I frequently hear that I am a very productive — even prolific — author.
By mainstream standards, that’s true. In mainstream, two novels a year — four if you’re ultra ambitious — is pretty much the norm. At the end of this year, I’ll have published some 46 individual works as Josh Lanyon. It took me four years.* A couple of weeks ago one of my Facebook author friends mentioned in passing that she was aiming to publish 50 works this year.
When I recovered from my faint, I began to snoop around, checking out the production schedules of various colleagues in order to get a feel for the “normal” output of authors in our particular genre. I even posed a couple of questions to writers both aspiring and published on my Facebook and Goodreads walls this past week. While the actual numbers varied, there was a common theme. Everyone valued quality over quantity, everyone was working to their maximum ability, and nearly everyone believed they were not productive enough.
I find the last response the most intriguing. It seems to imply that there’s an unknown yardstick by which to judge our productivity. Or that we’re in competition with other writers.
And, of course, that’s the truth. We do compete with each other for everything from reviews to premium shelf space (even if these days the shelf is a cyber-shelf). We also help each other and support each other, but the fact remains that there are only so many readers with so much money and time. Whether we wish to or not, we are in competition with other writers in our genre.
Few people make a living writing fiction. Most of the writers who support themselves through their craft do so through non-fiction. Even today, with the boom in both ebooks and erotica — and despite the encouraging success of the Amanda Hockings and Joe Konraths — most writers of fiction are not earning a living. But there’s no question that earning a living spinning yarns looks a lot more possible than it used to.
Mainstream wisdom dictates that an author begins to earn real money — a self-supporting income — when she’s finally got sufficient and still active backlist. How big that backlist needs to be varies according to who you talk to. I’ve heard everything quoted from seven to forty still active titles. The fact is, it’s not the number of titles on your backlist, it’s how active those titles are. A backlist of thirty OP titles does one little good.
Ebooks, of course, are the game changer. Ebooks, with their eternal and everlasting backlist, change the publishing world as we know it. Our titles need never go out of print. While the average mainstream mass market paperback has something like a six month shelf life, our electronic books (potentially) last forever.
On the surface that’s a wonderful thing. Wonderful for all of us. In four years I’ve been able to create an active, thriving 46-book backlist. I’m earning a living now — and that earning is no longer supplemented by credit cards as it was for the first couple of years I went fulltime. In fact, my credit cards are clear and I’m saving for my retirement. And, as we’ve seen, I’m not nearly as prolific as others in this genre.
Ebooks have made it possible for us to do what few in mainstream publishing ever manage.
So is there any possible way this eternal backlist could be a bad thing? I’ve been thinking about that, and I’m starting to wonder.
We had a home team advantage in that we got here first. We had the vision and the daring to try electronic publishing before most. But the game is changing again. Mainstream writers who originally insisted ebooks would never catch on, are now taking their out-of-print backlists and dumping them onto Amazon and Barnes and Noble and every other possible digital venue. Other entrepreneurs are taking public domain classics and funneling those into the digital channels. All around us digital mini-presses are popping up like mushrooms, and hundreds of new m/m titles are released each month.
What we’re essentially talking about is a flood of books hitting an already fiercely competitive market. No wonder there’s a pervading sense of we’re not producing fast enough. It’s a reader’s market, no question. If you’re a reader, you’ve got more to choose from than ever before. For authors, however, it’s heading fast for the old status quo. With all those books to choose from — ultimately millions more than before — how will readers find your book?
I suppose, whether we like it or not, there will be still greater reliance on promotion and marketing, voices raised ever higher and prices dropped ever lower in a desperate bid to stand out from an exponentially expanding crowd.
The old business model was pretty simple: sell a lot of copies of a few books. But a new business model seems to be taking hold here in ebooks: sell a few copies of a lot of books. It’s the democratization of publishing. If you’re prolific enough, aggressive enough, it might not even matter whether you’re a competent writer. You could still, in theory, sell as much or more as any feted mainstream bestseller.
Thus we have the gal who hoped to write 50 books this year. The odds are she’s only selling a few hundred copies of each title. But so long as she keeps having a new title every few weeks, she’s got a steady source of revenue. Each new release gives her backlist a little bump and provided her imagination and wrists hold out, she could earn a comfortable living.
Or maybe not.
The problem with an eternal backlist in a genre where it takes dedication to avoid being published, is our first and weakest efforts linger forever side by side with our latest and best releases, and with so much to choose from, readers increasingly exhibit a take-no-prisoners attitude. If your first book fails to satisfy, odds are strong that you won’t get another shot, .99 cent price break or not.
Already we’re hearing from reviewers and regular readers alike that there is too much to read and it’s harder and harder to sift through the dreck. On the other side of the coin, writers are trying frantically to up their output before the market becomes so flooded only the established names will have any chance of earning reader attention. That fear leads to taking shortcuts, and the shortcuts lead to more inferior books, which merely reinforces the complaints of reviewers and readers about the proliferation of crap flooding the m/m market.
Is there a solution to all this? Probably not. The publishing industry is changing so fast right now that I suspect none of us will recognize it in five years. My advice to aspiring writers is that they take their time and make sure their first published work is the absolute best it can be, that they promote it adequately before rushing off to sell the next five manuscripts, and that they pace themselves so that they build a reputation for quality over quantity. Simple stuff, but surprisingly difficult to do when all around you people seem to be pumping out five books a month.
Here’s the thing to remember. No one can continue to pump out 50 books a year indefinitely. You don’t want to be left at the end of that run of awesome productivity with a largely inactive backlist. But if you’ve taken time to craft a strong body of work over a period, it will continue to payoff for years and years to come. Take the long view of your writing career and don’t worry about what the Joneses are up to.
*The breakdown of those four years went as follows:
7 works in 2007 (3 novels were previously published)
6 works in 2008
15 works in 2009
11 works in 2010
6 works in 2011
Thank you for the interesting (as always :)) post. Not being a writer, I have no solutions for the writers to suggest except writing quality books (obvious one I know :)) As a reader and reviewer it is so true though that if I disliked your book I may give you a second try (in fact I most likely will), but I am not going to torture myself and try your third book if I did not find anything to like about the first two, thats for sure. Instead I will move on to another writer.
I am also always suspicious of the people like your friend (50 books a year?!) in a sense that I am convinced that it is impossible to maintain quality even if you publish say twenty five books a year. I just saw too many examples of the writers whose books I loved and who started to pop put too much crap and I took them off my autobuy list. Thank you for the post.
Thanks for commenting, Sirius. I think that we all (writers, artists in general) have bursts of productivity — inspiration, if you will — but no one can keep that pace up indefinitely. Even the old pulp writers burnt out eventually!
The fifty are likely not full length novels.
In fact, they’re probably between 3000 and 10,000 words.
I had a year where I published about 30 different works. There were 2 novels, and the rest were shorts between 3000 and 20000, and not all of them were written that year. I answered a lot of anthology calls, made a few emergency fill-ins for a publisher and had a few shorts on the side.
This year, six items.
I hear you on that, Angelia. I believe the year I did 15 works, about 5 were short stories. That’s a very different thing than trying to crank out 15 novels. Even so I nearly killed myself. 😉
Great advice. Sometimes I feel like I’m in a race and if I don’t publish x number of books in an x amount of time, that’s it. Maybe I’m a slow writer, but I want to put out my best work possible. I used to be in awe of writers who seemed to put out a book weekly until I realized two possibilities: 1) They’d written the book(s) years or months before and 2)they’re writing short stories or novellas.
Ah, well, back to the keyboard…
Thanks for commenting, Pamela. I know that in my most productive year, I was drawing from old and much edited manuscripts which enabled me to sustain a brutal pace of productivity longer than I would have had everything been fresh off the grill!
Quality over quantity should be the mantra of anyone who hopes to have a writing career 10 years from now.
Already we’re hearing from reviewers and regular readers alike that there is too much to read and it’s harder and harder to sift through the dreck.
This is me. I’m completely overwhelmed by the number of new m/m romance books produced each week. So much so that I’m finding that I’m less willing to take chances on new authors than I used to be and instead only buy those books by authors I know and trust. In a way this saddens me because if I hadn’t taken a chance on a new author 2 or 3 years ago, I wouldn’t now have them as an auto-buy author I can trust.
I know there are lots of readers out there who feel the same as me which makes me wonder how much these new authors are selling, no matter how many books they produce each year. Is there going to come a point where the number of releases slow down because writing m/m is no longer a profitable genre? When is saturation point achieved?
I don’t have any answers either, but it concerns me as a reader.
I will still try new author here and there Jen, but certainly not as often as I used to. I am so happy when I am discovering new gems, but the potential for dissappointment is just too great and happens too often. So yes I definitely hear you. Although on the other hand as I mentioned, several writers that used to be on my autobuy list are not there anymore, I feel that they took quantity over quality route and that frees me up some more for new authors. I guess to a degree this is a good thing for me. But yes too many books and not enough time.
Most of my autobuy authors also tend to be slower writers or publish less often – people like AM Riley for example. Not sure whether this is a coincidence or not!
I do have some writers who produce books at a higher rate on my ‘probably buy’ list but with those I tend to wait for reviews before making a firm decision to buy.
It’s a shame that some of your autobuy authors have come off the list, but as you say, it frees up room for some of the newer authors.
Hi Josh,
With over 100 books published in four years I would say I fit into your category of being prolific however I did not wake up one day and decide this was my goal. No…I am surprised nobody has addressed the issue of series. Most small ebook imprints rely on me and other authors who write series. When these sell, the publishers require a 30 or 60 day period before the next chapter is released. To be honest a schedule like that is not for the hobby writer. Having said that, as I was writing my various series, I longed to tell other stories and jumped at invitations to publish elsewhere.
Every publisher I am with approached me apart from my first publisher, Extasy Books.
Do backlists sell? Heck yes! I can’t tell you how many times readers contact me after reading one of my books and told me they were buying bbooks from my backlist for which I am grateful. I have stories I am itching to tell and I am thankful I get to do it!
Thanks for commenting, AJ. The thing about series that differs here in ebooks from mainstream publishing is in mainstream you follow up a series book nine to 12 months later. In ebooks we have, as you point out, some publishers pushing for a follow up as soon as a month or two.
My hat’s off to anyone who can meet that production schedule with a quality product, but it’s not me.
I’m not sure that even gives readers enough time to find the first book — but it certainly seems to work for you, so more power to you!
I’m not sure that even gives readers enough time to find the first book — but it certainly seems to work for you, so more power to you!
And I mean this sincerely, by the way. You have an active, engaged readership begging you for more, more, more.
I do not believe this model works for most writers simply because most writers cannot produce consistent quality work at that pace. It is the rarity in any genre.
Hey Jenre,
AM Riley is actually contracted to write a book for us now. I guess we share the same taste for “slow writing.”
Kinda like the “slow food” trend, you know?
Kinda like the “slow food” trend, you know?
I was reading an article about artificial sweeteners and how they can create a craving that can’t be satisfied and actually causes people to GAIN weight. To me this is what the glut of cheap, easy books is like. I fear they will eventually kill the host.
The host being both the writer and the reader.
That’s great news! Just what I like to see a quality author with a quality publisher.
AM Riley is actually contracted to write a book for us now.
Congratulations. Fabulous. And I can’t wait to read it.
And of course you have The Rifter as an example of a monthly series by a slow writer. Which means – OK, I don’t know what this means exactly.
Lia–
It took Hale 5 years to write the Rifter, 2 years to edit it and it took us (BEB) 1 entire year to do the production for it. So while it’s being released quickly, it was being made for, like, 6 years prior to that release.
I really have no idea how publishers get dozens of books out really, really fast. Either they employ a lot of people or cut corners somewhere, I guess.
Omg, I can’t tell you how happy this makes me. AM Riley is one of my absolute favourite authors and BEB is one of my fav publishers!
Jen, me too. I have two writers on my autobuy list right now, who write relatively fast (no, not even close to fifty books a year, number still scares me lol), but the rest is AM Riley, whose books for me is like a quality wine, gets only better when you reread and she published what five books so far? Ginn Hale, mentioned downthread, from whom I will buy a cookbook, a traffic update, you know what I mean, Tamara Allen, etc, etc. I crossed out from my list one more extremely popular writer lately. I thought her earlier books were magical, but now for me magic is gone, characters lost all their depth and all that I am seeing is well written cotton candy. I gave this writer five or six more chances than what I gave anybody else simply because I was so fascinated by her earlier work, but I am done now. If somebody whose tastes I trust will recommend her book, I will read it, but no more autobuy.
LOL, Nicole, IMO some of them just do not take care of their product, thus being able to publish a lot of badly edited works.
Jenre, it’s difficult to know exact figures because most writers are hesitant to share them, but I would agree with you that, assuming we follow the pattern of mainstream publishing, most m/m writers — especially the newest writers — are not earning anything close to a living.
Thanks for this, Josh – it’s the same philosophy I’m determined to stick to: quality over quantity. I see other writers churning out book after book while I’m still waiting for my first novel to be published (not long now!), and the jealousy twinges. I have to remind myself that it’s better to have a solid core of strong work than a plethora of mediocre titles.
I certainly won’t buy a second book by an author who hasn’t impressed me on the first try. Perhaps writers should think carefully about that before rushing to self-publish all their back catalogue of anthology stories and early reworked fanfic…
And fifty titles a year? I’d go completely barmy trying to keep that up. Even if they were all short stories at one a week, I couldn’t do it. You’d only get two week’s holiday!
Jo, my first year or two in m/m I felt the same panic — well, and I’d left a high paying job for a job that paid $6,000 dollars the first year! (OUCH) — and that resulted in the fevered output of year three and four. When I realized my health was starting to suffer, I slammed on the brakes. I have zero regrets, and in fact, my sales have only continued to mount, despite the cutbacks.
The m/m books were the first e-books I discovered. It never registered to me that those books were somehow different than good old paperbacks. For me as the reader, they weren’t. If I liked the book, I bought another by that author. If I didn’t, I might have tried another, but if that one sucked too, that was pretty much it. And that haven’t changed even now when dozens of new books pop up every day. The fact remains that I have a limited budget to spend on books and no matter how many books are published – I can buy only so many. So, you (author in general) are churning out the new book every couple of weeks? Good for you if it’s worth my money. If not, too bad. Quality over quantity is not just a saying. It’s the rule to live by if you plan to live from your writing. It may take you longer, but it will certainly work better than publishing crap as if the books were popcorns.
Quality over quantity is not just a saying. It’s the rule to live by if you plan to live from your writing. It may take you longer, but it will certainly work better than publishing crap as if the books were popcorns.
I think in some cases the writers don’t have much experience and so selling 500 copies (which is probably an outside figure for most m/m titles) probably looks pretty good. And that monthly or bi-monthly bump of cash influx creates an illusion that the books are doing really well. But when you look at figures from someone like KA Mitchell — someone who sells in the same numbers as a low paperback print run? You can see why most m/m writers rely on a spouse with a second income or have a day job.
I feel absolutely inferior now. Thank you, Josh. 😉
Uh…my pleasure? ;-P
Butting in with a second point! I wonder how likely it is in today’s climate for readers to purchase an author’s backlist. With so many new releases competing with the older titles. Surely the sheer number of books in a backlist would be intimidating too?
When I first started reading m/m and found authors such as yourself. I went back and bought the backlists of the authors I liked, but at that stage (just before the release of the The Hell You Say) you only had maybe 10 or so books in your backlist and the same for other authors such as Jet Mykles or JL Langley. The publishers were not producing much m/m (even DSP were only producing 1 novel a week at this stage) and so I had the time to delve into backlists and catch up with new authors. But what about now? You’ve already said you have over 40 books in your backlist. That’s quite a lot to catch up on! What about those who produce 20-30 books a year? There’s no way I could catch up with that!
As a reviewer the pressure always seems to be on to review the new releases so, again, I get less chance to read the older books. I’ve just recently started reading Charlie Cochrane’s ‘Lessons’ series but I’m not getting too far! Obviously, those who don’t review have more leeway to choose what they read. Maybe they are having more opportunities to read backlists than I am :).
I’ve been purchasing backlists, Jen. Admittedly, I do it slowly and only with authors I’ve really clicked with, but I’m gradually buying and reading everything by K.A. Mitchell, Josh Lanyon and Jordan Castillo Price. There are other authors I’m buying everything by in certain subgenres.
TBH, I find all the new titles overwhelming. I’d like to find some new authors, but I’m only tending to buy things now if I’ve had recs from friends and reviewers I trust.
TBH, I find all the new titles overwhelming. I’d like to find some new authors, but I’m only tending to buy things now if I’ve had recs from friends and reviewers I trust.
There’s no question that those of us who got here early and made a name for ourselves, have an advantage. But all that really means is the writers coming after us have to be more careful about quality and more diligent about promotion. With each month of hundreds of new releases, the market is that much more crowded. But there’s always room for a brilliant new book and a riveting new voice.
One such example is Harper Fox. She is a pretty author new but she quickly became an auto buy for me. All her works are solid, even if she releases, what, 3-4 times a year? I like some more and some less but there is always that feeling of quality, much like KA Mitchells books.
Yes, three to four releases a year is optimum, in my opinion. That’s the number I recommend to anyone I work with.
And it’s the number I now recommend to myself, too. 😉
Butting in with a second point! I wonder how likely it is in today’s climate for readers to purchase an author’s backlist. With so many new releases competing with the older titles. Surely the sheer number of books in a backlist would be intimidating too?
Glad you brought this up as I meant to address it. During my long stretches of no new releases, there is huge activity on my backlist. I saw this especially January thru April of this year. I went into the new year worried and anxious over the fact that I had nothing new coming out for months, but in fact, that nothing new resulted in readers going back to try all the stories they’d initially passed on because I had so many new releases. That long, empty stretch turned out to be one of the best and most lucrative earning periods of my career!
Which is why I’m now such an advocate of slooooowwwwwing down.
That’s probably very reassuring to those writers who only produce a few books a year. Once they get their name established then readers will follow them into their previous work.
I certainly buy backlists frequently. With often quite disappointing results – showing just how much some writers progress in a very short period of time.
Yes! And who wants to hear that? Who wants to hear that their earlier work isn’t very good?
I think that’s absolutely true.
And I think, in general, authors write better when they’re not panicked and worried and feeling pressured to produce. So hopefully this will be perceived as the reassurance intended.
I appreciate the slowwwing down, so I can catch up. I bought and read the entire Adrien English series in March. Im gonna get thru your past books eventually.
Thanks for that thought, Hannah. Next year should give my readers lots of catching up time. 😉
Excellent post as always, Josh. 50 books? Gah, I’m happy with my 12. And since I am still recovering – literally – from this latest submission, I am in no hurry to whip out 38 titles. But I see the lure of having a large back list. It’s just not for me, I’ve never been good at keeping up with the Joneses.
Backlist is absolutely the difference between making a living and not making a living, but it’s got to be a strong, commercial backlist. The last thing you want is to hear readers say, “Oh, her earlier work is crap.”
That’s the kiss of death!
Just what I said above. Buying up backlists is a complete gamble, at least in my experience.
It can be, yes.
I’m a one shot kinda gal. Give me a really good book the first time, or you don’t get another chance. I’m more forgiving of an author who gives me a mediocre book after a wonderful book. Hey! Not every one can knock my socks off. But two in a row will have me figuring that book one was a fluke. There are too many books out there to read to bother with less than great. I don’t mind waiting between books, just give me something that when it does come out, I can be excited about.
Marilyn, this is what I hear increasingly from readers. There are just too many books to choose from, and an author who fails to impress may or may not get a second chance.
It’s tough because no book — no matter how well written — will please all readers, so even if you are taking your time and crafting quality work, you won’t necessarily score every time.
Sorry the comment editor function isn’t working…Can’t correct my typos ack!
Not to worry! Typos are A-OK. None of this is for publication. 😉
Ultimately it’s the writer’s choice if he/she wants to have 50 books out a year and write 10,000 words a day. I understand tge possible pressure and financial need. From a reader’s point of view, it’s highly unlikely that writer would be on my auto-buy list. Even a very gifted and hard working writer, with schedule like this, the quality would vary, if not suffer a lot. And how would they find time to do research fr the stories – that’s one problem that would stand out when a writer is rushing out her/his works.
There are a few writers I read and like who seem to have a “endless” backlist, it only takes one low quality book for me to become wary and put them back to the “wait and see what others say” list 😉
Research. Yes. This is another issue. No matter how fast the writing itself, you can’t really speed up the research and revision process. I know of few books that don’t require SOME research and some revision.
These are not areas that you want to take shortcuts.
Well, there are some new authors who definitely take shortcuts in the area of research, they seem to think for example that contemporaries do not require any.
I know you’re right about that, Sirius. I think perhaps there might even be a little bit of a feeling in some quarters that it’s not necessary to get it all right because it’s just romance? Could that be possible? Do you ever hear that kind of thing?
Oh most definitely (and I am sorry I cant shut up, I just really like the discussion :)). However, the thing is, I have read too many books by now to know that there are authors that consistently get it right at least enough to make it believable and you bet that I would much rather (if the writing is good of course) go to those authors to get my next book. For example to use the examples I can refute based on my own knowledge and experience, if you are writing about something legal, please go extra mile and research what self defense actually means, before claiming that killing somebody in their sleep after thinking about for more than a week is a self defense. It is not, I swear to you it is not. If you think that it is a good idea not to prepare witnesses for the trial ahead of time, please go talk to somebody who actually knows whether it is true before putting it in your book.
Those are just recent examples which are still fresh in my memory and which show lack of research in the area I am familiar with. I had read a lot of reviews on this site where reviewers who have knowledge and experience in different professions showed that no research whatsoever was done. I do not think it is a good idea to skip on research, even if it is just romance. I still want the settings to be believable.
Those are egregious errors, Sirius. I do think that sometimes there’s a perception that one can get away with more here than a writer might try if she was aiming for mainstream. And maybe it even was true at one point when m/m fiction was pretty scarce.
Don’t get me started on writers who write people from other cultures (in my reading experience it is the Chinese culture) and end up with negative stereotypical portrayal of that culture. That is NOT portraying diverse characters in M/M genre. That is insulting.
That’s a tricky one, Cleon. (I do completely agree with you, by the way.) There’s a push for more diversity in m/m fiction, but the chances of getting it wrong are disastrously high unless someone is going to be really painstaking about the research — and it’s hard to be both fast and painstaking. Unless you hired an assistant, which I’ve occasionally dreamed of.
It is actually not that difficult if the writer just take some time to Google. Talking with someone with that cultural background helps too. Like for the book I am ranting about, I don’t think that it’s so hard to find a Chinese American in America.
I think most of the times with diverse culture, people can understand if you get some details wrong. But if you can’t “get” how people from other culture are thinking then you have no business writing them.
Man. I feel that pressure to produce sometimes. For me, it’s mostly a pressure to keep my name out there so that readers keep reading while I work on the next one. And then how does one rise above the cacophony of noise of all those new releases every week? It’s crazy making. But I still have a day job, which means both a) that I have a limited amount of time for writing, but b) I’m not relying on my writing to pay the rent, so I’m mostly doing it for love and pocket change. (I aspire to make a living off my writing someday, but I don’t have that big active backlist yet. In a few years, who knows?)
Unless something changes, I will have 3 novels published in 2011, and THAT seems like an impossibly high number to me. I’m capable of churning out a first draft very quickly, but revising is time-consuming for me. Plus I’m still working on my craft and becoming a better writer. If my name is on the cover, I want it to be the best book I’m capable of putting out there. Hopefully that means a quality book that readers will find and enjoy, even if I publish less frequently than other writers in the genre.
But, oh, my kingdom for more writing time. My hard drive is full of half-finished manuscripts yearning to breathe free.
Kate, that pressure is pretty much standard operating procedure for our genre. But I can’t tell you the number of writing friends who tell me they’re embarrassed about some of the earlier titles on their backlist.
When I first wrote Man Oh Man I advised writers to build their backlist as quickly as possible — that the best advertisement was a new book. It never occurred to me that writers would be cranking a book out every month. Holy moly. I’d have offered completely different advice, had I realized. 😉
Oh. Kate, believe it or not, your name is *already* out there, at least amongst the readers I talk to, as somebody who produces quality work. I keep recommending your books to anybody who will listen actually :), so as a reader my only plea will be, please, please keep doing what you are doing 🙂
As I was reading this post, it sounded an awful lot like what the home video game console industry went through in the early 1980s. At that time, home consoles became hot and many companies were formed to make new games. Games flooded the market and the prices dropped. Every company tried to produce as many titles as possible. The problem was that there wasn’t much new in the titles produced. Buyers got tired of the games because even though they only cost $5 there was no point in buying something new if it was so close in game play to something you already owned. The console market went bust in 1983, many, many companies went out of business and some predicted that there really wasn’t a market for home game consoles.
There’s been a rebirth that is largely due to console makers and game makers keeping their eyes on always doing something new and something better. In the game design course I teach (and the game design book I’m writing), I discuss how a game proposal (similar in form to a book proposal) must include a market survey of what other games are close to the one proposed and (more importantly) how the game proposed is different and better than the other games available.
So, I think the important thing is to keep up the quality of the writing and to spend the time to come up with a story that is new, better, different.
I’ll admit that I’m a relative newcomer to this genre but I took time off from reading for the past month and a half because I got bored with what I was reading. While the stories may have been well written, at times it felt like it was the same underlying story over and over. To again draw a parallel to the game industry, having different images and graphics but requiring the player to do the same basic thing really bored game players.
Yep. You just nailed it, Jeffrey. Writers are still under the impression — because publishers are buying their work — that we’re in the “boom” stage of m/m genre, but in fact once you reach the point that readers are complaining about both the quality and quantity, the bust has begun.
I do hope aspiring writers like me and some of my friends are not entering this genre at a bad time. 😮
Cleon, there’s always room for good writers and good stories. Always. In every genre.
I agree with Josh that we need good writers and good stories but I would also add creative stories as well.
As a single mum without the prop of another income in the family, it would be much easier if I could rely on my output to finance my family life. Unfortunately I cannot and would not put my family aside and I cannot produce 20 books a year no matter how much I’d like to.
Some prolific writers have the knack of tapping into a niche and exploiting it very well. I take my hat off to them.
It is difficult for new writers to even be noticed in the current market. At least constant releases keeps your name in the forefront. Once you have a ‘name’ you have time to calm down.
It is difficult for new writers to even be noticed in the current market. At least constant releases keeps your name in the forefront. Once you have a ‘name’ you have time to calm down.
Sue, certain writers manage to get to the forefront simply by relying on a few quality releases. Sean Kennedy, Jane Seville, Harper Fox, etc.
I don’t think becoming part of the white noise is ever a good career move. Seriously.
I know what you’re saying but in all creative media, bestselling authors do not always equal quality. See Barbara Cartland. She tapped into a niche and worked it relentlessly.
The thing about Cartland though is that she knew her craft. Was she trite, was she cliched, was she formulaic? You bet. Was she competent, inventive, and commercial? Yep. In spades. She wrote stories that lots and lots of women wanted to read — could not get enough of.
She was not Georgette Heyer but she didn’t need to be. She had her own thing going on. Neither Heyer nor Cartland ever had to worry about a flooded historical romance market.
My comments — which by the way are not aimed at any particular writer or publisher but are merely a general observation — are really in answer to new writers pouring into a flooded market and wondering what they can do to stand out.
Personally, I think taking the time to write the best possible book and then taking the time to market it before rushing off to sell another forty-nine stories, is the way to go.
This isn’t the same market it was four years ago.
I agree with you about Cartland and Heyer, both of which I read voraciously as a teenager. Although in all honesty, there is only one Cartland book I can remember because it didn’t follow her formula.
As a reader, I agree with you. I am still new to the genre. Both of my favourite authors are slow in productivity but high in quality.
As a writer, trying to establish myself, though I despair at my slowness and envy the high output authors.
Good post though. I like having something to argue against.
I’ve been wondering about this lately. I keep seeing new authors, but I don’t hear that much about ‘old’ authors retiring. Maybe they are, and they’re just doing it quietly, or maybe we’re well on our way to flooding the market.
I absolutely agree that the way to rise about the flood is to focus on quality. I think it’s also important to remember that we do this because we love it; sales are great, and I’m more than happy to cash my royalty cheques, but I’d be doing this even if there was no money involved at all. Remembering that helps me slow down and focus on the joy of writing, which, I think, leads to better quality.
I think it’s also important to remember that we do this because we love it; sales are great, and I’m more than happy to cash my royalty cheques, but I’d be doing this even if there was no money involved at all.
We write for love.
We publish for a variety of reasons. It’s helpful to remember that.
Most people who go through through demands of working with publishers do it for more than the simple satisfaction of crafting a wonderful story. We want to share that story — and we want to share that story with some end in mind. Usually that end is financial reward and feedback.
If that were not the case, there would not be so many anxious writers wondering what they can do to be published — and, once they’re published — what they can do to be read and renumerated for their work.
I wrote a publishing company about books on their website ref: their prices vs.
Amazon prices. I now understand the difference.
Anyway, the publisher wrote to me that: Authors dont make a living, authors dont write anymore.
Well, that’s sure true, Hannah. It gets into pricing and piracy both. Just because I love my job doesn’t mean that I don’t still want — or need — to be paid for the work I do. All kinds of people love their jobs, but I don’t see many suggestions that we decline to pay teachers or cops or chefs or any other professional.
I don’t have to publish to fulfill my love of writing — in fact, there were a number of years when I wrote and didn’t publish a thing. The first Adrien book was originally just for myself.
Quality is the key! But I still want to hear more about Daniel, Evan, and Jeff (with the oh-so-funny Chris, of course!)
I think I might have a little inspiration for that one!
But, yeah, sort of on topic — even though there’s been lots of demand, it didn’t seem right to just churn something out because I thought it would sell. I like those boys, and I don’t want to drag them out of their happy nest unless I have a damn good reason for it!
Characters are what keep readers coming back for more — speaking for myself, at least!
Hi Josh,
There seems to be a glut of m/m books from aspiring talents to maybe it is time to face reality. If the basic foundation of the story is sound and interesting, I will give a newbie writer a lot of leeway and take pleasure in their progressive growth.
I think what I find disappointing is when you read someone’s work that you enjoy and admire and somewhere along the line it becomes rote and formulaic — the writer is tired or has decided that a particular type sells better than another and just alters the protag slightly (new hair color and change of clothes). With that said, I want to be clear that I do not find your books to be in that vain…yes, there is a recognizable style but clearly characters like Swift are not cookie cutter protagonists.
When it comes to quality versus quantity, quality will pay off in the long run…thank goodness,because once I discovered your stories, I found the backlist and took out my credit card.
We tease you about wanting a constant flow of new releases but the quality of your books allow for re-reading until the new one because there is substance between the(e)covers.
Interesting post Josh, I have no idea how typical a reader I am, but here are my thoughts!
I get most of my new-to-me author recommendations via friends who share my tastes, or who rave loudly enough about a book to get me interested. I rarely use reviews as recommendations, simply because unless the reviewer shares my taste I’m likely to be left unsatisfied. Ok I might miss some gems, but they will still be there later.
I do pick up recommendations or promotions from publishers and authors on social media and once I find an author I enjoy I usually read my way through the backlist before moving on to the next author I discover, so I can miss awhole month of new releases because I am busy with someone’s backlist.
One thing I do find with long series of novellas is that they are more like chapters, I love the Cattle Valley series, its light, fun and I don’t have to concentrate too hard on them, but to me each one is a part of the whole rather than a stand alone, which is fine, they are what they are.
I don’t think the market is saturated yet, but the cr*p is starting to float to the surface, it will float away and the quality stories and authors will carry on and make a living becasue the writers who care about the genre and have to write will make each book as good as possible and if they have talent it will be recognised by word of mouth as much as anything else. Those who dash off titles simply to make money will, I think, find it harder as time goes on.
We tease you about wanting a constant flow of new releases but the quality of your books allow for re-reading until the new one because there is substance between the(e)covers..
Thank you, Janet. I’m very lucky in that I have readers like you.
But just as writers have different motives for writing, so do some readers. Some readers don’t re-read. Ever. Some readers don’t want anything more than a quick and simple skim-for-the-sex-scenes. That’s fine. But these readers too are saying they can’t keep up with the flood of new work. That’s how you know we have a problem!
I get most of my new-to-me author recommendations via friends who share my tastes, or who rave loudly enough about a book to get me interested
Word of mouth is the number one way most readers find stories and authors — but someone has to be that first word of mouth. Someone in any reading circle has to be the one to find the new stories.
That’s what gets me wondering. As the market gets more and more crowded, how do these new voices and new storytellers get heard. A lot of them are using publication as their primary means of promotion.
Technology has made that possible. How it will ultimately play out…who knows?
Hi Josh. Thanks for a thought provoking article.
Writing is my 4th, and will be my last career. I am not yet supporting myself with my royalties, but I know some day I will. I look to the prolific writers out there who are, and I take heart. Also, because I’ve had 3 other very successful careers, maybe I just don’t look sideways too much in the competition race. For me, I strive to hone my craft as I get better and better reviews with each novel. I already have a decent following of fans that encourage me and that helps me to stay on track.
The comment that you made about backlists struck me. When I (reader hat on) first found DJ Manly and AJ last fall, I read one at first and then slowly began working my way through until I’d read most of their titles. I even commented to DJ that I had dedicated December to him because he was my go to book for the month. By the way, you were one of those authors as well. As readers, we find one author we like (at least this is my M.O) and read through the whole backlist. Some books will always be better than others but I remain loyal until I begin to see the same old plot over and over with different body parts. That turns me off to an author right quick.
I think if we are able to maintain quality stories and fresh characters and improve our writing with each new release, the competition will fall by the wayside. No one author can maintain quality for the sake of pretty book covers in their FB folders.
Hi Josh
I always enjoy your articles and the discussion that follows! I started reading M/M just under 2 years ago. Had read a few titles in the genre prior to that, but really went looking at that time thanks to finding one of your titles and one of Alex Beecroft’s. I’m a voracious reader and in these past two years I have rarely ventured out of M/M. Suffice to say that I am finding an abundant quantity of quality 😉 As many have commented, I have authors who are “auto buys” for me but in no way would I want to see their writing go downhill just to crank out lots of titles. Many of these authors have their own “collection” on my Kindle, as I love to re-read and also be reminded which authors I need to keep up on. Regarding backlists, as a reader, yes yes a thousands times yes to my reading/buying the entire backlist of an author I “discover” I like. As always, I also still have an extensive TBR list 😀
At the risk of sounding like a brown-noser 😉 I must say that sites such as jessewave have been a life saver for me in navigating what is available in M/M romance. This site has provided great author articles such as this one, reviews, free reads, author interviews, links to other book sites etc. which are all so helpful in determining who I might be interested in reading. You writers need to extensively research the stories you are writing and it seems (especially as more works are published as ebooks)we readers need to research our potential reading material as well!
Thanks, Dianne. Yes, one of the obvious vehicles for introducing readers to new stories are sites like Wave’s.
In fact, it was some of the comments from reviewers on this site that first got me thinking about this dilemma. If Wave and her gang can’t keep up with all the new releases…surely that’s some kind of indication of a glut?
Of course there are new m/m blogs and review sites popping up all the time, but I seem to be hearing the same thing there — that there’s just so much out there that they can’t keep up.
Good post though. I like having something to argue against.
😀
I think if we are able to maintain quality stories and fresh characters and improve our writing with each new release, the competition will fall by the wayside.
Yep. Absolutely.
Wonderful article. I definitely feel the pressure to keep putting out story after story but I know how easy it is to lose the joy in writing and have to fight to get your voice back. I took a 2 year hiatus from publishing after pushing myself too hard after a new baby had me feeling like I was just writing to get words down. I didn’t want to publish stories I didn’t love. Of course I missed the start of the ebook explosion and hate that now but I needed to break to care about writing again.
Silvia, I hear you. If it was just about the money, we’d all find nice, cushy day jobs and just write as a hobby. Because, yes, obviously there are easier ways to make a living!
Oh and I will say that even in all that time without a release I never stopped making money off my backlist – not a lot but enough to give a little boost to the family income each month.
Yes, backlist is crucial. But with everyone’s backlist since the beginning of time now available, it does change the game considerably. Or will, within a few years.
I agree that’s going to make big changes in how the market works at least eventually. It will be interesting (and maybe scary) to see how things settle out from the explosion of ebooks available.
Yes. We’re still in the phase before everyone owns some kind of ereader. Things are going to continue to change for some time.
And, of course another dilemma you face as a review/blog site is you get the most traffic and interest reviewing the big writers and the best sellers. You see this in mainstream too. You don’t get to be a big, important blog by only reviewing the books no one has heard of. You want traffic so you must review the books readers are *already* interested in reading about.
It can be a Catch-22, for sure.
Well said, Wave.
I totally forgot I was going to reference that post of yours, but yes. You had some illuminating figures there — although they’re probably way out of date now! That’s how fast things are changing.
I gather this post of mine upset a few people, and I want to stress that this is not a slam against any particular author or publisher — it’s suggesting a different career strategy for writers who don’t have a lot of experience and maybe haven’t thought everything through yet.
I could be totally wrong. And even if I’m right, I might only be right for a certain kind of author with a certain kind of publishing future. For others, rape and pillage might absolutely be the way to go. 😀 Seriously, though. This is all just my opinion. Someone else’s mileage may vary — and probably will.
Very enlightening, Josh. It occurs to me that new writers may not just be rushing to build a backlist, but also doing outrageous things to try to set themselves apart from the hundreds of other releases. I wonder if this is why I’m starting to see things like m/m/m/m/m/m/m/m (seriously). Is being this over-the top the only way a new writer can get noticed now? It’s not just that there are hundreds of m/m releases, there are hundreds of books to choose from in any sub-genre or niche you can name, be it werewolves, cowboys, or whatever. I think it would be quite difficult for a new writer to get much attention even within the sub-genres.
On a more optimistic note, I think quality and perserverence can ultimately pay off. This just isn’t a business where you’re going to have an instant best-seller and get rich right away. For a lucky few it is, but not for most of us.
It occurs to me that new writers may not just be rushing to build a backlist, but also doing outrageous things to try to set themselves apart from the hundreds of other releases. I wonder if this is why I’m starting to see things like m/m/m/m/m/m/m/m (seriously). Is being this over-the top the only way a new writer can get noticed now? It’s not just that there are hundreds of m/m releases, there are hundreds of books to choose from in any sub-genre or niche you can name, be it werewolves, cowboys, or whatever. I think it would be quite difficult for a new writer to get much attention even within the sub-genres.
Yes. Bingo. It’s the same mentality that thinks the way to reach jaded readers is to add more sex scenes into each book. Because if they’re already tired of the sameness of sex scenes, the fix is obviously to give them more and more kinky sex scenes.
But you don’t fix desensitization by using a hammer, you fix it by pulling back to a feather.
And to think I vaguely worried about not having a single release in 2011.
Fifty books?
Really?
As I sorta mentioned before, this is wanting to be a McDonalds-level novelist.
Really, there’s nothing wrong with that. And Micky Dee’s sure makes a lot of money. I think that employing that strategy, one would have to be ultra-consistent–I believe you mentioned Barbara Cartland earlier.
I don’t think it’s a good business model for everyone, though. Maybe I’ve been watching too many episodes of Kitchen Nightmares, but the comparison seems pretty workable: if your strength is as a fine dining sort of author trying to make fast food will just be a disaster and vice versa. If you are quaint, family-style service sort of author trying to qlitz it up will just make you look tacky and out of your league. If you’re a posh, fashion-oriented author all attempts at down-home authenticity will end in humiliation.
I suppose that, following this logic, it’s really the sort of book that you are serving that would dictate the rate of output, isn’t it? Identifying one’s own brand (or brands) would be important.
Hmmm…. something to think about, surely.
And while we’re on the subject of B. Cartland, I feel I should mention that she dictated her books, rather than wrote them, which would take care of the wrist problem. So, Ms. 50 Books, if you are listening: DICTATE. (We don’t want your fingers to turn black and fall off.)
I suppose that, following this logic, it’s really the sort of book that you are serving that would dictate the rate of output, isn’t it? Identifying one’s own brand (or brands) would be important.
Branding. Yes.
One’s brand should be about more than turning out a book every half hour. 😉
I just looked up B. Cartland’s stats. Apparently the most books she did in a year was 24.
That’s interesting. I bet they’re all about novella length, too.
Josh, I wonder if the answer to the question isn’t as much “slow down writing” as it is “publish higher quality books”? Don’t get me wrong, I love this genre and have found some truly amazing books in it (yours included, of course). But there seems to be an overabundance of published books that, to be polite, needed more attention and care before seeing the light of day.
If readers are screaming for better books, perhaps it’s time for the publishers to be a bit more choosy. I know I am wary of purchasing from one or two of the “biggies” in this genre because the quality of their books has more peaks and valleys than the Rockies.
Any thoughts, or am I way off base?
Buda, that’s true. I think slowing down though is part of the quality process.
Also — and I regret to sound cynical here — most publishers are in the business of making money. (There are exceptions, of course.) And the more books these publishers crank out, the more money they make. So it’s not to a publisher’s advantage to slow the process down. Nor do they need to, because if an author burns out or moves on to another house or decides to self publish — or even drops dead — there are hundreds and hundreds of authors ready and willing to take that author’s place.
A publisher’s first and foremost concern is not the health and longevity of their writers’ careers. That’s up to the writer to watch out for. Writers have to be their own best advocate. They have to be smart and consider the long term.
This is what it comes down to. You’re not being cynical; you’re being realistic.
I’m more or less resigned to a life of poverty and relative anonymity (don’t have much choice at my age). So I’ve decided to sit in my corner of the sandbox and keep building odd little castles. If somebody wanders by occasionally and says, “Wow, I really like that,” I figure my time’s been well spent.
There are worse things in the world. 🙂
Okay, but you’re a case in point. You’ve slowly built a body of work and I often hear readers rec you as someone with a strong, original backlist. So you’re building the kind of rep that lasts and will continue to move your books.
Great post Josh,
Being a new author I always wonder if I’m putting out enough. However, I recently realized that quality is better than quantity.
I do shorts, I blog, Ive done free reads and I only have 2 sole author books at this point but I look to have at least 4 more by years end.
I’d much rather have at least 5 great books a year and maybe a couple of shorts that 20 or 40 mediocre books that don’t sell. That is my take on it now.
Fab post!
I think that’s the way to go, Sharita. I think had I tried to publish 15 books the first year, it would have been a big mistake not least because it took me a while to figure out what I was doing, what was going to work best in this genre, etc. Some of the learning curve requires time as well as experience.
If someone is rushing to put out a slew of things before they’ve had time to process what they’re doing right (or wrong) they’re cheating themselves.
The philosphy of quantity rather than quality really doesn’t add up. I am a fairly prolific reader (160 to date this year, though this is high as I haven’t been working). However, I have so many books on my tbr pile that I sometimes think that if I never bought another book, I might never get that pile read! I couldn’t contemplate reading 50 (or even 5) new books from one author alone. To add to the issue, I read extensively from other genres and so have those authors competing for my time and money. And that is just the current books. We have mentioned back lists – when do we have time to explore the classics?
One reason I think some m/m authors are able to produce so many works (I hesitate to use the term books) is because the average length is very much shorter than other genres eg m/f romance. I love reading a book I can get my teeth into, and am often frustrated with the restricted length of many m/m books. Alternatively, I pick up what I think is a full length novel only to find it padded out with boring, repetitive sex scenes which do nothing for the story (a bit too RL?).
Authors who go for fewer, but higher quality books shouldn’t be concerned that they will not have a place in the market. Those of us who have read their books haven’t forgotten authors such as Brooke McKinley (Shades of Grey) Crystal Rose (I’ll be Your Drill Soldier) and Jane Seville (Zero on the Bone)even though it is several years since their last book. This is because the stories were good and stayed with us, leaving us wanting more. New authors can make an impact, but they need to be as good – Harper Fox stands out like a shining beacon for this reason.
I am so grateful for the reviewers who sift through the frenzy for us. I think we readers can also help by sharing our good finds with other readers where possible.
I think you’re right, Rachel. Or at least it might initially have been an effective strategy when there wasn’t so much to choose from? But even if it originally worked, the law of averages is against it now. There’s simply too much out there — both in print and OP now being made available.
Great discussion Josh.
The current situation is not going to get any better for M/M writers because readers are no longer buying these books because they are the new “in thing” the way we did 5 years ago when gay romances were considered outre and daring. Now M/M is mainstream. We want well written stories with three dimensional MCs to go along with all the sex and kink they’re throwing at us, so if a writer thinks s/he can flood the market with several new releases every month using the same formula s/he did a few years before – surprise!!! You’re way over your past due date. We’re looking for the same quality as regular fiction because M/M readers pay the same freight as everyone else. Have you checked the price of an M/M print book lately?
I mentioned to you that I wrote a similar post to this one almost a year ago, from the readers’ perspective, called So Many Books, So Little Time to Read Them about what I perceived as a glut on the market at that time. Now it’s worse and it will keep getting worse because we only have so much entertainment dollars to spend and there’s lots of competition for our scarce funds (movies, going out to dinner, games and other toys). The more authors up their production the more they create the situation they want to avoid. It’s simple economics called supply and demand. Even popular authors are being squeezed by the economy and readers’ demands for a better product.
Let’s hope that M/M authors, new and established, are listening to what readers are telling them – either give us a better product and probably less of it, or your books will go on the virtual “remainder” pile rather than the much vaunted back list.
I’m relatively prolific, certainly the most prolific among my author collective (I take up most of one of the three racks we use). This year, I’ve had six out, have another coming soon, and maybe an eighth around Halloween. I’ve had a 9th accepted for an anthology.
On the other hand, I’ve written 2 novels, for publication next year and hope to finish two more this year.
The pressure I feel is for time. I’m 43, I work a 50 hour week. I have maybe 30 years left to write, if I’m very lucky.
I can see writing 50 short stories in a year. That’s 1 a week, and if you can;’t do 3-5000 words in a week, you’re just not trying.
I can see writing 50 short stories in a year. That’s 1 a week, and if you can;’t do 3-5000 words in a week, you’re just not trying.
I would agree with that. Ideally, writers should be writing daily, if possible. It’s when you start trying to do 20K a day –not in a sudden burst of creativity but because you have a deadline to hit that things begin to get ugly.
Oh yeah. Even 20K in a week is ugly for me.
I just turned in my Vampire Apocalypse novel and it’s too short. But my editor said “Send it anyway, we’ll develop it.”
Hi Josh, I completely agree. I’ve slowed waaaay down myself (last year: 12 releases, this year I’m not touching that, and there are no releases lined up yet for 2012 – AND THAT IS FINE).
After putting my name on the map, I’m basically now focusing on novels. I like novels, I have lots of novel ideas, people want to buy novels, so it’s novels.
But a novel takes a few more months (I have a day job and just started a “quality ueber alles” publishing house because I’m so tired of the dreck churned out by author mills that don’t give a toss about editing and/or covers, or, heaven forbid, the long-term career of an author). That’s OK. I’d rather stretch my limits and my genre than churn out balls of fluff every week. I’m not made for that, and “my” readers want the gritty, intense stuff – or I get hate mail. 🙂
I have to say, I’m getting way more selective in my reading, and the obstacles to get into Riptide’s author list are formidable – for a reason.
I’m right there with you, Aleks. I have zero projects lined up for 2012 and I feel very good about that.
(Okay, I also feel a little nervous, but MOSTLY I feel really good about it.)
It’s not that I won’t be writing. I can barely go a week not writing that I don’t start to get uneasy, but I don’t plan on having any deadlines or production schedules. I believe it’s going to result in more creativity — maybe ultimately more productivity. Stranger things have happened.
Definitely. You just can’t take so much from the well that the thing’s drying out. 🙂
(Yeah, I’m nervous too. But there are three novels I really want to write, and if I can get at least one off the ground in 2012, I’m happy.)
As with so many other readers, I’m all for quality rather than quantity. I have little that is new or exciting to add to the discussion.
With the expense involved, though, even favorite authors are on a “3 strikes you’re out” standard. Time is too precious. :oldman:
I am happy (and would strongly encourage it!) when the author takes the time to “touch base” with their loyal readers. Dropping out of sight to work on that novel isn’t necessarily a good thing. Even the sporadic update on a website/blog is appreciated. :bravo:
Good thought, Sherry. An author does have to keep the backlist alive and moving through advertising and promotion and interaction with readers.
I will usually read shorts if they are a followup to a novel.
Ive recently picked up an author who has a series of shorts that I am reading and Im hooked. This is the first author that has stunned me with 11000 words.
I’m late to the party as usual.
This year, I think I’ll have 6-9 books out, and a few of those are het books I had previously written and found publishers for.
The best mix for me to manage is one of novellas, short novels and one or two longer novels.
I work full time and have limited writing time. I don’t earn enough to give up my day job, not with the kids hitting college in the next three years, but it’s a goal – to write full time. I’ll get there, one day.
Quality is the key. Writing books that move you as you put them down on “paper.” Great stories and great characters. Finding your niche, or your brand, is hard no matter what you write, and even harder for m/m writers.
Coming up with books that excite me isn’t the problem, they pop into my head all the time. It’s scheduling them in. I have only 3 books planned for next year, but I know during that year, I’ll be writing more, as it moves me. Will it be 5, 7, 10? I have no idea. I know my publishers want more. That’s a good thing. But I have to determine if it’s a good thing for me.
But with each book I write, I work hard to make sure it’s the best I can do. I just hope readers feel the same.
The best mix for me to manage is one of novellas, short novels and one or two longer novels.
I think mixing it up keeps it fresh for both the author and the reader. Plus, I’m someone who really enjoys short format (both as author and reader). It’s not easy writing a great short story and a think novellas are just the right story length when you want something but can’t invest a huge amount of time to your reading (plus I’m a huge fan of 30s/40s fiction and most of those novels are what today we consider novella length).
Great post, Josh. As a new author I try to learn from those much more experienced.
I have another 10 or so years of work before I can look forward to having unlimited time to write. Sometimes I get frustrated trying to squeeze a few hours of writing in before or after work, and I envy those who have enough time to pop out a book a month. Not for the number of their releases, but for their freedom to write whenever they choose. (Anyone who writes that much must have unlimited free time.)
If I feel unproductive it’s not because I’m measuring myself against others. I’d just like to make better use of my limited time.
I’m working on a novel length story and sometimes I think I’ll never get it finished. Then I remember the old proverb, “haste makes waste”.
If I feel unproductive it’s not because I’m measuring myself against others. I’d just like to make better use of my limited time.
True enough, Pender. Finding time to write once you’ve published becomes a challenge on its own. As someone mentioned earlier in the thread, from the point you publish, at least part of that creative time has to go toward the business of writing.
Hmmm… speaking solely for myself, I don’t feel any particular need to be overly prolific with publications. That said, I do tend to have a fair number of releases each year.
For me, it’s more about the stories in my head wanting out and demanding in that rude, insistent way they have, that I get to it, and NOW! lol
I find that I write more in the winter (no idea about why) and while that’s a good thing, it also leads to difficulties in that I work with more than one publisher.
The different publishers aren’t in contact with each other, so it’s no rare thing that I might have two (or more) releases coming out within days or weeks of each other.
So it’s not that I’m tremendously prolific, it’s that everything seems to come out all at once! 😯
~Tis
I find that I write more in the winter (no idea about why) and while that’s a good thing, it also leads to difficulties in that I work with more than one publisher.
Ha! I do too. I wonder if most of us are seasonal in our creative cycle?
hello!
I’m not a writer, only a reader.Since I have discovered M/M romance, I’ve been reading more and more and the problem appeared when I found that all the paperback novels were not available in France. When I want to read a book (usually after reading the review on this site), I go to Amazon.fr to order it: the first problem is that it is often not available and the second one is that when it is , it is really expensive! So, I go to the editors sites and order e.books. They are less expensive and always available. But there is nothing like a paperback book!!
what i wanted to point out is that as we can’t find books whenever we want, we often buy e.books, even if they are not as satisfying as a book. I love reading but very often, e.books are short (maybe because writers want to write a lot of books,or as you said because publishers ask them for more, I don’t know), but I feel frustrated in these cases.When I like the characters in a book, I enjoy reading about them in a sequel , but I don’t mind waiting fir this sequel, even if it takes long, because I know I won’t be disappointed then. Actually, I’m waiting for a sequel from Heidi Cullinan (special delivery and double blind). I don’t care if it takes a year to wait, I’m sure the book will be good.
I don’t say short books are bad, it’s just that I like longer ones better.
Anyway, I think e.books are great if you live abroad as I do; it’s the best way of buying a book.
Thanks for this interesting topic,
mona
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Mona!
I’m not sure how or why the novella became the backbone of the ebook industry — maybe because originally readers were reading on laptops and desktops and the shorter format was just easier to take?
I know that for me, a consideration of whether I write a novella or a novel is the complexity of the plot and the character arc. My novellas generally cover no more than three days at an emotional turning point in two men’s lives. I could write longer, but that would usually mean padding a story out (and I have no patience for that as a writer or a reader). But I know many, many readers do prefer longer length even when the story doesn’t support it, so you’re not alone in that! And I believe more and more novels are now being written in ebooks, so perhaps the trend is moving in the direction you prefer.
You know Josh, I love novellas but of course novels offer a lot more in the way of content and character development.
However I just finished a 240 page novel that was more padding than anything else and should have been a novella. To be honest, I was bored with most of the writing. This is a new author that I wanted to give a chance by having their book reviewed on the site ahead of the hordes of books we have waiting in the pile for review. Now I have to figure out how to review the book without dumping all over it. I think what I’m trying to say is that writing a novel as your first or second book needs a lot of hand holding by an experienced editor, which is probably why most new writers opt for novellas.
I think novellas are a good choice for a beginning writer, Wave. And you don’t have that option in mainstream like you do here in ebooks.
Not every story has the potential to be a novel. There’s a whole art and craft to short stories and novellas. They are their own artform.
I definitely agree Josh that there is potential to short stories and novellas, if the writer knows the difference between short form and novel and does not try to stuff too much in the short form. I can count the writers who (IMO of course) know how to do shorter works well on the fingers of my hands and probably will have one or two finger still left. Often when I read the novelette or even novella I am thinking this really really should have been a novel, because either writer put way too much information in there and rushed everything or did not put enough and I am wondering why the characters are so flat. IMO of course.
Sirius, from a writing standpoint, I think all forms are satisfying (in different ways), although admittedly we all have our strengths and weaknesses with various formats. I do really enjoy writing novelettes, but that seems to be a format that very few readers enjoy. I always try to mix up the year’s releases so there’s a little of something for everyone.
I just wanted to give an example RE: new writers being heard and since it is a positive example I am going to name the book. The word of the mouth is going around about “Bear, Otter and the Kid” by TJ Klune. I am looking on Amazon and the book was published on August 12, today is August 24 where I am and the book already has twenty reviews. I have no way to check whether all reviews are genuine of course, but at least three or four reviews are from people I talk to a lot online and I know that those reviews are genuine. Several other people who did not leave the reviews told me how much they loved the book as well, so while I have not read the book myself yet, I have to conclude that the book overall is a hit with quite a few readers. The reason I brought it up here is because it appears to be a debut for the author and what I am trying to say is that IMO no matter how crowded the genre is, if you write a good book you are quite likely to be noticed. IMO of course.
I’ve heard excellent things about the book as well, Sirius — and from readers who I know are absolutely sincere.
I will say that Dreamspinner books (even from unknown authors) almost always have a ton of terrific reviews right out the gate — as well as many tags — so I would say that this is a publisher that has a well-oiled promo machine for their new author releases. That’s not a criticism and it’s not a reflection on the books, because the fact that some of them become huge hits is not faked. The Klune book is most certainly hitting a chord with readers. There’s definitely a release pattern there that other publishers could learn from.
I dont know about that actually. I mean I am sure you are right about them being good at publicity, but I look at Dreamspinner releases on Amazon at least twice a week(and buy some of them of course :)) and I do not see all of them or even half of them getting as many reviews that fast as that book did. IMO of course.
First, I have to laugh because I am on this site looking at reviews while I load my dreamspinner cart as I need some new books and i was deciding on “Bear, Otter and the Kid” because of the buzz. Also, the same thing happened with “The Cranberry Hush” earlier this year as people share something that stands out as very good. Of course, it still takes pioneers willing to brave the unknown, and I’ve found I don’t like to be a pioneer. I hate feeling like i wasted time on books spat out just to get another book out there. But I love those willing to take a chance and share the gems!
Someone certainly has to be the first or no book would ever be read! 😉
I am sure all forms are satisfying for the writer, I am just saying that I understand why a lot of shorter stories from many authors are less satisfying for the reader, you know? For me personally, I always loved short stories as much as long works. I grew up on Russian classics, I am yet to find somebody who did short stories as well as lets say Chechov, so for me when I started reading this genre it was not a question of avoiding short stories, quite the contrary. However, it quickly made my love of short stories diminish significantly if that makes sense. Thank goodness for you and Sarah Black and few other writers if you ask me.
Thank you! I do know what you mean as I just read a disappointing anthology. It reminded me of how hard it is to write a good short story.
Yes! Yes-I said yes he will yes! Yes-yes-yes.
Everything you said, Josh. And more. :bravo:
There have always been writers who generate bales of prose to earn a buck, the yellow press has existed alongside “serious” content from the moment there WAS a publishing industry. By the same token, history shows us that grinding out hackwork only proves profitable (or even viable) for very narrow windows in history. Technology is compressing those windows.
I think there is a radical shift headed our way in the way epublishers and niche authors earn their crust. I was just talking to Z.A. Maxfield about this very thing. In the early days of M/M (and epublishing, natch) people bought EVERYTHING because the output didn’t meet demand. As the market exploded it was (as markets always are) flooded by product that ran the gamut from exceptional to embarrassing. That’s the nature of ecosystems; that’s how you invent a jungle.
But eventually planets cool and climates stabilize and the Wild West is hemmed in by a corset of railroads and urban expansion and the ecosystem changes. Pumping out dross is a bottom feeders tactic. That’s how pulp writers survived at a penny a word back in the day. Some of it was great, some was hideous, and most of it is forgotten… but not ALL. 😀 Out of the pulps came some of the major stylistic trends and voices of the American midcentury. Pulps changed entertainment globally. But the hacks that pumped out slop to meet demand… lost to time and rightly so. Even THEY didn’t think they were great, at best they thought they were getting AWAY with being treated like they were. :blink2: As you say, it’s a “rape ‘n’ pillage” economic model and it cannot be sustained. Witness every empire from Persia to Rome to Britain to the US of A.
Ecosystems seek balance.
Having said that, some things. Some books find an audience. And as with anything publishing will find its level. The urge to grind out 50 books a year is not going to set anyone’s literary expectations on their ear certainly. What you’re describing is the process of M/M and erotic romance pulling on their big boy pants. Frankly, Erotic romance doesn’t face the stigma and prejudices confronting LGBT fiction and you can already see it making inroads to mass market. That will come for M/M of course, in just the same way that gay characters are now de rigeur on sitcoms and soaps.
Death at the hands of youth: the history of the world in one sentence. M/M is growing up. Or as Martha Graham once said, “No artist is ahead of their time, the artist IS the time.” We are living at a hingepoint in history. Look at books 5 years ago, at the cover art and volume and expectations and it’s a DRASTICALLY different landscape. Professionalism is viral and will spread, because if authors don’t treat it LIKE a business then the business will treat them like a JOKE. That hometeam advantage will continue to shift. The minnow pond of M/M abuts a VAST and complex see of intellectual property and the internet and ereaders are eroding that partition. :my2cents:
Big boy pants, big time! Thank you for a marvelous, timely post.
Thanks, Damon. Yes to all that. 😉
This might or might not be self-serving but authors usually start out thinking they have an inexhaustible wellspring of creativity and energy. Most don’t. It’s smart to place your books with the best publisher you can because you want to make every work you do count.
So true, Treva. I think publishers are very much poart of the same trend. It’s wonderful that we as authors have such a solid field of scrupulous, supportive publishers that push the genre’s limits creatively and promotionally; and I’m psyched to see the shady, rickety operations go gently into that good night. Again this is part of the maturation of the genre. As th epublishers have honed their “brands” and authors have gathered accordingly reader can actually find what they’re looking for when they’re looking for it.
I imagine that trend will continue more aggressively in the next 3 years as the M/M market reaches a point where it’s large enough to segment… the signs are already there and I imagine the impact will be positive and persuasive to folks who’ve yet to dip their toe in the genre. We’re less and less “one big pool” because the variety is so rich and cimplex. Much like mass-market romance in the 1970s and 1980s the volume has produced a wide spectrum that has begun to cluster into colors. LOL
I agree, Treva. And I always recommend that new authors align themselves to the best publishers they can. A publisher certainly brings advantages to the table. Not least of which is the opportunity to work with good content editors.
From a reader’s perspective, I think the glut of books coming out is more of a problem for the writers than the readers. I read across genres & am always picking out 1 or 2 books to read out of the millions available. I basically use the same methods for avoiding the drecks that I always do, so I’m not any worse off than I was before.
I don’t avoid new authors. If it sounds interesting & there are good reviews out there, I’m still quite willing to try them out. A lot of the newer authors help themselves out by having some free shorts on their website. For example, I read Kaje Harper’s free story first. I really liked it so this led me to purchase her first published book, Life Lessons & then her second one, Breaking cover.
I think getting reviewed on sites like this helps bring books to people’s attention. If you’re an m/m writer you really should join Goodreads m/m romance group. It’s not just for the reviews. If your book gets talked about there, it just brings it to the attention of people. It’s great for word of mouth style publicity. I first heard about books like “Hot Head” & “Bear, Otter & the Kid” from that site. It’s also very helpful if you can get some of the more popular members to preview your books for you.
There are lots of writers I like but I really don’t have an auto buy policy. If it’s a continuation of a series, then I’ll probably get it quicker. But if say they normally write contemporary & they’ve suddenly switched to fantasy, then I’ll be waiting on reviews & word of mouth.
Oh when there are good reviews out there, I am definitely very willing to try new authors, but without the reviews I am more choosy when I purchase the book. It is a great feeling though to find a well written story which has no reviews yet and wait with anticipation for this author’s new story. It happened to me couple of times rather recently in a very short period of time, unfortunately several biggest duds which I have read lately were also new authors. It is of course much easier to try new author when I am choosing the book from the reviewing copies, but I also review a lot of books which I purchased myself and when I do that I am a bit more careful.
I really don’t think there’s a problem with people trying new authors, per se. Especially if there’s good word of mouth. The problem is with so many new releases, it’s hard for reviewers and bloggers and readers to keep up. So promotion does become an ever greater factor.
But then you’ve got everyone upping their promo efforts so…does that then leave everyone where they started?
Yes, I think it is very true.
Yes, it’s definitely a reader’s market, Sara. As a reader I’m in heaven. Especially as so many OP favorites come back into electronic print.
As a writer….I’m just very grateful I got here early and was able to get a seat next to the stage. 😉
Well, I’m late to the party, but it is a very interesting discussion.
Seems like great advice for those looking to create a business with their writing. When I think about the portfolio of my favorite long-standing mainstream authors (+ 10 years), their best work is their first paperback or hardback novels. They were tightly written entertaining stories. Their later work, now that their bestsellers instantly, is enjoyable but not GREAT. They are established.
Another facet of -“Did I feel satisfied with my purchase?” and “Would I buy again?” … is $$$/value.
I feel very amiable toward a book that delivers a couple of hours of enjoyment for $4 or so. @7,8,9,10 dollars it gets progressively challenging to deliver value and I get progressively hostile when presented with sub-par composition.
So pricing does affect the business model and it also affects my “grading” of the book and the author’s quality.
Thanks for the interesting post and everyones thoughtful comments!
What’s interesting about that, Reggie, is generally mainstream authors have considerably more time to work on their projects.
But when you figure that often an author’s first work(s) is something they were polishing and refining for years, maybe that makes sense.
I’ve been thinking a lot about pricing (well, I guess we all have because it’s a major topic in publishing right now). There’s a huge amount of attention on the “sweet spot” pricing, but that sweet spot differs depending on genre and author.
Too low actually seems like more of a danger than too high — too low seems to indicate a lack of confidence in the work. But then again, if the reader feels cheated, that doesn’t go down well either!
Josh, you’re scaring me. 😮
It’s possible I’ll come up with something more intelligent and insightful to say later on, but don’t hold your breath. Most of what I have to say has already been said, and said better. Although, I can’t help thinking that a lot of the problems that arise in this kind of publishing market could be alleviated if people would just read slower.
Slow food, slow writing, slow reading. I can get behind all three.
No no, Anne. I do honestly believe that there is always — always — room for good writers and quality work. It may take a little more effort to make your voice heard, but as several have pointed out, you’ll find readers to champion you.
All you can do is write the best book you have in you.