{"id":1836,"date":"2011-12-30T04:48:36","date_gmt":"2011-12-30T12:48:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.orcutt.net\/weblog\/?p=1836"},"modified":"2025-03-02T18:55:33","modified_gmt":"2025-03-02T18:55:33","slug":"a-shattered-paradigm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/a-shattered-paradigm\/","title":{"rendered":"A Shattered Paradigm"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have read hun\u00addreds of books on writ\u00ading. Con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive\u00adly fig\u00adur\u00ading an aver\u00adage of 15 per year, over 24 years that makes 360 books on the sub\u00adject. Books on voice, style, gram\u00admar, plot\u00adting, dia\u00adlogue, point of view, syn\u00adtax, nar\u00adra\u00adtion, descrip\u00adtion, char\u00adac\u00adter\u00adi\u00adza\u00adtion, nov\u00adel writ\u00ading, tech\u00adni\u00adcal writ\u00ading, short sto\u00adry writ\u00ading, non\u00adfic\u00adtion writ\u00ading, query writ\u00ading, get\u00adting an agent and get\u00adting pub\u00adlished. But<\/strong>, none about what it means to be your own pub\u00adlish\u00ader. And none specif\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly about how to go for\u00adward as a writer dur\u00ading this time of the rise of e\u2011publishing and the slow, inex\u00adorable decline of print pub\u00adlish\u00ading.<\/p>\n

I often go to my book\u00adcas\u00ades for tried-and-true books on aspects of writ\u00ading I\u2019m hav\u00ading prob\u00adlems with, but for help on this issue, like Old Moth\u00ader Hub\u00adbard I\u2019ve found the cup\u00adboards bare. Even the few books about mar\u00adket\u00ading can\u2019t help me. Less than 2 years old, they\u2019re already woe\u00adful\u00adly out of date.<\/p>\n

The trou\u00adble is, the par\u00ada\u00addigm I\u2019ve been labor\u00ading under for 20-odd years is now shat\u00adtered, and I\u2019ve been try\u00ading in vain to sal\u00advage some of the pieces. It\u2019s as though I\u2019ve dropped a fam\u00adi\u00adly heir\u00adloom vase and am in denial about its shat\u00adtered state.<\/p>\n

Ye Olde Pub\u00adlish\u00ading Par\u00ada\u00addigm<\/strong> (the one that ruled for cen\u00adturies):<\/p>\n

Writer learns craft, maybe works at a news\u00adpa\u00adper for a while, gets a few short sto\u00adries pub\u00adlished. Writes a nov\u00adel, per\u00adhaps a few, and gets an agent. Agent con\u00adtacts the major pub\u00adlish\u00aders, sells the book (tak\u00ading 15% in the process). Author gets an advance against roy\u00adal\u00adties (a loan<\/em>, not free mon\u00adey). Pub\u00adlish\u00ader nego\u00adti\u00adates rights of first refusal on author\u2019s next two books, pub\u00adlish\u00ades the first book 18 months lat\u00ader, hope\u00adful\u00adly in pres\u00adti\u00adgious hard\u00adcov\u00ader. Then trade paper, then mass-mar\u00adket (pock\u00adet-sized) paper\u00adback. If the author is lucky, some\u00adone from Hol\u00adly\u00adwood con\u00adtacts his agent to option (not buy) the book for a film that, chances are, will nev\u00ader get made. In the mean\u00adtime the book has hope\u00adful\u00adly made its way into book\u00adstores, where read\u00aders are hope\u00adful\u00adly buy\u00ading it and lov\u00ading it. There may be oth\u00ader sub\u00adsidiary steps I missed but this is the gen\u00ader\u00adal idea:<\/p>\n

Writer \u2013> Agent \u2013> Pub\u00adlish\u00ader \u2013> Book\u00adstore \u2013> Read\u00ader<\/em><\/p>\n

The 21st Cen\u00adtu\u00adry Pub\u00adlish\u00ading Par\u00ada\u00addigm<\/strong>: The writer is the pub\u00adlish\u00ader. She writes what she wants to write, and when she pub\u00adlish\u00ades it, it goes direct\u00adly to read\u00aders for their pur\u00adchase and enjoy\u00adment. There are no gate\u00adkeep\u00aders like agents and tra\u00addi\u00adtion\u00adal pub\u00adlish\u00aders pre\u00advent\u00ading the writer from reach\u00ading read\u00aders direct\u00adly. In fact, the only inter\u00adme\u00addi\u00adary is the com\u00adpa\u00adny that owns the deliv\u00adery sys\u00adtem, or bookstore\u2014Amazon\u2019s Kin\u00addle Direct Pub\u00adlish\u00ading, B&N\u2019s Nook, Smash\u00adwords, iBooks, etc.<\/p>\n

Writer \u2013> Book\u00adstore \u2013> Read\u00ader<\/em><\/p>\n

In case you missed it, in the New Par\u00ada\u00addigm two large and obsti\u00adnate obstruc\u00adtions between the writer and the read\u00ader have been removed.<\/p>\n

As I said in my arti\u00adcle<\/a> of a few weeks ago about why I\u2019m pub\u00adlish\u00ading my mys\u00adtery series on Kin\u00addle<\/a>, and as I said to half a dozen news\u00adpa\u00adpers dur\u00ading my self-made pub\u00adlic\u00adi\u00adty \u201cjun\u00adket,\u201d a writer writes to be read<\/em>, not to be forced to jump through hoops and told that the mar\u00adket won\u2019t like what the writer is writ\u00ading. My response to that old chest\u00adnut is one of the most basic prin\u00adci\u00adples of free mar\u00adket eco\u00adnom\u00adics: let the mar\u00adket decide what it likes.<\/p>\n

When I look at my shelves of hard\u00adcov\u00ader fic\u00adtion, I feel a pang of sad\u00adness for some\u00adthing that will prob\u00ada\u00adbly nev\u00ader be: my own writ\u00ading in pres\u00adti\u00adgious hard\u00adcov\u00ader, with acid-free paper, an eye-catch\u00ading cov\u00ader and the logo of a major pub\u00adlish\u00ader on the spine. Even worse, nowa\u00addays when I look at these once proud vol\u00adumes (the pin\u00adna\u00adcle of book tech\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy), it\u2019s as though I\u2019m see\u00ading liv\u00ading fos\u00adsils. I know some\u00adthing impor\u00adtant with\u00adout a lot of evi\u00addence for it: The vast major\u00adi\u00adty of print books are going to fade away, to be replaced by slim\u00admer, sharp\u00ader, more pow\u00ader\u00adful tablets.<\/p>\n

One piece of evi\u00addence I have for this is that there are suc\u00adcess\u00adful, tra\u00addi\u00adtion\u00adal\u00adly pub\u00adlished authors out there who have switched to self-pub\u00adlish\u00ading exclu\u00adsive\u00adly. In his thor\u00adough primer on elec\u00adtron\u00adic self-pub\u00adlish\u00ading, Let\u2019s Get Dig\u00adi\u00adtal<\/em>, David Gaugh\u00adran<\/a> pro\u00adfiles an author named Bob May\u00ader, whose last three book deals pri\u00ador to self-pub\u00adlish\u00ading totaled over a mil\u00adlion dol\u00adlars. Yet, May\u00ader walked away from tra\u00addi\u00adtion\u00adal pub\u00adlish\u00ading and now self-pub\u00adlish\u00ades his work. \u201cThe main dif\u00adfer\u00adence,\u201d May\u00ader says, \u201cis that I have more con\u00adtrol than I ever did in tra\u00addi\u00adtion\u00adal pub\u00adlish\u00ading.\u201d<\/p>\n

My point is, when com\u00admer\u00adcial\u00adly suc\u00adcess\u00adful writ\u00aders like Bob May\u00ader are leav\u00ading tra\u00addi\u00adtion\u00adal pub\u00adlish\u00ading behind, how long will it be before the Stephen Kings and Tom Clan\u00adcys of the world begin to leave it as well?<\/p>\n

We\u2019re wit\u00adness\u00ading a rare occurrence\u2014an over\u00adlap in evo\u00adlu\u00adtion, like when Nean\u00adderthal man exist\u00aded on the plan\u00adet at the same time as Homo sapi\u00adens<\/em>. Nean\u00adderthal man was stronger and prob\u00ada\u00adbly should have sur\u00advived, but Homo sapi\u00adens<\/em> was smarter, and did.<\/p>\n

So, what is a writer to do who has oper\u00adat\u00aded under the old par\u00ada\u00addigm for all of his adult life? Sud\u00adden\u00adly, with no gate\u00adkeep\u00aders in his way, he can pub\u00adlish (from the Latin pub\u00adli\u00adcare <\/em>- to announce, to make pub\u00adlic) any\u00adthing he wants, any\u00adtime he wants, reach\u00ading read\u00aders direct\u00adly while reap\u00ading the lion\u2019s share of the prof\u00adits. This being the case, should he con\u00adtin\u00adue to pur\u00adsue main\u00adstream pub\u00adli\u00adca\u00adtion or rep\u00adre\u00adsen\u00adta\u00adtion? If so, why? For pres\u00adtige? To fill a need for out\u00adside approval? Assum\u00ading one\u2019s writ\u00ading is of qual\u00adi\u00adty, how is print pub\u00adli\u00adca\u00adtion any better\u2014any more pres\u00adti\u00adgious or virtuous\u2014than e\u2011publishing? Are the words of The Great Gats\u00adby<\/em> any less poet\u00adic and utter\u00adly per\u00adfect pre\u00adsent\u00aded in e\u2011ink than they are in print? No. In fact, I sub\u00admit that you could paint those words on a dark cave wall and they would still be as great. Great writ\u00ading is great writ\u00ading, regard\u00adless of the medi\u00adum in which it\u2019s pub\u00adlished or who decid\u00aded to pub\u00adlish it.<\/p>\n

One of the key tenets of the old pub\u00adlish\u00ading par\u00ada\u00addigm was that as gate\u00adkeep\u00aders, agents and edi\u00adtors ensured that only good qual\u00adi\u00adty writ\u00ading reached read\u00aders. Writ\u00ading that did\u00adn\u2019t meet cer\u00adtain stan\u00addards was reject\u00aded. Whether or not their role as gate\u00adkeep\u00aders has been of ser\u00advice to read\u00aders is debat\u00adable; but what isn\u2019t debat\u00adable is the idea that read\u00aders deserve mate\u00adr\u00adi\u00adal that is well writ\u00adten. And with writ\u00aders now fill\u00ading the roles of agent and pub\u00adlish\u00ader for our work (or real\u00adly pub\u00adlish\u00ader and pub\u00adli\u00adcist), it behooves all of us only to pub\u00adlish the best writ\u00ading we can write.<\/p>\n

We all need to become our own best edi\u00adtors, too, learn\u00ading the rules and craft of writ\u00ading inside-out so that our work is indis\u00adtin\u00adguish\u00adable in qual\u00adi\u00adty from any work pub\u00adlished by \u201cpro\u00adfes\u00adsion\u00adal,\u201d tra\u00addi\u00adtion\u00adal pub\u00adlish\u00aders. Doing this en masse<\/em> is the only way to defeat the hack\u00adneyed argu\u00adment by the pub\u00adlish\u00ading estab\u00adlish\u00adment that self-pub\u00adlished work is infe\u00adri\u00ador in qual\u00adi\u00adty. Doing this will raise the over\u00adall qual\u00adi\u00adty, ben\u00ade\u00adfit\u00ading all writ\u00aders and, more impor\u00adtant\u00adly, our read\u00aders.<\/p>\n

One of the rea\u00adsons I wrote this piece was to think this issue through for myself, because like a lot of writ\u00aders who labored under the old par\u00ada\u00addigm, I\u2019m now unsure about how I should pro\u00adceed. Every\u00adthing has changed. But one thing that has\u00adn\u2019t changed is the writ\u00ading itself. The writ\u00ading is going to be good or bad, and will come eas\u00adi\u00adly or with dif\u00adfi\u00adcul\u00adty, no mat\u00adter how it is pub\u00adlished. How\u00adev\u00ader, now that the bar\u00adri\u00aders to read\u00aders have been removed, we writ\u00aders don\u2019t have the pub\u00adlish\u00ading indus\u00adtry as a scape\u00adgoat any\u00admore. The only lim\u00adi\u00adta\u00adtion on how much we pub\u00adlish, and its qual\u00adi\u00adty, is our\u00adselves.<\/p>\n

So, as for myself, I know what I have to do, and it\u2019s the same thing I\u2019ve done every day in one form or anoth\u00ader, and that\u2019s just write. Write the best I can, every day, and then decide what\u2019s worth pub\u00adlish\u00ading.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have read hun\u00addreds of books on writ\u00ading. Con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive\u00adly fig\u00adur\u00ading an aver\u00adage of 15 per year, over 24 years that makes 360 books on the\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,3,21,7,8,10,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chris-orcutt-books","category-craft","category-kindlestuff","category-personal","category-publishingandthemarket","category-technologyandinternet","category-writingexperiences"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1836"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1836\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9172,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1836\/revisions\/9172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}