I also loved the article! I think you did a great job addressing the catalyst article by considering their points and calling for more without name calling and disparaging criticism. Your insights, expertise, and voice of reason were super shiny in your piece! I’m so glad we have voices like yours.
Website design is so important—and such a headache! I’m so glad I hired someone to do mine. It was expensive, but a worthwhile investment (I think). Best of luck to the web designers out there—I don’t imagine working with artists is especially easy! Katewebbwrites.com
Oooh your website is just lovely! If it feels appropriate and you want to share who helped with yours, please do! (Thank you for your kind comments, also, on my piece.)
Absolutely! I worked with Megan Lloyd at https://www.meganlloyd.org/webdesign/ She is professional, personable, competitively priced, and did a beautiful job—both with the design and the functionality! I feel like I hoisted a heavy load onto her with my website being so unique and my style so highly decorative, but she leaned into it and worked hard to make sure it represented me. She is experienced and gave me support and space when I had an anxiety attack about “selling” my work….”Everyone goes through this!” She told me. I’m still not sure if I believe her, but I was so grateful and surprised to find that level of insight and compassion in a business transaction. I would recommend her to ANYONE—especially creatives!
Thanks so much for your well-researched take at the Writers Chronicle and for James Tate Hill for asking for it--he's great. I keep thinking about Carnegie, Steinbeck, and Wright perhaps operating in a reciprocal literary relationship they didn't even know about--a different sort of book club.
I appreciate your nuanced perspective in the Writers Chronicle article -- book lovers ride at dawn! I'm always tempted to crawl under a rock and moan about how capitalism is ruining the world, but it's heartening to know that we as readers have an influence (and responsibility!) with our purchasing of books. Thank you for your generosity with your industry wisdom and a BIG thank you for the shout-out! Also... I'm VERY curious to hear about what the medium has to say... 👀
Courtney, First of all, thank you. What I find super interesting is the constellation of articles which deal directly with the issue, like you, more around it like Jane Friedman and Allison K. Williams about the paper in the WALRUS or today Adam Pearson in Metropolitan review on substack , about the Booker prize.
I recently began to think about responsibility, yes, yes, respons-ability . By the way in the Hebrew language "Ah'aryout' (responsibility) is both about about ah'er (later in time- after/ward, what follows) and ah'er ( the other). so... responsibiliy is about the other, the perspective, futur time and possibly past time, too.
I believe the responsibility of the writer is to his/her art, not to the reader. But that does not mean that the other has no responsibility - I do play on the other - me, you, us, the readers - and the other kind of reponsibility: the ethical one.
I do appreciate that you address the publication aspect the Big Five but I think we lost the perspective aspect of this ethical question.
It's about a couple. Like in every couple there are crisis and repair, and a responsibility for the other well being and self-preservation; autonomy, desire, narcissim, children if there are children involved, sharing the economic burden, etc. Some time disconnect and some time reconnect. On the long run (ah'aryout as time) we know that the couple we care about would reconnect- yes, in the meantime they have changed. Both of them have changed, writers and readers. The crisis between the 'literary' and the publication business isa symptom of thisinevitable change . It is not the first and last 'end of lietrature' era, ( remeber 'the end of history'?) As Peter Brooks showed us moving 40 years after from 'Reading for the Plot' to 'Seduced by Story: The Use and Abuse of Narrative' - 40 years!. Thank you again.
I feel so lucky that I got to meet you and work with you in San Miguel. Thank you for all the great ideas and encouragement. My deepest gratitude for the shout-out. I'm crossing my fingers for Ghost Story Part II. I lived in a haunted house in college and my ghost was a total menace. Dealing with the supernatural is a trippy experience. Can't wait to hear what your medium says!
The full article you wrote was a full meal and I enjoyed devouring it.
I remember the headlines and response to the piece when it was causing a kerfuffle. And I remember Kathleen's response on Notes. While the headline drew me in, I wasn't able to get through the whole post, likely for the same reason I couldn't keep reading Prince Harry's, Spare. Too angry. Too much written for shock value.
I love your point about not publishing from a place of anger. Often I will find myself writing from that place, but now you've given us two good examples as to why it's not a good idea to publish. It's easy and lazy on our part. Thanks for this excellent piece. It's also nice to know, as someone that does want to write and publish a book one day, that there's still a ray of hope!
Your article and Substack post were clearheaded and at times, funny. Thanks for taking the drama out of what already feels like a dramatic path to traditional publication. I especially liked that part in the article about your debut tour of your Big 5 publisher and being told to thank the guy who wrote this bestselling book because it’s paying for your book tour. Sure puts things in perspective.
YES!! "reciprocal literary culture" - we need reciprocal relationships more than ever these days, in friendship, in literary support, in parenting, in living with neighbors, in work lives, in all facets of our lives. "How can we support each other" should be a guiding mantra, and it's as essential to the questions in this essay as all vital parts of our lives. Thank you!
Thanks for writing this. In my MFA program I heard a lot of similar sentiments regarding the Big 5 that were also expressed in the essay you wrote in response to. I often heard others say that if you want to publish with them you will have to sell out and diminish your work basically. As a marketing professional for my day job however, I saw it quite differently and suspected there was some envy or insecurity rooted in those comments. I think because the process of writing is so solitary it makes the competitive aspect of it more heightened too at times.
I totally agree. And there was certainly a period where marginalized writers were either overlooked or asked to make their stories more palatable/whitewashed. There was a big reckoning over this during the pandemic years and that course seems to be (slowly, belatedly) course correcting but, to be clear, I’m a white person so my birds eye view opinion on this doesn’t count for much!
Ah, now I know why I didn't "run into you" at the conference last week. You taught a memoir class! Well, an agent there asked for my full. I'm not finished doing final revisions, but he said he'll wait.
Fabulous article! So glad it wasn’t behind a paywall. Thank you for doing the research and writing this. I’d come across the headline of the original post and hadn’t bothered reading it because it’s obvious to me that the Big Five aren’t killing literary fiction, and I assumed the title was click bait tbh. (Btw, I’ve read your point before about commercial authors, in effect, supporting literary authors and have internalized it. It’s both such a sensible and reassuring way of looking at the situation. I’ve shared it with other writers, and it always resonates.)
I also loved the article! I think you did a great job addressing the catalyst article by considering their points and calling for more without name calling and disparaging criticism. Your insights, expertise, and voice of reason were super shiny in your piece! I’m so glad we have voices like yours.
Website design is so important—and such a headache! I’m so glad I hired someone to do mine. It was expensive, but a worthwhile investment (I think). Best of luck to the web designers out there—I don’t imagine working with artists is especially easy! Katewebbwrites.com
Oooh your website is just lovely! If it feels appropriate and you want to share who helped with yours, please do! (Thank you for your kind comments, also, on my piece.)
Absolutely! I worked with Megan Lloyd at https://www.meganlloyd.org/webdesign/ She is professional, personable, competitively priced, and did a beautiful job—both with the design and the functionality! I feel like I hoisted a heavy load onto her with my website being so unique and my style so highly decorative, but she leaned into it and worked hard to make sure it represented me. She is experienced and gave me support and space when I had an anxiety attack about “selling” my work….”Everyone goes through this!” She told me. I’m still not sure if I believe her, but I was so grateful and surprised to find that level of insight and compassion in a business transaction. I would recommend her to ANYONE—especially creatives!
Thank you! Hope that others see this.
Thanks so much for your well-researched take at the Writers Chronicle and for James Tate Hill for asking for it--he's great. I keep thinking about Carnegie, Steinbeck, and Wright perhaps operating in a reciprocal literary relationship they didn't even know about--a different sort of book club.
Thank you for reading!
I love that!
I appreciate your nuanced perspective in the Writers Chronicle article -- book lovers ride at dawn! I'm always tempted to crawl under a rock and moan about how capitalism is ruining the world, but it's heartening to know that we as readers have an influence (and responsibility!) with our purchasing of books. Thank you for your generosity with your industry wisdom and a BIG thank you for the shout-out! Also... I'm VERY curious to hear about what the medium has to say... 👀
Thank you for reading! The medium felt something kind of horrifying so I’m staying mum about it.
I know Nancy! 🥰 Beautiful book, gorgeous website.
Thank you for providing the link to your piece. Excellent reading for an author whose agent pitched her debut novel to Big Fives.
Thank you so much for reading and taking the time to comment.
Courtney, First of all, thank you. What I find super interesting is the constellation of articles which deal directly with the issue, like you, more around it like Jane Friedman and Allison K. Williams about the paper in the WALRUS or today Adam Pearson in Metropolitan review on substack , about the Booker prize.
I recently began to think about responsibility, yes, yes, respons-ability . By the way in the Hebrew language "Ah'aryout' (responsibility) is both about about ah'er (later in time- after/ward, what follows) and ah'er ( the other). so... responsibiliy is about the other, the perspective, futur time and possibly past time, too.
I believe the responsibility of the writer is to his/her art, not to the reader. But that does not mean that the other has no responsibility - I do play on the other - me, you, us, the readers - and the other kind of reponsibility: the ethical one.
I do appreciate that you address the publication aspect the Big Five but I think we lost the perspective aspect of this ethical question.
It's about a couple. Like in every couple there are crisis and repair, and a responsibility for the other well being and self-preservation; autonomy, desire, narcissim, children if there are children involved, sharing the economic burden, etc. Some time disconnect and some time reconnect. On the long run (ah'aryout as time) we know that the couple we care about would reconnect- yes, in the meantime they have changed. Both of them have changed, writers and readers. The crisis between the 'literary' and the publication business isa symptom of thisinevitable change . It is not the first and last 'end of lietrature' era, ( remeber 'the end of history'?) As Peter Brooks showed us moving 40 years after from 'Reading for the Plot' to 'Seduced by Story: The Use and Abuse of Narrative' - 40 years!. Thank you again.
I needed this kind of perspective - thank you for sharing!
I feel so lucky that I got to meet you and work with you in San Miguel. Thank you for all the great ideas and encouragement. My deepest gratitude for the shout-out. I'm crossing my fingers for Ghost Story Part II. I lived in a haunted house in college and my ghost was a total menace. Dealing with the supernatural is a trippy experience. Can't wait to hear what your medium says!
The full article you wrote was a full meal and I enjoyed devouring it.
I remember the headlines and response to the piece when it was causing a kerfuffle. And I remember Kathleen's response on Notes. While the headline drew me in, I wasn't able to get through the whole post, likely for the same reason I couldn't keep reading Prince Harry's, Spare. Too angry. Too much written for shock value.
I love your point about not publishing from a place of anger. Often I will find myself writing from that place, but now you've given us two good examples as to why it's not a good idea to publish. It's easy and lazy on our part. Thanks for this excellent piece. It's also nice to know, as someone that does want to write and publish a book one day, that there's still a ray of hope!
Thank you for reading!
Your article and Substack post were clearheaded and at times, funny. Thanks for taking the drama out of what already feels like a dramatic path to traditional publication. I especially liked that part in the article about your debut tour of your Big 5 publisher and being told to thank the guy who wrote this bestselling book because it’s paying for your book tour. Sure puts things in perspective.
Thank you for reading!
Courtney, on the ghost issue, if you want another medium to speak to I recommend Dominique Merlin. DominiqueMerlin.com.
YES!! "reciprocal literary culture" - we need reciprocal relationships more than ever these days, in friendship, in literary support, in parenting, in living with neighbors, in work lives, in all facets of our lives. "How can we support each other" should be a guiding mantra, and it's as essential to the questions in this essay as all vital parts of our lives. Thank you!
Thanks for writing this. In my MFA program I heard a lot of similar sentiments regarding the Big 5 that were also expressed in the essay you wrote in response to. I often heard others say that if you want to publish with them you will have to sell out and diminish your work basically. As a marketing professional for my day job however, I saw it quite differently and suspected there was some envy or insecurity rooted in those comments. I think because the process of writing is so solitary it makes the competitive aspect of it more heightened too at times.
I totally agree. And there was certainly a period where marginalized writers were either overlooked or asked to make their stories more palatable/whitewashed. There was a big reckoning over this during the pandemic years and that course seems to be (slowly, belatedly) course correcting but, to be clear, I’m a white person so my birds eye view opinion on this doesn’t count for much!
Ah, now I know why I didn't "run into you" at the conference last week. You taught a memoir class! Well, an agent there asked for my full. I'm not finished doing final revisions, but he said he'll wait.
Congrats!
Fabulous article! So glad it wasn’t behind a paywall. Thank you for doing the research and writing this. I’d come across the headline of the original post and hadn’t bothered reading it because it’s obvious to me that the Big Five aren’t killing literary fiction, and I assumed the title was click bait tbh. (Btw, I’ve read your point before about commercial authors, in effect, supporting literary authors and have internalized it. It’s both such a sensible and reassuring way of looking at the situation. I’ve shared it with other writers, and it always resonates.)
Thank you so much for commenting and for taking the time to read!