September 7, 2020
Even if you knew you would never sell another book, would you keep writing?
I’ve asked myself that question more than a few times. I’ll look at a particularly bad month of sales and ask myself why I’m putting myself through the agony. Then I offset my bad mood by reading a good review and get my emotions back in balance.
When I first started writing poetry, back in the Dark Ages, I knew nothing about publishing. I wrote for the joy of stringing words together into a thing of beauty. That joy was only slightly dampened by the work that went into reaching out to magazine editors to try to get published.
I had to relearn publishing when I started writing fiction. I’m still learning. And I’m not very good at it. Perhaps that’s why the sales of my books are so close to non-existent.
But someone has described writing as a hunger. I’m hungry to get these stories out of my head, into book form, and share them. I can’t force anyone to buy them. But if I don’t put them out there, no one can take a look and decide to give one of them a chance.
The “experts” say that if one book flops write another one. And another one. Write a series. I’m up to eight books now and two series and I still haven’t “found” my audience. Or they haven’t found me.
I haven’t given up. I’m almost done writing the first draft of my ninth book now. With lesser expectations than the last eight. It’ll need a lot of cleaning up, but the story line is good, and it’s a great way to wrap up the series. Will it sell? I don’t know. Will I publish it? Yes.
I already have another series in my head. No, I lie. I have four possible series in my head. Make that five, now that I think about it.
So, would I stop writing if I knew I’d never sell another book? Not likely. I’m more worried about running out of time than I am running out of ideas. Even if no one ever buys another of my books, I get a great sense of personal satisfaction out of writing them. And joy.
I’m curious as to what the other authors on this hop feel about this. You can find out by following the links below.
Until next time, stay safe.
September 7, 2020
Even if you knew you would never sell another book, would you keep writing?
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Yes, it’s satisfying publishing a book and getting your ideas down on paper, even if nobody buys it!
To me it’s like putting together a puzzle. Or making a needlepoint project. Each part of the story brings me closer to the finish. Putting that least piece of the puzzle in place and seeing the project complete is so satisfying.
I’ve enjoyed all the writing, much more than the marketing. With several series in different genres, I sometimes wonder if that confuses people and makes selling harder?
“Experts” say to use a different pseudonym for each genre. Who has time to keep track of that?
I know someone who has several pen-names. They wish they didn’t.
How many websites would you need? How many Facebook pages? Email addresses? Yikes!
The hunger and joy. All the yes!
Gotta do what you gotta do. Besides, creativity replenishes the cosmic stream from whence our stories come.
What a great concept, Phil. I’ll do my best to add to that cosmic stream
This is so interesting to read people’s thought about writing and publishing, Patricia. I don’t think I would publish if I had no sales. I don’t need many, but I do need a few.