I had the pleasure of skyping in to give a literary workshop at a wonderful convention in British Columbia this weekend. (Although I had to do it in the 2 hours between a wedding and a reception, which was also fun!)
All of the writers at this convention were productive authors who produced a good deal of content but were looking for some new ways to get the work out there. One question in particular stood out to me, because it is a question I hear a lot.
"With so many writers out there and so much writing, how can an author make his or her work stand out amongst the masses?"
I understand that there is a good deal that authors can and do get overwhelmed about when they start down this line of thought--with the millions and millions of authors out there why would anyone pay attention to my work?
So in these situations I like to turn around and ask another simple question.
Why with the 7 billion other people out there would anyone want to be your friend? Why would anyone want to be in a relationship with you? Why would anyone want to spend their time with you when they have 7 billion other people to do so?
This tends to make people think about it--we all have friends (or I at least hope we do!) some of us are fortunate enough to have quite a few. Most of us have relationships--or at least have had relationships if we aren't currently in one. And the average person has people who enjoy spending time in their company. There are far more other people out there than there are writers--but somehow we make this happen. And we don't tend to think (at least not most of us) "why oh why would anyone of my friends want to spend time with me when there are so many others to do that with?"
I would imagine that you gathered your friends in this fashion: you came into proximity with them, you had an exchange of some kind--they liked what you had to offer, so they kept coming back.
This simple concept also applies to how writers build up a relationship with their audience. The audience comes into proximity with them--they like what they see and they keep coming back.
And although I didn't hear this question at the workshop a question I hear after I give this answer I always give it something like this:
"But the readers who like my genre already follow so much good writing! Why would they look at mine?"
Do you have just one friend? Did you meet someone somewhere you really liked but decided "sorry, already have a friend, no room for this one!" and more to the point--do you see good books/comics/movies that you think you will like but then decide "sorry, already filled my quota of watching 2 movies, reading 2 books, looking at 2 comics this week?" Probably not. There is no limit to the number of different authors writers can enjoy! They just have to have the opportunity to come across it.
Now, not everyone can be everywhere. And admittedly there is more great writing out there than one could ever read. I'm sure there are amazing pieces of fiction that I would really really love to read in china right now that I may never get to in my lifetime. An author can't be everywhere at once--even with the internet. (Although the internet makes this far easier.)
So the important thing is just to make sure that when you come into proximity with people--or when potential fans come into proximity with your work the way that you might meet a new friend, that your work is likable. You can increase the number of people who come into proximity with your work through various marketing techniques. But before one can get to the practical positioning, one first has to rid themselves of the mindset that their work is valueless--that somehow writing is only the province of the super lucky and that one needs millions of dollars in marketing plans to see any success with it. All one needs is writing that is entertaining, or adds value--a place to put it, and a way to get fans to read it. The rest takes care of itself.
This is a message I received from a reader of the blog on my facebook page.
(If you haven't liked the page yet, please click the link below!)
http://www.facebook.com/#!/MakeMoneyWriting21
Dear James,
I really like what you're doing here! I have been in several writer's groups and was a writing major in college and I feel like I know so many poor writers!
I have been writing for over 18 years now. Because of the Internet being so popular, I decided to start a blog for my writing about a year ago where I post my essays, short stories and poetry. I update the blog at least once, sometimes twice a week so it is very filled with content. By problem? Each post still, after a full year only gets 10-25 views! I feel like the blog hasn't grown and doesn't grow no matter how much content I put on it. Everyone always tells me that content will make a blog grow its audience, but that doesn't seem to be the case here, I tried. What do I do?
~Janice.
I had to write her back after reading this to find out some more information. This is more or less my reply.
Hey Janice,
Thank you for your kind words! I have a couple of questions, what is the title of your blog? How do you organize the content and what is the general theme?
Her reply confirmed my suspicions--because many, many authors make this very easy to make marketing mistake. It turns out her blog title was something clever and catchy with her name in it. However, the title of the blog made no mention of the type of content produced. In addition, her response to the theme question told me that she, like many authors, felt she didn't write about any specific theme and that her writing took on a much wider scope of topics. While this shows serious talent and breadth of knowledge--it is also the worst possible thing an author can do when trying to get new readers for their material. (Unless of course they already have an audience of thousands--in this reader's situation, that was not the case.)
This was my second reply:
Janice,
I have a couple of quick suggestions for you. I would reccomend starting a new blog--or three. One for your essays, one for your short stories and one for your poetry. Then I would examine the themes you write about most often--even the most diverse authors have specific things they come back to, even if they don't realize it. You might have a favorite character your short stories revolve around--you might be a fan of love poetry, or uplifting poetry (the themes can be lose) and you might write essays about politics, sociological issues or more. Just because they are not solidly defined into one genre doesn't mean there isn't a theme. For the next few weeks I'd try to focus on one of these blogs specifically, make the title of the blog clear and tag it with lots of things that will bring in readers interested in the theme of your content--online this is how our blogs generate new readers. Also--once you have a theme to pick from you can go to social media groups that have interest in your topic and let them know about your specific postings. An autism blog for example is more likly to generate more readers of autistic matters than a blog entitled "inset any catchy author name blog here" that happens to post about autistic issues--at least on a first glance (which is unforotnatly sometimes all anyone has to look at these days.) Also, link all three of these other blogs to your main blog--that will keep people who went to you for the topics coming back to you for the content so when you come out with books or audio files for sale your audience is much larger.
Best Wishes!
James.
Her response came about 3 days later.
James!
I just wanted to tell you that you were right. I had a favorite character that I based most of my short stories around so I focused on my fiction blog first. I posted 4 stories I had already written and then posted it around in facebook groups that were interested in my genre. I got nearly 100 views in my first day, and more than 100 on my second day posting. That's more than 2 weeks worth of views on my first blog! I'm also starting to get followers. Thank you so much!
These basic principles are the true core of gathering fans in the online universe:
Lead with your CONTENT not your name. (In the beginning, no one knows who anyone else is. They learn who writers are by their content...name recognition comes later.)
DEFINE what it is you are writing about (if you can't sum up your subject-matter, how is anyone else supposed to? You also can't properly promote what you can't define.)
I expect that Janice's writing are finally going to get the recognition they deserve. Your writing deserves the same recognition. So go out there and get the fans you have worked so hard for.
