Welcome to VUCAville. Population: all of us, whether we know it or not.
VUCA. It’s a military acronym — coined by the U.S. Army War College in the late 1980s to describe the post-Cold War world — that business adopted to name what everyone was already feeling then (and certainly now): the environment we operate in is Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous, and it’s not going back to whatever simpler thing came before.
The Dark Side of VUCAville
Volatile. I’ve been in this business for 30 years. The publishing landscape doesn’t just shift — it lurches. Amazon bamboozles with its algorithm and overnight your books’ discoverability disappears. Twitter enshittifies and your carefully nurtured following evaporates. AI floods every channel, slopping over your strategically crafted content. Traditional publishing consolidates further in its latest efforts to maintain their prestigious gatekeeping role. Self-publishing tools that were revolutionary two years ago are already obsolete. Volatility is our baseline condition.
Ecosystem-builder for authors and publishers. 30+ years publishing. Transform your writing into a sustainable business. www.conspirecreative.com/subscribe
