BBC news - an interesting article about writing boom

JumpingJack · Sep 29, 2006

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/5377752.stm

Just thought I would bring attention to this article on the BBC news website, It claims that there is a boom in would be writers. Quite a good read, i found.

Shadow_Ferret · Sep 29, 2006

I don't like competition.

Willowmound · Sep 29, 2006

Me either.

Though, I guess, if people write, they read. Maybe they'll read my book!

seun · Sep 29, 2006

There's something a little worrying about this. The X-Factor comment stood out to me. How many writers are doing it because they think it's instant fame and money and more respectable than winning a TV talent show?

Willowmound · Sep 29, 2006

See, that's good. I means the competition isn't serious.

Jamesaritchie · Sep 29, 2006

writers

JumpingJack said:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/5377752.stm

Just thought I would bring attention to this article on the BBC news website, It claims that there is a boom in would be writers. Quite a good read, i found.

Doesn't surprise me. The number of wannabe be writers has, conservatively, more than doubled in the last twelve years, probably thanks to the internet convincing everyone that anyone can write a publishable novel. The lowest estimate of wannabe writers I've seen is 14,000,000, and that's probably way, way low because at any given time there are some 6,000,000 unpublished novels floating around.

The number of novels reaching publishers is unreal, but it's only a fraction, a small fraction, of novels written. Most novels never reach publishers because agents weed the garden first, and most of the weeds get pulled at the query stage.

I can't remember who said it, or even the exact quote, but it goes something like, "It used to be that learned professors wrote novels that everyone read; now everyone writes novels that no one reads."

Not 100% accurate, by any means, but there is more than a grain of truth in it.

PeeDee · Sep 29, 2006

I don't know if it's much of an alarmist article. It's saying that there are loads of people out there with an idea for a book.

That's jim-dandy. I know some idiot women at my day job with ideas for books (of course I know: every time I write while I'm there, they have to tell me their stupid ideas). I know countless dozens of teenagers who spend their time having angst and writing really crappy angsty poetry (it's a vogue teenager thing to do, it drives me nuts). If I pick up a rock and throw it, I would whack somebody who's writing some garbage fanfiction somewhere (ah, for the golden days of fanfic, now sadly gone and inbred).

I bet I'd have to chuck a lot of rocks before I hit the next Stephen King, John Grisham, or hell, even the next me. Or the next you. I think my arm would get tired first.

So, I'm not worried.

Well, I am....but the bit I'm worried about is, that's a serious lot of very silly people to warn about scam publishers, scam agents, things like PA and Babs.

Willowmound · Sep 29, 2006

PeeDee, you crack me up.

seun · Sep 29, 2006

A friend of mine is very honest about her ambition to make money from writing with little effort. Whether she knows what it takes to write a book is a different matter.

PeeDee · Sep 29, 2006

Willowmound said:
PeeDee, you crack me up.

Thank you.

But I was being serious, or as close as I get.

A friend of mine is very honest about her ambition to make money from writing with little effort. Whether she knows what it takes to write a book is a different matter.

I love people who sigh and wistfully say, "I'm just gonna write a book, make millions, and retire. I'm sick of working."

I sigh wistfully back and say, "And I am going to invent something vital, start a Fortune 500 company, and retire."

And the laugh. They don't realize that both things work on more or less the same principles, and being an idiot and sighing wistfully is not one of them.

Andre_Laurent · Sep 29, 2006

Willowmound said:
See, that's good. I means the competition isn't serious.

Most wannabes never finish a ms and most of the finished product is crap. So, let them write their crap, it'll make my semi-crap look better.

Saundra Julian · Sep 29, 2006

If you think that's bad, think about how many want-to-be actors and singers are out there!

Shadow_Ferret · Sep 29, 2006

Jamesaritchie said:
Doesn't surprise me. The number of wannabe be writers has, conservatively, more than doubled in the last twelve years, probably thanks to the internet convincing everyone that anyone can write a publishable novel.

I was actually thinking about this last night. Has the work been taken out of the submission process because of emails and such? Back in the day, you'd have to type the manuscript, stick it in an envelope, and mail it off and wait.

Now, in many cases, that is all instantaneous. You do it all from your chair in the basement without ever having to leave the house.

People who once never thought of being "published" because of all the work involved, now just push a send button and Voila!

Shadow_Ferret · Sep 29, 2006

Saundra Julian said:
If you think that's bad, think about how many want-to-be actors and singers are out there!

That's ok. I don't kid myself that I can act OR sing.

Matt · Sep 29, 2006

Originally Posted by Saundra Julian
If you think that's bad, think about how many want-to-be actors and singers are out there!

And it actually gets worse if you think of all the established actors and singers who think they can write a bestseller. :Shrug:

Trouble is, they're usually the ones who get published!

LloydBrown · Sep 29, 2006

Matt said:
Trouble is, they're usually the ones who get published!

If by "usually", you mean fewer than one book in a thousand, then you're absolutely right.

Christine N. · Sep 29, 2006

Not just submitting, but writing itself has gotten easier. How many of us would like to type a whole book on a typewriter, then slave over it with red pencils and scissors, physically cut and pasting?

It slows the amount of subs that are finished and or go out, that's for sure. Word processors have sped up and eased the writing process itself, which makes it far less work to put words on a page, good, bad and ugly.

scarletpeaches · Sep 29, 2006

See, this is like the proliferation of people claiming to be bipolar. Even mental illness doesn't make me special any more. EVERYONE wants to write. What have I got to do to stand out these days?

ChaosTitan · Sep 29, 2006

PeeDee said:
I love people who sigh and wistfully say, "I'm just gonna write a book, make millions, and retire. I'm sick of working."

I have similar conversations with my dad. He keeps asking when someone is going to buy my book and publish it so that I can buy him a fancy house to retire in. Sometimes I can't tell if he's serious, or if it's just become a running joke.

I love my dad dearly. And lately getting my book published has become more so he can see that I CAN DO IT, than about making scads of money. He loves to brag about his daughters. My sister is pursuing her Doctorate in Counseling. I work in retail. Oy.

Sadly, I've only got a few more years in which to make this happen.

Matt · Sep 29, 2006

chaostitan said:
I have similar conversations with my dad. He keeps asking when someone is going to buy my book and publish it so that I can buy him a fancy house to retire in. Sometimes I can't tell if he's serious, or if it's just become a running joke.

I've had the same conversation with my mum, but instead of a fancy house she wants a cottage in the middle of nowhere with some sheep.
I think the non-writers all believe that once you get published you will be as rich as royalty. And I thought we were the ones living in an imaginary world!!

Seriously, though, are we really doing this for the money or because we want to write? And are we really doing it to for the kudos of being published or because we want other people to read our words? If it's the latter, then long live the vanity press and the Internet! I guess being published is reaffirming, but like blogs and web-published stuff, can't writers get that elsewhere?

Also, what's the problem with competition? Bring on the hordes, I say! :hooray:

SeanDSchaffer · Sep 29, 2006

Christine N. said:
Not just submitting, but writing itself has gotten easier. How many of us would like to type a whole book on a typewriter, then slave over it with red pencils and scissors, physically cut and pasting?

ME!!!!

It slows the amount of subs that are finished and or go out, that's for sure. Word processors have sped up and eased the writing process itself, which makes it far less work to put words on a page, good, bad and ugly.

That, I think, is a major problem with most would-be writers these days. We have all this technology with which we can put just about anything into print. I think it, in a way, cheapens the work that serious writers put into their manuscripts.

That said, I think the added competition, however watered-down it might be due to poor quality, gives many serious writers the incentive to do better with their own works. I am glad for competition, even if that competition does not know what they're doing. If we did not have competition, I think we, as writers, would stagnate, and our writing would suffer because of it.

Dollywagon · Sep 29, 2006

Matt said:
I've had the same conversation with my mum, but instead of a fancy house she wants a cottage in the middle of nowhere with some sheep.

It's OK Matt, I can sort your mum out. Got one for sale a few hundred miles north of you. She can't have any of my sheep, but I'm quite willing to rustle a few from the field next door to keep her happy. I'll chuck in George, the cockerel as well

I think the real big problem with 'wannabees" is that agents and publishers are closing the doors in a lot of way to unsolicited subs. That's going to be the main problem area.

badducky · Sep 29, 2006

Someday a very smarmy publisher will demand that ever mnuscript be submitted by hand printing, and if your handwriting isn't legible and clear they'll reject you.

Unfortunately, their product will probably end up about the same as everyone else's.

I don't understand why it's a problem that lots of people suddenly have the tools to make great art. They still need talent, discipline, and passion.

Since so many are trying with the right tools, I think this means that we'll get better books to read.

badducky · Sep 29, 2006

Incidentally, hasn't anyone else heard about the dearth of people running marathons?

(Running them with extremely bad times and annoying the real runners of the world and hurting themselves...)

http://www.slate.com/id/2149867/

Shadow_Ferret · Sep 29, 2006

badducky said:
Incidentally, hasn't anyone else heard about the dearth of people running marathons?

(Running them with extremely bad times and annoying the real runners of the world and hurting themselves...)

http://www.slate.com/id/2149867/

Yeah, but to determine a winner you just sit at the finish line and the first one that crosses is the winner.

In the instance of an overabundance of writers, an editor has to sort through all that slush and the good writing has a chance to get lost in the shuffle from shear exhaustion.

BBC news - an interesting article about writing boom

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