A tired midlist author has questions. 

If you prefer reading to listening, this is word-for-word from my most recent Substack post: michelleschusterman.substack.com/p/why-does-an-authors-brand-matter? 😄

Precisely. The primary point of going the traditional route is supposed to be their marketing punch. But if they aren't going to bother, what's the point?

i have a debut coming out soon, and am only just now realizing other trad, midlist or debut authors are CALLING BOOKSTORES TO ASK THEM TO STOCK THEIR book? The amount of anxiety the very idea gives me is incredible.

"What's the point of you (traditional publishers)?" Good question Michelle!

Wow! As a yet unpublished author completely overwhelmed by the expectations on me to sell myself, this is the best video on writing that I have ever seen. Thank you Michelle.

I don't know when the model shifted but it seems that publishing houses went from fostering and growing talented authors to trying to capture authors that were already big or they think will blow up easily. It's such short term thinking and is probably one of the reasons they are struggling. They should be helping a solid midlist author to grow their fanbase and potentially take off. Midlisters with a big backlist can provide a steady income stream but so many of them are opting to self-publish now. Also spot on point about how the publishing house is expecting more from authors than their own marketing department.

as a writer who has steady work but has never "broken out" I totally agree with this. sometimes I think publishers and agents and all the non-writers connected to the industry sent writers on a hopeless quest to "build a platform" and then we spend precious time wringing our hands and comparing ourselves to other writers, time that could be spent crafting a good novel. I have always felt good about the book I turned in and I have never felt good about the promotion I do and I always feel like I should be doing more.

And the crazy thing to me is that we sell our property for a small fee for 85+% of our product. Imagine going on Shark Tank and asking Mark Cuban for 25k for 85% of your business, then additionally agreeing to do the lion share of the work. The whole thing is madness and I am done. Hearing this sure helped me feel like I am not alone.

Michelle spitting facts for 7 minutes straight and I'm here for it! It's so sad seeing authors - even indie ones - spending countless hours on TikTok hoping a fraction of that effort could translate to sales. But alas, it never does. Sadder even that the trad route has a fricking marketing team for whatever reason that I bet includes not needing to live on social media!

I'm writing my first novel now and already the publishing industry exhausts me. even though I'm not planning to even attempt to publish until I've written a few novels. It's insane to me that I feel like I even need to make that boundary because I know what will be expected of me once I enter the industry.

Bravo, Michelle!👏🏽 I feel seen. At this point, aspiring authors need to go to business school for marketing before they even think about writing a book.

It used to be that the mid-list was the bulk of sales and what kept publishers afloat. There would be a very few big sellers--but they relied on the midlist for their steady day-to-day income. It seems like publishers have forgotten this.

Oof. The Query-Go-Round. Feel that.

Hmmm how can we make this video go viral…to get publishing houses attention

This is why I indie publish and work for clients.

Thank you for this honest, articulate, and powerful invitation to discourse! I would love to hear an answer to your question about marketing a product that doesn't exist yet. I have thousands of dollars in student loan debt for a master of marketing program that, of course, had no practical strategy for such a situation. 🤷🏻‍♀

Brilliant, Michelle! Thank you for speaking out. Liked and sharing! 💖

This was a really interesting video and highlighted a lot of the reasons I (as well as many of my fellow 'newbie' authors) are going the indie author route from the beginning. If I'm going to be expected to do all the things indies already do (*especially* marketing) I'm damn sure going to get the money for it, with no advances or "earning out." It's very obvious that publishing houses are going downhill fast. All of the supposed "benefits" of traditional publishing are disappearing.

Thanks for explaining all the problems with the publishing industry so well in just one video. I've thought about all these issues as someone writing my first novel and hoping for traditional publication. My question is what do we do about it? Do we sell our souls to social media algorithm overlords? How do I build an audience or platform for a book that doesn't exist yet? I want to share my writing process, but like you said, that'll only attract other writers, not the teen readers that I'm writing my book for. It's an impossible paradox what publishers expect us to do when all we want is to put out into the world the best stories we're capable of writing.

You just read my mind and said something I struggled to put into words.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for saying what all of us were thinking, but may have been too scared to talk about (at least I was). Maybe it's just me, but I'm always afraid of airing these concerns publicly for fear that it will hurt my chances of getting published EVEN MORE...and it's already incredibly difficult to get published as it is. Maybe that's a silly fear...I don't know. Regardless, I'm so thankful that someone is speaking up on our behalf.

I keep my articles about being Queer and Autistic very, very seperate from my novels

Michelle, thank you so much for the sincere and honest video. Book industry requires " You should be a jack-of-all-trades: marketing, smm, accounting, blogging in all social media. And promotion, more promotion, MORE PROMOTION! At author's own expense prefferably. You should do tons of work for free. Othewise you are not professional. Do you have full time job to meet ends? Doesn't matter. Do you need to waste your time, money, energy and other resoutrces? Doesn't matter. Publisher needs to keep his expenses as low as possible and to get as big profit as possible. That's matter. And all the same is everywhere, in the different countries. Publishers think they'll always find authors who will agree with their "business model", "model" closely resembles fraud scheme IMO. But authors tend to be aware the increasing content flow in the world and they preffer to act in more ways than one

This was a wonderful video. I'm trying to wrap my head around these arguments and questions from an indie press perspective. I read almost exclusively books from independent publishers. Since I'm not a published author myself, sometimes I worry that I'm saying "support indie presses!!" when I don't actually know what the experience is like for authors PUBLISHED BY indie presses. I'm sure some of the same questions and problems still exist. I'm sure some of them are even amplified due to much smaller budgets (like relying on the author to do much of the marketing). And I'm sure it depends on the publisher. But I do know that at least I'm doing my part by sharing books I love that aren't getting the attention they deserve on social media.

Loved it when I saw it on your substack, love it just as much in video form. (The extra info being chef's kiss) And Diana Urban? I follow her on Threads and (i think) she does say she thinks she may be getting the hang of self promotion, considering how many views her Reels and all that for her latest book has gotten. But I wonder how that's translated to pre-orders? Her marketing is great, she has a lot of followers, but I wonder if her sales are because of that or because of the word of mouth her books get. And how many readers spreading that word of mouth actually follow her. I dunno. Just something I've been mulling over lately. Anyway, I hope things are going well for you and that you guys get a stress free weekend. ❤

Wow! Well said, Michelle. 👋

Brilliant video! Everything you mentioned is why I’m going Indie.

Always here for this. Love the commentary.

There's so much truth in here. Hussle culture has demanded more out of everyone and led to a society of burnout across mutliple generations. People are seen as numbers and exploitable for profit and gain. It's not enough for a writer to be good at writing. You have to understand things like marketing, branding, when the best time to post a video is, how to manage your platform, what it takes to get likes, how to make a good thumbnail, etc. Skills such as knowing your audience are imparative as a writer and make for a sucessful "influencer" as well, but today's culture has exaggerated expectations for induviduals. Meaning the demand for thesese transferrable skills have been blown out of porportion. Now, you need to manage social media accounts across various platforms and understand a "brand identity" by making frequent posts and videos to "get yourself out there" and stay "relevent". Bite-sized media, while it has its perks, fosters short attention spans and rewards those capable of spending all their time making content for consumption. This means content inevitably becomes shorter and with less time to prepare the quality diminsihes over time leading to the same "Top 5 Tips If You Want to [insert catchy, trendy title here]" type videos. "Influencer writers" still write, but now they''re largely business owners and managers. However, they often tout themselves as the "relateable copywriter" to suck in audiences to buy their books, their courses, their templates, etc. Yes, you too can be making six figures if you follow these easy writing hacks, subscribe for more advice! While there's fantastic resources out there and you can certainly gain experience, network, etc. from these ventures, there's more nunace to it than what's being told. It's no longer enough to be dedicated or a hard worker. You have to sacrifice everything and still be at the mercy of the ever-elusive algorithm. Influencer writers who do the branding and make the click-worthy content are not the enemy here, of course. That's not what I want to lead anyone to believe. They simply understand what content gets rewarded and know how to generate income. It's totally possible to do, but that still leaves a gap of writers who want to make longer-form content and still be able to make money at it. Thus, publishers and those in the business side of things see an opprotunity for cash flow and reward those writers who follow the stream. Naturally, the stream is flowing in one direction. Those who fight the current get sucked below the depths into irrelevency and struggle to get to the shore of financial stability. It's daunting for writers who have been in the business of writing for decades, especially those unused to being so intimate with tech. But the youth is also falling into pitfalls at the starting line of their writing journies. Many starry-eyed aspiring writers get sucked into promises of grand sucess without realizing the whole truth and get disillusioned. Beyond copywriting, content writing, novel writing- we're seeing this in other writing niches. The film writer's strike ran into the issue of writing becoming a "gig-based" job. Ergo, finanical stability was nonsexisit for the majority of screenwriters. You might make a $100 or you may make 100K. This reported data was skewed by the media, as there were so many outliers that creating an "average income" didn't paint a full picture. People didn't understand why writers were striking, thinking they made fantastic money without looking into the whole truth. Writers on sets have long, dry spells where you're working but have no income. You work long, unpaid hours. Even writers on Netflix's very sucessful The Handamiden's Tale were working as uber drivers just to make ends meet. Be it an indivdual with an idea, a publishing house, a fortune 500 company, a film studio- everyone needs a writer and yet no one really wants to pay them nor do they have realistic expectations that writers are human beings with human needs. Those of us who are turning up a brow at the unrealistic marketing scheme of being the expert in branding one's self to generate income are not being lazy rather we're having practical concerns. Thank you for saying the quiet parts out loud.

Ha! Michelle, this is awesome!

This is so on the money! Thank you, Michelle, for speaking up. You articulated it in a way I wish I could; this was perfect.

100% agree. Cannot thank you enough for putting these problems together like this!

Well this is amazing.

Word. Not trad pub but just you've got it there

Love this video, they brag your the next KIng, then nitpick any mistakes , condesending to you, double talking everything and expecting you to figure it out.

Such a fabulous and poignant video!!

From what I've heard, I think most agents & editors love books & authors & want to support them. The problem might be higher up, who knows.

Preach! I chose self-publishing once I saw what a juggernaut the trad way is. Especially since many agents listed their criteria for representation as having an online presence with tens of thousands of followers! WTF? To do that, you have to spend a lot of time every day, on multiple platforms. Meanwhile, we're flooding soc med with a crap ton of hopefuls vying for attention. I don't want to "compete" with other writers. Plenty of readers out there for all of us! I also want to spend my time, ya know, writing! Besides, it's hard enough spending time, stress, and money on advertising, free book deals, accounting, and begging for reviews on FB! Anyway, good luck out there guys!

Thaaaaaaannnnk you. Somebody said it.

Excellent questions! I wish there was a chance we could get answers to them ... I know I'm still recovering from my burnout, but like, I barely have energy to write, I don't have energy to do the fun "side" stuff like making videos, let alone the *not fun* side stuff ...

At this point the only benefit traditional publishing has over self-publishing is that an author does not have to put their own money out to publish traditionally. When it comes to everything else, self-publishing is superior. The books never go out of print, the royalties are much better, there is no cut going to an agent, an author can publish as much or as little as they want, and the author is free to write to market as they see fit and not have to deal with any middle-men in NYC who have no clue. Yes, self-published authors need to market their own work. But nowadays publishers want trad published authors to also handle most of the marketing. So, what's the point? My short fiction has been published and, after looking into it, I've determined that self-publishing is the best route by far. More and more authors are coming to the same conclusion.

A couple of years ago I asked the same questions and decided to go indie. It wasn't the choice I wanted to make, but hiring a publicist with my own money while getting single-digit royalties from a publisher seems like a bad deal.

So many people want to be writers that only 1% need to jump through the publishers' hoops. The publisher doesn't care about the rest who don't want to play the game - even if the 99% is more likely to contain the really good stuff.

Great points! I'm old and poor, so I have not been looking forward to trying to learn a whole new profession, marketing and promotion, to hawk my book.

Art is art. Business is business. Trying to make one the other is a fool's errand. I saw a great quote recently from Arnold Schwarzenegger online. He was responding to the notion that 'No one cares about me or my work.' His answer was perfect. "Of course they don't care - why should they? You need to make them care." If that doesn't answer your question then I don't know what will. I write because I must. I have no illusions that anyone will care about my stuff unless I get it out there to them and make them love it. That's the only way. So I produce my stuff into audio drama and give it away on RU-vid. Why? 1) To get better 2) To build an audience 3) To have an audience when I'm ready to release my next thing. This issue you're complaining about (no middle class artists anymore), is endemic to all art forms everywhere. The only thing you can do is WRITE BETTER. Make them care. Good Luck!

“Sometimes we want to write about dragons and sh*t.”

YES. While I was working at a bookstore in the early 2000s, Laurie R. King came into the store once and complained about how she couldn't make a real living off her sales, even though she was continuously featured on that glory of glories, the New York Times bestseller list. Mid-listers get the short end of the stick. There really doesn't seem to be any reason to go the traditional route anymore.

Oh gosh, thanks, hope this gets to THEM.

Michelle, being able to hear this in your voice and not just read it on substack (where I was nodding along to every word) is extra icing on this reality cake. You are so articulate and sharp about all these incredibly difficult issues. I don't know what route I'm taking yet, but I certainly don't want to sing and dance on TikTok to do it. We writers are largely introverted for a reason, dang it! Lol

yes ❤️

Somewhat related to the topic of the video: yeah, why *can't* midlist, regular authors support themselves without a 2nd job or spouse? The idea that everyone expects authors to not get paid enough to live is wild if you think about it. Because we should. Do authors need to band together & start their own publishing company to combat this? What sort of system can we invision to replace the one that's obviously not working? What's causing these problems? We're all creative here, let's toss out ideas & then ask our business friends. 😊😅

This speaks right to my heart.

Thank you for this letter, as always!

I have officially left booktok. I still have the app, but I’m posting nonsense because I no longer care. Either way, what I write does not fit with the specific readership of the booktok community (Romantasy). So I just went to Threads and do whatever I want.

There is no reason to require an editor for a big 5 firm to live and work in New York City. None. They can do the required work frolm anywhere in the country, or outside the country for that matter. With that level of decision making, it's amazing the bif 5 isn't 6 feet under already. I mean really, with over 90% of authors never earning out their advance, and the vast majority of books in the red, how much confidence can you have in that bunch. But they think authors are flighty, and demanding. Geeeeze......

I agree with what you're saying, but am wondering about something. Because I've not had any dealings with publishers, ever, I'm wondering what they actually say to pressure authors to do the marketing. Like when do they say that and how, etc.

I’m a few days late BUT them cutting off editors is to put more pressure on authors to edit, market, and sell their own book. AKA trad publishers WANT to become vanity presses and it makes the ceos richer

Really well stated!

OMG I love this video. Thank you for saying these things. Now I want to go back and listen to it again.

Oh well said Michelle!!

Thank you 💜

Right on Michelle! Thank you for saying this in your thoughtful and practical way. Awesome!

Great video!

Bravo!

Is it just that the publisher's name is no longer pertinent to the question most readers want answered: "What should I read next?" Do publishers not want to market their books? Do they not know how to market their books? Or is it that they can't market their books because readers don't care anymore who published the book? (Sorry, all I have a questions.)

Honestly, this is a huge part of my anxiety about writing and pulishing my novel. I'd like my private life to be just that. and having a full time job, I know it may be possible for me to write a draft per year, but not if I have to spend all my (not really) free time reinventing myself as a brand.

I have been watching Christy Anne Jones videos on her journey to get a literary agent. She finally got one and in the two videos she's made about how great it is, there is no mention of her 200,000 subscribers, which must have had an impact. I don't want to go on X, Tiktok, or youtube to get a publishing deal. I just want to write books.

Fact is, publishers see self-published authors doing ALL of this and go, "Why can't you do it too?" But the reason is we're a self-running business. When you self-publish, you enter a partnership: I do the writing; you do the business. They now want the writers to do all the parts of their business that actually matter. Like sure they will hand out the contracts and cash those checks, but marketing? You. Comp-Titles? You. Editing? You. (About this literally a good friend of mine whose books are pristine has been passed over because editors want better than pristine, they want guaranteed sales). Even to a degree cover design gets discussed with writers and asked about their opinions, which is nice, but sometimes you wonder why can't the experts candle the cover creation completely.

Also also, books that fit a certain ciswhiteheterocolonialistwoman norm are going to be easier to market that others challenging the establishment or offering experiences too different than the “norm” I’d like to specialize in marketing books which do challenge social structures so this topic is really relevant and I’d love to find out industry secrets from marketing experts

All of this is stuff, the publisher knows next to nothing about!

The cringe gods lol! Love it x

For this video you are one of my favorite booktubers. Self publishing introduced me to the joyous feeling of pushing the publishing button as well as helped me hone some writing chops. They want us to either be influencers that write or get replaced by AI. In this new book I am querying, I will not be telling agents that I am a gay male with gender dysphoria. Not to mention that (I am not a mysoginist, just seeing the patterns) most of the literary agents are Liberal white women. I also know in the pronoun section of the query sections, I will never get a book deal if I say, "I identify as a spatula, with pronouns of flip/flap/flop," even though it makes me laugh heartily. Satire!

For years I have been wondering do I write novels about what changes I want to see in the world or dragons, and yeah every time I try to write a novel about my past it always pushes me to write something else. This sh!t is so stupid, let them go after trauma woke a$$holes, they wont make a dime on an already hard to make money career, while we can go to Tor or something or just do it our F-ing selves

What is especially weird to me about their asinine business model is that it never seems to occur to these people that they can find the next blockbuster author IN THEIR MIDLIST! Here's an idea, guys: People are going to buy Colleen Hoover's books whether you promote them or not. So how about you spend some of that time and money you would spend on her promotion to big up some of your talented midlist authors who are bringing forward new and exciting stories and ideas? I have read SO MANY midlist books that I am confident could have been breakout bestsellers if the publisher had cared to promote them properly.

Yes to Dragons and $#it! I don't want to tell you about my trauma (if I have any)! I just want to entertain you!

Why don’t you self publish? Traditionally publishing is just for getting validation of your writing, not really to start a career.

If you’re writing and marketing poetry you do pretty much have to sell your soul to cringe. It’s hella difficult to market

Hoo, boy. Where to begin. Okay-hard truth is, if you're looking to be an author, you're running a business. And no business gets to open a door, hang a shingle, and just expect the world to be a path to its door. Marketing, advertising, and building relationships is part of it. Much of what's being asked about here can be explained, but not in a single post. A lot more of this is based on bad advice, misunderstandings, and echo chambers among chat groups. No knowledgeable executive with an understanding of business and publishing is telling authors to get on TikTok or any other social media platform. There's no data of any kind that can show this is an effective strategy for marketing and sales. All that noise comes from unsupported conjectures. Truth is, that isn't coming from informed business analysts or publishing execs. That's coming from water-cooler conversations and lunch gossip from mid-level managers or author reps who think they've put their finger on the latest craze-that magic doorway to a heavenly existence where all the books earn-out and royalties beyond advances are plentiful. Privacy? Okay, an author may think they might expect privacy as a human being, but I've got some hard news: If you're trying to be a writer, you aren't just the creator, YOU'RE THE PRODUCT. Or at least, that's what your agent and your publisher think. And many people believe you sell products by talking about them and showing them from all sides. And if you don't show everything from all sides, you'll seem like you're pulling a fast one. There are some aspects to the publishing industry which are baffling to newcomers. (And if you're getting into this and not studying the business of it, you'll forever be a newcomer.) But with a little exploration and study, things become much less mysterious. There are also a lot of archaic and senseless things about it, too-like why in this day and age, you can't buy the rights to publishing a book in the Americas and have the right for those products to be sold in the UK or Europe. Or worse, why I as a customer can't buy something on Audible.com that's clearly available on Audible.co.uk because "they don't have the rights." Or why you have to negotiate all the territories separately. Or why "first rights" aren't the same as reprint rights or the rights to publish previously-published material. Or why options for adaptations or dramatic performance are completely different things-or why they even have "options" in the first place and what they're all about. Or even the very fundamentals of copyright protection and fair use or derivative works. No matter how well one does in this business, one will do better if one knows something about this business. Or one may do as many authors do and hire really good and knowledgeable reps to handle it. I'm not a publisher and I'm not an expert, but one doesn't need to be to demystify a lot of these ideas. But it does require a bit of understanding of business, marketing, advertising, distribution, and even a bit of history to understand. And don't expect your publisher to be able to explain it to you. If they had all the answers, they'd make money on every book and we'd all be best selling authors. And it's not the sort of thing everyone has time to pursue-even among publishing professionals. So talk to your agent or prospective agent. Talk to people with experience and understanding. It's really not baffling. But don't take everything you hear from your agent or editor as The Truth About Publishing. And don't expect them to explain any better than if you ask your local priest about God's intentions for you. Many of them don't understand their industry any more than the folks selling guitars and keyboards at Guitar Center know about the music business. (They're not in the music business-they're in the retail sales business.)