I’ve been gone a couple weeks, as I am sure you all have noticed! I mentioned a few times over the past few months that I was speaking at a large author conference, and that’s where I’ve been. However, I am back with things to say!
I will be the first to admit I didn’t attend a ton of the talks, though they were categorically wonderful. However, after sixteen years in the industry, many of the talks weren’t things that would benefit me right now. For people in different places in their industry, it absolutely would be career-changing, but for me I am in a different place. So what I spent my time doing was networking. I spent time with people, getting to know them and having deep talks about writing, disability, neurodivergence, editing, and so much more.
The longer I do this, the more I realize what I know. That may seem cheesy or stupid, but it’s not. Again, sixteen years is no small chunk of time that I’ve been working at this. I’ve seen trends come and go, platforms rise and change and sometimes collapse, watched marketing avenues come in and then dry up and then pivot. There are a few things that I can say haven’t changed, but I’ve witnessed a huge amount of shaking of the industry as the rise of the indie author has become so prevalent.
This isn’t to say I’m some wise old man on the mountain, though I sort of am. I don’t have the riches and business to show for it, though my editing company does quite well. That said, what I know, and what I can put into practice on my own are separate discussions. Being disabled, I don’t have the energy (or, frankly, money) to be able to afford a lot of the things that would take my career to the next level. As such, I stay in my lane and do things like this podcast.
Spending a week in the company of people at all stages of the industry — from people like Todd McCaffrey and Tony Lee and Mal Cooper to people who have yet to publish a single book — gave me the opportunity to talk to everyone, and there are a few things that really stood out to me.
First: Authors Are Tired
First is that authors are so tired. Like my friend Russel Nohelty said in his incredible article, authors are pulled in so many directions and told that we need to be endless content generators. The current climate has authors expected to release so many books so fast that there’s barely time for artistry or breathing.
People expect constant fulfillment without having to wait. Or so we are told, anyway. I know differently, but we are so conditioned by “binge watch” culture to think that we have to keep up with that on our own that it is destroying us.
Second: There’s Hope Beyond That
There’s so much more to the heart and energy of creatives than the gristmill of content generation. Don’t get me wrong, we do have to create “content” in the form of our books and marketing materials, but we’re not machines. It seems to me like a lot of the “rapid release” fever is starting to break amongst portions of the industry because even the big names in that are either burning out or turning to AI (because they’re burned out).
Third: AI is Not a Threat
Thirdly, AI is not really a threat to our industry. I know it feels like one thanks to some of the things out there. Having your content fed into LLMs is a problem, and I won’t pretend it isn’t. That said, I also know that the shine will wear off pretty fast, and the people thinking it is the One True Way will either go on to serve markets that aren’t ours or discover it doesn’t really solve everything.
I’ll dig more into this in coming weeks, but I came away from that experience not afraid of AI’s role in our industry. I’m not saying I intend on using it for my writing much, but it definitely has a role in certain tasks that will help me better do the parts of what I do that I’m best at without sacrificing human eyes, hands, and skills. (I’m not going to write my books with AI content nor use AI to replace my amazing cover designer, don’t worry.)
Finally: Community is the Key
Community is profoundly important. That community is what will keep us afloat when we are drowning and keep us motivated, excited, and moving forward. I can also personally say the compassion and solidarity in the author community is top notch. There’s nothing like it because none of us are in competition with the other; no one of us can satisfy the needs of all readers. So… we all succeed together. Celebrating one another’s successes, sharing in each other’s pains, it’s all part of the community of authors out there.
I don’t know what’s coming in 2025, but when I went to the conference, I was about as low as a human being can get while still functioning. I’d considered not going after the results of the election because I figured, “what the hell’s the point?” I’ve been wrestling with fear over the future as a very visible member of the LGBTQIA+ community and a disabled person. This is very real stuff that cannot be ignored or underestimated. My physical safety is at very real risk.
That said?
Spending time with that community, with those people, gave me hope for something forward. There can be a future. I can be in it.
That’s the power of community.
Moving Forward…
Okay, so what’s this mean for me for the next year? I’m not entirely sure yet. I’m still chewing over the ideas I heard at the conference while I finish up some client work I need to get done before the end of the year.
What I can say is that one thing I learned is I need to stop being so damn timid about the fact that I’ve written books. I need to tell people about them more. Don’t get me wrong, this podcast is still going to be what it’s been, but I need to take my own advice: if nobody knows I’ve written books, they can’t buy them.
With that in my mind, let me remind you fine folks that I have a pair of nonfiction books on the market right now called How to Write the Damn Book and How to Publish the Damn Book. They are a distillation of my sixteen years of experience in the publishing industry and cover everything from what story structure looks like (including a story structure method I developed myself) all the way to how to handle distribution.
If you’re looking for guidance and answers in your writing journey, these are not some secret sauce. They won’t make you a bestseller overnight. However, they will give you real, detailed, honest advice from someone who has been in the backend of the industry for a long time.
See y’all next week. Stay safe out there, and I hope you have a happy holiday!
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