An Alternative to the Publishing Rat Race
Here's a way to make your writing career a little less soul-crushing.
In November of 2024, I gave a presentation at Author Nation called The Artisan Author: The Low-Stress, High-Quality, Fan-Focused Approach to Escaping the Publishing Rat Race. That session was very popular and inspired my new book of the same name, which launches on July 15th.
I gave the same presentation again recently, this time recording it so I could share it with you. (Think of it as a TED talk, but a lot less prestigious.)
It’s below:
In the session, I lay out a problem in our industry — one that keeps getting worse and worse. Right now, “Rapid Release publishing” is being presented to most self-published authors (including the brand new ones, who’ve finally managed to complete the book they always dreamed of writing) as the default (and maybe the only) way to succeed as a writer. That blanket advice is ruining a lot of writers: robbing them of joy, killing their dreams, and ruining their careers before they can get started. It’s not doing the industry as a whole any favors, either.
Fortunately, though, Rapid Release is not the only way to succeed as a writer.
Some authors are perfect for Rapid Release. The majority aren’t, though — myself very much included. There’ve been times that I’ve published a lot of books quickly, but Rapid Release is about more than just speed. It’s also about pleasing algorithms more than pleasing readers, writing books in a single, narrow, perfectly on-market subgenre, and never being able to stop. All authors have the option to write quickly, but Rapid Release requires you to keep doing it more or less forever … or everything you’ve built will collapse.
If you’re an “art first” author like me — or if the Rapid Release pressure cooker doesn’t appeal to you, or you just want a way to enjoy writing again — you might resonate with the way of the Artisan Author.
If you do, it’s like I said: You can get the Artisan Author book on Kickstarter. The campaign already has over 300 followers, so I guess I’m not the only one who feels this way.
(BTW, there will be more to that Kickstarter than just the book. I’ve decided to make a whole experience out of this, and I think you’re going to like it. Stay tuned.)