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Writers’ Market for Fiction
By Bruce L. Cook
The writers’ market for fiction continues to experience radical changes.
For new writers, hooray! Publishers now consider very short fiction. In fact, if you track new markets, you’d find it very difficult to find any that are willing to consider a full-fledged novel. That’s a major change from the days when agents wouldn’t even take a gander at anything less than 70,000 words.
For published writers, alas! Those still-unpublished full-length novels you slaved over for so long are fast losing their potential. Of course, as always, publishers make a giant exception for any writer who has an already-popular platform.
Gone are the days when an author can start a book with a week-long tennis match and go on for 80,000 words. That 35-page description of an unusual character crawling around in a church just won’t cut it as the start of a new novel.
What accounts for this continuing change? Do publishers and agents just lack the patience to read so many pages?
No, the change has originated with readers, for readers are buyer and publishers are sellers. As anyone watching television will note, the trend has continued to short cuts and montages of sound and picture. Any more, a one-hour program with several talking heads has just become boring for the audience that reads e-books.
Secondly, the change has originated with the notorious market leader for publishing. Amazon’s warehouse and delivery approach has driven down the high standards publishers and agents had for their products. As any new writer may have noticed, Amazon will print almost anything as an e-book. In the rare case when an author insists on doing a print book too, Amazon has a selfish way to steer them to its favorite vendor, who also will print just about anything. And – surprise! – that print publisher is under contract to pay Amazon for every book that’s referred.
What can be done? There is nothing to do. We who write and hope to publish can only sit back and watch as the marketplace changes. In case anyone hadn’t noticed, the dime novel is gone!
My recommendation is for any serious writer to press on with attention to higher quality and impact. Like so many British writers, it seems time to simply not care about readers whose taste falls below your standards. In time, the market may evolve into new opportunities for the craft of writing.
Keep on keeping on! The best is yet to come.
Handbook of Research on Examining Global Peacemaking in the Digital Age, Bruce L. Cook (ed.)
Description
Violent behavior has become deeply integrated into modern society and it is an unavoidable aspect of human nature. Examining peacemaking strategies through a critical and academic perspective can assist in resolving violence in societies around the world.
The Handbook of Research on Examining Global Peacemaking in the Digital Age is a pivotal reference source for the latest research findings on the utilization of peacemaking in media, leadership, and religion. Featuring extensive coverage on relevant areas such as human rights, spirituality, and the Summer of Peace, this publication is an ideal resource for policymakers, universities and colleges, graduate-level students, and organizations seeking current research on the application of conflict resolution and international negotiation.
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Publishing New Writers,
March 2018 (no. 1903)
Publisher:
Dr. Bruce L. Cook
1407 Getzelman Drive
Elgin, IL 60123
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