Lately I've seen a sense of self-entitlement among aspiring authors (in online forums, etc.). Some of these would-be writers actually believe that writing a book is enough and readers should automatically flock to the book and consider it a privilege to read the material. This couldn't be further from the truth! I know plenty of you know this already, but it doesn't hurt to reiterate and share: Authors are not owed customers/readers. Even if you've written an amazing book, you can't expect thousands or millions of readers to find the book on their own. You have to work for the readership. This means you need to take part in book marketing, publicity, advertising...not passively waiting for readers to stumble across your masterpiece. Effective marketing, publicity, and advertising will create a buzz around your book and word of mouth should result in lots of sales--but expect to work thousands of hours for those results!
Kill the "Self-Entitlement Monster" now if it exists within you. If we're really honest with ourselves here, the Monster probably lives somewhere within all of us. Kill it now. Seriously. Allowing it to live will only ruin your writing career and make you look like a fool in the end.
You are owed nothing.
Too true. It's good to learn this as soon as possible, so you can get started with the publicity machine. Promo is as much or more work than writing a book!
ReplyDeleteMorgan Mandel
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I think I'd have to agree with you there; promo is much more work than writing the book. Most aspiring authors don't understand that until they're published, unfortunately.
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