I am an elder millennial writer (37), but I am just starting out in my career, currently in my first year of an MFA program. I think economic conditions have made it difficult for many writers of my generation to not only break into the publishing industry, but continue publishing, the way previous generations did. It's harder, much harder, to work just enough to pay the bills while giving you enough time to not only improve your craft and then write your first novel, but also figure out how to get it published and then market it. I tried that for my first 35 years before giving up and applying to MFA programs. Many writers my age sunk their formative years into building a career on the internet, either through blogs or personal essays for outlets like Buzzfeed, and that has worked out for some, but it was never a stable career and takes creative energy away from writing fiction. As does the route of building a platform on social media. Going the MFA route in your twenties does seem to result in a lot of debut novels, but as you noted, does not necessarily support the author in publishing the next successive novels that might grow their reputation. Successful debut novelists still have to hustle, and hustling takes time away from writing, and the hustle can become the primary creative outlet for many. I remember reading an essay from Emily Gould ages ago, where she talked about how she had to work odd jobs after her debut novel in her early twenties failed to sell well. She is still writing, but has become known more for her personal essays, in outlets like The Cut, than for fiction.
We just don't have the economic conditions to support many "literary giants" of any generation. And beyond the material conditions, the publishing industry spent like 15 years telling writers that they wouldn't be successful if they didn't become social media superstars. I am hopeful that this bit of conventional wisdom is dying out, because I suspect that Sally Rooney's lack of engagement with the internet has more to do with her prolific output than is often assumed.
We'd need to look at the 5 Under 30 list going back to the 70s to draw meaningful comparisons, but unfortunately that award was only established in 2006. For what it's worth, there are plenty of National Book Award winners from past decades whose names are unknown today, suggesting that those writers' careers were far from guaranteed as well. I also question whether this post overestimates the expected output of a prolific literary writer; is 3.5 years for a respectable book a long time? (Compared to what/who?)
Huh. Interesting. Well-written article. My perception is very different. Publishing feels very young to me. I think of young women authors who've hit it big over the past 7-8 years such as Emma Cline, Stephanie Danler, Ottessa Moshfegh, Sally Rooney, etc. All big million-dollar-plus advances fresh out of college and in their twenties. Seems to me like we're seeing more women in general and more non-white people/women in particular. I'm not saying white men aren't making the grade. I'm just saying: This is what publishing seems to doing right now. But I admit this might be more perception/anecdote than reality. Your graph seems to shift the narrative in your direction versus mine.
The reason there are more female authors is because the editors are now overwhelmingly female, and they don't want to publish books by men or for men. While books sales continue to plummet, female publishing executives celebrate the fact that 80% of fiction readers are women. No doubt they would like that number to increase, even if it means fewer sales overall.
Publishing is now a very unwelcoming industry for men, more so than it was for women in the 1950s. The industry is also obsessed with 'diversity', and if you are white or straight - as most Western people are - you will be deprioritised, however good your writing is. Identity politics is killing publishing.
I'm 30. I've self-published 3 novels and obviously I'm not a bestseller. When I was finishing book #1 I was doing research on the publishing industry versus self publishing. I found the entire industry just too intimidating and creatively stifling. From what I read, the industry seems to be circling the wagons, focusing more on existing authors than new ones, and chasing trends more and more. The biggest turn-off to me was that when you pitch you're supposed to provide comps in the format of X meets Y. Fuck that. My stuff is my stuff it's not a compilation of someone else's. So I said fuck it and self-published. Maybe a lot of younger authors have either gone the same route, or gotten bogged down in the publishing industry as it is right now.
I'm working on my first novel now. If anything, the need to feed my self takes precedent over any creative output I have. Just like you said, there is no stability in publishing anymore and we no longer live in a time where it makes sense to feasibly take that risk. Just yesterday I was talking to another writer friend of mine and we both joked that if we were offered half our current salaries to move out to L.A. and work in a writer's room for a 22 episode a season we'd take it even if we had to get 4 roommates each. But that pathway has dried up and I believe the same can mostly be said for publishing. We want to write but we have to eat. I was recently accepted into a short play festival but it's unpaid and this is the first acceptance I've gotten in 3 years of submitting. A lot of us don't like those odds. In the meantime, I'll keep writing when I can and maybe I'll find a schedule that allows me to be more prolific.
To be honest, I’ve always seen the ability to spend four or five years writing your next novel as a sign of your publisher’s support. As someone who began in the YA trenches and was asked to write a book a year, the idea that I could spend four years writing a novel is a marvelous one. For someone like one of the marquee millennial names you mentioned, I would hope (perhaps wrongly!) that their advance for their last project would give them the financial security to write the book they wanted to write. This is of course certainly not the case for all or even the majority of writers taking their time to put out novels, but I think it’s worth considering.
As others have touched on—not writing or not getting published? I’m working on a third book, and they take me 5-10 years to write in free time between day job hours or periods of unemployment. It’s not possible to live on part time pay where I live so writing is slow. I’ve also seen my last novel get repeatedly rejected by agents and publishers who are younger than me, and if there are young agents, maybe Gen Z taste is different from what elder millennials are writing? I find pop culture/writing is generally very literal, and very identity- or self-focused at the moment, with Gen Z steering us in that direction.
Good piece! I often wonder the same thing. I don't have the data to back up my opinions, but here are my thoughts.The publishing industry is in rough shape, and they focus on celebrity memoirs and established genre writers over developing new talent in the literary space. I think the market also wants to see new, diverse voices; work that reflects the changing demographics of the US. Books written by foreign authors are getting translated and made popular at what seems to be a much higher rate. That's all to say, young people are writing, but they just aren't getting published at the same clip as they used to.
> “We live in a time where actors are tequila moguls, rappers are actors, and seemingly everyone owns a makeup, clothing, or lifestyle “brand.” Creative careers are run as empires rather than as individuals who are maximizing creative output in the one discipline they are exceptional at.”
Really well said. This also applies to professional athletes now. I couldn’t help notice while watching the NFL playoffs the sheer amount of players, ex-players and coaches who have shilled themselves out in commercials, and it’s not just not one or two, it’s industry wide, it’s completely over-saturated and nauseating. They’ve basically replaced normal TV commercial actors at this rate. It’s absurdly unnatural & uncomfortable to watch too. I cringe at how willingly they defile and debase themselves on these commercials. Their postures are rigid, their tone is off and their lines are often very cliche sounding. But it doesn’t matter because they have a sellable image which they build empires off of, this contradiction results in them ultimately becoming parasites. Athletes are multi-talented influencers; podcasters, actors, videographers, presenters, designers or CEOs. It’s like there’s massive race now for professionals to sell themselves at whatever and any cost to capital just to get ahead. And if anyone criticises them they’re immediately told “let them get their bag to weird”, such an insane culture we live in. The creative output of this society is not what can add value but “what can make money”.
Thank you for this great piece. One important consideration I had to make in my own career was YA vs Adult books. Adult books followed a schedule of maybe one book every 3 or 4 years. Even if you were a star. That's a lot of waiting.
Young Adult novels however, they could publish them as fast as you could write them (almost). They had to be good of course.
They’re like… Uh… I donno. Wait… text coming in…. LOL. That was my bestie. Oh, what did you … Wait… Another text. Okay, I’m like, ah, watching this series and it’s ah… given me an idea for a vampire, I mean, a werewolf, script where the… (who’s the bad guy?) Oh, yeah, LOL, the antagonist… LIke the an… What was he… I mean, she… call… Oh. Sorry. Another text. OMG! Johnny just sexted me. Where were we…
I’m hopeful that the writing/publishing sector of our economy does not go the way of so many other sectors of our economy, where a few titans dominate and the rest of us are fighting for the scraps that drop onto the floor. I personally am encouraged that Substack is a sufficient platform to allow anyone who has the wherewithal to produce helpful and enlightening content to thrive and perhaps make a decent living writing full-time (or at least, supplement the income of a regular job.)
It really bothers me that the Millennials often get a bad rap for a variety of reasons. The oldest of us are mid-40’s, the youngest are pushing 30. We’ve lived long enough and have had the opportunity to experience enough life to have our thoughts and musings read, appreciated, and valued. I hope, that as time passes, the community will recognize this and give us what I feel is well deserved attention and value for our work.
I am an elder millennial writer (37), but I am just starting out in my career, currently in my first year of an MFA program. I think economic conditions have made it difficult for many writers of my generation to not only break into the publishing industry, but continue publishing, the way previous generations did. It's harder, much harder, to work just enough to pay the bills while giving you enough time to not only improve your craft and then write your first novel, but also figure out how to get it published and then market it. I tried that for my first 35 years before giving up and applying to MFA programs. Many writers my age sunk their formative years into building a career on the internet, either through blogs or personal essays for outlets like Buzzfeed, and that has worked out for some, but it was never a stable career and takes creative energy away from writing fiction. As does the route of building a platform on social media. Going the MFA route in your twenties does seem to result in a lot of debut novels, but as you noted, does not necessarily support the author in publishing the next successive novels that might grow their reputation. Successful debut novelists still have to hustle, and hustling takes time away from writing, and the hustle can become the primary creative outlet for many. I remember reading an essay from Emily Gould ages ago, where she talked about how she had to work odd jobs after her debut novel in her early twenties failed to sell well. She is still writing, but has become known more for her personal essays, in outlets like The Cut, than for fiction.
We just don't have the economic conditions to support many "literary giants" of any generation. And beyond the material conditions, the publishing industry spent like 15 years telling writers that they wouldn't be successful if they didn't become social media superstars. I am hopeful that this bit of conventional wisdom is dying out, because I suspect that Sally Rooney's lack of engagement with the internet has more to do with her prolific output than is often assumed.
We'd need to look at the 5 Under 30 list going back to the 70s to draw meaningful comparisons, but unfortunately that award was only established in 2006. For what it's worth, there are plenty of National Book Award winners from past decades whose names are unknown today, suggesting that those writers' careers were far from guaranteed as well. I also question whether this post overestimates the expected output of a prolific literary writer; is 3.5 years for a respectable book a long time? (Compared to what/who?)
Huh. Interesting. Well-written article. My perception is very different. Publishing feels very young to me. I think of young women authors who've hit it big over the past 7-8 years such as Emma Cline, Stephanie Danler, Ottessa Moshfegh, Sally Rooney, etc. All big million-dollar-plus advances fresh out of college and in their twenties. Seems to me like we're seeing more women in general and more non-white people/women in particular. I'm not saying white men aren't making the grade. I'm just saying: This is what publishing seems to doing right now. But I admit this might be more perception/anecdote than reality. Your graph seems to shift the narrative in your direction versus mine.
The reason there are more female authors is because the editors are now overwhelmingly female, and they don't want to publish books by men or for men. While books sales continue to plummet, female publishing executives celebrate the fact that 80% of fiction readers are women. No doubt they would like that number to increase, even if it means fewer sales overall.
Publishing is now a very unwelcoming industry for men, more so than it was for women in the 1950s. The industry is also obsessed with 'diversity', and if you are white or straight - as most Western people are - you will be deprioritised, however good your writing is. Identity politics is killing publishing.
We're all out here being ignored by the industry ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Was going to say the same thing! We're here... just undiscovered.
I'm 30. I've self-published 3 novels and obviously I'm not a bestseller. When I was finishing book #1 I was doing research on the publishing industry versus self publishing. I found the entire industry just too intimidating and creatively stifling. From what I read, the industry seems to be circling the wagons, focusing more on existing authors than new ones, and chasing trends more and more. The biggest turn-off to me was that when you pitch you're supposed to provide comps in the format of X meets Y. Fuck that. My stuff is my stuff it's not a compilation of someone else's. So I said fuck it and self-published. Maybe a lot of younger authors have either gone the same route, or gotten bogged down in the publishing industry as it is right now.
I'm working on my first novel now. If anything, the need to feed my self takes precedent over any creative output I have. Just like you said, there is no stability in publishing anymore and we no longer live in a time where it makes sense to feasibly take that risk. Just yesterday I was talking to another writer friend of mine and we both joked that if we were offered half our current salaries to move out to L.A. and work in a writer's room for a 22 episode a season we'd take it even if we had to get 4 roommates each. But that pathway has dried up and I believe the same can mostly be said for publishing. We want to write but we have to eat. I was recently accepted into a short play festival but it's unpaid and this is the first acceptance I've gotten in 3 years of submitting. A lot of us don't like those odds. In the meantime, I'll keep writing when I can and maybe I'll find a schedule that allows me to be more prolific.
To be honest, I’ve always seen the ability to spend four or five years writing your next novel as a sign of your publisher’s support. As someone who began in the YA trenches and was asked to write a book a year, the idea that I could spend four years writing a novel is a marvelous one. For someone like one of the marquee millennial names you mentioned, I would hope (perhaps wrongly!) that their advance for their last project would give them the financial security to write the book they wanted to write. This is of course certainly not the case for all or even the majority of writers taking their time to put out novels, but I think it’s worth considering.
As others have touched on—not writing or not getting published? I’m working on a third book, and they take me 5-10 years to write in free time between day job hours or periods of unemployment. It’s not possible to live on part time pay where I live so writing is slow. I’ve also seen my last novel get repeatedly rejected by agents and publishers who are younger than me, and if there are young agents, maybe Gen Z taste is different from what elder millennials are writing? I find pop culture/writing is generally very literal, and very identity- or self-focused at the moment, with Gen Z steering us in that direction.
In their 80’s?
Good piece! I often wonder the same thing. I don't have the data to back up my opinions, but here are my thoughts.The publishing industry is in rough shape, and they focus on celebrity memoirs and established genre writers over developing new talent in the literary space. I think the market also wants to see new, diverse voices; work that reflects the changing demographics of the US. Books written by foreign authors are getting translated and made popular at what seems to be a much higher rate. That's all to say, young people are writing, but they just aren't getting published at the same clip as they used to.
> “We live in a time where actors are tequila moguls, rappers are actors, and seemingly everyone owns a makeup, clothing, or lifestyle “brand.” Creative careers are run as empires rather than as individuals who are maximizing creative output in the one discipline they are exceptional at.”
Really well said. This also applies to professional athletes now. I couldn’t help notice while watching the NFL playoffs the sheer amount of players, ex-players and coaches who have shilled themselves out in commercials, and it’s not just not one or two, it’s industry wide, it’s completely over-saturated and nauseating. They’ve basically replaced normal TV commercial actors at this rate. It’s absurdly unnatural & uncomfortable to watch too. I cringe at how willingly they defile and debase themselves on these commercials. Their postures are rigid, their tone is off and their lines are often very cliche sounding. But it doesn’t matter because they have a sellable image which they build empires off of, this contradiction results in them ultimately becoming parasites. Athletes are multi-talented influencers; podcasters, actors, videographers, presenters, designers or CEOs. It’s like there’s massive race now for professionals to sell themselves at whatever and any cost to capital just to get ahead. And if anyone criticises them they’re immediately told “let them get their bag to weird”, such an insane culture we live in. The creative output of this society is not what can add value but “what can make money”.
I'm 35. I look 45 and I feel 85. My target audience is readers from the 70-95 age bracket. Where are my geriatric readers at?
Thank you for this great piece. One important consideration I had to make in my own career was YA vs Adult books. Adult books followed a schedule of maybe one book every 3 or 4 years. Even if you were a star. That's a lot of waiting.
Young Adult novels however, they could publish them as fast as you could write them (almost). They had to be good of course.
They’re like… Uh… I donno. Wait… text coming in…. LOL. That was my bestie. Oh, what did you … Wait… Another text. Okay, I’m like, ah, watching this series and it’s ah… given me an idea for a vampire, I mean, a werewolf, script where the… (who’s the bad guy?) Oh, yeah, LOL, the antagonist… LIke the an… What was he… I mean, she… call… Oh. Sorry. Another text. OMG! Johnny just sexted me. Where were we…
I’m hopeful that the writing/publishing sector of our economy does not go the way of so many other sectors of our economy, where a few titans dominate and the rest of us are fighting for the scraps that drop onto the floor. I personally am encouraged that Substack is a sufficient platform to allow anyone who has the wherewithal to produce helpful and enlightening content to thrive and perhaps make a decent living writing full-time (or at least, supplement the income of a regular job.)
It really bothers me that the Millennials often get a bad rap for a variety of reasons. The oldest of us are mid-40’s, the youngest are pushing 30. We’ve lived long enough and have had the opportunity to experience enough life to have our thoughts and musings read, appreciated, and valued. I hope, that as time passes, the community will recognize this and give us what I feel is well deserved attention and value for our work.
Well-written and well-mused. Well-done!
Read and write on!