Entire industries live off hoping you stay there. This is a very good reason why it feels like modern art is so stagnant. It's because many of those in the old industries want it to be that way. If they stay in Current Year then they know the exact formula they can concoct in order to keep the gravy train rolling. In theory, this is how it should work.
In practice, however, it clearly does not. Either way, it has lead to a culture that continually worships the here and now and the expense of understanding yesterday and tomorrow. This is why we are stranded in this shallow ditch without a way back out.
Because of this unhealthy way of thinking there are a lot of people who top off every crazed demand and claim they make due to the year on their very modern calendar. They do this because of assumptions they were given by the system they grew up in about how the world works. We are now in Year One which means we should have this thing I was taught we should have by now. It's really that simple. There is nothing more to it.
What such people don't understand is that there is a partial truth to this assumption, but it doesn't lie in upturning the human condition for whatever fashion a celebrity on YouTube or degenerate in Hollywood tells you that you should want. Things do in fact change, which leads to attitudes changing, and therefore systems changing. But they do not shift because they "must" do so to achieve some poorly defined paradise that they got from people who learned it from someone as clueless as they are. Times change because every generation thinks their lives through at least a little differently than the last. First hand experience changes the way things are handled. Therefore, eventually the world will move on from what it is, if even just a little at a time.
It's inevitable.
You might not get radical changes, but subtle ones do add up, and eventually your home will be lost to the mists of time for the next generation to pitch their tent in its place. There is a reason no era lasts forever and it isn't because some political leader made some bad decision and let utopia slip from his grip: it's because that's how we are as a species. We are always in conversation and doing battle with the ones who came before. You are no different just because you think you believe the "correct" beliefs that the plebeians don't. Change is inevitable no matter what era or age--even your own. Eventually your own paradise will look stupid to future children.
It's inevitable.
This is one reason why reaching any utopia is impossible: such thinking does not take in to account human nature and reality itself. We cannot achieve perfection because we cannot achieve it whether by design or by those coming up behind us who see flaws in what came before. This is why Current Year thinkers are always fighting a losing battle. Human nature can never change, has never changed, and will never change. We will always be searching for our place in the sun. It's how we were made, and it's how we will die.
The reason we are starting with this assertion of Progress above all is because the same people who regularly rant against reality, systems, and "toxic" attitudes, are themselves trapped in systemic thinking that they are locked into an unable to critique. 20th century attitudes are hard to shake, especially since this current century is only two decades old, but the antiquated thinking such unrevolutionaries possess is what is ironically enough keeping them stranded in the outdated times they so abhor. Your own belief in Progress is keeping you stuck in the past.
The best example of this busted thinking is in the world of OldPub. Nowhere can one find a better example of this attitude than this industry with no future.
I have been dealing with the writing world since I first started learning to write a decade ago and it is funny how literally not a single thing has changed. This is most evident when it comes to "practical" advice or common sense on things "everyone knows" despite how different the world was a mere two years ago--never mind how vastly changed it has been since the '00s. People in the industry are still giving the same advice they did when I started so long ago. This, despite the obvious being that it clearly doesn't work.
Take the image at the top of the post for example. For as long as I've been writing, "professionals" in the business have never once offered advice that deters from that archaic point by point recitation as if it's some sort of pledge of allegiance.
For people who pride themselves on being ahead of the curve, they sure do like to repeat outdated advice fresh from the maligned 1970s quite a lot.
But if social standards, expectations, attitudes, and the general state of living has changed, then why wouldn't an industry that has done nothing but shrink for half a century? Surely they must have learned something new.
You'd think so, if the majority of the people in the writing industry weren't under the impression they were some sort of higher class above the masses. They live in a hermetically bubble, sealed off from reality, and believe that the rules of the world don't apply to them. They live with the idea that your average person still thinks an artist telling them they are a writer is impressive instead of the common thing it actually is now. You can't throw a stone without hitting an amateur author these days, but somehow they think they are unique and a different class. Find anyone online under forty and almost all of them will tell you they are a writer, but also that they don't read modern books. It isn't exactly a rare thing to come across these days. Yet those in the industry very much think that it is. Take one trip to social media and you'll see it in all its glory.
They have this impression because of the dusty old fortress they have created for themselves called OldPub, formerly called traditional publishing or TradPub (as if there is anything "traditional" about it) where they and their friends can use dead brands and expended clout to give their pet projects from proper thinking allies exposure to an uncaring public at ever-decreasing sales. They have a future to build here--they don't have time to give audiences what they want! What do you think this is, a reciprocal relationship?
Nonetheless, despite reality, we have experts that still think OldPub is anything but dead. Aside from obvious shills looking to gnaw on the decayed corpse for some extra bucks, anyone paying attention can easily tell the industry is little more than a joke now. It's been this way for a long time, yet many inside of it are unaware just how out of joint they truly are.
How so? We can see this by looking at the list above. Yes, that was actually written in 2021. Hard to believe, but it was. I will sum up the points given below.
This is what makes OldPub superior to NewPub:
- OldPub pays you an advance, gives you free editing, a cover, and printing.
- OldPub has distribution power to get you into bookstores and into foreign languages.
- OldPub will give you clout.
Now let us destroy these molded over myths with some reality.
OldPub pays you an advance, yes. They do give you money to publish your book, though it significantly less than it used to be and gets smaller every year. Nonetheless, they do give you money up front.
What the commenter does not disclose is that you have to earn it back in sales. Why he didn't say this is anyone's guess, but it is a pretty big difference in that it undermines the entire point of this outdated bit of advice entirely. It's especially egregious because advances are smaller than they've ever been, yet earning them back is still next to impossible. This is how much the industry has shrunken. For examples of this I would suggest conversing with any author that has been in the OldPub system. Your advance is not enough.
Essentially, OldPub taking your book from you puts you in the red instantly. You are paying for advertising that they won't give you, exposure that you won't get, and put on a bookshelf that is rapidly shrinking in space. Need I remind readers that the chain bookstores are dying? Part of the reason for that is OldPub doesn't attract new readers--they have all moved into new mediums and frontiers. OldPub is basically putting your book in a rusted old machine that pumps the product out to no audience. Chain bookstores are dying because the audience is leaving. This is what happens when you refuse to give them the products they ask for.
There is no longer any midlist, so your chances of reaching anyone is already astronomically low. When was the last time a new writer broke out big to be millionaire? You aren't going to be that exception. Sorry, but that's just reality.
Oh, and you also have to pay for an agent that looks out for the publisher instead of you. If that sounds like a scam it is because it is. You're already being drained of money and you haven't even had your books reach anyone yet. At what point does this sound appealing?
As for editing, boy do I have bad news for you. OldPub barely edits anything. You are paying for this with your advance and you can get a better job hiring freelancers online for far cheaper cost. These companies will not do anything for you that you cannot do for yourself, and yet you have to pay them before they even do anything. Does this also sound like a scam? That's because it, too, is also one. Your book will not get the care it deserves, and neither will your potential readers. Why would anyone subject themselves to this willingly?
You can get better results on your own, and you can spend far less.
Not to mention, have you seen OldPub's covers? There are videos on YouTube of people who can duplicate them in their spare time, and spending no money in the process.
People get paid money to do this
Let us sum this first point up. Your book will be put into a store no one will go into. Your book will be given no internal support, whether monetary or editorial, and it will be sent out to die with no fanfare among a small crowd of brand devotees. Then you will be left with an advance you can't pay back and books you can't release for years to come afterwards do to the contracts you signed to pay them money to do this to you. In other words, you are left with less than you started with.
And this is just the first point on that list.
You are getting nothing for free in this so-called deal. They have broad distribution power, alright. The problem with this is that they have broad distribution into dying stores no one goes into and foreign language distro that goes to the same capsizing brick and mortars in other countries. Not to mention, if their editing is already non-existent then how thorough can their translation work even be? It's the same people in charge of both, after all.
In essence, there is nothing to be gained by signing with a big publisher in 2021, and there hasn't been for ages now. You will get nothing from doing so and will take on all the risks for embarking on this foolish quest. All this to get a logo on your book that you remember seeing as a kid a few times. You want to be just look those names in your warm, happy memories, don't you? Of course you do! Even though none of the people from back then work at the publisher anymore and the employees who run it now hate what came before and wish to bury it.
You're putting your hopes in the wrong people. That childhood fantasy of yours is destined to remain just that. The old publishing industry is a fossil and clinging to it does no one any good. You're wasting your time even thinking about approaching them.
So then why does this image of a dying industry still being the barometer of quality in the artform remain with writers today? Why do they still have these misguided stars in their eyes? It must be more than nostalgia, and yet there are no other reasons one could possibly have to consider approaching OldPub these days.
All this and we still have yet to cover the third item on that above list.
Is there any positive to signing with OldPub, or am I being unfair? Well, some comments on The Pulp Mindset said I was being too mean to this industry and that I didn't give them a fair shake. Surely they have something to offer! However, this impression assumes I have an axe to grind with this industry for no particular reason. Why would I dislike something I have no desire to approach or that I've never been in. It doesn't take into account that I've been looking into this industry for a long time now, ever since I first decided to do this. So I can tell you definitively what my advice is for those considering OldPub.
Don't do it. You can do everything yourself and you will have a far greater (though still small) chance at actual success. What's more is that you will get 100% of the proceeds from doing so instead of pointlessly paying a bunch of people slacking on what they are supposed to do for you. If you want to reach actual people with your writing then NewPub is the only way to go as the old ways fade away into the background. NewPub is the future.
In fact, it is inevitable.
This brings us to the final point about "clout" and the cultish nonsense that has attached itself like a barnacle to books for near a century now. This point is a far bigger problem than for people who want to sell books: it's a mentality that infects so many aspiring writers (and artists as a whole) like a terminal disease. Those who care about their "reputation" would be insane to think they can get it from OldPub, especially in 2021. Think about it for a minute and you'll see just how crazy it is to think they can give you this.
What clout do you get from being published by OldPub? No one buys their books. Their stores are closing. Their industry is hemorrhaging money and survives by the skin of its teeth. They have completely fumbled the biggest growth market (ebooks) and are willingly trying to sabotage it. This creaking machine isn't long for this world, and when it is gone no one will miss it. What "clout" would you be getting from publishing with them?
And, more importantly, clout from who?
Joe Sixpack isn't going to be impressed that you have a logo on your book from a company that doesn't put out things he is interested in to begin with. The people in charge are so incompetent that they chased readers like him away decades ago, so who exactly do they have clout left with? It isn't people that would actually care about reading your book.
What reputation are you hoping to attain from an industry that has no idea what it's doing? Who gave them the ability to give clout when they've done nothing to earn it and are seen as a punchline? How rich were you expecting to get from them, anyway? The people at the top aren't making money on what they do, so what chance do normal nobodies like the rest of us have in their broken system? Their reputation is in shambles and has been that bad for ages now.
Once again, we do not live in the 1970s anymore. This is the 21st century. These lumbering industries spent the better part of the last century melting down and deliberately turning away from Joe Sixpack. He isn't going to care if you have one of their logos on your book. He already isn't buying any books with their logos on it.
He isn't going to start now.
I suppose the reason today's screed is before you is that this sort of thing is just more than a bit old. It's tired. That doesn't mean this subject shouldn't be brought up again or reminded of, but it feels as if we are constantly spinning in circles over it. There is no forward momentum, just mindless recitation of failed 20th century ideas that have long since lived out their purpose for a world that no longer exists. When do we finally acknowledge it?
I wrote an entire book on NewPub and its ascendance in art because we need this reality to be shown for what it is. We are in the 21st century now, whether we like it or not. Things have changed. Shilling for dead industries, hoping to pick like vultures at the failure that was the 20th century, and strange pagan-like worship of art mediums given through you by advertising, needs to go. We have around a century as an example of how this process doesn't work.
Tomorrow is always coming, but we keep pretending it is just like yesterday. That sun has set, and it is not rising again. We don't live in that world any longer. You can't live on failed promises and expectations. Only ruin lies down that road.
In fact, the world we live in has a lot more promise than the one we left behind. Sure, we tend to focus on the political and social situations the world is currently in, and those admittedly aren't great, however we have more advantages in things such as art creation than we have ever had before. The old industries have abandoned the field of entertainment and the arts, leaving them behind forever for their impossible paradise. Now we can pick up where they fumbled the ball while they continue to struggle with their own bad plays. Heck, we can even make an interception and win the whole shebang. They've already taken a knee and think the game is over. For them, it already is.
We do indeed live in the current year, but it feels as if a lot of us are living in two different universes at the same time. One has built a rusted out Never-never Land shrine to their ego, the keys of the old kingdom given to them by people who didn't know how to repair the foundation, and the other group lives on planet Earth where normal people desire escapism and joy.
How this split occurred exactly is one that leads to many theories and debates, and it is a good discussion to have, but its out of the scope for the topic we are covering. The fact is that the Unreality group that runs these industries through nepotism has nothing to offer you, just as they don't for your eager readers. Pretending they do, or deluding yourself into thinking they do because of misplaced childhood memories of a world that no longer exists, is a waste of everybody's time. Those days are gone.
We have better days ahead.
We have much to look forward to. Yes, there will be hard times ahead, and even hard things accept, but such things have always been with us. As long as we trust in the Truth and in the endless possibilities we have been given to improve, we have a wide open path ahead of us. This eternal yesterday won't be with us forever.
Even despite how bad the mainstream has gotten, there are plenty of options going forward. Much of the old greats still have used copies of their works available, you can find just about anything online (for now), and there are plenty of creatives today in new channels striving to produce new pieces to wow you with. There is something around every corner, as long as you look. We have more options than we ever did before.
Stop looking to the advice of people who wish to sell you a utopia that will never come and whose possibility of happening died a long time ago. It isn't ever coming. Paradise on Earth is a fool's errand. It cannot be done.
We might be living concurrent years with our neighbors, separated with a bad framework crafted by people even more out of touch than the worst of us, but it won't always be that way. Eventually, reality asserts itself, and you will have to face it for what it is. How hard it hits you will depend on how hard you fight it.
And that reality is coming far sooner than some of us would prefer.
Nonetheless, you can get a jump on such things by embracing the truth now. Yesterday is over. NewPub is the way going forward, and we must learn to accept it.
Once we do we can finally leave the remnants of the dead hopes of the 20th century behind forever. Year One ended long ago, and it's time to stop pretending we aren't standing on the shoulders of giants who helped point us towards far greater things. We always have managed to reach higher despite it all, and we always will.
The future continues on forever. And that's the way is and always will be. There are no concurrent years: there is just one.
Better get used to it!
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