Questions and Answers: With So Many Authors, Why Would Anyone Want To Read My Work?

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.

Why Some Authors Sell 2 Copies of Their Book and Others Sell 2 Million.

Have you ever wondered why so many authors who dare to put out their books for sale to the public tap out at 2 sales (the average number for a self-published title) and others can sell 2 million or more? Ok--stupid question. Of course you've wondered that. Is it just fancy promotional material or a good sales campaign? To some degree--but the marketing is really just a means to an end.

The truth of the matter is--knowing what sells and what doesn't sell is as simple as knowing the hidden truth about the human condition. Alright--on the surface that sounds a lot more complicated than it actually is. But the truth of the matter is when we think for a few minutes it becomes very obvious what the base human condition is in relevance to this: humans like what is familiar to them. Humans NEED what is familiar to them. Humans seek out the familiar even if the familiar is harmful to them. Think about all the people who end up in toxic relationships over and over again--thin kabout all the people who buy the brand name loaf of bread or cereal even if the store bought brand is exactly the same thing and three dollars cheaper. Humans have a weakness for the familiar--and the same thing applies in marketing.

The reason that marketing campaigns spend so much money on blasting their names on the radio, on television commercials on busses, at football stadiums and in papers is to get you to be FAMILIAR with their product or brand. For example--when sitting at a football game--you might have no need to look at the plastic surgery sign on the wall there. But two weeks later after a car accident--and plastic surgery seems ideal...the one you will seek out first most likely will be the one advertised at the stadium--why? Because the name was stuck in your head and it was FAMILIAR to you.

Now, anyone with enough money can get the blast attention of all these people through advertising however--we are going to assume here that the writers reading this do not have bucket loads of money to burn through on an advertising campaign. And that's perfectly alright--because familiarity more than any singular method has to do with forming a RELATIONSHIP between you and your readers. Think about it--the teenager who throws their novel together in two weeks and self-publishes it quickly with no previous writing experience and no existing fan base might still sell a handful of copies to their family and friends. And by the same token--the best-selling novelist could presell 100,000 copies of their book thanks to an email before it is even finished yet. The only difference between these two people--or at least the only difference that ultimately matters when it comes to sales--is that the group with which each author has a RELATIONSHIP with is vastly different in size. The best-selling author might not be family or personal friends with the 100,000 people who pre-ordered their book. But they already have an existing relationship with them thanks to interviews, previous publications, mailing lists and book tours. The first author simply doesn't have a RELATIONSHIP with a large enough group of people to sell their work widely.

Now here is the good news. Thanks to the age we live in ANYONE can developed a RELATIONSHIP with thousands or even millions of people via the internet. We might not all go viral and get millions of readers--but it is definitely possible to get a few thousand people to follow whatever you are doing if you are consistent enough. The key is to position your writing in a way so that it develops a relationship with people that will eventually lead to them being interested enough to go through with a sale.

The best way to get people FAMILIAR with your work to the extent they develop a RELATIONSHIP with you and your writing is to put as much of it out there as you can. If you are a fiction writer or a poet--a blog that you frequently post on would be a good idea. Eventually a website where you post free content for people to read. Consistent content is the key thing to remember because it is through this method that readers will keep on coming back. Plus, the way online marketing works, the more your blog or website has, the easier it is to pick up in search engines and to generate traffic. As people become familiar with your work, you might start to consider having them join an email newsletter or subscription service--they give you their email in exchange for free content. If they trust you enough to give you their email--they must like your content. You can use the newsletter to send the some more free work and then eventually offer products for sale--a self-published book, an audio book, a paid subscription to a section of your website that offers exclusive material to do with a favorite character, or an e-version of a story or poetry collection.

The trick here is that whatever it is you are offering for sale--by the time you offer it, your readers have already developed familiarity with what it is you are writing and a relationship with you--the author. Having both of these things formed--and having enjoyed the free content you have provided for the period up until this, they might just be willing to part with a few dollars to see more.

 

 

Of course, these methods work quite a bit better if the writing you are posting is quality--adds value to their lives through entertainment, information or emotion. And it helps when you post your writing consistently and are generous with the readers--in which case not only will traffic flow to your site through search-engines, but also through word of mouth. In which case you can expect the number of readers with which you have a relationship to continue to grow--and grow steadily.

The Writer's Cardinal Rule

The Writer’s Cardinal Rule

 

This is something that so many authors do backwards in the beginning. I have seen countless blogs out there and countless twitter accounts by writers, artists, poets, novelists and more. Some these blogs look good (and some don’t.) They have quite a lot of content, and they update them consistently. But there is a major problem that too many writers make, and it’s one that can keep a career from ever getting started. This because they do not follow the cardinal rule all writers of the 21^st century need to follow if they are going to build a fan base.

Lead with the content first.

Apple Jack’s Poetry Vlog!

Big Mamma’s Novel Corner

Joe Nobodies Twitter Account.

 

See the problem with all of these? (Other than the obvious.) That’s right—you don’t know who the heck they are. More importantly you don’t have any idea what it is they are writing about. Now on the one hand you can’t blame people for being confused about how this works. After all, everyone has seen pop stars crammed down their throats, books on the shelves of stores with the author name in bold and the title in small font on the bottom, radios chanting the same name after name after name. The difference is—these advertising companies have all the time in the world and all the means in the world to repeat the names day after day week after week and play their songs on the radio, put their books in your face and generally get them familiar enough in your mindset where they feel like old friends by the time they render your credit card 40 bucks lighter. The problem with us smaller time folk is that we don’t have that luxury.

“But then how are rags to riches stories made?”

They are made by a different formula. And usually by following the cardinal rule of writing in the 21^st century: lead with your content, not your name.

Apple Jack’s Poetry Vlog as a title probably won’t pick up many new listeners on the fly—but “Sweet Love Poems” might. “My Job Sucks Poetry Corner” might. “Funny Quotes” twitter feed could.

No matter what genre you write in—fiction, non fiction, poetry, plays, movie scripts, the material is about SOMETHING. How specific the something is determines where your fans come from—finding the niche community that would find what you are writing about appealing is a major, major factor.

For example, a book of poetry from a first time poet with no overall theme would have a hard time getting picked up by a publisher—if a poet chose to put it out themselves odds are a few friends and family members might buy it, but that’s it. Take this same poet, organize the first book around a specific theme, and then market the book to those people who are interested in the theme and odds are the sales will do MUCH better. That same poet’s first book that could have been a flop could turn into a regional best seller when coupled with a theme like “poetry of breakup.” Not to mention that when you get to the online component of search engines—no one will be searching for an author’s name unless they already know the author. Subject matter on the other hand is a different story.

So when thinking about what to put out next—poetry, fiction, non-fiction or whatever—figure out what the themes are—and push those themes. If done well enough—eventually people will start to associate a name with the theme—and that’s when the fans start to trickle in rapidly.