Part 3: Platform, Publishing, and Perspective

Math is hard. In publishing, it is very hard.

[Book Tower photo by Herzi Pinki @ Wikimedia Commons]

In the last post in this series, I discussed the difference between writing and publishing. I’m astonished (to be brutally frank) at how many seem to assume that all you need to get a book published is to write it. I’m astonished because sometimes I get questions that betray a lack of even a basic Google search. For example, in non-fiction writing (it’s different for fiction and poetry), publishers are not looking for a complete manuscript. They want to give input and some editorial direction so the book suits their particular brand and audience. So when someone says they have written a non-fiction book and are now looking for a publisher, it is clear that they haven’t done much (or any) research on the publishing process. (If you do Google it, you will find many resources, and they say essentially the same thing.)¹

It is this lack of looking into even the basics of the publishing industry that, I think, leads to so many lofty expectations that come crashing down into disillusionment and despair for writers.

Getting a publisher is hard. Getting an agent is hard. Getting a published book into the hands of lots of readers is hard. Getting them to read the book is hard. There is simply so much competition from other writers, other books, other things vying for our attention.

I feel your pain.

Believe me, just because you write it does not mean they will come.

Particularly for the younger aspiring authors out there, I think there is an aspect at play that Austin Kleon puts pretty honestly and insightfully:

There is a kind of fallout that happens when you leave college. The classroom is a wonderful, if artificial place: Your professor gets paid to pay attention to your ideas, and your classmates are paying to pay attention to your ideas. Never again in your life will you have such a captive audience.

Soon after, you learn that most of the world doesn’t necessarily care about what you think. It sounds harsh, but it’s true. As the writer Steven Pressfield says, “It’s not that people are mean or cruel, they’re just busy.”²

It took me several years to get my first commercial book³ published—and even then it was by a small indie publisher of niche books. But they publish only beautiful, literary works, so it was such an honor. (Hey, T. S. Poetry, I’m looking at you!) This book may always be my favorite one I’ve written.

Maybe it’s because in my previous life as a professor, I read so many, many (and mainly) books that were under the popular radar, books that most people have never heard of that my “normal” in terms of the splash made when a book is published is a pretty low bar.

I’m not saying my way of thinking or doing things is for everyone, but I have always kept my publishing aspirations so low that I’ve only ever been pleasantly surprised. Until recently, writing was always on the side for me. I never planned for it to be otherwise. (If you ‘ve been following along here, you know a little of that story.)

With very, very, very few exceptions, publishing a book is not going to change your life. Or if it does, it won’t be overnight.

I can imagine some of you, dear readers, thinking that I am being a real Debbie Downer here, far too pessimistic. Maybe?

But I guess I hold such a high view of writing, of publishing, of books, that it seems like a lofty, lofty goal to achieve, one I never expected, but at some point did come to strive for. But I say that, realizing that I grew up and was formed long before social media made it seem like everyone was a youthful, instant, brilliant success. To be sure, actually getting connected with people in the industry is a lot easier now than in the days when all you had was a letter, an envelope, and a stamp. So being published is perhaps a more achievable dream than it was when I grew up reading books written by people who seemed a world away from me.

Still, it’s good to do the math. In full disclosure, I not only don’t like math, but I’m not very good at it!

Fortunately, there have been a few articles describing some of the sobering statistics. I’m going to link to this numbers-heavy post from Joel Miller, who knows the publishing industry well, to give you all the numbers. He also links to some of the other viral posts that offer competing versions of just how much people are buying and reading books. You really should read Joel’s post at least, and then the ones he mentions if you want a deeper dive:

Bookish Diversions: The Puzzle of Publishing

The upshot is that people are buying and reading books. But there are so many, many books being published each year that reading and buying is spread pretty thin over a vast ocean of books. (I’m sure I’ve mixed some metaphors there. But you get the idea.)

For me, one good index is that in 2013, under or around 300,000 new books were published in the United States. (I’ve seen similar numbers in a few sources).

In 2022, including self-published books, over 4 million new titles were published. If self-published books are excluded, then the number is 500,000-1 million new titles.

That’s a lot of books.

As the writer of Ecclesiastes says, “Of making many books there is no end.”⁴

Here’s another startling set of numbers from Elle Griffin at Persuasion:

“In 2020, there were 2.7 million books published in print, digital, and audiobook, but 96% of them (2.6 million books) sold fewer than a thousand copies. Only 268 print titles sold more than 100,000 copies, and only eight sold more than 500,000.”

I’m not good with the big numbers. But I can boil it down to a more individual scale.

As an “influencer” (I think that means someone who has a large audience of social media followers), I receive a lot of new books from publishers who hope to get a review, blurb, or even just a social media post about the book from me—as do all writers and others in the business. I think I am very generous with this aspect of my role as an author. At least, I try to be. Authors support other authors. Yet, even so, I can only fulfill a tiny percentage of the requests I get.

Let’s look at the number of influencer copies of books I get in the mail. Knowing I planned to write this essay, I wanted to track the number of books I receive weekly for a bit. Well, I told you I’m not good at math. I’m also terribly unorganized and I have stacks of books literally in every room of my house. I was going to say that I get at least six newly-released books a week. And I think that sounds right. But then on a recent day I got five. Five in one day. (See my Book Note below.) I think I got a dozen over the course of that week. And that doesn’t include the books I obtain for my own ongoing research and writing!

Now, I don’t mean to sound ungrateful. I’m not! Folks, you can keep sending the books—because here’s the thing, even if I can’t post about (let alone read) all of them, I will about some, as I’m able. I just have no way of knowing which ones and when. As I said, I’m very unorganized! I operate by laws of serendipity, mood, and the interests of the moment.

My working assumption is that publishers (and authors) want to take their chances. I know I do. The same thing happens with my books: manuscripts, advance copies, actual copies get sent to people who are getting many of these (just like me), and I’m just hoping mine makes the top of the pile at some point. I’d rather have it in the pile than not.

So the piles grow bigger.

Back to being published …

There are simply so many books being published today that from publishing contract to release day and beyond, everyone’s using the spaghetti method: toss it up to the ceiling and see if it sticks.

It’s certainly anti-climactic for most of us, most of the time.

The work it takes to sit down and write tens of thousands of words in one cohesive form is remarkable. Incredible. Out of the ordinary! Don’t get me wrong.

But having done that is in itself not reason enough for a publisher—who must pay for editing, artwork, paper, ink, shipping, shelf space, marketing, offices, phones, and coffee makers—to invest in that work without reasonable cause to think they will get a return on that investment. Years ago, I had an agent tell me that a publisher probably invests $125,000 in a book in production costs alone. If that figure was accurate, it’s a lot higher now. It’s also expecting too much to expect a reader who gets your book into her hands to read it among all the other books she has. Hope? Absolutely! Pray? Sure! And never, never take it personally.

My advice, given all this (and even if it weren’t the case)? Do the work and do it well. Give your work time to find its true audience. All this takes time. I know we live in a world that operates on the opposite values, but truly, we should want to read authors who have the authority that comes with age, experience, and wisdom. And gaining all that not only takes time, but it is priceless.

As I said recently on Threads:

It’s curious that people are anxious or reluctant about first publishing in their 40’s or later.

What kind of world is it when we expect successful writers to be young? This is backwards.

AUTHORS are supposed to be AUTHORities.

https://www.threads.net/@karenswallowprior/post/C6h46Cqtbnd

Seek without expectation. Then perhaps you will be pleasantly surprised. I certainly have been.

When I get back to this series (whenever that is), I plan to discuss marketing and promotion. Thanks to Tabitha McDuffee for commenting last week on this from the perspective of a marketing manager for a Christian publisher and inspiring the next installment. (By the way, I lost a few paid subscribers after last week’s post on platform and audience. That’s never happened before. Maybe it’s just the normal rhythm of Substack life, but I surely hope I didn’t anger or offend any readers.)

***

We will soon return to class here at The Priory, and when we do, we will begin reading John Donne. You can start here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44106/holy-sonnets-batter-my-heart-three-persond-god

***

BOOK NOTE:

I mentioned above that on one day in a recent week, I received five new books from publishers! Two are ones I endorsed. (When one endorses a book, one usually receives a final copy as a thank-you.) All five are books that are in my wheelhouse and therefore would be of interest, not only to me, but to many in my audience. It makes sense for publishers to share books with those who will share them with like-minded readers. But publishers (and seasoned authors) also understand that no one can read/review/share all the new books in our orbit in any given year. We just all do the best we can as authors to help our books find their people, and are happy to help other authors do the same as we can.

Here’s a shout-out then to Wesley Vander Lugt, Sean McGever, Julie Ooms, Rachel B. Griffis, Rachel M. De Smith Roberts, David and Phaedra Taylor, and Catherine Ricketts. Congratulations, all, for your great accomplishments!

"Absolutely unmixed attention is prayer.”⁵

1. Edited to add this update: according to a couple of comments made here in the thread after posting, some publishers of non-fiction DO want complete manuscripts. This is entirely new to me. Perhaps I am the ignorant one … lots of things are changing fast in the industry, for sure. Mea culpa. I do know that the three trade publishers I’ve published with have wanted proposals that are taken to the publishing board that are then weighed and considered and possibly revised. I’ve never had an editor or publisher or agent even want to read an entire manuscript at that stage. All of the experts in the business I look to confirm this, but again, things are ever-changing. Feel free to chime in about your own experiences or expertise, readers.

2. Austin Kleon, Steal Like an Artist: Ten Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative (New York: Workman, 2012), 78.

3. Booked: Literature in the Soul of Me (Ossining, NY: T. S. Poetry Press, 2012). https://www.amazon.com/Booked-Literature-Karen-Swallow-Prior/dp/0692014543

4. https://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/Ecclesiastes%2012%3A12

5. Simone Weil, Gravity and Grace, trans. By Emma Crawford and Mario von der Ruhr (London: Routledge, 2002), 117.