National Novel Writing Month is an annual challenge for writers to complete a rough novel draft during November. It has been going strong for the past 25 years. However, it lost community support when it voted to use artificial intelligence in creative writing. The organization has just announced that it is shutting down and will no longer operate.
According to the farewell email, the reason behind the decision to shutter NaNoWriMo “is both simple and complex.” The email, which was posted in full on Reddit, goes on to lament that “this is not the ending that anybody wanted or planned.” The note explains that “there is no shortage of writers who want to participate in NaNoWriMo … building a community and being able to sustain it are two different matters.”
Basically, NaNoWriMo is a non-profit that ran out of money. The company did have its heyday, but many authors don’t participate in it anymore. They have gravitated towards self-publishing platforms such as Kindle Direct Publishing, Kobo Writing Life, and NOOK Press. It is financially lucrative to publish books and bring them directly to market without relying on an annual writing competition.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.