For the longest time, I imagined I’d have a regular 9-to-5 job, unrelated to writing while I wrote on the side during my own time. But these days I want to write full-time.
I’ve never considered myself to be a journalist. Despite some people seeing me as one, I don’t. I haven’t dabbled in journalism. I feel like I’m not that passionate about it. Even though I considered doing an undergraduate…
Growing up, I dreamt of being a writer. Not just any writer but an author, a novelist.
I’d love to publish a book one day. Truth be told, I haven’t exactly been working on a novel. I can’t even remember the last time I finished writing one.
I know I’m still young. I have a long way to go. As of right now, I want to pursue other goals and dreams. So I put my creative writing on hold a bit over…
Why do you write? Because I hate just about everything else. How often do you write? Every single day. I barely sleep, I hardly study, and I rarely socialize. What’s the easiest part? Writing the first draft. What’s the hardest part? Editing terrible first drafts. What’s your writing routine like? I’ll wash my hands because I’m a germaphobe. Then I start writing until I’m done. What did you…
Not long ago, I watched an author panel about genre blending. It got me thinking how awesome it’d be if I could gather all my favourite authors in the same room and listen to them talk about writing.
So, as someone who has finally written a book they feel confident enough about to self publish—(It’s a novella so I’m waiting until I have the full series out before I try and publish the whole thing with a company at a more marketable length.)—I’ve come to realize an important fact.
Writing the book is the easy part, marketing is a costly and more often than not, futile venture. I have tried everything from paid Amazon ads, to posters, to starring on youtube podcasts and soon radio shows, and I’ve honestly sold more copies just talking to people. (I haven’t sold a whole lot of copies just to make that abundantly clear.)
This is not because of flaws in my writing, at least so far I’ve never received below a five star rating from the strangers I do get to read the book. (Like three gave reviews on Amazon.) It’s from the simple fact that books take time to read, and no matter how nice my cover is, or how cheap I’m selling the book for, I’m a new writer without many reviews, so taking a risk on me as an author and possibly wasting your time to read my book isn’t in everyone’s best interest. So, it’s a real fight to get every reader to purchase the book, and I’m then stuck just sort of praying that they enjoy it enough to share it with their friends and give public reviews.
This all said, and as tough as marketing is, it’s still worth it to be an author, because the few people who do read and respond to my writing do seem to enjoy it. They always give detailed accounts of what they liked, and in some instances I’ve even made people become avid readers again after long periods of time where they weren’t entertained by the medium anymore. So, as tough as marketing has been, I’m still very thankful for the experience.
Thank you twfaison for sharing your story. I took the liberty of bolding what I think is a takeaway from it.
As always, don’t hesitate to ask a question or submit a writer problem (however long or short they may be).
I used to do these tips in segments. Each segment had 25 tips but since time flew by and laziness overcame me, I figured I would resurrect my writing tips, one hundred at a time.
All of these tips are posted on my Facebook page and Twitter account as well.
Enjoy!
A story will tell itself when it’s ready to be told.
Deadlines instill urgency. Urgency usually generates productivity.
