In the old days if you wanted a book published you first had to write it, then find an agent, then you had to pay the agent to find you a publisher which could sometimes take years or never pan out at all. If you were lucky enough to bag a book deal hen you’d be paid an advance and royalties. The publisher would take care of all your advertising needs and most often this whole set up would allow writers to use their book as their one and only source of income. Set for life. Sweet deal huh? That’s not how it works these days.
You can still be traditionally published in the same way stated above – but there’s no more wining and dining, no more big press releases and guest spots on late night TV talk shows. Now you are given six weeks of promotion and advertising and then if it doesn’t pan out you’re just done. Your book is either out of print or just forgotten. But that’s still a better bet than self-publishing.
I remember when Amazon made self publishing easy and free and I thought, “This will be great! This means we can hear the voices of the poor and minorities who have traditionally been completely overlooked by publishers!” I prepared for a literary awakening. And I was happy when this did start to happen…. but here’s the thing, it’s a bit at a standstill and here’s why:
Writing is no longer the job it used to be. Can you write a successful book and have that as your soul income? Sure. But it’s obscenely difficult, takes way more work than it used to in the past, and more likely than not you will publish your book and…. not earn much from it. In fact author incomes have plummeted 43% in just a few short years. Why? Well…. mostly because Amazon is selling older copies of your book as “used” for cheaper. This means you won’t get a cent on the “used” book, nor will you even know it sold to anyone. The customer gets a book for cheaper and you…. get nothing. It’s the same story for e-books which are frequently illegally downloaded for free. It’s part of a larger trend of just disregarding artists all together and just expecting they work for free. If things keep going the way they are we will be working for free!
Hell, we already are if you’re the kind of writer that writes magazine articles. “We’ll publish you for exposure. Everyone starts by publishing for free! It gets your name out there!” Excuse me? And yet so many of us accept this as our new reality and just write for fun. It’s harmful. Its harmful for those of us that need it to be a source of income.
So what are we supposed to do about an industry that still costs us (in beta readers, sensitivity readers, editors, etc) while simultaneously paying us less and less?? I don’t actually have the answer…. I am just hoping that after this article you’ll at least be informed on the problem.
I’ve already seen the industry kill other types of artists. It was never unusual to crowd fund various artistic exhibits and creations even long before the internet but even this is now changing to an artist finding a singular obscenely wealthy “benefactor.” But how many benefactors can there possibly be and how much of your soul do you have to sell to them to get what you need?! And are book authors going to end up going the same route?!
We live in a society that has increasingly less respect for authors and artists. We’re just seen as something extra that should be giving our talents for free. This is a new concept. Traditionally authors, artists, and craftsmen have found valuable employment in all those fields. Never were they expected to write or create for nothing. That’s like asking the plumber why he’s charging you for fixing the sink! What is this?! I think it’s part of a much larger problem with the dumbing down of society. It’s all a clusterfuck…
But there are ways around it if you’re motivated, talented, and have enough resources (mostly time.) You can learn to use the system to your own advantage and become a “content creator” for the internet, sweeping up your income in Adsense Ads placed on your blogs or other websites. Or you can continue crowdsourcing or finding patrons. But in the long run even this seems a bit iffy…. what if we all get so poor we stop buying frivolous shit we see on ads in the first place? Then the whole writing economy tanks.
We’re at a time like no other in our history. Technology is charging forward at such a rapid rate that none of us can truly adjust to all the changes and as it does so it favors those at the top who already have all the opportunities and resources. I’m honestly not sure how long this can continue before popping like a bubble but we’ll see….