Writing Bestsellers: Love, Money, and Creative Practice PDF
Preview Writing Bestsellers: Love, Money, and Creative Practice
While the term ‘bestseller’ explicitly relates books to sales, W Writing Bestsellers commercially successful books are also products of individual ILK creative work. This Element presents a new perspective on IN S A Love, Money, and Creative the relationship between art and the market, with particular N d reference to bestselling writers and books. We examine some B E Practice existing perspectives on art’s relationship to the marketplace N N to trouble persistent binaries that see the two in opposition; we ET T break down the monolith of the marketplace by thinking of it as made up of a range of invested, non-hostile participants such as publishing personnel and readers; we articulate the material dimensions of creative writing in the industry through the words of bestselling writers themselves; and we examine how the existence of bestselling books and writers in the world of W letters bears enormous infuence on the industry, and on the ritin g B practice of other writers. estse lle rs Cambridge Elements in Publishing and Book Culture Series Editor: Samantha Rayner University College London Associate Editor: Leah Tether University of Bristol Publishing and Book Culture Kim Wilkins Bestsellers ISSN 2514-8524 (online) ISSN 2514-8516 (print) and Lisa Bennett Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core , on 17 Dec 2021 at 15:53:13, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108663724 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core , on 17 Dec 2021 at 15:53:13, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108663724 ElementsinPublishingandBookCulture editedby SamanthaRayner UniversityCollegeLondon LeahTether UniversityofBristol WRITING BESTSELLERS Love, Money, and Creative Practice Kim Wilkins University of Queensland Lisa Bennett Flinders University Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core , on 17 Dec 2021 at 15:53:13, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108663724 UniversityPrintingHouse,CambridgeCB28BS,UnitedKingdom OneLibertyPlaza,20thFloor,NewYork,NY10006,USA 477WilliamstownRoad,PortMelbourne,VIC3207,Australia 314–321,3rdFloor,Plot3,SplendorForum,JasolaDistrictCentre, NewDelhi–110025,India 103PenangRoad,#05–06/07,VisioncrestCommercial,Singapore238467 CambridgeUniversityPressispartoftheUniversityofCambridge. ItfurtherstheUniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitof education,learning,andresearchatthehighestinternationallevelsofexcellence. www.cambridge.org Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781108725637 DOI:10.1017/9781108663724 ©KimWilkinsandLisaBennett2021 Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements, noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress. Firstpublished2021 AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary. ISBN978-1-108-72563-7Paperback ISSN2514-8524(online) ISSN2514-8516(print) CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof URLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain, accurateorappropriate. Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core , on 17 Dec 2021 at 15:53:13, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108663724 Writing Bestsellers Love, Money, and Creative Practice ElementsinPublishingandBookCulture DOI:10.1017/9781108663724 Firstpublishedonline:September2021 KimWilkins UniversityofQueensland LisaBennett FlindersUniversity Authorforcorrespondence:KimWilkins,[email protected] Abstract:Whiletheterm‘bestseller’explicitlyrelatesbooksto sales,commerciallysuccessfulbooksarealsoproductsof individualcreativework.ThisElementpresentsanew perspectiveontherelationshipbetweenartandthemarket, withparticularreferencetobestsellingwritersandbooks.We examinesomeexistingperspectivesonart’srelationshiptothe marketplacetotroublepersistentbinariesthatseethetwoin opposition;webreakdownthemonolithofthemarketplaceby thinkingofitasmadeupofarangeofinvested,non-hostile participantssuchaspublishingpersonnelandreaders;we articulatethematerialdimensionsofcreativewritinginthe industrythroughthewordsofbestsellingwritersthemselves; andweexaminehowtheexistenceofbestsellingbooksand writersintheworldoflettersbearsenormousinfluenceonthe industry,andonthepracticeofotherwriters. ThisElementalsohasavideoabstract:www.cambridge.org/ writingbestsellers KEYWORDS:bestsellers,creativity,writing,publishing,mutualism ©KimWilkinsandLisaBennett2021 ISBNs:9781108725637(PB),9781108663724(OC) Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core , on 17 Dec 2021 at 15:53:13, subject to ISSNs:2514-8524(online),2514-8516(print) the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108663724 Contents Introduction 1 1 The ‘Bestselling Writer’ Paradox 12 2 Behind the Magician’s Curtain 31 3 Bestselling Writers and Their Influence on Industry 55 Conclusion 71 Bibliography 74 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core , on 17 Dec 2021 at 15:53:13, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108663724 WritingBestsellers 1 Introduction JamesPattersonwritesbooks.SodoesNoraRoberts.DanielleSteelwrites themonanoldtypewriter;GeorgeR.R.MartinusesaDOS-basedword- processing application called Wordstar. Each of them, along with every otherbestsellingwriteronForbes’lists,isaflesh-and-bloodhumanlocated withinaspecificsetofsocialandmaterialrelations,engagedinthemental and physical labour of getting ideas out of their imaginations and onto apage.Whiletheterm‘bestseller’explicitlyrelatesbookstosales,commer- ciallysuccessfulbooksarealsoproductsofindividualcreativework:thatis, ‘bestsellers’arepeopleasmuchasproducts.Ourinterestliesinthematerial conditions of writers and their creative writing, and specifically the influ- enceofthemarketonthecreationofnewworks.ThisElementtherefore presentsanewperspectiveontherelationshipbetweenartandthemarket, withparticularreferencetobestsellingwritersandbooks. Theviewthatart(conceivedbroadly)andcommerceareuncomfortably relatedisawidelyheldone.AccordingtoA.O.Scott(2014:1)‘Thereare fewmodernrelationshipsasfraughtastheonebetweenartandmoney’,and Claire Squires (2007: 41) argues that this is ‘the central tension of the publishingindustry’.VivianaZelizer(2005)coinedtheterm‘hostileworlds’ to describe a view that advocates a division between sacred/intimate and profane/instrumentalspheresbecause,essentially,moneycancontaminate, trivialise, and/or devalue the meaning of private pleasures. Building on Zelizer’s work, Olav Velthuis writes at length about the ‘hostile worlds’ viewand‘thedetrimentaleffectsoftheconfrontationbetweenthelogicof theartsandthelogicofcapitalistmarkets’(2007:24).Coslor’sethnographic studyofthevisualartworldsuggeststhisviewofthe‘corrupting’influence of money is a ‘legacy of Romantic sentiments’ and shows that while nominallyarthistoriansagreethattheviewis‘simplisticandoutdated’,it is still evident in attitudes about how art is compared and priced for consumption (2010: 213–14). Tense, fraught, hostile, corrupting. These are negative evaluations of an enduring cultural relation: ‘What strip- miningisto nature,the artmarkethasbecome toculture’(Hughes,cited inVelthuis2007:25).Butwhatifweputasideforawhilethenotionthatart isdelicateorcorruptibleorvulnerabletostrip-mining?Whatifweimagine Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core , on 17 Dec 2021 at 15:53:13, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108663724 2 PublishingandBookCulture itisnotonlyrobustenoughtowithstandcommercialpressure,butthatit also has the potential to adapt and be energised by it, or even to shape commercialprocesses? InAustralia,wherewelive,bushfiresengulfeucalyptforestseveryyear. Butafterafire,eucalyptforeststhrive.Anditisn’tsimplythatthetreeshave adapted to fiery conditions; they are an active participant in those condi- tions,withtheirpaperybark,cracklingleaffall,andcombustibleoil.When aconflagrationroarsthroughtheforest,itlookstothecasualobserverlike annihilation.Fireisferocious,powerful,difficulttoreckonwith.Yet,soon enoughthickgreenshootsappearontheblacktrunksandtheunderstory bristleswithsaplings.Firechangestheforest,butthatchangeisnotwholly (orevennecessarily)negative.Couldartworks–inthiscase,stories–be similarlyresilient,workingwiththeforcesofthemarketratherthanbeing subjecttothemarket’spredation? Thisquestionisaprovocationratherthanahypothesis,becauseclearly bushfireswreakdevastationonweakerspeciesaswell.Butitisametaphor that we, as storytellers, hope to seize your attention with, as well as a leitmotif we can return to throughout this Element. The language of biology and the natural world is often used metaphorically to describe aspects of the publishing industry. Both in scholarship and in the grey literature,itisnotuncommontoseementionofecosystems,DNA,adapta- tion, evolution, webs, fields, fishing, buzz, and so on. Staying within this well-developedmetaphoricalframework,weproposethattherelationship between creative practice and the publishing industry canbe describedas symbiotic.However,therearemanytypesofsymbiosis.Parasitismis,after all, a type of symbiosis, and parasitism as a metaphor aligns with the traditionally held views that this Element hopes to disrupt. Instead, we argue that the symbiosis is of the ‘mutual obligate’ variety. According to Bronstein(2015:7),obligatesymbiosisisamutuallybeneficialrelationship whereinoneorganismcannotsurvivewithouttheother.Creativewriters, inordertoreachanaudience,needtheexistinginfrastructureoftraditional publishing or the emerging infrastructure of self-publishing. Publishers cannotplytheirtradewithoutcontent,andcontentisprovidedbywriters. Moreover,Bronsteinnotesthatinallcasesofmutualobligatesymbiosis,the speciesinvolvedhavea‘longcoevolutionaryhistory’(2015:7).Again,this Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core , on 17 Dec 2021 at 15:53:13, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108663724 WritingBestsellers 3 metaphorholdsfortherelationshipbetweenwritersandpublishing,whose roleshavedevelopedalongsideeachother,emergingthroughthehistoryof challenges and opportunities that have arisen since mass print culture developedinthenineteenthcentury. ThisElementinvestigateswriters’resiliencewithinthemarket.Itpre- sents a nuanced and evidence-based investigation of the relationship between creative practice and commerce. Bestsellers are, in their name, explicitlyassociatedwiththemarketplace.Butwhatistheirrelationshipto art?Andhowisthatartshapedbyandabletoshapecommercialconcerns? Theobligatesymbiosisviewofwritingandpublishingseestherelationship asalong-standingtwo-wayexchange,whichhaschangedandwillcontinue tochangeovertime,andunderstandsthatknowledgeoftheconditionsof the exchange are vital to survival for both organisms. The health of one affectstheother;theenergyofonepowerstheother;theconcernsofoneare theconcernsoftheother.Writersandpublisherssinkorswimtogether. We are not, however, blind to the power differences between multi- nationalmediacorporationsandindividualwriters.Atthetimeofwriting thisElement,wehavejustwatchedPenguinRandomHouseabsorbSimon &Schuster,effectivelyleavinguswitha‘bigfour’dominatedmarketplace; but,inlightofthismerger,itverymuchseemsthe‘bigx’paradigmmaybe displacedinachangedpublishing environmentwiththe‘monstroustwo’: Penguin Random House and Amazon, with all bets off over which com- pany – indeed, which publishing model – will be left standing ten years fromnow.1Nonetheless,withinthisarenaofcorporatebehemoths,content ofallkindsisstillrequired.Writersprovidecontent.Writerswhoprovide bestselling content gain power. To extend the biological metaphor, we might think of bestselling writers as the fittest to survive, the ones who can adapt to tough conditions, ensuring the fate of the species even as individualsfalter.Itmaynotbethemostpalatableofmetaphorsfortalking about art, but art is produced within this system. It behoves us all to understandit,ratherthanlooktheotherway. 1 WiththankstoBethDriscoll,UniversityofMelbourne,forseedingthisnight- marescenariointoourimaginations. Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core , on 17 Dec 2021 at 15:53:13, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108663724 4 PublishingandBookCulture This Element argues that creativity is thoroughly sociomaterial, and thusbestsellerstatusforanauthorwillaffecttheircreativewritingpractice; however, this situation does not necessarily indicatea predatory relation- shipwiththepublishingindustrysullyingpureart.Powerandinfluencecan anddotravelbothways,especiallywhentheveryhighsalesofbestsellers mean writers can ask for better terms on their contracts, spawn copycat readalike books, and underwrite lower-selling authors’ careers. We write backagainstthetraditionofromanticisingthesolitarycreativegeniuswho has no connections to the marketplace, and against the notion that art is necessarily vulnerable and precarious, although sometimes it can be. Our research questions are sharpened and made more urgent by the rapid changesinthepublishingindustry–whatwerecogniseasthepost-digital transformationofthesector,which‘byitsveryspeed...canbearguedto magnify tensions in cultural valuation that would otherwise take a more leisurelytimetoworkthemselvesout’(Throsby,2008:np).Weapproach thisargumentthroughanumberofmethodologies. First, we have sourced interviews with creative writers who have appearedontheNewYorkTimesbestsellerlist:eitherpublishedinterviews inexistingoutletsorinterviewswehaveconductedourselves.Limitations existed with the latter approach. Extreme fame makes some authors very difficulttopersuadetoparticipateininterviews:insomecases,wedealtwith multiplestagesofgatekeeperstonoavail.Moreover,whenawriterreaches a certain level of fame and income, it becomes doubtful their experiences willbeextrapolabletoothers.CanMargaretAtwood,forexample,ridethe tideofhersuccesswithoutcaringtoomuchaboutwhatthemarketwants? ThefactthatshewritesforWattpad(anonline,community-drivenstory- telling platform) would suggest this is the case. We have supplemented thesefirst-handaccountswiththoroughexaminationofthegreyliterature, such as trade reports, op-eds, popular media, sales data, and social media (withtheusualcaveatsthatplatformsforself-promotionarenotnecessarily themostcomprehensiveoraccurateaccountofactualwritingpractice). Finally,wehavealsoapproachedthisresearchinaparticipatoryspiritin twokeyways.Wetookpartinanonlinewriting‘MasterClass’withJames Patterson, which added to our understanding of some motivational and aspirational cogs in the ‘bestselling’ machine, allowing us to experience Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core , on 17 Dec 2021 at 15:53:13, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108663724
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