If you’re a writer who loathes the things that many book publishers make you do and be to successfully publish a book, don’t miss

jenpollockmichel.substack.com/p/the-day…

It struck me that many of the most "successful" writers in Christian book publishing are at heart marketers, not writers. I don't mean that they aren't writing their books (although some of them are definitely relying on uncredited ghostwriters), but that the thing they are really good at is creating media-driven buzz around their persona and their product. It's the second part of publishing that they're great at; the writing itself isn't the thing they're excited or particularly skilled to do. Writing is the means to the end of selling books, not writing books.

Of course, Christian book publishers play a significant role in accelerating this dynamic, not only by rewarding truly bad writing with large advances based on author platform, but also by asking genuinely good writers to focus more of their creative energy on the second phase of book publishing before the first phase is even through.

I'm quite sober about the challenges of the marketplace, and of course, I want the publishing division I help to lead to sell books! I just hate that we've created this business culture that disincentivizes good writers from writing good books.