Wednesday, December 28, 2011

The Only Constant Is Change

We have all heard that phrase before. Things are always changing and publishing is certainly no different. It is for this reason that all authors need to be able to find a voice that is unique but to be aware that their style needs to constantly be changing.

I frequently have authors submit projects to me and in their query, they tell me they were successful writers 5, 10 and even 20 years ago. I pull up their numbers and they certainly were successful. But for whatever reason, they ended up stopping their writing and now were trying to revive that career. Unfortunately, I find that in almost all of the cases, I end up passing on their writing. Why? Their styles have not changed. They are writing in a style that has long gone by.

As a writer, you have to constantly find ways to evolve your writing. To make changes to what you put on the page meeting the needs of a changing society. No, this is not writing to trends, but writing to a population. You simply cannot say, "this is what I write so deal with it." To be successful, you have to find what works.

Scott

1 comment:

  1. Interestingly enough, I thought of something recently along the lines of, "Time goes by fast, but change happens slow." You have to be the one willing to change and sometimes as writers we aren't ready to move on from a period of time we felt was our best, or most productive. And that's probably what those writers you read felt. They didn't allow themselves to grow as writers...and it isn't easy to grow as a writer. You have to write...a LOT. But, hopefully, we all, at some point, become ready to grow, and to move forward.

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