What's happened to publishing?

“Writing isn't about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end, it's about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life, as well." - Stephen King

Self-publishing is past its golden age. 

Self-publishing has become so easy and accessible that the market is flooded with books in every genre. Because the barrier to entry is so low and the potential for profit is so high, modern indie authors are now marketing agents for their personal brands. They focus on advertising the idea of their book to generate sales rather than the craft of writing well. Some of these authors are publishing four books a year, not because they are prolific, but because the market demands content. Writing well is now second to plot hooks and marketing tactics. Before the internet changed publishing, writers weren’t expected to be marketers, content creators, influencers, designers, or anything but competent writers 

Traditional Publishers are risk averse. 

They publish authors who follow marketable trends or have large followings online. Traditional publishers are looking less and less for well written books and more for what will sell. The role of marketing is now put on the author, like in self-publishing, but with significantly less risk for the publisher. In all fairness to traditional publishers, they make almost all of their money on a few cash cow authors. But they still aren’t taking any chances with who they publish, and by chances I mean aren’t guaranteed to make an exponential profit. They profit big on a few and enough on those with followings. 

Readers are overwhelmed.

Readers used to accept that judging a book by its cover was, at times, unfair to the writing. Now readers associate low quality designs with low quality writing. It's easy to see why. AI generated covers are everywhere, or people use fill-in-the-blank templates. I see people on FB groups brag about making their self-published book cover in 5 minutes but are then upset when they sell only a few books. When an author doesn’t respect their writing enough to give it the time and attention it needs, why would a reader? Readers have a limited amount of time to read. Why would they read a book written in three weeks, edited with AI, typeset poorly in word, cover designed on a Canva template, and thrown onto KDP without getting a proof copy? Traditional publishers are at the very least making good looking covers and having their books edited. Publishing and subsequently writing is now treated as a way to make money, not a narrative art form or a way of communicating information or new ideas. Many new authors have had no experience writing or any interest in the creative process. The writer was never meant to continually satisfy the endless consumption of content and authors who are focused on their craft are getting lost in all of this noise. We’re starving the literary writer for the profit of bad actors.

Our solution to this problem is high quality design and professional editing. We want narrative art and creative writing to take back what has been lost to corporations and the influencer market. We want writers to be writers again. 

Write Now can help bring your memoir into reality through careful editing, design, and guidance, so that what you have lived can be held in a professional form that lasts. Click the button below for more information:

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