Yes, authors have been in an uproar lately. Over self publishing.
It doesn't feel like that should come as a surprise, but Chuck Wendig's
rant gave birth to a phrase:
(Don't put) the publishing cart before the storytelling horse.
I agree. And I'm going to take a slight detour here, and admit I've been feeling a bit nostalgic lately, a bit disconnected. I remember the good ol' days, when a lot of friends had blogs, and it was easy to keep in touch, and have a sense of connectedness. Now, most of the blogs I frequented once upon a time are gone - my solo blog included - and active discussion on the existing author blogs isn't what it used to be, either.
But there's something else I remember from back then, when I first started blogging. There were a lot of blogs that dispensed writing advice. And writers were almost always clearly on one side of the publishing line. They were either traditional, or they were self published.
Technology changed, and that line between the two camps started to blur. And, as more writers got on board with self publishing for Kindle, the stigma of self publishing eroded. Authors who once railed against the folly of self publishing uploaded their backlists, short story collections and even original manuscripts.
The rise of viable self publishing and borderline legitimacy coincided with a decline in blogging, and writers who were blogging started talking more and more about e-publishing, and how to succeed.
Although it may not have occurred in the way the naysayers who linked self publishing with the demise of quality writing predicted, the rise of self publishing does seem to have coincided with a significant decline in discussion about the craft of writing.
Now, back when I first started blogging, there were a lot of blogs where people dispensed writing advice. In some respects, it was a bad thing, because sometimes it was a case of the blind leading the blind. People with no publishing credits to their name would set up shop and dispense advice and build a flock of followers ready to drink the Kool Aid. Heaven help anyone who came along and questioned the adviser, or their advice.
I have mixed feelings about the shift in focus, because I am glad that I see fewer of those blogs. Then again, perhaps I'm just not looking hard enough.
I also appreciate that there's a time and place for advice on the business side of publishing and writing, and I have benefited from some posts about e-publishing.
I am also concerned by the fact that there seems to be a lot less interest in the craft of quality writing.
Having said that, I'm still left to wonder how we regulate quality. Just considering my own work, the same book that has six five star reviews and six four star reviews also has two one star reviews on Amazon. Your mileage may vary. There have been books others have loved that I've loathed.
My latest title,
Harvest of Ruins, was
recently pegged by Charlie Stella as my best to date. This is a book that's reduced reviewers to tears and brought me some of my greatest compliments, lags far behind all my other titles in sales.
What can I conclude? I don't have enough information to make any definite conclusions, but I am wondering about a lot of things. I wonder if readers feel more confident with my other titles because they were traditionally published first. I wonder how much the number of reviews on Amazon translate into sales. I wonder if it matters that you write a great book, because the only real force for sales is word of mouth. I mean, The DaVinci Code outsold every single work by Dennis Lehane, so quality writing doesn't always translate into popularity or sales. As I recall, The Bridges of Madison County was a NY Times Bestseller. Making the list only means you're popular; it doesn't mean you're a good writer.
And that's the rub. We've all known that. A book may sell phenomenally well, but that doesn't mean the writing is great. It doesn't even mean the writing is good.
There are some things about being a great writer, and a great storyteller, that you can't really teach. A writer either has the instincts and the aptitude that enables them to develop as a writer, or they don't. So many people want the shortcut to success, and so many writers are blind to their own mistakes and weaknesses. I think that's the real fear I'm left with. I'm not afraid of someone self publishing. I'm concerned that people don't take the time to let their work breathe and go back with fresh eyes, and really take advice and feedback to heart so that they can grow.
It's our fast food microwave culture. We don't want to wait, we don't want to put in effort. We want what we want and we want it now.
Part of me thinks that the reason so many people have shifted focus to sales and marketing and succeeding in e-publishing, is because selling successfully is concrete, while much of the art of writing is subjective, and you either have talent or you don't.
The question is, where do we go from here? How do we raise the level of discourse and foster useful discussions about writing? Is it even appropriate? I always feel that if I'm just writing about writing, I'm excluding the readers from my posts.
And that leaves me as lost as ever when I sit down to think about what I want to share here. What do you guys think? What should we be talking about?
PS: Happy Thanksgiving, my fellow Canadians.
