Everything Is Content

...and that sucks

hello lover,

I don’t think I’ve made a secret of how hard publishing has been lately; most authors have been pretty vocal. Writing, publishing, and marketing books when there are multiple wars, a climate crisis, a genocide (just to name a few things) is fucking hard. There have been quite a few think pieces in the form of Threads or Substacks discussing how apathetic publishers currently are to picking up books from mid-list authors. Whether you’re a trad or indie (or both, like myself) author, you are expected to be selling ALL the time. Social media is the new storefront. Your books, your writing process, and your life, are all sacrifices to the content gods. But often, even when we chop up our books for content, we don’t end up seeing an effect on sales further down the sales funnel (I hate that I have had to write the words sales funnel in this newsletter at all). And I promise, I’m not complaining. I am getting to a point.

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Almost every time I write a newsletter, I find myself staring at my computer screen for what feels like hours. Either I don’t know what to say or I do know what I want to say but don’t know how to say it. This time, it feels even harder than that.

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I’ve been working hard on improving my marketing efforts, posting on social media more frequently, identifying content funnels¹, even writing this newsletter to you more frequently (thank you for being here ilysm). But doing so has highlighted for me that however exhausting it is to be an author, it’s probably just as exhausting to be a reader right now.

All you get is your favourite authors trying to sell you something. You see trial reels from authors you’ve never even heard of, trying to sell you something. You see tropes and character art and highlighted Kindle quotes, trying to sell you something. I wonder what you think of us, dear reader? Do you wonder if you’re anymore to us than just a transaction? That breaks my fucking heart.

One of the things I hate the most about book marketing is that it often feels so empty, so disconnected from the very people I’m trying to reach. And if it feels that way for me, it must feel that way for you too, right?

I’m so sorry dear reader, if you’ve ever felt that from me. Truly.

I write books because I want to talk about how it feels to be a human, because I want to explore those feelings and experiences. Because I want to share with other people my translation of what humanity feels like to me. And while I can’t speak for all my colleagues, I feel strongly that they want that, too. That beyond all these trends and Canva graphics, that’s all any of us really want: to connect.

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Even this newsletter, these words I am typing right now, they are my attempt at connection but also an asset in my marketing portfolio. A way to nurture warm customers at the end of the sales funnel.²

I feel disingenuous while at the same time hoping you understand me, maybe even feel the same way.

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I saw on Threads recently that Dead Internet Theory may be upon us.³ Honestly, for a moment I felt relief. I dreamed of a future where I wasn’t locked to my computer or phone. One where I didn’t have to worry what strangers might think of my photos. Where book ideas weren’t rejected or accepted based on how quickly they could hook a TikTok user.

But alas, if the Internet was well and truly useless I wouldn’t be here, right now, trying to connect with you, getting this chance.

This is my roundabout way of saying: thank you for being here. Thank you letting me blather on about my feelings and the moral and ethical debates I had before sending this to you.

Okay, that’s it, I’m done. Publishing is hard. The Internet sucks. But we are here, at least.

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Since you probably also want to read about something like remotely book related, here’s a book I read recently and LOVED⁴:

A movie I watched recently that TOTALLY CREEPED ME OUT in the best way⁵:

And a TV show that DELIGHTED ME and is my new comfort series"⁶:

If you’ve gotten this far, please share a book you enjoyed, a movie that made you feel any emotion at all, or your comfort show? Pretty please?

xo

Rubes

1. ugh

2. UGH

3. Dead Internet Theory asserts that at a certain points there will be more bots participating on the Internet than real, human users and that when that happens (and it could already have happened) the Internet will be rendered effectively useless as an economic tool since you can’t sell to bots, but more dystopian, an Internet consisting mostly of bots is an Internet that can be better used to control people through algorithmic curation and discourage organic human connection.

4. My love Ada and I will be in conversation with Kath Richards this June 18th at 8:30pm EST on IG Live to celebrate the release of this lovely book!

5. Shout out to Ben and Shaun for always letting me tag along to movies with them like I am their platonic third…which I guess is just another word for friend? Either way, where would a bi girl be without her gay boyfriends? I don’t ever want to find out.

6. After literal years of shouting at me about this show, Writing Wife Jennifer Whiteford, finally peaked my interest enough to get me to watch it and I will never ignore her shouts again. I was wrong, I’m sorry it took me so long. This is the best show ever.