I was reading a statistic that approximately 60,000 fictions books are published in the US annually and an estimated 100,000 worldwide. Would anyone venture a guess as to how many novels are written in the world every day? It's an impossible thing to nail down of course, but considering that only 2-3% of submitted works get published that puts the figure around 5,000,000 written per year. If you factor in works completed and not submitted, the figure may even double. Hypothetically, let's say it's 7,500,000 works per year. That is an astounding 20,500 books per day written. My point being, isn't it incredible that such a vast percentage of this work never gets read? Preaching to the choir, but it is humbling. Plus, it seems that people are reading less and the scope of titles being published is actually shrinking. Yet, will publishing continue to evolve the way music does? For example, with the worldwide access of the Internet, obscure music has found new audiences and small genres are cropping up all the time. The downside being that very little revenue comes of it. In essence, the professional market shrinks while the amateur market blooms. So goes the novelist?
It's also a pretty awesome fact that a number of 'the greats' are only published because they refused to take 'no' for an answer. We just don't know how many good short stories have been lost because of one reason or another, and the writer was just too timid to try again. I think, though, that the musician and the novelist are very different. Not many people will happily read most of an online novel, but most people I know will happily listen to an obscure song online, even if it's bad. With a novel, or any kind of writing really, there is much more investment needed from the audience, and that just isn't the case with music. But saying that, like some songs becoming big because they are awful, some pieces of writing has becoming at least famous for the same thing. Lots of people, for example, have heard of the Harry Potter fan fiction My Immortal, and if you've not you owe yourself a reading of this. Seriously. Nothing can make you feel better about your own writing if you have the 'I think this is no good' blues.
That's one of the things we have to face. It's very hard to judge a novel by the first page, but most songs go by in three minutes or so, so it's easy. In fact, you can generally identify the genre immediately, and know if it's the kind of song you might like within a few bars. For example, I like folk-rock and roots music, so if I hear an acoustic guitar right away, I know I'll probably like the song. If I hear electronic beats, I probably won't. I can tell this in a matter of two or three seconds. I haven't read My Immortal. But if you want to feel better about your own writing, I suggest reading "The Eye of Argon." Google it. Seriously, you'll feel better.
Very true, and it poses an interesting question as to the future of publishing in general. I only make the analogy because written content is becoming so much easier to access due to the web. But does it actually stimulate more demand for novel-length works? Or is it the opposite? Are people becoming less and less patient and demanding entertainment in bite size chunks? I myself am here because I love to read and write and hope that novels continue to flourish. But, I do believe it's an interesting time for publishing as things are in such an incredible state of transition. Much great art is being created without any hope of income both in music and writing. It's a very complex system, the business of art, and I hope that good writing continues to thrive and become more accessible to the masses and not less.
