Everything Is On Fire & I'm Scared

The publishing world ignited yet again and the merits of self-publishing

When I look around the publishing space as a budding author, I see flames licking at the cauldron filled with the hopes and dreams of writers. The water is not tepid; it is scorching. Well, it is summer, the perfect time for a crab boil. 

Am I being dramatic? Maybe. Probably. 

Perhaps it is my neurodivergence and struggle with depression, which causes my negative perspective with the state of the industry. I don’t have the same grit as I did in my twenties. The never-ending rat race to be recognized only makes me tired.

In the last week alone, various degrees of tasteless acts graced the literary world this week.  Weirdly enough, I find neither of the events I’m about to describe as surprising. After attempting to get my foot in the industry for three years now, I’ve become immune to the uncouth behavior of agents, authors and publishers. 

The author of We Ship it, Lauren Kay, has come under scrutiny by authors on both TikTok and Threads issues surrounding her pay walling resources, which are free. 

In the past, and unrelated to the issue at hand, writers on Twitter claim Lauren took a free resource created by two black women and put it behind a paywall on her own website. I couldn’t find any definitive proof of this accusation (i.e. prior Twitter beefs or information on Lauren’s website). However, I think it provides some interesting context for Lauren’s most recent actions.

Authors on Threads claim Lauren sent messages to them and asked them to share their successful queries letters with her. Guess what she does with them?

Surprise! 

Put them behind a paywall in a $500 dollar course teaching aspiring authors how to query. 

I have no issue with someone gathering information and packaging it for convenient learning with a price tag. But $500 is a hefty amount in this economy, especially for aspiring authors who can find how-to-query resources for free on all over the internet. 

Regardless of the amount of money she is charging, the real crime here is that Lauren took someone else’s hard work (their query letter) and put it behind a paywall to make a dime off the dreams of authors. Mind you, these authors who volunteered up their query did so in good faith, according to Threads. The whole thing is just kinda smarmy if you ask me.

And last, and certainly not least, is dear Hilary Harwell. Who asked the writing community at large to write a book that is ‘essentially The Road meets Deliverance’ AFTER rejecting an aspiring author for this very concept. When other writers confronted Hilary about the rejected query, she buckled down and said the opening was not ‘strong enough’.

The audacity is mind-melting.

How must that aspiring author feel? To see their hard work not only rejected but talked about on a public platform by the very people who are supposed to be champions for authors? 

Since this horrific tweet made its splash over on Twitter, Hilary has lost her job. 

As a whole, I realize the actions of the few are not a reflection of the larger writing community. The most recent debacle with Lauren Kay has successful authors sharing their queries for free on social media. It is amazing how those who are successful in this industry and truly love it show up for those trying to find their way in this messy industry.

None of this drama in the literary world is new. Did you know that in 2022, Tracy Wolff, author of the Crave series, faced a lawsuit for plagiarism? You can find the legal docs here. 

As I try to divine what I want my writing career to look like (i.e. traditional vs self-publishing), some days feel scary considering the landscape of the industry. It seems like there are pitfalls and scam artists around every darkened corner. Whether an aspiring author is choosing traditional or self-publishing path, it’s important to have all the pertinent information at your fingertips to make an informed decision. Aspiring authors deserve to know what they are up against.

In the last three years, I’ve written two entire novels and started three others all at various stages of the writing journey. I have retired my first novel to the darkness of my computer hard drive after receiving over thirty rejections. In the scheme of querying, thirty rejections is a drop in the bucket. But the querying process made me fall out of love with the story. I gave up on it and kissed it goodbye. The same tragic ending is unfolding with my second book. I've collected thirteen rejections out of forty sent and it only makes me want to trash my book.

If querying makes me hate my writing, is traditional publishing right for me? Given the numerous challenges in traditional publishing, including unprofessional behavior from agents and authors, and the already daunting task of securing an agent, is this a path I truly want to follow?Is self-publishing the right path for me if it means I get to maintain my love of writing? 

These are the questions swirling through my mind, and the answers remain to be seen.

For now, I’ll just keep writing.