Summary

The writing industry is undergoing significant disruption, with technology enabling more writers to publish without traditional gatekeepers, shorter content becoming more popular, and AI tools increasingly contributing to content creation.

Abstract

The landscape of the writing world is rapidly changing, with five key transformations shaping its future. Firstly, the barrier to entry for authors has been lowered, allowing anyone to publish without the need for industry connections or formal writing qualifications, thanks to online platforms like Medium and Kindle Direct Publishing. Secondly, traditional publishing is facing a decline as self-publishing becomes more accessible and authors can directly market their digital books to a global audience. Thirdly, the conversion of text to audio has become more straightforward, providing authors with additional distribution channels. Fourthly, the shrinking attention span of readers is leading to a preference for shorter books and content that is easily digestible. Lastly, AI-driven writing tools such as GPT and Jasper are becoming prevalent, enabling the rapid generation of content and introducing a new dynamic where human writers must compete with or leverage AI technology.

Opinions

The author expresses surprise at the extent of changes in the writing industry over the past 25 years, emphasizing the transformative impact of technology.
There is an optimistic view on the democratization of writing and publishing, with platforms enabling writers to gain experience and monetize their work without traditional barriers.
The author suggests that marketing is now a crucial skill for authors due to the ease of self-publishing and the resulting competitive market.
The shift towards digital book formats and the decline of physical book sales are acknowledged as significant trends.
The author sees the integration of AI in writing as both a challenge and an opportunity, noting that AI-generated content is becoming increasingly indistinguishable from human-written content.
The author advocates for transparency in the use of AI for content generation, suggesting that disclosure of AI-generated content is a matter of integrity, akin to the use of ghostwriters.

5 Amazing Ways the Writing World Is Being Disrupted. Are You Ready?

Writers — stay ahead of the curve.

I started really, truly focusing on my writing career when I quit my full-time job this past summer.

The truth is, I’ve always been a writer. I’ve been writing since the single-digit ages in some form or capacity.

In college, I dabbled in creative fiction and thought briefly about getting an MFA. I abandoned that for a paycheck career.

Last summer after 20+ years I dropped down that career to part-time and started to seriously pursue writing.

Imagine my surprise upon resurfacing after 25 years, to see what the writing world looks like.

Brace yourselves, change is already here…and more change is coming.

1. You Don’t Need To Be a Professional Writer Anymore

In the past, if you wanted to be a published author you needed to know someone in the publishing industry, have a brilliant idea for a book, or both.

But nowadays, anyone can become a published author without ever leaving their home. You don’t need to be a professional writer to write and sell books. Heck, you don’t even need an MFA.

How? By using one of the many online writing platforms that are available today.

Since quarantine started, new authors are jumping onto writing platforms that will allow them to experiment and gain experience. No prior experience is required. Writers can write whatever they want.

The reader community votes and the best stories float to the top and make money. It’s a perfect system where the writing platform is just the enabler. The best writers can make thousands of dollars on these platforms every month.

Here are some writing platforms to check out (that don’t require a special invitation):

Medium
Kindle Direct Publishing
Kindle Vella
Radish (and many other writing apps looking for serialized fiction authors)

No matter what your writing goals are, there’s a writing platform available to help you achieve them.

2. Traditional Publishing Is Waning

The traditional publishing industry is being disrupted in a number of ways.

First, self-publishing has never been easier. With platforms like Draft2Digital, Kindle Direct Publishing, and Kobo, all you need is some good writing. These platforms will guide you through the publishing steps, and even allow you to publish in multiple book marketplaces (not just Amazon), as well as globally.

Feeling overwhelmed? There are communities that will help you learn how to self-publish your book. Communities like 20BooksTo50K teach budding authors how to publish their books without ever leaving their homes.

Second, thanks to the internet, it’s now easier than ever for authors to market their books. Not an avid marketer? Take a course — there are many available online to teach you how to learn how to create ads, market on social media, and get your name out there. In a sea of new authors, marketing has become an essential skill to get your book found.

Finally, physical book sales are being overtaken by digital book formats. E-books are now outselling print books, and this trend is only going to continue. Although there are platforms that will help you create physical books, they’re no longer required to reach a wide audience of readers.

3. Text Conversion to Audio Is Easier Than Ever

Did you notice on Medium that there’s now an audio button on stories? It’s easier than ever to turn the written word into audio.

This is not new. Kindle had the text-to-speech feature for many years. In addition, smartphones have followed suit and you can have your phone read text from many apps directly to you.

However, the audio on these features is not that great. The voices sound robotic. Yet, it does offer another format for your writing, and generally for free.

If you’re looking for something more human, many narrator marketplaces are available now. Findaway Voices (recently acquired by Spotify) will allow you to convert your written word to audio for a fee, with naturally sounding voices and different voice options. Other major platforms are following suit.

4. Attention Spans Are Thinning

In the past, if you wanted to be a successful writer, you needed to be able to write long-form content. But this isn’t the case anymore.

Shorter attention spans = Shorter books

It’s no secret that people have shorter attention spans than ever before. This is one of the reasons why books are becoming shorter. According to a study by the Huffington Post, the average length of a book has decreased from ~250 pages in the 1970s to ~170 pages in the 2010s.

This trend isn’t going away anytime soon. In fact, it’s only going to continue as people become more impatient and distracted.

These days, people are more interested in shorter pieces of content that are easy to read and digest. This is one of the reasons why blogs are so popular.

So what does all this mean for writers? It means that you need to be prepared to write shorter books. People simply don’t have the attention span to read long books anymore.

But don’t worry — this isn’t a bad thing. It just means that you need to focus on writing shorter, punchier books that capture your readers’ attention from page one.

5. Robots Are Taking Over Writing

Ever heard of GPT or Jarvis/Jasper?

GPT-3/GPT-4 are AI models that are being used to generate text. These AI models are getting better, and they’re quickly becoming a popular way to rapidly create content for websites and blogs.

GPT is open source but requires a high learning curve. A new version called InstructGPT is now out and can receive commands. You can use GPT to generate blog posts, short stories, and books.

Jasper (formerly known as Jarvis) is another AI model that allows you to feed it instructions and receive text in return.

Jasper requires a monthly fee and has a low-to-medium learning curve. Pricing is by the word and feature set. Its Boss Mode plan can receive commands.

You can use Jasper to generate blog posts, short stories, and books. The content created becomes your own and is not plagiarized. You can also use Jasper for a variety of other important content tasks.

There are also other AI platforms out there like Jasper that require a fee.

So what does this mean for writers? It means that you need to be prepared to compete with robots. Yes, robots are taking over the writing world, and they’re quickly becoming a popular way to rapidly write content. You may not even know anymore if what you’re reading was generated by a human or a robot. They’re getting that good.

Don’t believe me? This post was 60% generated by artificial intelligence. And in about 5 minutes. I edited it for another hour and made some tweaks and added some additional content. An educational post completed in just over 60 minutes!

Get ready, the robots are coming!

*NOTE: There is a question of whether or not content generated by robots should be disclosed. Although this is a practice I follow, many do not. I think you’d be surprised how much content on business websites, blog sites, and even here at Medium is now generated by robots. One could argue this practice of using robots is no different than using ghostwriters.

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