on writing speed, part II

Continuing with yesterday’s post, part of the reason I write so quickly is that it is a splendid time to be a writer. Compared to as recently, say, 2008, the difference in opportunities for writers is astounding.

Amazon, Kobo, Apple, and Google Play are all competing to attract self-published writers to their platforms. Amazon just added pre-orders and Kindle Unlimited for self-published writers. Kobo is available in a bunch of countries, and keeps connecting with self-published writers for promotions (like happened with FROSTBORN: THE GRAY KNIGHT back in August). Apple added iBooks as part of the default installation with iOS 8, and as part of that did a huge promotion of book bundles from self-published writers. (Full disclosure: I was invited to participate, but I didn’t have time to pull anything together.) Google Play is available globally, and regularly puts out a newsletter boasting of improvements to their platform and interviews with best-selling self-published writers.

So you have all these different sellers competing to get writers on their platforms and their devices. But back in 2008, before the Kindle, the only way to get published was through traditional publishers and agents, and the submission guidelines for traditional publishers and agents essentially boiled down to GO AWAY AND NEVER EVER BOTHER US AGAIN FOR ANY REASON.

Amazon & its competitors, by contrast, have put out a giant flashing neon sign that says EVERYONE WELCOME! You can write as many books as you want, and Amazon & competitors will be delighted to have every last one of them for sale. This is very different from a traditional publisher, which only publishes a fixed amount of books every year.

So a big part of the reason I write so fast is that there is the opportunity to do so. If I was trying to write for a traditional publisher, with only one book a year, I wouldn’t write nearly as fast.

-JM