The Long-Lost Days of the Paperback Writer
I THOROUGHLY ENJOY reading books from the early and mid-20th century. I spend a good amount of my time perusing short stories from my literary heroes of that era (Fitzgerald, Twain, Poe), but I also enjoy many of the forgettable paperbacks that sold like hot cakes during those prized decades.
Some of these paperbacks contain blurbs from the authors about how they had kind of stumbled into the writing profession. I have no doubt that the successful authors from that long-ago era earned every dime of their royalties, but at the same time I get the sense that it was much easier to make a good living as a writer 50 or 60 years ago. Read this biography excerpt from author Ron Goulart’s book Clockwork’s Pirates (1971):
“After graduating from college in 1955 I spent the next few years in the advertising business…I had a crew cut and wore a gray flannel Brooks Brothers suit…Some three years ago I was able to say goodbye to all that and have been doing only books and stories since.”
In the 1957 book Doctor in Love, author Richard Gordon explains in a biographical blurb how he eventually quit the medical profession (he had been an anesthesiologist) to continue his writing career. That must have been nice!
Everyone was reading books back then, regardless of education level. Books were incredibly important, and I gather that people would gossip with coworkers and neighbors about the wonderful new books they were reading that month.
Fast-forward to 2023 — a time where physical books have become almost as rare as Betamax and Alf reruns. When people learn that I am a fiction writer, I often get the following comments: I can’t remember the last time I read a book — That’s cool, but we [as in their entire family] don’t read books — I haven’t read a book since high school — I sometimes listen to audiobooks now…
So, go easy on yourself out there, fellow fiction writer. The era where fiction writers could quietly sit at home, write their books, send them to their agents, and collect sufficient royalties to support themselves and their families is gone forever. Modern-day expectations placed upon fiction writers to constantly promote themselves on social media and the internet to hopefully make just a few bucks are neither realistic nor sustainable. If you set out to write a fiction book with the hopes of becoming a commercial success and supporting your family, you will almost certainly be disappointed.
Remember that you are writing books because you wish to leave behind a worthwhile body of work and because you love books and are keen on the writing process. If you enjoy online self-promotion and spending several hours each day on social media, then by all means, continue onward. But if you are just a creative individual like myself who wishes to simply write, edit and publish, then know that you are not alone, and there is nothing wrong with choosing that route.
I suppose the silver lining in all of this is that the financial shackles of the Literary Past have been removed, and writers are now free to create and publish whatever they please. So just do your own thing, fellow fiction writer, and allow the stress and worrying to fall from your being like a hat blowing from your head in the wind.
J.S. Lender’s new novella + short story collection, Terror at Twin Lakes, is on sale now! Follow J.S. Lender on Instagram and on Substack.
Copyright © 2023 Reef Point Press / J.S. Lender
