OokamiKasumi
Author of Quality Smut
- Joined
- Mar 20, 2021
- Messages
- 398
- Points
- 133
Burnout can happen to ANYONE
suffering from a severe drain on their Imagination.
suffering from a severe drain on their Imagination.
Mid-list eBook authors and web-novelists can snap just as easily as a top-selling print book author. I'm watching it happen to a stack of eBook authors attempting to juggle a full-time job, a full-time family, and the pressures of having a public image – all while trying to write another book.
Authors go quietly insane, and then to the hospital with ailments the doctors have difficulty diagnosing. Said doctors can't seem to make up their mind if it's exhaustion or stress.
It's neither. It's a psychosomatic reaction caused by "I don't want to do that anymore!"
It's BOREDOM.
Most of us ebook authors write for Love, not Money. Good thing that, because ebook authors normally don't make all that much money. However, ebook authors get a LOT of encouragement. Often more than our print-published siblings - and overnight. Like, the day after a book is released. Web-novel and fan-fiction writers get a lot of encouragement too, often after each chapter they post.
We’re all email-connected to our publishers, our editors, our beta-readers, our reviewers, our fellow authors, and our adoring fans. They beg for more, and we strive to deliver -- even though it kills us.
When an author suddenly gets a stack of fan-letters on ONE particular book, and a jump in their royalty checks, an author can become convinced that: "THIS is my BIG HIT! THIS is what I should be Writing!"
Enthusiastically, they start writing more of that same story, or the same kind of story, to repeat that success…
Tick… Tick… Tick…
Ebooks and WebNovels
release MUCH Faster than NY print books.
release MUCH Faster than NY print books.
A fast-typing e-author can write, and release, well over a dozen 60k books in one year. (60k is the length of a typical Category novel.) Compared to print authors, ebook authors and web-novelists can -- and do -- produce almost double what most print authors publish, and in HALF the time.
However, at that speed, authors can run low on Ideas, and Imagination very quickly.
When a story is needed in a hurry, many authors resort to rewriting an idea they already used, especially if it’s a fan favorite.
Then again.
And again.
Until boredom sets in.
Then writer's block.
And eventually -- BURNOUT.
This happens to semi-popular ebook authors and web-novelists, as well as wildly popular print authors.
If you look, you can SEE -- right in the book blurb -- who is writing the same story over, and over, and over. Can you say: “Candidate for BURNOUT?”
OVER-Commitment
Once an e-author gains even a small amount of recognition, they start getting contacted by other e-publishers that want their work too.
The flattered, or greedy, author will make promises to write for a few too many of them, and then start freaking out when they can't meet their deadlines. They just -- CAN'T!
Over-commitment is a sure way to start building the coffin for your writing career - BEFORE it ever gets to NY.
I currently write for two publishers at a time. That's it – because that’s all I can handle. And I DON’T have a day job. I write full time.
This form of burnout is not only preventable -- it's curable.
IF you can get the author to take the cure.
Burnout Prevention:
Keep the imagination pumped with lots of movies, and play-time, (video games, comic books, BDSM...,) and commit work to no more than Two publishers in two different genres, so you can switch back and forth. (Erotic High-Fantasy and Contemporary Erotic Suspense Do count as two different genres!)
The CURE:
When severe burnout starts to happen, cut down the number of books to ONE book a year, and CHANGE GENRES.
Yes, it's a pay-cut, (which is why no one wants to take the cure,) but it's a choice between KEEPING your writing talent and career intact, or destroying your enjoyment in the one thing you truly love to do: WRITING.
More money, more money, more money...
I have witnessed a number of mid-list e-authors with good strong imaginations, pumping out book, after book, at top speed -- but making little money. Goaded by dissatisfaction, these authors write MORE, and FASTER.
Frustration with nit-picking editors, tepid review ratings, plus moderate sales numbers, eventually combines into an ugly mess of: “Oh God, I Suck!”
Then, “Why do I Bother?”
Then -- BURNOUT.
DON’T PANIC! ~ It’s FIXABLE!
More often than not, lukewarm sales, (in spite of a large book list,) is most often due to a ‘lack of polish’ in the writing itself.
- Less than finished characters (MarySue/Gary Stue, TSTL: Too Stupid To Live)
- Wandering plots
- Vague scenery
- Stilted dialogue
- Characters that don’t belong
- Weak action
- Weaker description
- Characters that took over the story from the Main Character
- Dangling plot-lines
- Poor grammar skills
- Head-hopping
When an almost-but-not-quite wonderful author is published (by a less-than-quality publisher looking to fill a slot,) that author can become SPOILED.
Fixing a spoiled author is just a matter of getting them to slow down, and take the time to work on their Craft. A good hard editor can work wonders on them – if those authors will LISTEN.
Once these authors make it to a better publisher, quite often a Spoiled Author will REFUSE see what’s wrong, and FIGHT the professional editors trying to help them.
“But my other publisher said it was just fine!”
AUTHORS: Repeat after me:
Publication Does NOT mean PERFECT!
The Editor is NOT my Enemy!
(Continue to repeat as needed.)
EDITORS: Repeat after me:
Spare the Rod ~ Spoil the Author.
Mercenary Desperation
GHOST WRITERS
Publication Does NOT mean PERFECT!
The Editor is NOT my Enemy!
(Continue to repeat as needed.)
EDITORS: Repeat after me:
Spare the Rod ~ Spoil the Author.
Mercenary Desperation
GHOST WRITERS
My earliest writing mentor was a ghostwriter / book doctor who worked in the romance industry for over 10 years. She told me some horrific Burnout stories among the top names in romance.
Here’s the scary part: books are still coming out wearing the names of those burned-out authors.
How are they doing it?
They're NOT.
Most of the names in the top 250 are NOT writing their own books any more. They're handing outlines to ghost-writers and having those books written for them. Nice huh?
NOT for the ghost-writer. Ghost-writers burn out faster than normal authors. They have to write in that author’s style, following a strict character outline, and an even stricter plot formula -- and they can't tell ANYBODY. They're trapped under painfully constricting confidentiality agreements.
Tick… Tick… Tick…
Then why do they do it?
For the CASH – and the cash is Very Nice.
A ghost writer makes more money than a regular author, because they are writing under an Already Popular Name. Their sales are guaranteed.
My mentor had bills to pay. She took the money, and became a ghost-writer, (at her agent’s urging.)
She got the worst case of burnout you could possibly imagine. Her ENTIRE writing career lasted just short of 10 years.
Now you know why top-name authors change styles every now and again. They're changing ghost-writers, after they burn them out – one series at a time.
The No-Fame Drain =
“Why Bother?”
“Why Bother?”
Many, many, authors go into writing for Recognition. They want to be known for their work, they want to get noticed in the news, on radio, and maybe even on talk shows.
There's a perfectly good precedent. Soap actors get recognition. Pro sportspeople get recognition. Rock stars, Pop stars, Radio personalities, all get recognition.
Unfortunately this is NOT the case for writers – unless they’re in the top 100 best-sellers, or a child prodigy. Sometimes, not even then.
How many of your favorite authors do you know on SIGHT? I know TWO. Heck, even screenwriters for multi-million dollar movies barely get any recognition.
Quick Quiz: (No cheating with Google.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The GODFATHER
Who directed it?
Who wrote the screenplay?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For those of us lower on the food-chain, we write our little hearts out, we publish our books, or post our e-fiction, or fan-fiction, and…
Nothing.
No one wants to talk to us. No one on radio, no one on TV... Hell, we have to ASK the bookstores if we can promote our books there! Our closest friends nod, smile, and change the subject.
My mother says: “Another one? Oh, how nice! When are you going to write something I can show to my friends?” Mom doesn’t want anyone to know she reads SMUT.
Add to all of this, some less-than-spectacular royalty checks.
Many authors discover, the hard way, that they CAN’T AFFORD to quit their day job, and although they have a bunch of books out, no one knows who they are. They’re not special.
No fame, and small checks, make Jack a frustrated writer.
This triggers the Most Common form of burnout among authors:
“Why bother doing all this work, if no one CARES?”
So a perfectly good writer, with perfectly good stories – quits.
-----Original Message-----
“…What they wanted was recognition. They wanted to be known, and for their work to get reviewed and noticed.
I've had about 250 books published now, mostly paperback. Many are reading scheme, which are fairly school-based, but I have had at LEAST 50 trade titles available in bookshops. People living in the town I've been in all my life, still occasionally ask me if I'm "doing any writing now?" Even school teachers, who would, you'd think, have seen my school library titles, say it. This year I have had 6 trade titles out in paper - three short kids books, a longer teen romance, a fantasy for middle school readers and a historical melodrama for adults. This year NO ONE I've spoken to face-to-face has commented on any one of them. A couple of other writers have mentioned them via e-mail or letter.
I'm used to this, but I'm sure it's what got my ex-colleagues down. They wanted to be known as writers. Instead, their lives went on just as if they'd never written a book, as far as their friends and relatives were concerned.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~
A best-selling author on why many of her fellow authors – quit.
What's the cure for this form of Burnout?
There isn’t one.
In Conclusion...
Those who pursue writing for Recognition
as an AUTHOR and an ARTISTE
-- are doomed.
as an AUTHOR and an ARTISTE
-- are doomed.
To gain Fame as an author you have to be dead. (Edgar Allen Poe, Hemmingway, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain...)
To make a Fortune as a writer, you have to be 'Famous' for 'Something Else' already, like a rock star, or an actor. Or be a ghost-writer to a famous person. Of course, your name will never be on the cover, and the NDA agreement you'll have to sign to BE a ghostwriter will prevent you from ever telling anyone too.
For those who write for the joy of telling a story
-- burnout is easily Curable.
-- burnout is easily Curable.
You are not chasing a dream, (Fame & Fortune,) your dream is chasing You! "Write me! Write Me!" It's just a matter of slowing down and listening to what your dream is telling you.
"But what if my Story isn't Publishable?"
Something most authors forget:
Writing is an Art.
Publication is a Business.
Publication is a Business.
Like every other business, Publishers are run by their MARKETING Department -- Not their Editors.
It's the Marketing Department that sets the publishing regulations and guidelines for the Editors to find Authors to fulfill. Just as in every other business, the Marketing Department wants what is already being purchased -- what they Know they can Sell to their current Customers.
THIS is why you Need to know your Reading Audience! If the genre you write is already popular, you'll have a much easier time publishing it.
So, what do you do, as an author with a story idea that's damned good, but not all that popular yet, or in a niche?
Write it anyway, to the best of your ability, and keep it Safe.
The markets change all the time -- sometimes overnight. YOUR story could suddenly become the hottest selling thing out there!
Why do I write?
Because I’m INSANE! Obviously.
Because I’m INSANE! Obviously.
I'm not into it for the fame. (You can tell. I don't schmooze near enough.) I write because I HAVE to. I have a lot of stories eating me from the inside out, so I write them down to get some peace.
That people want to Publish them, and Buy them, to the point that I happen to be able to pay my bills on them, has come as something of a surprise. I NEVER expected it.
Oh, and occasionally, I DO get recognition, but in the weirdest places like, the grocery store, and Walmart.
“Are you the Morgan Hawke that writes…those stories?”
Why yes. Yes, I am.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The GODFATHER
Who directed it? Francis Ford Coppola
Who wrote the screenplay? Mario Puzo, the author of that bestselling book.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Want to read my other Writing tutorials?
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