Our goal as writers is to craft a story so interesting that strangers will pay money to hear it.
I have been told a thousand times that I am blissfully ignorant. But let’s not dwell on my family’s opinions. Let’s stick to writing, where ignorance, and the accompanying bliss, can hurt your writing efforts far into the future. First, let me take this opportunity to remind you that I’m writing this series for people who want to make money from writing. Hence the “goal” above. If you want to write for catharsis, or to express your inner feelings, or to discover something—that’s nice. Anyway. Ignorance in writing can cost you book sales. Not just now, but in the future. So let’s examine these potential pain points.
How can ignorance hurt future sales? If you don’t have your act together when you “go live” or “launch” or “release” your book, people will write you off. That means potential readers will disconnect from your Facebook, Twitter, Forums, Blogs, emails, or any means you have to reach them. You can be shut out before you start. Sure, in the electronic era you can create a new persona and start over. That takes time and energy away from your writing. And, as you surely recall from my first diatribe, you want to focus on the quality of your writing.
I’ve simplified things into four categories of ignorance that hurt debut authors, independents, and even traditionally published writers. Ignorance of the Competition; Ignorance of the Marketplace; Ignorance of the Current Process; and, most important, Ignorance of Your Readers.
Ignorance of the Competition. My new friend, Charles Kelly, reminded me that, “there are a lot of really good books out there. A LOT.” And he is right. Writers are competing for discretionary entertainment dollars in a sea of newly minted writers. I’m an unknown competing against John Sanford, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist who started writing thrillers in 1990 and just keeps getting better. Established authors like Mr. Sanford have new competition from excellent independents like R.E. McDermott (and me, hopefully). We have to ask ourselves, What is the standard of writing I need to reach?
No offense to romance writers, but the standard in that genre is far broader than any other. Both Twilight and Fifty Shades attest to those readers preferring a great concept to any writing conventions. At the other end of the spectrum, literary novels must achieve an extraordinary level of perfection. For example, a literary novel will not have a single adverb (silently, thoughtfully, etc). The thriller genre has undergone a tremendous change for the better in recent years by leaning toward literary rules. Thrillers are a lot more descriptive today, developing deeper characters, and employing ‘show’ tactics instead of expository passages (show v tell). Where some thrillers from thirty years ago might have gotten away with saying, “He was angry and it showed” today would be written as “Joe clenched his jaw and slammed his fist on the table.’” It takes longer, but showing the reader your character’s emotions is the standard in thrillers today.
Remember those books I had you deconstruct in On Writing: Appreciating the Craft? And you just nodded and said, sure, later? Yeah. Well. Go back and do it now. Notice anything about how emotions are communicated?
Ignorance of the Marketplace. I don’t mean which agent/publisher should you query. I mean where is the marketplace? Knowing who your readers are has always been important. What is different today is how you reach them. Everyone is aware that bodice-ripping romantic novels are filling e-readers all over the world. Where do romance readers congregate? How do you reach them? What about mystery lovers? That market has not yet penetrated e-books in significant volume. How will you find them? The answer is changing every day. Market research can be harvested in different places with different results every time. There are no easy answers. Writers have to experiment and work hard to harvest readers from every corner of the Internet. The best advice I can give is: find the marketplace that mirrors your ability to deal with it. If you like forums, go there. If you can handle Twitter, try it. Your marketplace is where you can best exude your enthusiasm.
Ignorance of the Current Process. Ten years ago, in his book On Writing, Stephen King laid out the standard 20th Century model for becoming a published author: Write great short stories; get them published in magazines; cite these in your query to your prospective agent; the agent will sell the publisher. Somewhere in 2011 that method came to a grinding halt. If you are a publisher, you want to snap up independent authors who are selling on Amazon before they get a business savvy agent. I believe if Stephen King were to re-write his process today, it would go like this: Write 2-3 great books; put them up for sale; build a great website with independent content; drive visitors there; sell them your book; keep their email addresses to sell them books 4, 5, & 6. How do I know? Because that’s what John Locke wrote in his book, How I Sold a Million Books in 5 Months. Yes, Locke’s was a unique case. He was among the first and got away with several things that would not work today. If you want to see a sterling example of a hardworking author with great books and a real success, visit Joanna Penn’s site, The Creative Penn.
Ignorance of Your Readers. Of course this is the most important piece. Ignorance of who the reader is and what entertains him/her is critical to selling that second book. (You will recall that in the first installment I said, You can sell everyone something once, but if it sucks, that will be your last sale. If it rocks, that will be your first.) Today we have something that was not available to writers in the past. And it will separate the successful authors: the crowd-review. John Sanford released Stolen Prey on 15-May and had 74 reviews on Amazon in 2 weeks. What a great & painful way to stay in touch with the people who read your work! If we take that back to the beginning, we can come full circle. How do you best stay in touch with readers’ changing expectations? The easy way: Know your competition. Read their reviews. What did Lee Child’s fans like/dislike about his latest novel? Or Vince Flynn? Or E.L. James? What is the next step from there? Smart authors today maintain interactive websites to keep ahead of the reviews. Actively seeking reader input before publication. A prime example of the author of the future is James Rollins. Visit his site, scroll to the bottom and check out how many ways you can follow him. Be sure to look at the things he’s sending his fan-base: do you like this logo? Rollins is an author who cares enough to stay in touch with his readers.
Peace, Seeley James
