What is the future of novelists in the age of video?Utsudo believes the world still needs stories, but people today prefer entertainment with high rewards in little time, pure text is increasingly at a disadvantage, and e-books haven’t spread as much as expected. Novelists should follow the trend — adding illustrations, four-panel comics and audio, or collaborating with other fields to make games, videos and music.

Translated from Utsudo’s original Chinese column.

The medium of stories keeps changing

　　I once said “stories are necessary in every era”, though I heard that line somewhere too — I just don’t remember where.

　　Stories are indeed necessary, but as technology and civilization develop, the mainstream medium of creation keeps changing.

　　In ancient times it was oral tradition or cave paintings. As civilization advanced, writing and paper appeared, and more diverse creations were passed down. In modern times, besides text and images, film and television appeared — ever more refined creations enriching our dull daily lives.

　　But for novelists, although modern technology helps us upload our work so more people can see it, it also seems to have played quite a joke on us. Creations that spread quickly thanks to technology aren’t limited to text.

Pure text is increasingly falling out of favor

　　As modern life gets faster and faster, our entertainment leans toward things that give big rewards in a short time —in short, high value for time. After all, in a brief breather, rather than settling down to read, more people prefer a few minutes of hilarious video or pretty photos。

　　And all you need is your phone to satisfy everything, so heavy books are even less appealing by comparison. Reading text on a phone isn’t impossible, but my eyes just can’t take it.

　　Text that takes lots of time to savor naturally falls out of favor more and more.

　　Though I believe reading will always retain some demand (whether novels or practical books — finance, hobbies, makeup, personal growth and so on), and those who love it will keep loving it, whether they have time to read is another matter XD

　　But compared to the past when electronics weren’t so widespread, books have shrunk from mass entertainment to a niche. If you subtract required reading (textbooks, practical books), the people who want to pick up a book in their leisure time are really getting rarer and rarer.

　　So this has also hit novelists’ ecosystem.

　　I’m sure many people firmly believe e-books will eventually replace print, and with the internet’s reach and ubiquity, fiction will never die. But the reality is —first, e-books haven’t spread as optimistically as we imagined; and second, when people today pick up a tablet or phone, the vast majority are checking social media or playing games — not many want to read pure text。

　　Plus, more powerful media (video, animation, audio, visual art, manga and so on) can present stories to users more intuitively, and information spreads in huge volumes — but people still only have 24 hours a day, so pure text keeps falling out of favor.

　　Not to mention print books — many bookstores and rental shops are closing one after another. Here I’ll focus on electronic media.

Even covers have become a barrier

　　Some creators have noticed this and work with illustrators — beyond a basic eye-catching cover, those with some capital add illustrations, comics, celebratory art and so on. It’s evolved into a phenomenon where works without a commissioned cover usually get pretty unimpressive views, so everyone tries to come up with at least a presentable cover QQ

　　What was once the lowest-cost medium to present has quietly raised its barrier (though some use free stock images, which also works XD).

　　Although pure text struggles to survive, the point that the world needs stories still stands. Presenting stories in pure text is indeed weaker than other powerful media, but it still has value — after all, books cost much less than other media and are easier to collect.

The future of novelists: integrating across fields

　　Personally, I think we should adapt to the times and try presenting stories in different ways — adding four-panel comics and illustrations, the audio-drama format popular across the strait, even collaborating with people in other industries to make games, videos, music and so on.

　　But the barrier has indeed risen a lot. To find collaborators, you yourself need a solid foundation — or at least money QQ — otherwise it’s a collaboration among a group of friends. The future trend in creation will lean more towardintegration──— combining talent from various professional fields to promote a more complete work。

　　The future of novelists: besides working hard to enter contests, keep updating for exposure, publish books or give talks to get seen, we also have to fight for collaborations with other fields. It really keeps getting harder.

　　But,it’s precisely because dreams are hard that they’re worth chasing.

　　Let’s keep going together QQ

FAQ

Further reading (in Chinese)

• Previous: #64 (in Chinese)
• Next: #66 (in Chinese)
• Start from the beginning: #01 — Utsudo’s debut
• Column introduction
• Utsudo’s books

About the author

Utsudo is a Taiwanese light novelist and novelist VTuber with more than ten years in the industry and 40 commercially published print books. Her novel 《遺失的情書》 received a 2022 Ministry of Culture youth creative award. The 《嘿！聽說妳在鬼島當作家》 series records her experiences as a novelist in Taiwan.

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