Literary Citizenry

By Robert T. Kelley

When I was struggling to finish my first book, I didn’t think much about the publishing world except how I was going to get into it. But the goodwill and good work of my fellow authors was all around me, supporting me and cheering me on.

There’s so much negative press right now about publishing being dead, about kids not reading whole books, about AI replacing us as writers (and maybe as humans), yet I couldn’t be more excited about writing and the business of writing.

This weekend I was at Killer Nashville (my first time!), and I couldn’t help but think about how important conferences have been to me as a writer. Everyone finds inspiration in different places, but for me, writing conferences were a critical support structure for my development as a writer.

A Maine crime writing friend said to me that they didn’t go to conferences until they were published, that they didn’t feel like they belonged there yet. But for me, it was attending them that helped me feel like I belonged. I’m very, very fortunate to be one of the members of a crime writing group that blogs as Maine Crime Writers, but I knew this crew long before I wrote with them. They volunteer to run Maine Crime Wave, New England Crime Bake, various readings, showcases, and bookselling events. And they’re regular people. Regular generous people.

Someone on a panel with me this weekend at Killer Nashville made a point that I think we need to revisit with regularity. We are not competitors. Your great book just makes my book better. We all started as readers; we are all still readers. We love losing ourselves in a book. And as writers we love throwing our story out into the world. But there’s even more we can do. We can bring other authors along with us.

Almost all the conferences I attend are run by volunteers: writers who want to share the wealth, who want to feature friends and fellow authors, who want to dig in and talk about their craft. What could be better?

There are only so many hours in a day, and we have to guard our writing time like a dragon sitting on a pile of gold (admittedly, in publishing the pile is very, very small). But I’m finding the literary citizenry work to be almost as rewarding as the writing.

This past year after my novel came out, I’ve served on panels at conferences, on committees organizing conferences, set up talks with other authors, and just got my first request to blurb a colleague’s book. All of it is fun, but more importantly, all of it matters.

 I was under the impression that the first book would be really hard then they would get much easier. The path gets more familiar, true, but the hill is just as high each time. But the journey is made so much easier when you accompany, and are accompanied by, your fellow writers.

Set up talks at libraries with other writers. Volunteer to help plan conferences you love. Review good books. Do things that support other writers, that give back to readers, that make the whole enterprise better and more accessible. That’s how we make sure that the publishing world still works for readers and writers.

It’s a gift we writers give ourselves.

Robert T. Kelley writes high-stakes, high-velocity thrillers in which power, privilege, and peril collide. He is the author of short stories and novels, including the technology thriller Raven, a finalist for the Maine Literary Awards. Formerly the publisher of the literary journal, The Maine Review, Rob now regularly writes on the Maine Crime Writers blog. He received his undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Missouri-Rolla and his PhD in English from Indiana University. He lives with his wife, author Margot Anne Kelley, in Midcoast Maine and Boston. You can find him at https://www.roberttkelley.com.