What Makes a Bad Book?: The Tradition of Writing in Non-Traditional Publishing
As an indie-author (namely, an author who self-publishes independently of the Big 5 publishers) who has published two novels, written two more that are on the path to being self-published with one of those being a planned trilogy, I often get asked about and personally ponder this idea of “traditional” publishing. While “traditional publishing” refers to publishing with an agent and one of the Big 5 publishing houses and is still a relevant term in today’s publishing world, I struggle with the concept of a “tradition” in the publishing world when it transfers to the writing world.
In other words, I believe it is a mistake to correlate the tradition of publishing with the tradition of writing. These two traditions have often overlapped and partenered with one another, but they are not the same. On the one hand, the tradition of publishing is a business. The main goal of a publishing house is to make money and keep its business profitable, as is to be expected with any kind of business, even if it is selling creative products. On the other hand, the main goal of writing—or at least, what the main goal should be—is to tell a good story that some people (not necessarily all!) will enjoy reading.
It is difficult as a writer in today’s world to escape the trap of writing for profit, especially if a writer is trying to make a living as an author. I’m not criticizing this practical perspective, and I myself have certain goals in mind when it comes to selling my books, but that desire must always come secondary to the aim of writing, and should remain in the world of publishing.
The key phrase here is: writing for profit. There is only selling for profit. The writing part is not dependent on profiting, and technically, neither is the reading part. An author can post their work for free at no cost to themselves or others besides the time it takes to write and read it, as we see on sites like Wattpad and Archive of our Own. This is where fanfiction often comes into play, and while I argue in another blog about the benefits of writing fanfiction for authors (which you can read here), this post is more concerned with isolating the creative act of writing from the tangled threads of profit, which fanfiction does superbly well.
This is important because in this social-media-centered-world run on ads and monetization of nearly every hobby and craft, it is difficult as an author to remember why we write in the first place and to keep the tradition of writing separate from the tradition of publishing. This then causes burn out and disappointment when writers try to publish their work, and many will leave the query trenches, traditional publishing houses, and self-publishing platforms alike in frustration and bitterness. While both traditions have often gone hand in hand, as an author, the writing tradition must be emphasized for the tradition to flourish. To understand this, I find it helpful to consider how new technology has reshaped the tradition of publishing, and how that has affected the tradition of writing, and vice versa.
In historical times, not everyone had the privelege to be authors. You had to be literate, educated, wealthy, and usually even then still sponsored by a wealthier donor. As printing became more widespread and less expensive and more people became literate, the door opened for more writers to publish their work. But even since earlier times, there have always been many avenues to publishing work. Famous novelists in the past have published their work in serial format, orally, under pseudonyms, in journals, and even in other countries if their work was banned or rejected in their home country. While the avenues to publishing have always been restricted by means and money more or less outside of the author’s control, the authors had more creative control over the writing process itself, which in recent times (up until self-publishing) has not always been the case.
Of course, the modern age of media has further transformed the publishing tradition. Marketing as a career inofitself flourished with the use of ads in newspapers, television, radio, etc. With the advent of the internet and subsequently social media, the marketing world became saturated with ads. Imagine for a moment (for all those born after the invention of smart phones and social media) how you would hear about a new book release. You might read about it in the paper, or hear the author’s interview on a late night talk show, or a news station or radio might mention it. Otherwise, you would have to browse the bookstore or library to find a new book to read.
Nowadays, those channels of marketing only serve the 0.1% of authors who have a global audience, and most of those will be celebrities. For the rest of us, marketing consists of fighting for recognition in the slush of social media feeds, website ads, and emails. However, to balance this dramatic shift in the publishing world, the tradition of writing has also changed, and now more than ever authors are able to publish their novels, print-on-demand, and sell copies all over the world without an agent, publisher, or even necessarily marketing it. To some, this change in the writing tradition seems like a bad thing, and over-produces “bad” books. Agents and traditional publishers, they might say, exist for good reason, and filter the books written and only publish those that are truly worth being sold to a mass market. There is some truth to this, and there is certainly an argument for the saturation of poorly written novels self-published (although one could easily argue the same about traditionally published novels). But on the other hand, in our modern world filled with the highest literacy rates in history, easy access to writing and publishing technology, and avenues to make our books accessible to every person on the globe with access to the internet, the tradition of writing has never been so championed at an individual level.
One might complain that today, everyone can write a book. Statistics show, of course, that almost everyone in the world will not write a book in their lifetime (about 2% is the statistic floating around). Most people don’t have the time, patience, skill, or desire to write a book, and that is completely fine. But for those who do write a book, the world has never been a better place to share that story with people. And that, at the end of the day, is the most important aspect of writing: sharing. No matter how or where, sharing your writing is crucial to becoming a published author, and that is something that traditional publishers can no longer take away.
Some might complain that traditionally published authors gain more respect and recognition, that their work is then “stamped” with a mark of approval, and that publishing houses have more money and resources to throw at books to market them and get them into bookstores. The first two points are true; traditionally published authors do gain more respect and recognition because their work has been “approved.” But besides the fact that this is already changing as more and more indie-authors have their viral books republished traditionally, the goal of writing a story should have nothing to do with respect, recognition, or approval. Those are values of the ego, and bear little on the actual value of your writing. Your writing should value storytelling, connection, and accessibility. Take yourself out of it. When have you read a good novel and only cared about the social recognition or approval of the author? It’s the story we ultimately care about, not the social status of its author.
As for the third point, this is true too. Publishing houses almost always have more money and resources to market and distribute books. But again, it is important to remember that while not too long ago it was more common to buy books in bookstores, in today’s world the vast majority of books are bought online. In other words, having your book in a bookstore is just not as vital to authors as it once was. Marketing, as well, has changed a lot in the last decade alone. Long gone are the days when publishing houses were the only avenues for marketing. In fact, publishing houses now almost exclusively seek out authors who already have a large following on social media platforms and require that authors do most of the social media marketing themselves, especially if they are not a bestselling author already. This is true not only in the publishing industry, but also in the music and film industries, where artists must go viral or have followings before being considered by a label, and film distributers would rather invest in a poorly made movie from an established franchise than risk investing in original content.
The beauty of self-publishing that I think is lost in this discussion of the profitability of self vs. traditional publishing is that it shifts (or should shift) the discussion of publication from profit to accessibility. While there will always be poorly written work published through both avenues, and both traditions are now over-saturated with books, the tradition of self-publishing allows for more stories to be shared and read, and therefore more people will be able to connect to the author and to each other through the stories they read. After all, if you ask anyone who has read stories for free online, many will tell you that some of the best stories they have ever read were fanfictions posted for the love of storytelling, not for profit. And even some of the more poorly written works become fan favorites!
Self-publishing, above all, emphasizes making more stories accessible to the world. While profit and success can be secondary goals as a professional author, ultimately you must still be passionate about storytelling and connecting with readers through your writing. There is no guarantee of success as a self-published or even traditionally published author, and even if you find success, the road will certainly be difficult. But without a passion for storytelling and a desire for readers to connect with your writing, there is no hope of success, and not only will you be left without status or recognition, but you will have failed in connecting with readers, which should be one of the primary reasons for writing in the first place.
Whether you are in the querying trenches hoping for a traditional book deal, or you are committing to self-publishing your book, as an author you must remember that a love for storytelling necessarily entails a relationship with the reader, and that books are ultimately for the readers to enjoy, as much if not more than you enjoyed writing it. The moment that this enjoyment fades from either the writer or readers, that’s when you can call it a bad book.
