There’s a race
in the Romance Novel Industry
to determine which writers
can produce
the most stories
in a year.
The thing is…
this doesn’t make
writers more fulfilled as artists.
Sharing one story
every month
doesn’t make a writer
happier in the creative sense
than sharing one story
every two months.
And it doesn’t make
writers wealthier.
Investing the same energy,
time, money, other resources
into promoting
a book every month
doesn’t necessarily result
in more profit
than promoting
a book every two months.
Once you’re producing
enough books a year,
creative happiness and wealth
doesn’t normally increase
with producing more.
So why do writers release
a book a month?
Because they’re concerned about
bookseller rankings.
They’re concerned about that status.
Why don’t they produce
MORE than a story a month?
(As many of these writers
are outsourcing the writing,
they CAN produce that.)
Because rankings don’t increase
when more than a story a month
is released.
There is a limit
to the status
the writer can obtain
by merely producing more stories.
“Life without limits
rarely leads to satisfaction.
And billionaires who pay taxes
aren’t less driven
or less happy
than billionaires who don’t.
For them,
for all single-axis competitors,
it’s the game,
the hierarchy,
the rankings that matter.
In fact,
that’s true for
just about everyone
who cares about status.
Boundaries are what
allow games of status
to exist.”
There IS a point
where you’re working only for status.
Realize this.
Be aware of this point.
Know that this is what
you’re working for.