It feels like burnout has been a theme for the past year or more, coming from favorite authors and others I’ve never read. It’s been something I’m battling too, having released only one novel in the entire year before Changes Coming Down, (although I wrote two others that I hope to release soonish.)

A bunch of factors have been in play for all of us, I think, in addition to personal issues like health or family loss that we face as individuals.

There’s no denying the impact of the political situation, in the US and elsewhere. We’ve had some wins (and huge congratulations to Northern Ireland, where same-sex couples began registering to marry legally this Monday.) But for many of us, watching civil rights and protections eroded little by little has been painful and frustrating, increasing our anxiety and stress. Sometimes it feels like the energy we put into creating fiction should go elsewhere, into protest and organizing and outreach.

We do know the fiction helps, of course. We know that there is a whole subset of readers who were lured into M/M for the emotions and the sex, but who also have come to be LGBTQ allies and advocates. We know a good book can be an antidote to a bad day. But it can be hard to weigh that against the urgent need to “do something in the real world.”

Finances play a large role in burnout. A big Authors’ Guild survey found median author incomes are down. Profits per book are down. The impact of a major M/M publisher’s failure to pay authors reverberates through the community. Not only are the authors not getting money they are owed, but readers are worried and stressed over how to support their favorites, perhaps reluctant to buy. Books that are pulled and republished cost authors money before they make any.

And as we move heavily toward self-publishing, the power of Amazon to put pressure on prices and distribution, and to make or break a book by their arbitrary decisions (from categorization to distribution rules to to banning) is increasing. Piracy is a huge factor, too – there are few things more frustrating and disheartening than seeing people gleeful about finding our work “for free”. There’s a sense of helplessness and lack of control for authors over our success or failure.

This also results in added pressure to promote rather than just write. The same survey found that genre writers were spending 39% more time on promotion than in 2014, but only 8% of them were making more money. The frustration of putting in time and not seeing any returns pushes authors away from the business of writing. And the debacle with the RWA is not making participation in the business more attractive.

None of this is the fault of readers, in any way (unless you read pirated stuff). It can be painful and frustrating as a reader to find out that the author you love has stopped writing. That the series you were following may never be finished. That someone you thought of as a friend of sorts, who was with you in hard days and fun moments through their words, has had a rough enough time that they stepped away.

Readers and the joy they get from books are why any of us are still publishing, of course. And readers can make a difference – a message or email to a favorite writer, a positive review, an online comment, an author spotting you recommending their work to others, may tip the balance on one of those “is it even worth it” days. Also a huge thank you to readers who are able to support favorites with Patreon. It’s one more way to support authors monetarily, but beyond that it’s an affirmation of your interest in their writing, in the idea that little flash fiction and advance reads of their words have value to you. (And no, I don’t do Patreon, but I support authors who do.)

But part of what I wanted to say here was that burnout is coming from a lot of things that you, as readers, can’t control.

Burnout is part of the stress we’re all feeling as humans grappling with the real world right now.

The only antidote I have at hand is to share joy in the positives. I try to celebrate the wins for books and the wider community. Tell everyone about the books I love. Get my friends hooked on a favorite. This community has been rocked by recent issues, sometimes split, but remains one of the most hopeful, giving, and supportive groups I know. So now’s the time to highlight the positives, even as we dig in and work on the negatives. Burnout, like some kind of literary SAD, has many factors but recedes somewhat when there’s light and warmth around us. So for those of us who have some of that to share, let’s remember that something as simple as an “I loved that book” comment may be a candle in some author’s dark day.

A huge thank you to the readers, other authors, and bloggers and friends who have been my candles in the past year. Fingers crossed for a better 2020 for us all.

– Kaje Harper
Jan 2020