets is pregnant. The reason it seems that way is because one is more aware of it. So, you're a writer and an agent, so it seems like there are more writers out there.
Then again, it might also be where you live. When I lived in LA, every other person I met was writing a screenplay. I think that San Francisco has a large population of creative people in it, not just writers but artists and craftpersons as well.
When you put those two things together, then you notice more writers. If you were an artist and owned an art gallery, I would bet that you would be noticing a lot more artists running around.
As for the increase in the number of emails you're getting, you're becoming more well known in writing circles. Because of your blog and because of your association with AW.