The Writing World is Changing

I'm not buckled up.

The writing world and particularly the Substack world is changing very rapidly, and keeping up with it is getting difficult. It’s overwhelming, and I say that as a person who’s found a wonderful community in the writing world and who’s had a lot of fine writing adventures.

If I’m overwhelmed then I wonder how you are feeling.

I try to keep a positive outlook about writing and the future, but right now my positivity is challenged.

Traditional publishing doesn’t work for most people. It works for very few people, and those people are hand-picked for attributes that usually have little or nothing to do with literary skill, and it only works for them for a while. They get spit out too.

When I finally realized that it wasn’t working for me and in fact would never work, I made a fierce pivot.

• I went from pitching magazines to writing a Substack.

• I went from trad publishing to indie publishing.

• I went from promoting other retailers to promoting my own online store.

• I went from “self-employed” to my own LLC, and SSN to an EIN.

I’m so glad I did. The gatekeepers are gone, and that’s cause to cheer. Plus

• I went from an unknown audience to a community.

• I went from a 4-figure book to a 5-figure book.

• I went from depressed to elated.

• I went to a real living wage for the first time in my writing career.

However, a few things weigh on me.

1. Now my life consists of one steep learning curve after another. I’m working even longer hours than I was as a traditional writer.

2. Now, until I can build a writing empire haha, I do everything. I do the writing. The photography. The marketing. The editing. The social media. The graphic design. The book design. The events organizing.

3. As soon as I get one thing figured out—a new app for ebook distribution or Meta ads—the landscape changes and I have to figure out something else.

4. AI is changing everything about writing. This should be talked about.

5. Everything feels like an experiment. Everything feels transitory. Everything feels flimsy, as if it’s built on quicksand. Because it probably is.

6. Behind all of these weights is an even greater one, that books are declining, maybe in freefall, which is a horrible thought.

It’s a lot. If you too are watching the landscape fly past in a blur, I’d love to hear about it. I’d love to hear your thoughts. What changes are you seeing and how are you holding up?

Postscript

I wrote that late in the evening after a hard day of edits. The next morning I remembered something Barbara Corcoran said on The Tim Ferriss Show. “Complainers are thieves.”

So I’m turning my complaints into a boon. What a rush this life is. I am loving this fast water. What a thrill to be Alive. Right. Now.

Rhizo Lecture is May 7

Next week is the Biz Lecture. May 7, 2024—Ways to Make Money as a Writer. I’ll be sending a Zoom link out soon. For now, mark your calendar. 7 pm Eastern Time on May 7. I may open this up to everybody, not just paying subscribers, and if I do that, you paying folks will get something else.

New Facebook Group for Nature Writers

Last fall I taught my American Nature Writing Masterclass for the first time. I had over 30 wonderful writers in that course, and we bonded deeply because we spent 2-3 hours together weekly for over 3 months. Actually we weren’t together; we were live via Zoom, calling in from all parts of the country and even the world.

When the course was over, I realized there’s no organization for nature writers. There’s Orion Magazine, of course, and terrain.org, and Ecotone, and Bread Loaf Environmental, but those organizations are focused on their own babies. ASLE (Association for the Study of Lit and the Environment) is mainly academic.

I thought long and hard about how to build a virtual community. Finally I decided to start a simple FB group.

Yesterday I sent invites to folks from the nature writing class. As the days pass I’ll keep inviting. You are invited. You can invite others. The group is private so we don’t have to deal with swarms of locusts and flesh-eating bacteria. I’ll check multiple times a day and get you accepted as soon as possible.

Here’s a link to the Nature Writing Collective FB Group.

Photo by Shannon Hartford, Quantum Flow Photography, used by arrangement.

Would You Enjoy Writing Book Reviews?

I recently received an email from Donna Meredith, editor of Southern Literary Review, looking for book reviewers. She attached a list of available titles. It’s too long to include here, but she would send it to you as well. It includes memoir, nonfiction, and fiction. Here’s the deets.

Greetings, fellow readers and writers!

Southern Literary Review has received many requests from talented authors who would love to have their work reviewed. You know how much it means to a writer to get the word about their book out into the world. Please consider choosing a title to read and review. If the book doesn’t appeal to you as you read it, you are under no obligation to write a review. We have no specific deadlines or required review length (though most run between 500-1,500 words).

We also welcome reviews of books not on this list. We prefer books published in the last two years, and they should have a Southern connection, either the author or setting.

We also welcome author interviews with or without a review of their latest books.

If you choose a title, let me know if you prefer a print or electronic copy, and I will put you in touch with the author, publisher, or publicist.

Warm regards,

Donna Meredith

Editor, Southern Literary Review

Speaking of a Review

I need someone who will review my new book for Southern Literary Review. I’m talking about Craft and Current: A Manual for Magical Writing. It’ll be out in June. If this is something you’re interested in, maybe we could get a 3-way email going with Donna Meredith, editor. I can get an advance reading copy to you asap.

If not SLR, maybe elsewhere?

One Month Until the Kickstarter Experiment

My book on writing—how to craft and how to magic—will launch June 4 via Kickstarter. There's a marvelous button you can click right now to indicate your interest and get notified immediately when the project goes live.

Thank you if you’ve already clicked that button. I checked the number earlier this evening, and 189 people have asked to be notified upon launch.

Craft and Current will only be available via Kickstarter initially. If you want to get the book first and fast, Kickstarter is the place.