For contemporary novelists to achieve success, they must be relentless users and consumers of social media.
Uh-huh.
They must aspire to become influencers in order to stand out in an ever-more-crowded marketplace.
Uh-huh.
They must expend as much effort developing an online promotional presence as they do crafting memorable characters and stories.
Okay, I get it! And I accept the basic logic behind those statements. That said, those who espouse such ideas should know that the rise of social media has a smothering dark side that may limit a writer’s achievements even as sales increase.
Full disclosure, I’ve never been a big user of social media. Part of that comes from starting a writing career in the pre-internet, pre-smart phone era, while another part comes from viewing the world through contrarian eyes. When other emerging authors studied creative writing or attended workshops or moved to New York or London to be closer to the heart of publishing, I fantasised about mastering the craft while serving as sole caretaker of an Arctic weather station. Fortunately, I evolved beyond extreme isolationism as a lifestyle before becoming a nutritional option for polar bears.
Nevertheless, my first published novel, Liege-Killer, was crafted in solitude – albeit a warm bedroom – absent the multi-tiered support available to contemporary wordsmiths. Today, if you don’t know how to construct a plot, develop characters, approach publishers or land an agent, you can find answers (as well as questionable advice) online. You can join like-minded aspirants on platforms such as Facebook, Goodreads and Reddit. You can wrap yourself in the encompassing warmth of community so that your journey toward publication is never lonely.
When I was starting out, the lack of such support never registered as a hindrance. It was simply the lay of the land, the barren wilderness you needed to plunge through to reach that effervescent plateau where editors circled overhead, ready to snare the Next Big Thing and fly them away to the promised land of publication.
Back in those formative years, I sensed a common goal among writers. It was not simply selling a book but creating one of such power that it caused shudders throughout spacetime. Extreme metaphors notwithstanding, the point is this. Ambition burns bright, particularly among young novelists. The difference back then, however, was that such ambitions were aimed primarily at crafting unforgettable fiction. Selling books, for the most part, was left to publishers.
The rise of the internet caused a seismic shift. The modern online environment propels authors toward responsibility for their own promotion, publicity and marketing. Nothing inherently wrong with that, of course, especially for those inclined toward the rigors of public self-actualisation. After all, in a world where Amazon alone offers more than 40 million titles for sale, it’s a struggle to stand out.
But here’s the rub. There are only so many hours in the day and social media gobbles them up like Taylor Swift charts Top 10 hits. Maintaining a strong online presence to engage readers, build a fan base and market books now competes for attention with the actual process of writing a novel. Something’s gotta give, and I believe intensity of effort has taken a hit. I believe that an increasing number of authors, either consciously or unconsciously, have scaled back their ambitions.
Instead of dedicating years attempting to create a once-in-a-generation Dune or Lord of the Rings, they settle for tried-and-true motifs for churning out yet another space-battle trilogy or flying-dragons fantasy. Don’t get me wrong, such endeavors indeed may be braced by genuine passion and effort. But it’s also true that most of them can be completed in shorter time frames, thereby preserving more hours for selling. And even if only a tiny percentage of your time is spent doing promotion, publicity and marketing, those facets are now so deeply embedded in the zeitgeist that they can’t help but become persistent mental fixtures. Even if you’re not in sales mode at the moment, a part of you is probably thinking about it.
Let’s throw another troubling factor into the mix: AI. It’s coming for all writers (not to mention the rest of humanity). Authors specialising in stories with commonplace themes, characters and plots are low-hanging fruit for algorithmic termination. AI will swallow them first and swallow them whole, and within minutes, burp up a million variant stories.
I don’t pretend to have any solutions here. Balancing the creation of memorable original fiction while relentlessly being nudged toward becoming the next Steve Jobs or other iconic sales maestro is a challenge for all of us. Yet at the end of the day, a central aspect of being a writer, of relating to the world through the art of storytelling, is embarking on a personal journey. Best of luck staying true to your path.
Christopher Hinz is the author of nine science fiction novels. Liege-Killer won the Compton Crook award for best first novel and was nominated for the John W. Campbell award for best new writer. The book launched the Paratwa Saga (Ash Ock, The Paratwa, Binary Storm). Other novels include Refraction, Starship Alchemon and Spartan X. He has scripted comics for DC and Marvel and co-authored with Etan Ilfeld a novelette, Duchamp Versus Einstein. A former newspaper staff writer and technical director of a community TV station, he lives in Lower Alsace Township near Reading, Pennsylvania.
His new novel, Scales, will be published on 8 April 2025, and follows a soldier enhanced with dinosaur traits battling monsters, mercenaries and diabolical overseers while falling for the offbeat therapist treating his compulsion to eat the enemy.
