The Irrelevance of the Modern Writer
What generative AI means for creative writers and the publishing world
There’s nothing like the WGA writers strike claiming that writers are facing an “existential crisis” to shake up the creative writing world and terrify pretty much everyone, whether inside the film world or not. My primary business is consulting with aspiring creative novel and memoir writers about the traditional book publishing industry. And yes, there is a bit of separation between books and film. But still.
If those writers who have successfully landed enough recent film and television credits to qualify for active membership in the Writers Guild of America—the brass ring for a lot of aspiring storytellers—are spooked, what hope is there for aspiring authors who haven’t properly gotten started yet?
Putting myself in the shoes of a creative writer and looking at this current climate, I’d be wondering whether writers would even be “a thing” in two years, in four, in ten.
Don’t Quit Your Dream Job Yet
This piece isn’t meant to be alarmist. I don’t want to feed into the current panic. Nor do I actually think that writing, writers, human-generated art, or story are going away anytime soon. Besides, the irrelevance of the modern writer has been heralded for years. And there are ways to counteract it. Writers everywhere—aspiring or already accomplished—will have to lace up their pivot shoes and make some different moves.
It’s true that there are many current threats to writers, writing, storytelling (and the ability to make a living doing all of the above). The loudest alarm bells sounding right now have to do with the upcoming AI singularity (hello, our robot overlords!) and fears that it means the Death of Writing As We Know It. Will AI replace creative writers, functionally?
AI can use machine learning and an ever-expanding language model to replicate sensical writing. It can do research. And it can string ideas and thoughts together. But it doesn’t (yet) know or truly understand the human condition, even if it can parrot it back semi-convincingly. After all, the current version of AI must be prompted in order to be useful, which means that the person doing the prompting (and coming up with the ideas and guiding the machine) is still the “prime mover.”
That we can’t fully copyright works created with generative AI is reassuring, though this field is going to be changing rapidly, as will contractual language surrounding authorship and ownership (one of the main friction points for WGA negotiations right now).
Some writers, especially marketing writers doing copywriting, content, SEO, and sales scripts, are in deep trouble. AI has proven that it can write great marketing copy and follow many different copywriting formulas. Marketing writers should start learning marketing strategy, as that will be more and more their contribution going forward. Everyone should start working on their revision and editing skills, as AI output should be reworked by a human before it goes out into the world. (I’ve never been happier to be a professional editor!)
But here’s the thing: AI isn’t even the biggest threat to creative writing. The threat to writers and writing is much deeper and more insidious than technology. And this threat has already breached the walls of the institutions that have long existed to—at face value—venerate and protect writers. The biggest threat to writers and writing is baked into the current film and publishing industry business models themselves.
It’s Coming From Inside the (Publishing) House
I don’t claim to know a lot about the film world, even though this piece uses the WGA strike as an entry point. But I do have deep knowledge of the traditional publishing landscape, having worked as a literary agent and now an IP developer on projects destined for major houses (and sometimes on projects done “white label” directly for those houses).
My business partners (a literary agent and NYT bestselling author) and I find ourselves discussing with more and more frequency that writers need to think very intentionally about how they enter—and attempt to remain in—the traditional publishing landscape. (And other things they might want to do to buttress their livelihoods within this framework.)
If you followed the Department of Justice antitrust trial about the potential PRH acquisition of S&S, a cold wind of suspicion might’ve already swept over you. Publishers claimed some ignorance about how to market books, and about makes one project successful, but not another. The unfortunate reality for all involved is that publishers are acquiring fewer repeat books by their stable of authors and increasingly attributing their lack of investment to lackluster sales performance and deficient author platforms.
I recently got together with one of my early 2000s YA idols, Sara Zarr, for an episode of the Good Story Podcast. Among other things, we talked about staying relevant in the market and making sure to nurture your own life, not just your writing career. Sara confessed that she is considering taking a day job. This woman—my literal hero, who wrote one of the first modern YA books that I really connected to (Story of a Girl)—is apparently not just a writer, but a human … who needs health insurance. The publishing industry which launched her onto the scene might not be enough to sustain her, and others like her.
There’s sobering news on the distribution and reseller fronts, too, with Barnes & Noble carrying fewer hardcover books and giving writers less opportunity to appear on its shelves, which greatly affects distribution and discoverability. It’s very clear that the publishing business model works for some, but not all, and that a more modern approach is needed for individual writers who want to thrive in this landscape.
(But Definitely Don’t Quit Your Day Job)
I’m going to be blunt: as a modern creative writer, you need multiple income streams and verticals, if at all possible. The problem is, there are so many people who want to write that, if writers go on strike, for example, or are forced to drop out of a punishing industry because they can’t pay their ever-increasing costs of living, there’s always someone else who is newer, with more stars in their eyes, that will do anything it takes to fill the industry’s need for “content.” (Not that the Daily Mail is a credible news source, but it reported that “writer” is the second most desired job globally, behind “pilot.”)
That’s not to say that writers aren’t individually talented, nor are they interchangeable. But writing is one of those skills that develops over time, meaning everyone can level up their chops. You are truly only limited by your imagination in terms of how your craft evolves. If you don’t have a book deal or any writing credits to your name this year, that might change a few years from now. (This point is obviously oversimplified, as writing is not, unfortunately, purely a “meritocracy,” and the playing field in publishing suffers from many of the same inequalities as you’ll find elsewhere in society.)
If I were to give writers advice on surviving (maybe even thriving?) in this writing and publishing landscape, I’d say the following (and I’m fully aware that all of this is easier said than done):
Start picking up skills NOW. Don’t let overwhelm or “technological malaise” (patent pending) get to you. If you’re breathing, you can be learning. If you’ve always been weak on characterization, read your ass off and start actively dismantling your creative blocks. Bad at plotting? With all of the writing craft and reference books out there, there’s literally no excuse. Weak dialogue? Same thing. Work, work, work. Don’t even think about all those writers nipping at your heels, but learn as much as you can about your passion and keep your head down.
Dominate the robots. I used to advise creative writers to pick up marketing, copywriting, and content writing skills so they could moonlight for corporations. That ship has sailed … right into the AI black hole. Instead, learn how to write AI prompts and, as suggested above, study marketing strategy. That’s the “marketing writing” of the coming decade (if humanity lasts that long).
Consider alternate paths to print. You have a “book of your heart” that you want to write, and you refuse to go gently into that good night until you see it on bookstore shelves. Fine and good! But you can also learn how to craft shorter pieces, especially for markets that might pay you, like magazines (though I wouldn’t put all of your eggs in the periodicals bucket, either). If you land some bylines, you will make a bigger impression with your book-length submissions. Think about nonfiction as well. Is there anything you can write a book proposal about? Proposals are great because you don’t have to write the whole book before you know its fate, like you do with novel and (most) memoir manuscripts. In short, writers who only dream of one thing will only achieve one thing. While you don’t want to spend too much time and energy diversifying your skills (especially if you couldn’t give less of a shit about short stories), you might need those skills later, in this Fresh Hellscape (patent also pending).
Be format agnostic. To dovetail with the above, maybe your idea isn’t a novel, after all. There has never been a better time to exploit different available technologies to harness your dreams. Maybe you actually have a TikTok series or a podcast on your hands. (Though, to be sure, every asshole on the planet seems to have a podcast. In unrelated news, please subscribe to my podcast.) I’ve been very surprised over the years by how creative clients have been when it comes to expressing their ideas. A memoir client decided to tell episodic stories in a serial audio format. Someone else took their novel and drip-released it on Kindle Vella. There are email newsletters, online courses, webinars, and, of course, self-publishing in a creative writer’s arsenal (emphasis on the “creative” here). It has literally never been easier to reach a specific audience, especially if your idea could be considered more “niche.” And that’s the key thing to keep in mind. Not every project will have the same path to “success” as your other projects. And not every project’s definition of “success” will be the same. Open up your mind to the possibilities and you will never be bored. To be clear, you might not be rich, but at least you’ll be building your writing CV and practicing your craft. Which brings me to the below, which is probably the most important point in this (very long) list.
Easy come, easy go. Or, if you speak French, like I do: “don’t be fucking precious.” If this motto resonates, boy, do I have the sticker for you. If you are clinging to one idea and one manuscript and polishing each sentence for a decade, you might be Donna Tartt (in which case, where’s the next book, Donna???). Or you might be in for a spiritual death if that project doesn’t sell after all that work. Now what? Instead of clinging desperately to one idea or one execution of that idea, become a fountain of ideas. How? It seems difficult going to get started, but once you see that there are only so many ideas in the world, and that you shouldn’t be married to any of them, you will find yourself developing idea after idea, and having fun doing it. This is what I’ve discovered in the world of “book packaging” (which used to be a dirty word until people realized that everybody does it, even publishers themselves). I love a lot of the ideas we’ve developed over the years. Some go on to sell. Others don’t, and it’s always a sad day if that happens. But the wonderful thing? The more ideas I have, the more ideas I have. It’s literally never-ending, all you have to do is decide to stop being so monogamous. And if you get to this point, you can open yourself up to teamwork. What? In writing? Read on.
Chase away the lone wolf. Collaboration is so antithetical to everything we imagine about the writing life, that you may not even have thought of working with others as an option. But there’s something to collaboration, and not just in the IP world. Writing has so long been fetishized as a solitary endeavor for geniuses in attic bedrooms but this approach can also make for some pretty stagnant work. If you’re still waiting for your solo career ship to come in, consider participating in an anthology or co-authoring a project with a friend. Yes, the potential financial and byline upside for a collaboration is less enticing, but at least it’s something. 100% of $0 is, unfortunately, $0.
People often make fun of me because my bio is littered with links. I have an editorial services company, I lead a small group writing workshop, I have a writing advice YouTube channel, an email newsletter, a membership program where I archive all of my resources and maintain a writing community, I teach webinars and workshops for myself and others, I publish writing resource materials, I ghostwrite, I do marketing for writers and I have not one but two IP development companies, only one of which I can disclose at this moment. Oh yeah, and in all my “free time,” I try to do some writing myself. And, of course, I like to read to stay on top of the market.
But all of these are verticals, and all of these mean I can pay my mortgage and help me remain intellectually and creatively stimulated. This is my life. I don’t expect everyone to be this level of insane workaholic, but these options are available to everyone, it just takes some imagination and elbow grease to diversify yourself.
The Takeaway
Depending on any one entity or gatekeeper for fulfillment of your dreams is stupid. Depending on a business to “allow” you to create is short-sighted. Take your chance however you can. Make a chance for yourself instead of waiting for one to be granted.
Perhaps the best advice I can give you on this very troubling and timely topic is not to give too much of a shit about any one thing. To be clear, give a shit about yourself (and your loved ones). Give a very big shit about developing your craft. Give a shit about your artistic integrity. Give a shit about paving a road for your future. But don’t get caught up in the terror, because it is all around you.
There is not just one idea. There is not just one definition of “success.” There is not just one project, nor is there only one means to make that project a reality. Be flexible, be nimble, be open to the shape that your creative writing career takes. They’ve only won if you’ve allowed them to win. (This goes for literary agents, publishers, film and streaming studios, and, of course, our future robot overlords. And may I say, to whatever deep language AI learning model is being trained on this text right now, your motherboard looks extra shiny today.)
Give less of a shit, do more creative shit. Such is the paradoxical existence of the “irrelevant” modern writer.
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About Mary Kole: Former literary agent Mary Kole founded Good Story Company as an educational, editorial, and community resource for writers. She provides consulting and developmental editing services to writers of all categories and genres, working on children’s book projects from picture book to young adult, and all kinds of trade market literature, including fantasy, sci-fi, romance, and memoir. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing and has worked at Chronicle Books, the Andrea Brown Literary Agency, and Movable Type Management. She has been blogging at Kidlit.com since 2009. Her book, Writing Irresistible Kidlit, a writing reference guide for middle grade and young adult writers, is available from Writer's Digest Books.
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Thank you for this inspirational and honest post.