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Jan. 4th, 2009

  • 9:33 AM
Wheel of the Infinite
[info]shalanna had a couple of questions: Does the current downturn scare you?

It scares the absolute hell out of me.

Should it scare the unpublished? ... I suppose I'm just wondering whether it's a pipe dream to continue to send this stuff out to agents. Especially if there's going to be a larger downturn in which even FEWER books are actually sold. Maybe I'd be better off trying to find my real mission in life.

I think it's going to scare people, and whether it should or not is probably not something we're going to know until the next year or so, when it either gets better or gets worse. But I do think you should keep writing, and keep sending stuff out, if that's what you still want to do.

This is a tangent, but I also just don't believe people should stop writing just because they think the chances of being published aren't great. Lots of people write original stories or fanfic just for the hell of it with no thought of being published, or only publishing it on fan web sites or comms, and get a huge amount of enjoyment out of it. All through history, in every culture that has writing, people have written novels, stories, memoirs, plays, journals, solely for themselves. The idea that it is somehow a bad thing to write when you don't think it can be published is a very recent thing, and it is crazy wrong. Crazy, crazy wrong.

If you come to feel that you, personally, can't keep submitting your work because the rejection is hurting you too much, that's your call, and I, personally, would totally understand having to make that decision. But I don't think you should stop because of the crappy economy or the publishing downturn, or let any outside influence make that decision for you.


If anyone has a question about writing, my writing or just writing and/or publishing topics in general, comment with it here and I'll try to answer it.

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Comments

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[info]affinity8 wrote:
Jan. 4th, 2009 04:19 pm (UTC)
Great post! I agree that there are lots of ways to find fulfillment and enjoyment as a writer, and always will be.
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[info]sythyry wrote:
Jan. 4th, 2009 05:57 pm (UTC)
I write for fun. It would be nice to sell another novel, maybe even to a publisher who does any marketing (and I'm trying, lazily), but I'm nearly as happy doing web-serials or other free things.

(Like this journal was, and will be again when I'm done with the novel.)
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[info]jjschwabach wrote:
Jan. 4th, 2009 06:14 pm (UTC)
Nice post!

I do want to sell more fiction, and another novel or 50. But right now, I'm having fun watching my characters grow.

It's always been hard to break in. That's not the same as impossible.

A person who should have known better recently informed me that you had to "know someone" to get published. I pointed out that I hadn't known anyone when I sold my first short story. And the editor who bought my first novel certainly didn't know who I was. Other than that I had just sent her a manuscript she liked, I mean.
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[info]toliver wrote:
Jan. 4th, 2009 08:55 pm (UTC)
I get to see how libraries are affected by the downturn and it is true, the book budgets have been slashed, in some cases in half and sometimes other local sources have stepped up their support a little and sometimes not. We are aware of an upturn in our circulation figures - the public is less inclined to buy, I suppose, in tough economic times. Some libraries with much smaller budgets have to stick with the bestsellers and books that serve their regular core patrons. That's so sad to me but we have to focus on what moves. Christian (inspirational books) fiction is in demand for the older ladies out in the rural areas and African American fiction is in big demand here in my area of the south. Soft porn for ladies moves briskly. Mysteries, always the last place to cut, and science fiction very nearly the first although I am fighting that.

We're seeing an upsurge in Playaways and downloadable audiobooks. I think that (looking at my magic ball!) we'll see an increased demand for ebooks here in another couple of years. People are slowly discovering how handy it is to have a book on their iTouch or Blackberry.
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[info]jwjohnson wrote:
Jan. 5th, 2009 12:41 am (UTC)
Everyone knows it's not just the publishing industry right? The whole economy is down on every level as far I have been hearing. I think the only safe profession for the moment is in heath care. It wouldn't surprise me if they were feeling the pinch as well.
Our only hope is after Obama is elected every one will figure out that life goes on and starts spending again. Spending is the only thing left driving the economy since all the jobs are in China at the moment.
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[info]jjschwabach wrote:
Jan. 5th, 2009 01:01 am (UTC)
I am in health care and I can tell you health care is totally feeling the pinch.

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[info]texanfan wrote:
Jan. 5th, 2009 01:28 am (UTC)
I so completely agree with you. Then again, I never plan to publish.

If a new author is writing and submitting as part of their grand plan to become the next J.K Rowling and become fabulously wealthy this is probably a bad time to do it.

At the same time, if you just write for the love of it, there are so many places to get your work out there in front of people. I'm thinking online publishing here.

On the other hand, I don't blame you for being scared. It's a scary time. And publishers have proven less stable than one would expect.
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[info]madwriter wrote:
Jan. 5th, 2009 03:53 pm (UTC)
Oddly enough (or maybe not), I know people who have stepped up their efforts to try publishing because of the downtown.

In their case at least it's not a matter of hoping to become the next J.K. Rowling, as [info]texasfan mentions above, but more along the lines of "Every little bit helps".

Edited at 2009-01-05 03:56 pm (UTC)
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[info]tsubaki_ny wrote:
Jan. 5th, 2009 06:06 pm (UTC)
The way I see it, it takes a LONG TIME to write a book. By the time one is done, who's to say the economy won't be stellar and people won't be able to get enough of just what you're writing?
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[info]beth_gis wrote:
Jan. 6th, 2009 05:18 pm (UTC)
Economy and literature and other...
The New York Times today has an interesting literary article. I expect our local library to especially like it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/04/weekinreview/04gough.html?_r=1&em

Have fun.
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