When authors you read stop publishing, do you wonder why?
Several authors whose work I enjoy have stopped publishing. A few have announced their reasons but many have not. Authors like: Olivia Cunning, J.M. Darhower, Katy Evans, C.M. Foss, Linda Fairstein, Earlene Fowler, Cara McKenna, Katja Millay, Tina Reber, LaVyrle Spencer, Tammara Webber, and Joanna Wylde. These are just some of “my” authors who have ceased publishing. (Didn’t everyone wonder why Harper Lee didn’t publish another book after To Kill a Mockingbird? Her second book {which is considered a first draft of To Kill a Mockingbird}, Go Set a Watchman, wasn’t published until after her death.)
Observations and Questions
- We can be curious and still be respectful.
- I'm aware of why many of the above authors stopped publishing but not all.
- This is about "publishing" and not "writing."
- Some have mostly (or completely) disappeared from social media and even deleted their websites.
- Some authors use pseudonyms and likely “disappear” by using their real names.
- Does keeping an air of mystery positively affect their ongoing book sales?
- Some authors return to publishing: what were their reasons for quitting?
- Did they just decide it was the time to retire?
- Did they feel their books didn’t do well enough?
- Did they feel they just didn’t have any more stories to tell?
- Did they doubt their abilities?
- Did they feel any rewards weren’t worth the negativity and outright animosity directed at them/their books?
- Was there a scandal?
- Were there accusations of plagiarism?
- Were there health reasons?
- Family reasons?
- We can certainly wish them well.
I enjoy rereading my favorite books but miss the idea of new works.
How do you handle it when your authors no longer publish?
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