You are a Writer. Want to be an Author?
You are a writer.
If you write for yourself, that can be fulfilling, but then we never find out who you are, what you think or feel, what you know and want to share, and how, from your insights and experience, you can help us.
Authors however fill a need. They work hard to hone their story, novel, or book into a well-written, well-conceived whole. That work includes writing, plotting, planning, editing, revising, proofing, and publishing. Marketing begins well before publishing. Their readers want something from them, perhaps a romance novel, or a thriller, or a dystopian future that ends with promise, or a memoir that connects heart to heart, mind to mind. It has to be well-written, uses correct English, and touches readers’ emotions or intellect. When done well, readers ponder it, laugh, cry, remember it, and share it with others.
To reach readers, do three things.
1. Gain their attention. For you, your person, your brand, your book, etc. In other words, do the research, develop your target audience, and spend all your time reaching them. Forget everything else- it's a waste of your precious time and dollars. Forget blanket emails and blanket ads on any platform. Have a website, but it is there to give you credibility and start a conversation only. Focus on only those who you are trying to reach.
For example, the audience for my manic memoir is mania sufferers, their caregivers, and mental health professionals. I didn't write the book to shock my relatives and sell 20 copies.
THERE IS NO PUBLIC. The public doesn't care about you. But if they see you on a radio interview or podcast, read a good review etc., they may care enough to search for your book on Amazon. You should have a link in everything you send out, so they can open it up, read a few pages, and click "Buy." My links direct people to my Amazon Author Page with Bio, pictures, all my books, and my website. I also put my email address everywhere, in my books too.
2. Gain their trust. Whether they know you as a person or writer or cook and bottle washer, spend time with them in person, by phone, email, chat, on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram so they can get to know you and your writing, and like both. The world runs on people, not book sales. Be open to all, respect others, cultivate relationships. If you do that, fans will love you and stay with you.
3. Show them how you help. Write to fulfill a need, a passion, to communicate, whatever it is. Write poems too, they train your ear and mind and heart to communicate with your soul. Have a message. Speak it and write it. Not only that, that message should bring new ideas, inspiration, shock, surprise, love, even hate for the antagonist or what's wrong in the world. Readers want to know that, and, in a way, every message must have a call for change, a call to action, to make things better for the reader and the world. All readers have a need. Your task before you start: Pinpoint your audience, find their need, and fill it. That's what Bestsellers do.
If you tell your story with honesty and emotion, respect everyone, and cultivate relationships, people will flock to you and what you offer.
That's my take on it, anyway. And I firmly believe everyone has a story they should share.
Best,
Rod
