The novel is dying in front of our very eyes

Media cannot be limited to the book release date. It must be a 24/7, 365-day-a-year effort

Variety ran a disturbing piece by Bob Lefsetz about the state of the music industry, called The album is dying in front of our very eyes. I took the liberty to do a simple search-and-replace to see if the article applies to book publishing as well. Guess what…

The novel is dying in front of our very eyes

In other words, what kind of screwed up world do we live in where Katy Perry’s new novel “Prism” sells only 287,000 copies in its debut? One in which everybody’s interested in the author, and no one’s got time to sit and read your hour-plus statement.

This is not emotion, this is statistics. The shelf life of news is shorter than ever. The shelf life of art. … You blink and it’s done.

I’m fine with you preaching to the choir, writing an novel for your fans. You gotta go where you wanna go, do what you wanna do. But if your plan is to increase your audience, spread the word and make money, suddenly the novel just isn’t working anymore. The youngsters are streaming short stories and the oldsters are staying home.

How do I know? Kluun’s latest isn’t even in the top 60, and [fill in the name of your own formerly mega bestselling author here]’s novel barely broke 20,000 this week, and there wasn’t a better oldster hype than for these two projects. People just don’t want ’em.

So what’s the industry to do? Have a rethink.

In other words, hype doesn’t work.

No one had more hype than Miley Cyrus, but “Bangerz” didn’t even sell 45,000 copies in its fourth week of release. She can go on “DWDD,” tweet her life away, but it’s not moving the needle. Lorde is selling as much as Miley without the benefit of scorched earth, proving quality writing is as good as hype. But Lorde isn’t burning up the chart either.

We’ve turned into a nation of grazers. And the writer’s job is to constantly be at the smorgasbord. Not to deliver one big meal that is picked at and thrown away, but to constantly provide tantalizing bites to the public.

Media cannot be limited to the book release date. It must be a 24/7, 365-day-a-year effort. Same with creativity. If your book gets traction, more power to you. If it doesn’t, go back in the writing shed and make more. In other words, if you’re sitting at home bitching that you’re not making any money because the Internet stole your business, you’re RIGHT! There are so many diversions that no one’s got time for mediocre anymore.

If you’ve got a concept novel, go ahead and write it. If you’re only interested in selling a little, be my guest. But if you want to penetrate the consciousness of a large group of people and grow the pie, a book isn’t working. Hell, it’s not even working as a revenue model!

Publishers are no longer in the book business, they’re in the star business. How to maximize the revenue of an writer in as many media as possible, in as many ways as possible. Yes, while you were bitching about piracy, your whole business model disappeared.

You put out these books, and in almost every case, the public moves on in a matter of WEEKS. A few bought it, they read it, and they’re satisfied — and left waiting for years until you grace them with a new release. The rest of the public is just waiting for a glossy magazine or newspaper column to burble, and if it does, they’ll tap their toes and snap their fingers and ask, “WHAT ELSE HAVE YOU GOT?” And what you’ve got had better be just as good as the hit.

No one wants novels anymore unless they’re every bit as satisfying as the snazzy column.

So it’s not only writers who have stopped putting out novels; eventually, no one will do it. Oh, it won’t be soon, because writers think making novels is part of their DNA, going into the writing shed and making a 300 page statement.

But that’s like saying typewriters have to be an office fixture. And you can’t post online unless you write in multiple paragraphs. And texting must be abandoned because it’s not in-depth enough.

The goal of a writer is to be AHEAD of the audience. Right now everybody’s behind.