A book a year is slacking!

[Lazybones]

When I'm in the flow of writing I can produce 2-3k words per day without difficulty; that's about a novel every 2 months or so.

Of course I'm not writing constantly, but I try to pace myself so I'm writing something (even if just pounding at a rough draft) and working on editing something else. I find I am more often bored just in general if I'm not working on a project, so I try to keep busy.

I don't really worry about a release schedule; I just publish when a book is ready. I understand the saturation issue, but there are authors who get around it. Nora Roberts has published something like 3-4 novels a year for the last several decades, and they still top the bestseller charts despite being very much formula driven. David Gemmell wrote about 20 novels that are all basically twists on the same concept (though with distinct and memorable characters). I have found that sometimes I need to be careful of repeating plot points I used in past books, but in a sense most genre fiction is going to be repetitive in some ways, whether you are talking about romance, mystery, or fantasy.

[AbigailF]

I agree that it needs to be as each writer feels. Not even every book is the same for each author so expecting every author to work the same is a nightmare. For some, two books a year could be really pushing it, for others that would be torturously slow. Luckily, with all the different publishing and platform options, I don't think anyone needs to put themselves under too much stress.

I agree that readers seem to have gotten more voracious but maybe the internet just allows them to be more vocal. I don't think it was great article except maybe as a comment for how some writers are seeing their world change. We all know publishing has changed and this seems to just be a reflection of that.

[DarkScribe]

In many instances "crank" is exactly the right word. I have found that invariably a co-authored book is of a lesser standard than the standard that brought the original writer into prominence. From "the school of" will never equal a masterpiece. I cannot recall a single instance where a co-authored book has matched let alone surpassed a primary author's original work. They seem to burn out and resort to selling their name.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

At my typical writing pace, I've produced a new novel in about 8 months, or 3 novels in 2 years. (That was, of course, before I took time off to concentrate on marketing.) So much depends on your own pace, and your own time constraints; there's no point in trying to declare a set time period for all writers to aim for; we're too diverse a lot, especially now that the digital realm has stirred the pot even more.

A writer helps themselves if they stay visible in the market. How they do that is up to them, be it free stories and shorts, blog posts, or turning up at every literary convention. Again, diversity has rendered conventional practices moot.

From the article:

Today’s readers seem incapable of being overwhelmed.

Based on what I hear, I'd disagree. Readers are already overwhelmed with choices, making it harder and harder for them to find what they like. Despite the inherent distrust in Gatekeepers, readers still want a reliable place to tell them what's good, saving them the trouble of searching for it themselves.

That's one reason services like Amazon and B&N are so popular with average consumers: They tell the reader what's good or popular, removing the readers' need to search. They also serve the public by telling them when a new book is released by an author they've purchased in the past, making the author's promotional job easier, and making sure they aren't forgotten by their fans.