The sadness of the published author
It's capitalism, stupid
Authorial tears
One more week, one more piece detailing the sorrows of being a published author1 — this one in a trade publication, and not in the Guardian or other confessional content factory.
I should have stopped reading at the point where this specific author humbly brags about their six-figure advance, in order to continue with my pedestrian four-figure occupations, but I made the mistake of reading the whole piece, and now I can’t get it out of my head, and I’m imposing it on you. I don’t want to be unnecessarily mean, but the piece reminded me of the current trend of over-sharing on TikTok. Candid short form content is clearly on the rise these days, part of the solipsistic wave that has taken over literature in the past decade or so, particularly in longer form.
I don’t want to be unnecessarily mean, no. But also I feel it’d be useful to unpack some of the points this kind of piece regularly touches upon, as they overlap with some of the themes I’ve been exploring in this space…