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.
I think so many people romanticize the idea of being a writer that it's easy and *sexy* to say, "I'm working on a novel." Who's going to question that?
Saying you're a writer is much more dreamy than saying you're a dog catcher or an accountant. How many people want to reveal what they *really* do for a living?
Sadly,so few people can actually write and/or get published but it certainly makes for good cocktail conversation.
After reading all the comments, I'd say there are so many reasons for the increase in writing that it's a wonder there aren't more people writing!! My gut feeling is that the forces that have contributed the most to this trend are:
1. Technology that makes it easy to write and revise
2. The human potential movement that started in the '60s, which has encouraged self-expression — including in written form
3. More information and support available via the Internet
4. More people on the planet
I love what Skyler White wrote in an earlier comment about being okay with all the writers (though as a literary journal editor, I certainly empathize with agents' weariness over the volume of bad writing submitted).
I also want to point out that those who think J.K. Rowling and Dan Brown just sat down one day and wrote a mega-hit don't have all the information. Both of them wrote, read, and practiced the craft of writing for years before Harry Potter and The DaVinci Code. Brown even had several novels already published. Whether their work will stand the test of time is a different issue; the point is that for most "overnight successes," that "overnight" has been a long one filled with hard work.
gordon-
When you say everything published by the industry is crap, has it occurred to you that there are people on this blog who have either written or represented the projects you're painting with that broad brush? It's insulting and it's not something I'm going to let stand.
orange slushie-
I think agents and editors have an acute sense that it's a subjective process and if we don't have something very specific to offer and it's just a vague sense that it's not right for us we're probably doing the author a better service by just being vague in our rejection rather than possibly leading them astray.
Oh please. It's this simple. It's when people are reading things like the Twilight saga and the Dan Brown books and are saying "I can write better than that" — well, chances are, they're right! Why not want to cash in, too?
I just turned 40 this year and I have been writing since I was a kid. I've always wanted to be a writer and that I am published is a fulfillment of that dream. So "these days" to me is the last 32 or so years, though I've only been published for four years.
I don't know that more people are writing, but it used to be that lack of instant communication made writing a more solitary pursuit, so people didn't talk about their "hobby." (I use that word very loosely.)
As some people mentioned, technology has made it easier to write. Word processors are far easier than typewriters which are far easier than hand writing a hundred thousand word manuscript.
Self-publishing is part of it as well, as it makes being "published" accessible to everyone who has the money to pay for it.
But I think many people believe that writing is "easy." That they have an idea and can create a story that others will want to read. If I had a dime for every person who told me, "If I only had the time, I could write a book." Honestly? No, they couldn't. Because real writers–published or not–MAKE the time if they honestly want to write a book.
I'll throw out the suggestion that it is a combination of a few things:
(1) The literacy rate is at an all time high
(2) More people have access to word processing technology than ever before
(3) Over the past 18 months unemployment has been high, so there are more people that want to write "the next great American novel"
(4) There are more retired people than ever before – and I think this is a big one… All those baby-boomers sitting at home with their laptop, who need a hobby that is cheap and easy, have decided they are going to pen a novel.
(5) Writing is cool – we ahve Californication making writing seem like writers are celebs, we have vamp novels getting turned into vamp TV series and vamp movies… we have Oprah's book club…
(6) Supply/Demand – Low supply of literary agents, high demand from authors. You, are a commodity and are at a premium (you get lots of queries, so your get the shot at snagging more rising stars, and at more cash if you're lucky).
(7) Information flow – the first time I went to write a novel (1996) I didn't know anything about finding an agent, and couldn't find anything on the internet except a reference to subscribe to lit digest. Now that has all changed. There are 1000s of websites giving me the information I need to submit it to you.
(8) Decline in lit magazines – there is nowhere to submit other than agents in the eyes of many authors
However, why do I write? I don't know… I get some joy out of it I guess. I work 40+ hours a week, I have a girlfriend, and I'm a gym rat, but it is something that I like to make time for – I can say one thing though: it's definitely NOT for the money.
Nathan, I forgot to mention that I have this new novel I just finished… I'll wait until Jan 01 to submit it though, so I can add to next year's stats 🙂
And I'm serious (81500 words, contemporay fiction).
Technology. Without computers and the ability to edit freely, most people wouldn't even start.
I think technology has been a huge factor. Not that I needed to say that — I think it's been covered already. 🙂
Good question!
I think more people write because–
Fewer people read,
The art of conversation and debate is pretty much dead,
People in general tend to stick with groups whose members share their views on life (rather than accepting 'outsiders' into these groups).
This leads to stifling one's ability to express thoughts and yearnings that do not fit in with those of the group. Underneath, an individual 'lives' a much deeper and tumultuous experience than he/she feels as ease sharing with the group. But we all need to express ourselves, hence, the writing.
So in my view, it's about expressing one's 'secrets' in a way that will not loose one's existing connections, and perhaps gain additional supporters and influence along the way.
I suspect most everyone who writes would rather be making films if the technology to make films were as accessible and affordable as that of writing.
We write because we think we have something to share that cannot be safely expressed otherwise.
As a writing coach and writing teacher I have more clients/students than ever – and recession seems to be part of it, people have more time to write. Along with self publishing and the vage idea that writing might make you wealthy.
As a publisher I sell fewer books than ever. Go figure.
I think more people wrote books in the 1980s.
I'm 41 and sold a ms. last year for an actual advance. It was my 2nd novel. My first I sold 11 years ago to an e-book company (yes, there were some back then, too). 1998. I still wrote on a PC using Word. I used the Internet to research and chat with other writers. A lot of agencies still around today had web sites back then, although they were simpler and most wouldn't accepts subs electronically. So for me, other than the promotional aspect of using the social nets, it's not all that much different than it was 11 years ago. I'm just a better writer now. Much better.
Still, I have no way of knowing how many other writers are trying now compared to then. COuld be about the same, you just hear about it more now b.c of web 2.0
I think its the plethora of information out there. From personal experience it is much easier to find info about agents and publishers etc. than it was 10 years ago. I think Nanowrimo has something to do with it – there are something like 167,000 people who joined it this year. I also think that the rise of certain books out of nowhere – Amazon's emerging writers awards etc. are showing the people that not only can they have a say about which books become bestsellers but perhaps they can even write them too. Maybe that's a sign of the decline of the quality of the novels being written? Maybe it is a sign that the book industry is about to experience a boom??? (hopefully?) That's my 2 cents.
– Rena (new to this list)
Nathan- Do you think, like some people put it, that the YA market is doomed to failure? I don't. I know WAY more kids that read than adults, and they read very widely too. All my sibings read, and many of their friends. I am still considered a "kid" to some people, and I read like a fiend from the time I learned how all the way up til now.
Could you possibly give your view on this? Because I am seriously confused.
Perhaps the answer lies in our inherent need to communicate our most inner thoughts to our fellow man.
While the boom in blogging, texting, and twittering might pass for some as communication, I suspect that in general, it's more surface than real. Additionally with families and friends flung to the far corners of the earth, we don't have ample opportunity to express ourselves to people who matter about the things that matter.
So we escape more and more fantasy worlds (like Second Life for example) and novels which are ever so much more fun to inhabit if we create them ourselves.
Being on the other side of the globe, I don't usually get to read through ALL the comments given (hundreds upon hundreds of them by the time I get up in the morning) and I don't usually bother to comment.
But this time…
Here in the UK everything is still done via snail mail – query letters and so forth, I mean. So over here, we DO still have to print out so many copies, collate it all, take it to the post office and dosh out money to send it off. And then wait and wait for a return mail…
What might be interesting to know is whether the slush piles here in the UK (or other countries still using the same old methods) have grown a lot as well – if they haven't, then that might show that indeed the ease of sending an MS via email is one of the factors. If they have, then that might point to that ease not making a significant difference.
I don´t know if people really are writing more (I seem to have spent my entire life being told by every other person that they´re writing a book), but there´s no doubt that they´re submitting/ querying more.
I began querying last week after making a list of agents at the beginning of the summer. When checking up on them all, I found that approx. 20 percent of them now don´t accept unsolicited queries at all anymore or are on a finite query-hiatus.
Some of them have statements on their blogs or websites to the effect that the volume of queries was seriously affecting their sanity and their ability to love their job. I´ve been trying for days now to mail one of my preferred agents but keep getting my query back because her inbox is over capacity. Depending on what email program she uses, that´s a massive to seriously insane amount of stuff sitting in her inbox, and there´s no autoreply to say she´s on leave.
I´ve actually started to feel very sorry for agents, and to suspect that the system is not working for anyone involved.
And Ottilia, suddenly I find that the old-fashioned concept of printing out a neat professional letter and putting it into an envelope with some correctly formatted sample material is looking decidedly attractive.
It somehow seems less slushy.
Progress, eh.
Much like a ‘Clifton Suspension Bridge’ Mecano Set, the “Answer” (as much as it could be described as one) comes in many parts.
1) Social Advancement: As the population becomes more wealthy, more advanced and more social conscious, two important things happen. Firstly, the pursuit of ‘higher’, or more artistic, recreations increases. You may laugh at this when you look at the TV guide, but it’s a truth that pastimes move away from the gritty and destructive games of the poor and deprived to more cerebral and spectator hobbies as society advances. This is due a lot to the Second point, which is that that we have more leisure time. The daily drudge becomes eased by affordable technology, freeing us to chase pursuits that enrich our lives. For some it’s jumping out of planes. For others it’s to verbalise the fantastic events of their imagination. And computers help that as well!
2) Fame: Never underestimate human vanity. As more and more classes of celebrity are conceived and created, our lust to appear in the public consciousness matches it. Why? Well, pre-80’s the people everyone knew were ground shakers in one way or another. Sportsmen, Politicians, Comedians, Musicians. These people did something most of us couldn’t do, and so Fame was their reward. Now we have Paris Hilton…….think on that for a moment! Today, fame is a random game of chance and the talent our heroes all possessed is no longer a benchmark as to whether we deserve to be publicly known. Prior to the Z-list celeb, there was a rule: If you can do it better than them, do it, and those who did won Fame. That rule still applies, but the bar is so much lower and there’s only so much fame to go round. I know who’s got more talent between me and Paris Hilton.
3) Medium: Let’s face it, of the accepted pastimes, writing is the least understood. Sport: No one says ‘I’m as good as him’ to Usain Bolt as it’s patently obvious they’re not. Music: few people claim to be a better singer than recording artists, and for those that do, there’s Simon Cowell. Film: When was the last time you heard someone say that they’d do a better job than Will Ferrel? Art: “That Renoir’s got nothing on me.” See my point? Writing (whether it be straight storytelling, scripts, songwriting, comedy etc) takes so long to do, takes so long to then appraise (a song is, what 4 mins?), and is so subjective that any ham-fisted moron can bash out a few pages and, if he is so inclined, make a subjective case for his ability. “I’m can do better than Dan Brown!” Heard that recently??
4) Feedback: OK, now everyone’s gonna hate me. A while ago there was a band revolution, grunge and britpop spurred kids to pick up guitars, write songs and tour small pubs in their parents MPVs. Barely any ‘made it’, fewer lasted more than a couple of years. Why? Tangible feedback. When no-one calls them because they’ve got a slot spare and the White Lion pub, when the patrons get smaller, when less people take your fliers; when the imprisoned crowds show no flicker of interest, only annoyance, you know to give up. Writers, on the other hand, don’t have this feedback. People, face to face, will always cajole and support. In mass, in crowds, in disinterest, the truth shows through. Writers don’t have the forum for this feedback: most interaction is done through face-to-face comments and messages. And it’s hard to piece the unspoken trends together because it can be years between manuscripts, months between short stories. The indifference and annoyance is not there for the Writer to see and react too.
5) Films: Simple. More books are being made as big films. More people think film is cooler than literature. Most people wouldn’t have a Scooby-Doo how to make a film, but they understand that a book is just a story with words. They start typing. Simple
I could go on but you get my drift. People are grasping the English language more, and the stories people want to hear are changing, but should the majority of them actually be writing? As a hobby, brilliant. For serious consideration? Probably not.
"I still wrote on a PC using Word."
I am writing on a PC using Word! What's wrong with that? Is there some other technology I don't know about… some secret lightsaber pen that writes directly on a Kindle? LOL!
I am saving my money for a notebook PC, so I don't have to share with the rest of the family. My husband has promised to give me the rest of the money for it for Christmas, but honestly I'm not sure we can afford it. But I'll still be using Word.
But, I just have to say… that made me laugh!
I wrote my first attempt at a novel on a Tandy computer that my sister and I saved ALL of our babysitting money for in high school. It cost $1300 and, I think, had an orange and black screen. Or green and black. I can't remember. My mom bought us a dot-matrix printer to go with it. I finally pitched them both in the trash, with a very long, sentimental sigh, around ten years ago.
Ah, the good old days!
I think it's an age of follow your dream. Maybe there were always a lot of people who thought of writing, but they had to be responsible and have traditional jobs.
Plus the internet makes life easier. If you wanted to publish before, you might have had to find someone in NYC or call a NYC operator to get an agent's number. Now we can find you online.
And yes, I will try to tear down that which I don't like and don't agree with–that's what you're supposed to do with things you don't like and don't agree with.
Gordon, as a mother, wife, college professor, former church ministry leader, and former business professional, please let me share this with you:
I know you have deeply held opinions, and are obviously upset or hurt about something that is driving you to comment. But you absolutely do NOT tear down things you disagree with. No. Never.
You offend a lot of people that way, and jeopardize your own relationships, both personal and professional. Because when you tear down an idea – even if to you the discussion is just about the idea – you are really tearing down the person behind it. Whether you mean to do so or not.
Believe me, I've gotten into plenty of hot water at times by expressing my opinions too openly, forgetting that there are people behind the opinions. And then I've had to do some pretty elaborate apologizing.
So, disagree politely, intelligently, considerately. Acknowledge the other person's right to an opinion, then gently put forward your ideas. "I know that there are some people who have had such and such experience, but don't you think that perhaps…."
Just a word of wisdom for you. "You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar."
For everyone who keeps putting down housewives who think they can write a book, and be the next J.K.Rowling or Stephanie Meyer:
Every time I hear one of those comments, I think you're talking about me. I want to go hide my head under my pillow and never dare to write another bad query letter again. The fact that those two women succeeded (even though Rowling is a heck of a lot more educated than I am) is what gives me hope. Not foolish overconfidence, just hope.
I'm nearly forty and have waited my whole life to be in a position where I'm not working crazy hours or dealing with craziness at home so I can write. This is my chance and I'm trying to make something of it. But it's hard to keep going when you feel like you're constantly being put down by those who supposedly know better.
I'm just saying.
soooo much crap is published and blogged about poeple think 'hey, i can do that' and so they do
I just had another idea as to why so many people are querying:
two of the greatest recent publishing successes, the two that EVERYONE knows about and that have passed into folklore, came from the SLUSH PILE, i.e. Rowling and Meyer.
So whereas formerly people might have presumed that you really needed to know someone in publishing, had to make the rounds of festivals and conferences, basically have networked, in order to be published, they recently got it into their heads that the slush pile is just as effective a way in.
My theory is that the resulting query deluge that agents are presently being buried under, combined with a battening-down of the hatches all round in the industry due to adversity of economic conditions, means that the slush pile system is, at present at least, no longer working effectively.
No substitute for networking all you can, if you have the possibility.
"Time to quit writing books and use my creativity to build dollhouses instead."
Sorry, I know that I'm commenting a lot today, but I just saw this and have to point out the irony of it…
I used to build dollhouses and be very active in the miniatures community. (They aren't "dollhouses" to the passionate collectors and artists out there, they are "miniatures.")
Anyway, the only thing I have ever actually had published by strangers… the ONLY thing… is two articles I wrote for an online miniatures magazine on building custom woodwork for dollhouses.
It pays to milk your hobbies.
There aren't that many people writing books, there are that many people pretending to write. Lots of these people make the rounds of industry blogs, social networking sites and do like to read. But how many of them really clear out a huge section of their day to sit down and write?
If you spend more time reading this blog, Pub Rants, Query Shark, Ed Anonymous, moonrat, Goodreads and the trillion other online sites and then go hit Verla Kay's, or Absolute Write, or Fangs Fur and Fey, or Facebook/Twitter/blog posts or (insert X here) than you do actually WRITING/REVISING — you aren't a writer. You are only pretending to be.
I know of one girl who has maybe 800 posts on a site and it turns out she's never even finished the MG novel she's been working on for three years. Not a 500 page tome, mind you, but a 28k MG novel.
I would venture that that isn't really being a writer. Whether your ms is going well or not, writers do feel a certain pull to keep working until its done. Even when it's hard, and even if the book isn't that good.
I'll duck now…
My comment got cut off before I was done…
It's the same thing with NaNoWriMo. In theory, it's a great thing, gives a sense of community or maybe gives you a kick in the pants to fast draft.
And that's its biggest downfall, too. It's not, let me write this because I feel compelled and have the fortitude to keep going, but here, let me sign up for this thing so I can be "part" of a community. God help the agents that then have to sort through all that writing done to "be part of a community," rather than books that come from an inner drive to create.
In the last ten years, three significant events occurred which shook the very fabric of our foundation as an individual, as a nation, and how we as individuals view the entire infrastructure of our world now.
Where we might have thought only of today, now we're thinking about tomorrow. We're thinking about our children, and future generations to come. What can we leave them? Material things? Not so much after last year's economic collapse.
So, I've no doubt those events have helped to inspire people to write, so that the legacy they leave is a meaningful one and will serve as a guidepost for their descendants, all of whom will be facing the challenges of an increasingly violent and difficult society.
And though I'm thrilled that so many people are writing for whatever reason, (and to assume its because they have nothing better to do, or its because they're trying to strike it rich, or its because technology has made it easier, or because
they want to be the next JK Rowling, is a blithly presumptuous judgment call, imho), not everybody will publish traditionally. Sheer numbers alone make that impossible.
Having said that, I wouldn't ever discourage anybody from writing to publish. And it would be incumbent upon me, if ever I'm in the position to mentor, to help the truly dedicated, hardworking, beginning writer.
One thing I'm becoming very irritated about is the putdown of the self-published writer and calling their work crap. It is an opinion best kept under wraps and not put on display in a public forum. Furthermore, it is unworthy of anybody who calls themselves a writer or author to be using it in such a manner.
Man, never learned to swing dance. Maybe that's my problem.
WitLiz Today said:
"One thing I'm becoming very irritated about is the putdown of the self-published writer and calling their work crap."
I’m not sure that enough people realize how many different types of work are self-published. Margaret Atwood self-published her first book of poetry. Stephen King self-published a more recent book. I had the opportunity to interview Carole Whang Schutter for a newsletter I used to publish and a book about writing I compiled and edited. She’s the author of the screenplay for the movie SEPTEMBER DAWN, starring Jon Voight and Trent Ford. She decided to self-publish SEPTEMBER DAWN in novel form only so that the book would be published in time for the opening of the movie. In regard to self-published books, it’s up to the reader to check out enough background information to decide which self-published books are well-written and which are poorly written. There are some fantastic self-published books out there!
It's a cultural moment — we all feel like we have something important to say, and it's easy to find like-minded folks, micro-market niches who we believe might be interested in what we have to say. Combine this with economic and technological trends — the means of production have changed dramatically, anyone can produce a book-length work, you don't need to own a printing press. I think the same holds true for other media, music, film, TV, journalism. We're in a big shakeout period.
I think the exponential increases in technology have allowed more people to progress further up Maslows hierarchy to self actualization where creativity is a need. Writing is one form of creativity that costs little and is only limited by the contents of your own mind. So when creating art becomes a need, I think writing is a natural option for many people.
I think it has always been this way, but the technology of the digital age makes it possible for would-be writers to become more visible. In my experience, many of these folks like the idea of being published but are not so keen in putting in the work necessary to learn how to write.
My favorite story along these lines is when a successful surgeon told John Steinbeck that someday he was going to take time off to write a book. Steinbeck responded: "What a coincidence. Someday I plan to take time off and remove an appendix."
Gordon:
Thank you for your opinion.
After reading it and some of your blog please try to keep in mind that we can not all be the same or we would be a right boring lot.
ps I still enjoy holding a book. 3 lbs or more does not matter
Marilyn Peake made an excellent comment about self-publishing. Just as in traditional publishing, in s-p, there's a vast range of quality, from darn awful to amazing. Among the latter: the Western Writers of America gave their 2009 Spur Award for Best First Novel to the self-published novel God's Thunderbolt: The Vigilantes of Montana by Carol Buchanan.
I vote for economy as the reason. Perhaps with the high unemployment rate, more people are trying their hand at writing that novel they always wanted to but never had a chance to do while they were employed full time.
I know while I was unemployed I wrote more than I do now. However, I think I wrote the most when I was holding down a 30 hr work week. Probably due to better spirits while employed and due to time being more precious, I had to be on the ball with my writing.
Jodi
Barbara Walters once said, and I paraphrase: There are a lot of fourth-class writers, but there are a lot of fourth-class readers. Take from that what you will.
I don't feel like I have anything important to say, but I feel like I can entertain the hell out of people. Sold my first a few months ago. Been trying for 12 years. First sold was 3rd written, and that one had drastic rewrites and many revisions.
Much of the interest in publishing right now is just web 2.0 "noise" created by casual dabblers who have no doubt written more words on blog posts than they have in manuscripts. These people are not competition. The actual number of competitive subs has probably not increased in the last 20 years, certainly 10 years.
1. More people as time goes one = more possible writers.
2. False hope based on unique successes of recently published authors.
3. More unemployed = more time to write.
4. With the internet barrage of information about writing, publishing etc… I think more people have access to the questions that otherwise kept them in the dark about how to do it. Less legwork = more writers
All your base are belong to the internets.
"…One thing I'm becoming very irritated about is the putdown of the self-published writer and calling their work crap…"
Of course not all of it is, but it's pretty much common knowlege that "most" self-published work is ONLY self-published because the author couldn't find an agent/editor/pubhouse that deemed it worthy of publication.
Yet you want me to spend (what very little) money I have to buy books that haven't been professionally edited and have no publisher support?
It's asking too much of a reader, frankly.
A writer cyber friend was considering self-publishing. I asked her: "How many self-published books did you read last year?"
Her answer: "None."
Exactly! Even writers that believe in self-pubbing their own works DON'T read self-pubbed books?!
The words: the computer.
Okay, that and near-universal literacy. Lots of people assume that because they can put a reasonable sentence together, they can tell a story.
But really, the major hurdle in the mid-20th century for a writer was that they had to be able to type. (Before the typing days you didn't have universal literacy.)
With the computer, you overcome two major physical obstacles: First, many more people have been forced to learn to type, or can use dictation software. Second, they don't have to *retype* everything in revisions.
There have always been people who dreamed about being writers but never tried it. With this one major roadblock removed, they can now spill their words onto paper much more easily than before.
Gordon:
Thank you for your opinion.
You're welcome.
After reading it and some of your blog please try to keep in mind that we can not all be the same or we would be a right boring lot.
I'm really not sure how you came to give that advice after reading my blog, but I will try to keep in mind how boring it would be if we were all the same. In fact, that most people are all the same is very boring to me.
ps I still enjoy holding a book. 3 lbs or more does not matter
I noticed last night as I was reading it (because I want to read the darn story, and as a bailout to the brick and mortar bookstores it won't come out on Kindle until after Dec. 24 [Under the Dome by Stephen King]), that I could smell the paper and/or ink. Also, he used a word I wasn't familiar with. On my Kindle, when that happens, I just go to the look up function and it goes to that word in the built-in dictionary. But I wasn't about to get out of bed, go to the bookcase, get a dictionary and look up the word. Not to mention the thing just looks silly. It's bigger than a Bible. It's bigger than a dictionary. What a tremendous waste of resources.
And now that I've been using my Kindle so long, it's strange to open the cover of a book to get at the printing inside. I know that sounds strange, but it really is starting to feel strange; I imagine like it would feel to open a scroll and read from it today.
I was at the doctor today with my wife (no biggie, just routine opthamology), and I brought my Kindle with me. I read about formating books for Kindle from a book I have on that subject, then I read some of On Writing by King, then I went on-line to Amazon to check out new horror titles, then I read a bit from J.A. Koranth's Afraid.
I didn't watch the TV once. That's the power of e-books.
Nathan,
You may have covered this in a post I missed but I woudl be curious on some stats: the number of queries you receive, the number automatically rejected, the number of partials requested, the number ofbooks accepted for representation – compared for the past 5 or so years. Similar info on other agents or just your agency would be appreciated to show us trends, growth rates, etc…
Maybe we're using writing as a self-healing tool. Prozac only works on the symptoms. Writing can be a cure. At least it was for me. Think about it… we're pretty messed up, on the whole, even the "normal" among us. Technology has given wider, easier access to a great outlet of human expression – writing.
And a bit of opinion: It doesn't have to be great literature to have a great impact. My favorite books aren't classics. The have real characters with real suffering and real triumph that I relate to and helps me believe I can triumph, too. To be truthful, a few of the most beloved classics so often referenced as icons of great literature are yawners (come on, a lot of you agree, if you're honest).
I write to feel better and if, one day, I benefit financially, that's a bonus. I'd wager I'm one of a large, like-minded group of writers out there. And if we don't produce any great American classics that's okay; however, I predict we do produce some touching stories with real characters that resonate with our modern day peers. Maybe that's why so many well-educated, literary types fear the lowest common denominator effect. But they shouldn't. Current evidence proves there's plenty of room for us and the literary elite in this big world.
I think it is simply a new group of "readers" who have finally grown up enough to have something to write about. That is my excuse anyway.
I started devouring books when I was eleven and have wanted to write a book since I was twelve. I wrote lots of worthless drivel for many years and trashed all of it. Now that I'm in my mid thirties I've lived enough life to write something worth reading (hope! hope! hope!) and now is a good time in my life to give it a go.
I write science fiction with a heavy dose of fantasy thrown in. I love my make believe worlds. 🙂
Sheesh! 303 blog posts, many by the same folks. MEGO from trying to read all that firestorm.
Couple points I want to add that NOBODY will get far enough in this mess to read:
(So, um, why am I writing it at all?)
1) You can blame the glut of writer submissions on whatever you want, but it seems to be a huge alignment of the planets – Nanowrimo, the plethora of writing and agent blogs, places like AbsoluteWrite and AgentQuery and tons of Self-pubbing sites, along with the accessibility of the internet, unemployed people, and a bunch of Babyboomers in midlife like me.
2) Though Nanowrimo has 167,000 entrants, and their site boasts 1.3bil words written, (that's 8300 per person) less than 10% will finish those novels. Many people have already written their 50k, so imagine there are tens of thousands that haven't written much at all if any. And less than 10% of those finished novels will be worth revising at all, and of those, many people will opt out of revising because they aren't motivated to let the work see the 'light of day'.
But to say that whatever comes out of Nano is garbage is unfair, because serious and published authors use it to motivate them to work up a first draft, then go edit, revise, rework, polish, and market a good book.
3) Thanks to some who say self-pubbed books do not all suck. There is a stigma attached to them by the publishing industry, and the math usually works out where the self-pubbed book sells perhaps 100-200 copies, mostly to family, friends, or the author, who then tries to sell them from the trunk of their car.
Versus trad pubbing, where the book may sell 12,000 – 100,000 copies dependent on the publisher, the marketing, and ultimately the quality of the book.
3) If e-books (kindle, etc) become the defacto standard, the physical publishing industry will suffer for it, because any author can go through Amazon and a self-publishing house to get their book into an e-reader. It may not be good, it may not be found under all the other books, but it will be there.
And when it does, authors will be more likely to take the easy way out, even well-known authors, because they will net a higher percentage via the self-publishing route, especially if they are doing more of the marketing.
Hi Gordon,
I mentioned people not all being that same in that it seemed (to me only) that you feel books should just be abolished. How awful a business is looking to sell books prior to the kindle . . . Thus make them and the author some money, possibly help some of the economy,..
I first saw a reader over 2 years ago and thought it was brilliant. Especially now that I need glasses. If you can increase the font size. Yaa
And if it gives you the meaning of the word right there, fantastic. When I don't know a word, I look it up then, or dog ear the page so I can look it up before returning the book. {I am a library girl}
I am all for tree hugging, I am guilty of getting the paper in 2008. I finally let go of my love in 2009. I can read on line. And I am sure I will read an e book one day.
I miss my paper. Especially Sunday. I have comics I cut out from as far as 1980. Gary Larsons The Farside =} I miss holding the paper and falling asleep on it only to wake up later with ink all over my face ! I enjoy not knowing a word, and not knowing NOW. I tend to look them up later in mass when I am done with the book. It sort of lets you enjoy parts of the book a second time.
Reading a book is not my job. I get to read when there is time and it is a "fun" break for me. As todays efficiency blog continues, the day I have to effectively have efficient fun, it will no longer be fun.