This is such a helpful post. Thank you, Kathleen! I've worked in publicity in the tech industry for 25 years and most of this rings true across spaces. I'm personally fascinated because I'm working on my memoir, a hybrid that uses both my sister's voice and my own in a dual narrative structure to call into question what is real in the wake of my sister's illness. I have faith that when it's ready, there will be a market for this. I can already envision the publicity campaign but things are changing so fast.
When I worked as a publishers' sales rep in Canada, a wise presenting editor said it was easier to become a celebrity and write a best-selling book (even an "as told to" book) than it was to write a best-selling book and become a celebrity.
I wonder if the goal (of those using AI to write) is to create as much content to market as fast as--or faster than--humanly possible, rather than create something from experience and research and application
It's the same with audiobooks. Narrations are happening at the speed of AI just to get to market faster.
These folks are not concerned with maintaining human dignity, they don't want to be the human shield over what is real versus what is synthetic. Perhaps they've lost (or never had) the meaning of the word create, they merely produce for consumption, not create something new from a blank canvas that didn't exist before.
Hi Kathleen, any insight for how Substack plays into this? Are publishers/agents looking at best-seller badges, number of subscribers, etc as valuable metrics?
It's amazing to me but I guess it shouldn't be surprising that some people think you get rich by getting your book published. I wrote something to help dispel that idea. Of course n=1 here (and I'm grateful to have gotten a contract at all) but I tried to present a breakdown of my "royalties" in a humorous way: https://bit.ly/LDAdSS10
So basically, yes, nonfiction is in trouble. I think publishing is in trouble also. Publishing is making itself entirely about sales rather than curating good books/writing. Why, in this atmosphere, should writers even bother with publishers? What do they bring to the table? What writers need are editors. Find a way for good writers to collaborate with good editors and let the publishers dabble away in their celebrity memoirs and platform driven nonficton. There is so much lost in the current "buy only what will sell" formula.
Gotta correct you on one thing. It was B. Dalton, not Waldenbooks. :) I worked in that store for years and they really never had events - no public restrooms. But for some reason, we got two back to back. The Spice Girls one night, which was chaos (fun chaos), and the following night was Bill Maher and only two people showed up. He was not pleased.
Haha. Yes, 6th and 8th. It was my college job and then stayed on as a part time manager for my first year or two at Penguin because I wanted to be able to eat.
Kathleen, I worked on the Star Trek books at Pocket Books too, but in my case, my boyfriend, now hubby, is a super fan so he loved getting first dibs on ST books.
The system doesn’t really buy books anymore. It buys proof that a book will sell. Which quietly shifts the job of the author from writing something true to proving it deserves to exist.
If you were to teach a one-off class about talking about your book on podcasts without giving it all away-- and in a way that makes people want to read more--I would absolutely take it. Especially if you had some podcast episodes flagged for us to listen to that we know generated sales and/or that strike the balance(s) you're talking about (or that share way too much, as a negative example). Nothing beats a close read/ solid example! And maybe tips on talking to the host about the questions they're asking and their format, if you think that could be useful in setting up a conversation that is BOTH interesting and sells books.
Or, maybe this is just a one-off paid newsletter topic...
The question I keep asking (as I flog a reported memoir / cultural criticism) is: why — if you believe conventional publishing wisdom — do readers no longer have an appetite for works like “Running With Scissors,” “Fun Home,” “A Heartbreaking Work,” etc? Those successes weren’t platform driven, they were watercooler successes driven by word of mouth (and, I’m sure, excellent publicists and booksellers).
Because how we find out about things has fundamentally changed since those were published. So has the quantity of books published each year. I mean those books were basically published in a different century at this point.
That makes sense to me. But the party line now suggests those books would never get published because their authors weren’t public figures. Publishers act like there’s no appetite for anything other than celeb memoirs. But to me that feels dubious, if not simply lazy / safe.
It creates revenue so they can publish smaller books, but it is also limiting. You can’t say whether those books would have been published today because you don’t know what each of those authors would be doing. At least one of them would have a newsletter. That is a platform. If one had a podcast, that is a platform. And so forth. It doesn’t fix today’s problem.
This is such a helpful post. Thank you, Kathleen! I've worked in publicity in the tech industry for 25 years and most of this rings true across spaces. I'm personally fascinated because I'm working on my memoir, a hybrid that uses both my sister's voice and my own in a dual narrative structure to call into question what is real in the wake of my sister's illness. I have faith that when it's ready, there will be a market for this. I can already envision the publicity campaign but things are changing so fast.
When I worked as a publishers' sales rep in Canada, a wise presenting editor said it was easier to become a celebrity and write a best-selling book (even an "as told to" book) than it was to write a best-selling book and become a celebrity.
I wonder if the goal (of those using AI to write) is to create as much content to market as fast as--or faster than--humanly possible, rather than create something from experience and research and application
It's the same with audiobooks. Narrations are happening at the speed of AI just to get to market faster.
These folks are not concerned with maintaining human dignity, they don't want to be the human shield over what is real versus what is synthetic. Perhaps they've lost (or never had) the meaning of the word create, they merely produce for consumption, not create something new from a blank canvas that didn't exist before.
Hi Kathleen, any insight for how Substack plays into this? Are publishers/agents looking at best-seller badges, number of subscribers, etc as valuable metrics?
It's amazing to me but I guess it shouldn't be surprising that some people think you get rich by getting your book published. I wrote something to help dispel that idea. Of course n=1 here (and I'm grateful to have gotten a contract at all) but I tried to present a breakdown of my "royalties" in a humorous way: https://bit.ly/LDAdSS10
So basically, yes, nonfiction is in trouble. I think publishing is in trouble also. Publishing is making itself entirely about sales rather than curating good books/writing. Why, in this atmosphere, should writers even bother with publishers? What do they bring to the table? What writers need are editors. Find a way for good writers to collaborate with good editors and let the publishers dabble away in their celebrity memoirs and platform driven nonficton. There is so much lost in the current "buy only what will sell" formula.
I appreciate this insight as my work as an indexer depends on the continued publication of nonfiction books!
Gotta correct you on one thing. It was B. Dalton, not Waldenbooks. :) I worked in that store for years and they really never had events - no public restrooms. But for some reason, we got two back to back. The Spice Girls one night, which was chaos (fun chaos), and the following night was Bill Maher and only two people showed up. He was not pleased.
My bad! Yes, B. Dalton on 6th(?) Avenue? I think I’m still traumatized from sitting in front of Waldenbooks at the mall with authors. 🫤
Haha. Yes, 6th and 8th. It was my college job and then stayed on as a part time manager for my first year or two at Penguin because I wanted to be able to eat.
Great article!!
I was there with you that day at Waldenbooks with the Spice Girls. Even rode in the car
with Posh and Baby. Years later I told my kids about it…they were not impressed!
Hi!! I always tell people you taught me how to be a publicist!
Kathleen, I worked on the Star Trek books at Pocket Books too, but in my case, my boyfriend, now hubby, is a super fan so he loved getting first dibs on ST books.
The system doesn’t really buy books anymore. It buys proof that a book will sell. Which quietly shifts the job of the author from writing something true to proving it deserves to exist.
- Double 🆔️
And, to add something more. Some authors already are the proof. The problem is: the kind of proof publishing looks for isn’t lived. It’s visible.🌿
If you were to teach a one-off class about talking about your book on podcasts without giving it all away-- and in a way that makes people want to read more--I would absolutely take it. Especially if you had some podcast episodes flagged for us to listen to that we know generated sales and/or that strike the balance(s) you're talking about (or that share way too much, as a negative example). Nothing beats a close read/ solid example! And maybe tips on talking to the host about the questions they're asking and their format, if you think that could be useful in setting up a conversation that is BOTH interesting and sells books.
Or, maybe this is just a one-off paid newsletter topic...
Nope! I’m actually…writing a book with all that stuff in it.
The question I keep asking (as I flog a reported memoir / cultural criticism) is: why — if you believe conventional publishing wisdom — do readers no longer have an appetite for works like “Running With Scissors,” “Fun Home,” “A Heartbreaking Work,” etc? Those successes weren’t platform driven, they were watercooler successes driven by word of mouth (and, I’m sure, excellent publicists and booksellers).
Because how we find out about things has fundamentally changed since those were published. So has the quantity of books published each year. I mean those books were basically published in a different century at this point.
That makes sense to me. But the party line now suggests those books would never get published because their authors weren’t public figures. Publishers act like there’s no appetite for anything other than celeb memoirs. But to me that feels dubious, if not simply lazy / safe.
It creates revenue so they can publish smaller books, but it is also limiting. You can’t say whether those books would have been published today because you don’t know what each of those authors would be doing. At least one of them would have a newsletter. That is a platform. If one had a podcast, that is a platform. And so forth. It doesn’t fix today’s problem.
Thanks for this! Happy Sunday to you and yours. ✨