To Survive in Today's Markets Readers Need To Care About You (Not Just Your Books)

There's this weird habit that almost every writer I've ever met has where we put our work out on center stage while keeping ourselves in the shadows as much as possible. The idea, from what I've managed to gather, is that writers as a whole want to tell a story without ever actually talking to anyone. Unfortunately, that's a good way of shooting yourself in the foot in today's climate.

 

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!

Because when people make a purchase, they aren't just in it for your story. They want that, don't get me wrong, but it is equally important to readers and fans these days that they know their money is going to you, personally. And it helps if they like you as a person, before they get into whether they appreciate what it is you're making.

Don't Be Afraid To Step Out of The Shadows

I touched on this back in Your Brand is Just as Important as Your Books, but there's something that got lost in the messaging on that article. Because while it's true that people may choose to stop buying your books because of the positions you take and statements you make as a creator (Rowling, Card, and it's looking like Martin if things keep going the way they're going), what I didn't say is the reverse is also true. People may be drawn to you as a creator first, and then discover they like your books second.

I have found thee worthy of mine patronage, and skilled as well.

Part of this is about people being far more concerned with where their money is going, and what causes it's being used to support these days. However, another part of it is that when you establish a connection with your fans and readers they are more likely to want to invest in you. It sounds counterintuitive, and it goes against the grain for a lot of writers. We want to be rewarded because we wrote a good story, after all, and it feels somehow backwards if readers are supporting us because they like who we are and what we stand for instead of the thing we've created. We want to be paid for the art we made, not just because of who we are.

Something that's worth keeping in mind, though, is that the money is no less real or genuine because it came from someone who wants to support you as a creator. If someone hears about you in an interview and wants to sign up to your Patreon because they liked the vibes you were putting out, you still get that check at the end of the month.

At the end of the day the reason why people choose to support you is less important than the fact that they have chosen to support you in the first place.

Don't Be Shy

In a perfect world we could just write out books, put them on the market, and find our audience through the proper application of key words and hash tags. However, the idea that any author has ever actually gotten successful by just sitting back and letting their books do the talking is a fairy tale. As it's so often said, Dickens was constantly doing public readings to hustle his books. Shakespeare was a workaday pen monkey, rather than some brilliant mind setting the mold for centuries to come. And a majority of the well-known authors we see on the market today? Well, you should ask how large the apparatus is for getting them reviewed, interviewed, and out in front of the public, as well as how much effort goes into creating their social media persona.

Because writing good books is definitely important, but it is far from the only thing you have to do in order to be successful.

Like, Follow, and Stay Tuned!

That's all for this week's Business of Writing! If you'd like to see more of my work, take a look at my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife as well as my recent collection The Rejects!

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