How Fast Can You Write?

The title question was prompted by an article in the Business section of the New York Times. The title of that article by Julie Bosman is: Writer’s Cramp: In the E-Reader Era, a Book a Year Is Slacking. The article says that print authors, because of the e-book age, have to put out two books a year, instead of the expected one. The article says the cause is readers who can go online and click and, voila, a new book arrives in their eReader.

So, now, the best-selling print authors are scrambling to come up with more books or short stories or novellas for their publishers as a way to hold onto readers. Names like Lisa Scottoline, Lee Child, and John Grisham are pushing to get more material out to the reading public.

Jennifer Enderlin, associate publisher of St. Martin's Paperbacks, says "I almost feel sorry for authors these days with how much publishers are asking of them…"

This is probably just me, but…I don't feel all that sorry for them. If unknown authors are putting two or three books out a year -- and they're good -- then why is it such a burden on the highly paid, agent and publisher supported authors?  The problem isn't that it takes a full year because the authors want to put out the best book possible. Independent authors want and do that, as well. Some of them take a year, too.

I think the problem is that now well-known authors have some legitimate and dedicated competition. Writers don't have to jump through agent and publisher hoops, if they don't want to. There are plenty of authors still querying. More power to them! But there are even more who are doing their own publishing. And that's creating a humongous choice for readers. They can still choose to buy an established author's books. But now they have a wider choice of alternatives and prices and formats. So they're reading more and sampling from a bigger smorgasbord of books.

What I'm Reading

Yesterday I finished reading The Hard Way by Lee Child. I believe that’s his latest one. It’s just come out in paperback. It’s a typical Jack Reacher novel. By that I mean, it’s got action, Jack remains a loner and a fighter, and he had a woman by his side – not a damsel in distress, but a strong partner, at least for the length of the book. By “typical” I also mean “good.” Lee Child’s books, so far, are good reads. I have noticed though that the last few books haven’t been as action-filled as the earlier ones. The first couple were action from start to finish. The last couple have been action at the end, but it seems to me that the middle of the book involves a lot of searching, walking, going here and there looking for answers. Not quite the page-turners as the earlier books, at least for me, anyway. I’ll most likely keep reading the Reacher novels, though.

Now, I’ve started the first in the series by Karen MacInerney, called Murder on the Rocks. Her second in the Gray Whale Inn Mysteries is called Dead and Berried. It’s on my list of to-be-read, but I thought I’d start at the beginning of the series. I’m not far into Murder on the Rocks, but it’s a good read. I can see already why it’s been nominated for an Agatha Award for Best First Novel. This is a cozy so it’s in sharp contrast to Lee Child’s series.

I have to admit that I probably read more “hard boiled” than cozies. When I’m on a plane, I like something that moves fast and keeps me turning pages. But I’m liking MacInerney’s book. It’s relaxing. I read it and am taken back to the bed and breakfast my husband I stayed at on an anniversary trip. This is not to say nothing happens in the book – just that you’re not so tense reading it as you are with a book filled with action and suspense. It’s a really nice change of pace.