Progressivism In Publishing

submitted by KaijuJayTheSecond from self.TumblrInAction

So, for a while I've been wanting to write fantasy books as a career. But for the last year due to a sudden anxiety spike, I have been having a ton of worries one after the other related to the title. I'm not very worried about being cancelled or shunned for the stuff in my books. With the bits and pieces of the stories I'm currently making, I just can't conceive of a situation where that would happen. It's more about me as a person having to deal with the overly progressive. But the thing is: I have no idea if these ideas and worries are founded in any sort of reality. I don't know what it's like to be a full-time published author in either traditional publishing or self publishing. I don't know at all whether or not I can just ignore any kooky shit with ease or if I'll end up being thrown in the middle trying to further my career. At the moment I haven't learned how to just ignore other people's opinions. I may be too young, anxious and inexperienced to know how.

Basically what this post is is asking what y'all know about this subject. I know that every career has idiots we all have to deal with, but I don't want to be fighting everyone at every turn all by myself just to tell a story that I love or simply be me.

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[–]LyingSpirit472 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

The one positive about writing novels as a career vs. the progressive/woke crowd is that it's the field getting closest to the "if everything is problematic, then nothing is" event horizon.

Let's not mince words: At the moment, it's over. Novels have been fully taken over by the woke crowd. They WILL cancel you for what you write and get your book pulped. Even if you use beta readers; those beta readers will cancel you. Even if you try to write nothing that anyone could possibly be offended by- the woke in the writing community WANT to find something problematic in your work, so they WILL. They read everything looking for a reason to claim your book is heathen, and they're quite happy to make something up if they have to. The current woke complainers in the writing community have made it their calling card that they truly don't care WHAT you're writing about; their complaint is "You got to write a book! I wanna write a book, and it's MEAN that you get to and I don't!", and they are more than willing to say "If I get literally every other writer who's better than me in the whole world cancelled, then the publisher will have NO CHOICE but to let me write a book and be a famous author!"...and it's worked. (Well, sort of, the next person down the line inevitably cancels THEM once they do succeed.)

But on the positive side...It's Over! You no longer have to walk on eggshells about the woke in writing circles. They're going to cancel you no matter what you do, so don't even bother pandering to them, don't bother courting the woke or poking the woke bear. You're going to be cancelled no matter what you do, so just write what you want to write so at least when the bell inevitably tolls for thee, you can hold your head high and say at least YOU'RE proud of what you wrote.

[–]Alienhunter糞大名 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

This it's nothing new in writing for people to try to cancel your books either. Happened to the earliest novels. Think it happened to Jane Austen. Happened to L. Frank Baum with the Wizard of Oz books cause of accusations of witchcraft. Happened again to JK Rowling with the Harry Potter books. JK Rowling got canceled again because of the trans issue.

It's nothing new. Almost nothing written that stands the test of time gets there by caring what the reader or society at large will think about it. Eventually everyone gets sick about the people complaining about dumbass unimportant shit and their complaints become impotent.

We see this time and time again. JK Rowling got her shit removed from a bunch of libraries because a bunch of Christian women had a Satanic panic moment and thought the mangled pig Latin spells in the book would actually summon real demons. That's a sign your fantasy book is a hit if people think it's real.

Again nothing new happened in the early 1900's with the Wizard of Oz books. Hell the second book even had a plot where the male main character was actually secretly the princess and had a "sex change" at the end.

[–]KaijuJayTheSecond[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

As crazy as all that sounds, I can definitely believe that all that is possible. I plan on going cold turkey on any social media that could show me any cancellation that may or may not happen. And research any publisher I go with for the books I want traditionally published. Much as I love to doomscroll these topics an ungodly "I need to touch grass" amount, I still hope it isn't true.

[–]LyingSpirit472 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Honestly, I wish it wasn't too, but YA novels were basically patient zero for wokesters taking over, and everything I mentioned actually did happen (there were examples of beta readers who were told to make sure it was properly respectful backstabbing writers by being the first to complain about their product and keeping stuff back so they could and getting it pulped...while also "the second those beta readers got THEIR book published, other people complained about it out of jealousy/revenge.") It's been said by some it's so insidious nothing but memoir will be allowed soon...and even that is likely "your experiences aren't the same as mine. WITCH! THEY'RE A WITCH! BURN THE WITCH!"

Since YA and fantasy are very similar crowds for writing, that is a big issue.

[–]LordoftheFliesAmeri-kin 2.0. Pronouns: MegaWhite/SuperStraight/UltraPatriarchy 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Speaking only as a reader, I've noticed that the vast majority of woke insanity infests the YA novels the heaviest, and then the sci-fi and fantasy segment; the latter more so than the former, probably because it's more open to actual magical faggots and all of that UwU extra-most-specialest half-vampire/half-dragon/half-werewolf/half-faerie, unicornkin bullshit.

That's not to say I haven't seen it crop up in other genres, but those aforementioned three are (currently) the big offenders. So if you're writing in one of those, you'll probably have to deal with it at some point. Just remember this, if you get published and someone gets butthurt about your material, do not engage them. No apologies, no explanations, no justifications, NOTHING. And don't acknowledge any headcanon bullshit that a reader comes up with, either. Rowling did that shit, and then the smoothbrains turned on her as soon as their headcanon drifted off into other things and she didn't back it.

[–]Enemycupcake 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Never engage them in any way seems like good advice. Theres no winning against people who live to find offensive in everything

[–]Alienhunter糞大名 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Write what you wanna write and don't give a shit what randos on the internet think about it. Someone will publish it.

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Just stay away from ANY social media and if possible, self publish your work. You could publish your book as a webnovel, it's quite popular format these days, don't really bother with traditional publishing. Traditional books don't sell anymore.

Oh and most importantly, DON'T ENGAGE IN ANY "DEBATES" WITH SJW LOONIES and just ignor them completely, don't pander to them either.

[–]Datachost 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Simon Edge, Rachel Rooney & Gillian Phillip write pretty regularly about the state of the publishing industry. Things aren't great

[–]ClassroomPast6178 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Lionel Shriver has also been talking about this a lot for a long time. I think she encountered an attempted cancellation at one of her talks, and bravely didn’t back down.

[–]KaijuJayTheSecond[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Where do they write about it? Are they credible?

[–]ClassroomPast6178 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

If the Critical Drinker, Will Jordan, can be a published author of multiple novels without being cancelled, then I wouldn’t worry too much. It might be a matter of picking who you submit your manuscripts to, picking publishers/representation who have other “problematic” authors.

Jordan publishes with Blackstone.

Shad Brooks, of Shadiversity fame, self-published, which isn’t particularly hard these days. Even Andy Weir’s The Martian started off as a self-published serial novel he was giving away for free (and he only started charging for it when people asked for a kindle version and he couldn’t work out how to make that free at the time).

So whilst publishing is captured, there are options out there, so you shouldn’t let your worries stop you doing the things you really want to do.

Worst comes to the worst, use social media like Andy Weir did and build a following over time. His interviews on how his book came about are fascinating, he really bumbled his way to success.

Edit: just to add, there are platforms like Smashwords, where you can self-publish, and build a following for your writing. Then if you decide to you want a traditional publishing deal, having that existing audience already makes you a much better prospect for a publisher/literary agent.

[–]Newzok 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I'm a creative and have been wondering similarly. Suppose staying off social media is the way. Don't engage and don't read comments, I guess. All you have to do is get it published. Personally I don't like knowing things about an author besides a bio or life events. I don't want to know political opinions or how they look.