Showing posts with label stories. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stories. Show all posts
Thursday, 20 November 2014
THE EXTINCTION OF THE NOVELIST
Who would be a writer? Everyone it seems to me. I never liked statistics. The ones from Amazon I really hate. And try this one! Bowker’s Books in Print, 2012, listed 32 million active titles in the English language. Then look at Amazon’s statistics. Amazon alone has (mid 2014 figures) 3.4 million books in Kindle. What is truly scary is the fact that over one year Kindle releases 2,800 books every day. Yes, that was day, not week or month. That’s a million Kindle books a year.
How can you, a writer of novels, make a living? The answer is you can’t. And it’s not just the professional writer suffering from the new technology. Speak to a professional photographer who used to work for newspapers and magazines. With a digital camera and the tricks worked using Photoshop anyone can turn out a good picture. And they do. And sell them. Or listen to the professional musicians who used to earn their daily bread as backing players. Now there’s enough electronic gadgetry for even the tone deaf to create music. And they do and go viral on You Tube.
Jobs come and go. Governesses became teachers, apothecaries became chemists, barber-surgeons became doctors, and gas lamp lighters became obsolete as did ditch diggers and road menders. So many occupations all superseded by machines or changes in the way we live. So has the professional writer been superseded or rendered obsolete? The annoying answer is Yes and No. A full time writer as a novelist is impossible. There is no way a novelist can earn enough money to live on. And please don’t preach about the point nought one percent who are best sellers and do earn a lot. They will soon be gone too. Anyone interested can consult the author earnings reports at http://authorearnings.com and see how the Indies (Independent self-published authors) have and are taking over from the best sellers, or read this article at http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/sara-sheridan/writers-earnings-cultural-myth_b_3136859.html/
A writer producing articles and copy for websites will probably scrape by as freelancers have always done, but the full time professional writer of fiction is doomed. And I believe that books as we now know them are going to change too.
We could all curse POD and e-books and the ease with which anyone can and does produce a book, or we could start rethinking the role of a writer and the state of a book. Already you can find online sites which have works which consist of words, pictures, sounds, videos, music, art work – almost any artistic discipline you can imagine. Multidiscipline creations may be the way writers become something new. Holograms, computer games, the smart ‘phones and pocket sized tablet computers all offer opportunities for writers to become something more than the old pen and paper person. We could all dig in and grumble and moan about lack of quality and how rubbishy so many e-books are, but the truth is that we are writers. Readers just want a story, entertainment and a bit of excitement. They are not always fussed about grammar or the finer points of writing, indeed many are do not care as long as the story keeps them interested. If we want to survive as writers it is up to us to experiment and find a way to still be writer-creators in this increasingly non-physical, electronic world. Those born writers who have to write will do it. But I bet we will never see the full time writers ever again.
Tuesday, 16 April 2013
Three down and One to go.
The Novel launch was fun. Only ten people (and 4 apologies) but they listened and laughed, asked lovely intelligent questions and bought the books. I had my colleagues' books to sell as well and did so with panache! Copies of my novel hadn't arrived -publisher's hitch at their end! - so that caused much laughter and gave the newspapers scope for an unusual story. Good PR actually!
Now all I have to do is get any new found or reader notified corrections into 'Jacob's Ladder' and order more books. Then I can get on with submitting 'Tizzie'. Once those past years writings are off my plate, out being read, then I can write novels again.
Writer's Choice has been a boon. The seal of approval, the comradeship of my Writer's Choice colleagues, the work we do together keeps me on my writer's toes and keeps me from despairing over the state of publishing and the appalling books which traditional publishers publish solely for money. I have been rereading, editing and tightening 'Tizzie' - to the novel's benefit - knowing that if I don't my Writer's Choice colleagues might well reject the novel. I want that Quality fiction seal. It is beginning to mean something to readers seeking ebooks or self published books worth buying.
What did I do without WWOOFers? They are wonderful. I get so much farm work done with them and all those little two people jobs I have had problems with myself are now accomplished. So satisfying to see my tidy shed with all the bird netting and frost cloth, and frost covers and garden netting neatly folded away instead of bundled. Takes up less space and looks good.
My life improves with writers booking retreats to finish their novel/thesis/biography/memoir. They pay and I can pay bills. This life of poverty is atrocious and five years of being jobless since I returned home have worn me down. The prospect of a small income from selling books and having writers visit is enticing. Here's hoping!
It seems to me that no matter how carefully one plans - and believe me we did plan - life throws the nastiest spanners it can find into the works. They are usually in human form, like District Council petty officials, or bosses, or cheating greedy workers. Thank God for all the little kindnesses which those rare but genuinely good people can offer to us. It's what keeps me sane!
Now all I have to do is get any new found or reader notified corrections into 'Jacob's Ladder' and order more books. Then I can get on with submitting 'Tizzie'. Once those past years writings are off my plate, out being read, then I can write novels again.
Writer's Choice has been a boon. The seal of approval, the comradeship of my Writer's Choice colleagues, the work we do together keeps me on my writer's toes and keeps me from despairing over the state of publishing and the appalling books which traditional publishers publish solely for money. I have been rereading, editing and tightening 'Tizzie' - to the novel's benefit - knowing that if I don't my Writer's Choice colleagues might well reject the novel. I want that Quality fiction seal. It is beginning to mean something to readers seeking ebooks or self published books worth buying.
What did I do without WWOOFers? They are wonderful. I get so much farm work done with them and all those little two people jobs I have had problems with myself are now accomplished. So satisfying to see my tidy shed with all the bird netting and frost cloth, and frost covers and garden netting neatly folded away instead of bundled. Takes up less space and looks good.
My life improves with writers booking retreats to finish their novel/thesis/biography/memoir. They pay and I can pay bills. This life of poverty is atrocious and five years of being jobless since I returned home have worn me down. The prospect of a small income from selling books and having writers visit is enticing. Here's hoping!
It seems to me that no matter how carefully one plans - and believe me we did plan - life throws the nastiest spanners it can find into the works. They are usually in human form, like District Council petty officials, or bosses, or cheating greedy workers. Thank God for all the little kindnesses which those rare but genuinely good people can offer to us. It's what keeps me sane!
Sunday, 23 September 2012
We're off!
We have a deadline for our book launch - October 17th. Thank goodness. Sometimes it seemed we'd never make it.
On that day I will be in the library giving a talk about the Writer's Choice publishing co-operative. In the week running up to Launch Day I will also be interviewed on the local radio and the local TV. I'm angling for the national radio book slots and have approached the national newspapers with articles on me and Writer's Choice.
It's exciting, exasperating and frustrating. My first two books are anthologies, collections of short stories which have already been published in magazines in the UK, Canada, America and Australia. George is our American member of the group and his book is a novel. His book will be launched at the same time. I will talk about his novel at my interviews. He will talk about my anthologies at his interviews. We are a group, more power to our elbows.
It seems to me that either we will surf this new wave of publishing or be swamped. But we'll never know if we don't try. I'd rather aim at the moon and land on a mountain top, than aim at the mountain and get stuck in the foothills!
On that day I will be in the library giving a talk about the Writer's Choice publishing co-operative. In the week running up to Launch Day I will also be interviewed on the local radio and the local TV. I'm angling for the national radio book slots and have approached the national newspapers with articles on me and Writer's Choice.
It's exciting, exasperating and frustrating. My first two books are anthologies, collections of short stories which have already been published in magazines in the UK, Canada, America and Australia. George is our American member of the group and his book is a novel. His book will be launched at the same time. I will talk about his novel at my interviews. He will talk about my anthologies at his interviews. We are a group, more power to our elbows.
It seems to me that either we will surf this new wave of publishing or be swamped. But we'll never know if we don't try. I'd rather aim at the moon and land on a mountain top, than aim at the mountain and get stuck in the foothills!
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