Years ago, while reading and thinking about creativity, I came across the title of today’s post as a chapter with this phrase in a book called The Accidental Creative: How to Be Brilliant at a Moment’s Notice by Todd Henry (published 2011). It stopped me in my tracks. I knew he was right. A cover band plays other people’s music. Often it is a new interpretation of a familiar song; and sometimes it is a direct copy, like a tribute band. While popular and entertaining for the moment, they rarely have lasting impact.
What sells in our market, also known as trends, moves like a chased rabbit, very difficult to capture and quickly shifting its path. To our detriment we often chase these trends in order to find success. After forty years in the book business, I’ve seen this happen time and again. Hot trends of the past include nonfiction books on prophecy, angels, spiritual warfare, Bible promises, heaven, racial reconciliation, and even martyrdom. In fiction it has been novels that revolved around prairie romance, Amish, supernatural battles, and chick-lit. While imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, it betrays original thinking.
Be sure you understand this isn’t a criticism per se, merely an observation. There is nothing wrong with writing what has captured your imagination or what has captured the attention of the buying public (i.e., following a trend). Plus, you may be very good at writing this type of book. But look again at the title of the post: ”Cover Bands Don’t Change the World.” Todd Henry says that when one of these bands declares, “Now we’re going to play something we wrote,” the audience protests vigorously. Their audience didn’t come to listen to the band’s music; they came to be entertained by the familiar.
Thomas Merton said it a little more forcefully in New Seeds of Contemplation:
“People are in a hurry to magnify themselves by imitating what is popular—and too lazy to think of anything better. Hurry ruins saints as well as artists. They want quick success and they are in such a haste to get it that they cannot take time to be true to themselves. And when the madness is upon them they argue that their very haste is a species of integrity” (quoted in The Accidental Creative, page 201).
Publishing veterans have seen thousands, even tens of thousands, of book ideas and proposals. We have heard so many similar things that there can be a tendency to become cynical or at least immune. I know I struggle with that. I fear that creativity can be squelched by the desire to write what sells.
But I also fear I’m about to be misunderstood writing this. If possible, visualize flashing disclaimers, so this is not taken wrong. Please see these words as a call for creativity, not a condemnation of the marketplace. Nor am I skewering any one particular author or book. Instead, I stand here, almost shouting, “Be creative!” “Take a risk!” “Follow your passion, not the passion of others!” “Be a difference maker.” If you cut your teeth on the familiar (see above), then use that foundation to find new ground.
Write what is a passion for you. Your intensity will be found in the words you write. Your ideas will be refined by the fire of life and the forge of Scripture. The slogan for our agency is “To Help Change the World Word by Word.” The books that stir hearts and point readers to redemption are the ones that become agents of change. These are the books that can make a difference. Write your passion, and by God’s grace the market will find you. Hey, you might even set the next trend and spawn “cover bands” in your wake.
Below is an interesting counterpoint video to this entire post. If you are able to close your eyes and not watch some of the images in the YouTube video below, you’ll hear almost a half-hour of songs you might recognize from the 80s. But the hit version is actually a cover of an older original. I suspect you will be surprised by some of these once obscure songs that became hits. But the point of this post is still the same. Try to be brilliant so that a cover band will follow your trendsetting work. Remember, ears only with the video.
(A version of this post came out nine years ago this month. The ensuing years have only proved the point, time and again. Feel free to object or help me clarify in the comments below.)
Fun Fridays – April 8, 2022
The world will not be changed by me;
I’ll pass, and be forgotten,
but this won’t mean my legacy
is somehow misbegotten.
Though Mary had the better part,
which, rightly, was not taken,
the writer with a Martha heart
is empowered to awaken
the muse, still sleeping, that’s within
another through gossamer words
that form a background, and begin
to move that dawning spirit towards
work that rings with truth and grace
by making positive the inner space.
You are wrong about one thing, Andrew. You will not be forgotten.
Sy, thank you.
You are a blessing, Andrew.
Thank your for this post, Steve. It comes at a perfect time for me, and is very encouraging.
Steve, I understand your thesis and took all forty disclaimers to heart, but couldn’t help pondering this concept in relation to the beloved comparables we all put in our book proposals. There is a sense in which we are saying, “See? There is a market for Bible Study on Water Skis books! But, here’s what makes mine different.”
To truly forge a new path is risky, even for a well-established author. And yet it is an exciting call to be creative enough that one might genuinely break new ground and start a trend rather than follow one.
But then, the reality is – ain’t nothin’ new under the Sun. 😉
Very true, Damon. I heartily agree. I detest those comparisons though I understand why they’re necessary.
I watched the video and had to laugh because with most of them, I knew the earlier one better than the newest ones. Makes me wonder who the original writers were of Amish or WWII historical novels or who the first writer was who broke out of a mold and wrote a women’s Christian love story in fiction.
Such a balance we have to find.
I love this. I’ve been writing and teaching Bible studies now for fifteen years, each one written through prayer and a deep desire to connect for fully with Christ as I reach out a hand to bring others along.
Though Bible studies are not and may never be a “trend”, I know I’m following Jesus. In His leading, He’s changing this little corner of the world through my faithfulness to let His Word take creative life through me, and in so doing inviting others to enter in as well.
I may never be published or have a great following, but I have no doubt that I’m part of His plan to help His Word become, “written on human hearts.”
There comes a point when we must remember Who we are writing for. Our words, if inspired through the LIving God, WILL hit the hearts that He intends, even if we never see it or know it until heaven.
If we write to please men, out words may never change heaven, but if we write to please God, both earth and heaven may be eternally changed.
So just keep writing and remember Who you are writing for.
Even if we are never published in the marketplace, our words can be published upon all whose hearts are impacted by them.
In the end, that’s what matters most.
Sometimes, what came before can be the seed of something new.
Case in point: the chord progression of Pachelbel’s Canon in D Major (D-A-Bm-F#m-G-D-A) is used in “The Hook,” “Streets of London,” the Maroon Five song “Memories,” “Basket Case” and at least a dozen other Top 40 pop songs.
Good article, Steve. For years, I’ve been telling my members on the Christian Writers & Readers Facebook forum to follow their heart and God’s leading in what they should write, not just what happens to be popular “that day.” I feel the same about book covers.
If God called you to write, and you are following His lead, you’re doing exactly what you are supposed to do.
One quote that always sticks in my mind (and I’m sorry, but I can’t remember who I first heard it from) is this. Don’t try to be the next …………….. (also can’t remember which famous author’s name went in here, but it doesn’t matter. Whoever your favorite author is.), be the best you you can be.
Steve, this is a great post with many apt analogies. But, as an 11-year veteran of the music industry, I’d like to mention one thing that most people don’t realize and that I think would add another dimension to your thesis:
With very few exceptions, the great “original” bands and solo artists all began their careers as cover performers. This includes the likes of Elvis (whose “originals” were actually written by pro songwriters”), The Beatles, The Stones, and Creedence Clearwater Revival. And it’s still how the industry works in the vast majority of cases.
You wanna be a rock star?
Step 1: Learn a bunch of well-known tunes.
Step 2: Find local events/venues that will let an unproven act perform live.
Step 3: Be “good enough” (no, you don’t even have to be actually GOOD!) to engage the crowd and earn a positive reputation playing popular covers.
Step 4: Use your burgeoning fanbase and reputation to book larger and more distant venues. (If you do write original songs, it’s during this phase that you should try to find one that can be easily sandwiched between a couple of hit covers in the set without anybody realizing it’s an original; also, don’t mention it’s an original until AFTER you’ve played it and only if the crowd seemed to dig it.)
Step 5: Do this until you’re exhausted, dead, or your reputation and/or fanbase size attracts the attention of someone connected in a higher sphere of the industry, who then offers you some type of opportunity you wouldn’t have otherwise been afforded.
If that opportunity works out, then, maybe—just maybe—you can start releasing original music that will actually sell. (Of course, in the digital age, you can possibly short-cut all of this by being an attractive young person exploding on TikTok, YouTube, etc., but as a general rule, the model listed above still stands.)
So how does this apply to writing? To paraphrase what ex-CCR frontman has said about playing cover songs, you have to learn how to play the greats before you can create something great of your own.
The first thing I ever wrote of any significance was a teleplay for a live-action Marvel comics TV adaptation pilot when I was a teenager (this was long before there were such things as live-action Marvel TV series). It wasn’t great, it didn’t go anywhere, and, although I still haven’t sold a piece of writing that wasn’t set to music, the experience was a wonderful starting point for writing upon which I’ve continued to build.
So, maybe, writers SHOULD start out by imitating—writing “cover books,” if you will. No, not to sell or produce a lasting legacy, but to help us better understand HOW to create something with commercial viability and longevity. Then, one day, through God’s grace, maybe we just will!
Hi Steve!
I think fear plays a big part here. When we forget we are in direct fellowship the THE Creator, we fear we don’t have what it takes to create anything new, special, innovative. And we fall back and redoing what someone else did. But, if we are full of the One who formed the worlds with His Word, we can certainly team up with Him to make marvelous things (whether those things get published or not).
Great post, interesting timing. I had just come in from a walk when I pulled up your post. An audiobook promoting speed writing was still playing in my ear. As I listened to the book during my walk, I thought “I’d rather do it right than quickly.” Then I read your post, and saw the quote, “Hurry ruins saints as well as artists.” Sometimes I get discouraged my book is taking so long to finish, but I want to do it right–and in my own style, my own voice, with my own message. Thanks for the confirmation.
Hi Steve,
I listened to the music and each song sounded all right until the original version. Then I realized how much better the original was.
This was a good comparison to your point that original writing ideas are always better than the spin off books that sometimes follow. It’s just a thought but maybe the original yields more creativity from the struggle to bring it forth than simply following the trail that the original writer has blazed.
Thanks for putting on this example. I’m not sure just telling about it would have been as effective for me.
Patricia