"Insecure Writer's Support Group" is a monthly meme host by Alex J. Cavanaugh for writers held on the first Wednesday of every month.
I haven't done an IWSG post in quite a while! It's time I got back on board with this meme, as it is a very cool one.
I think my writing insecurities are all centered around the not knowing ahead of time whether your book will ever sell to actual readers before you publish it (or, get it published). When it comes down to it, reader support for your novel is the most important thing, otherwise there's not much reason for anyone to publish a book for the whole world to read.
Whether or not you want to be "successful" in that you'll sell a lot of copies, you want to be READ. You want readers to notice your book and like it and send you emails and tweets about how much they liked it. This is the validation you want, sometimes more than money earned from selling a large number of copies.
Sure, I want my books to sell well, I'll admit that. Why would I want them to sell poorly? But, more than anything, I want readers to fall in love with my stories and characters and tell me how much they can't wait for the next installment of the saga. That would make my life....
So, my problem is that I don't know if what I'm writing at this time is a story that will find an eager audience at all. I'm not saying I have no confidence in my story, but that I don't like being blind to its real potential. It may be fated to fall like a brick and I'd never know it at this point. That bothers me sooo much!
This is when I can say I envy the video game industry because every developer can put out trailers and information about the game they are currently developing to see how it goes over with real gamers. If they've messed up something, they'll be told by the gamers and they can fix things accordingly YEARS before the product is finished. That's amazing to me. If only something like that were possible in the book industry.
I suppose it is, but only for those with existing large platforms. Someone like J.K. Rowling could get on her blog (does she even have a blog?) and conduct a poll on which of her latest book ideas seems the most appealing to her existing fanbase and they could all weigh in. She could write a book accordingly and it would probably kill it in sales and fan appreciation.
But, that's not possible for me and for most of us writers to get that size volume of feedback from potential readers. I certainly can't conduct any polls when I don't have a readership at all at this point. We have no choice but to shoot in the dark and hope we hit our target. If we don't, we have to keep on shooting in the dark until we do. Seems a frustrating strategy to me. If only there were a better way....
Anyway, that's my insecurity for this month. Does this problem ever affect any of you writers, too?
I know one person who built her audience while writing her book, Julia Press Simmons, she had 10,000 friends on MySpace long before FB was on the radar. She is now making a living off her books and she self-published. She's also teaching others how to do it. I don't have the answers, but others have been successful and building a platform while you write is part of the key. But honestly that's all I know about it, because I'm a failure at the social networking thing.
ReplyDelete@Yolanda: Thanks for the insight! I've heard of a few cases like hers before, but it's not something I'm capable of doing when no one can be of fan of my work before they've read anything I've written. I think some people are very social, but most of those people following them aren't going to become their readers, sadly.
DeleteI have those same fears. How will I let them know I'm out there? I feel a little like Horton, I am here! I am here! I am here! I guess if you make enough noise, even a tiny person (like me) can get noticed.
ReplyDelete@Scribbles: I'm thinking the only thing that works is writing the kind of content people want to read. That could be considered making noise, I suppose.
DeleteIt would be great if we could talk to our potential audience in advance that way, wouldn't it? But then there'd always be a chance that we'd be forming what we write to please others, rather than expressing what we want to express...
ReplyDeleteThe upside is, with modern social media, we can grab people's attention more easily than in the past, but it still takes a lot of perseverance!
@No One: I think we could express what we want to as writers and still write stories for the readers. There doesn't have to be an all-or-nothing approach to this goal. If it could be done, it'd be win-win. If you write what you want with no thought of your audience, then you likely will be the only person reading your own story.
DeleteAhh the proverbial literary chicken and egg scenario. You know I've been struggling with this one as well. How cam we write if we have to spend so much time building a platform but how can we be successful writers without the platform? Im starting to believe it's a combination of hard work, tenacity and just plain dumb luck. I think the next best thing is great beta readers. I'd be super happy for just one rabid fan! And don't worry, your work will find an audience for sure.
ReplyDelete@Lan: Yeah, great beta readers help so much, especially if they can help with moving your story into a more acceptable direction. Dumb luck and randomness play into it as well. You just have to keep on trying if you keep on failing, I guess, just like anything else.
DeleteAnd, thanks...^_^
Yes, I worry about the same thing. And since I am always my own worst enemy, I consistently convince myself that no one will like or read anything I write. I'm trying to stop that habit but it's hard. Thanks for sharing and for getting back with the IWSG! :)
ReplyDelete@Julie: Yes, you get me perfectly! I try not to think that no one will want to read what I'm writing, but it's hard to shut up that voice. With all the uncertainty, it's a wonder I write at all, lol. ;)
DeleteSometimes that fear doesn't go away even when you published. Most people you'll never know if your work touched them in some way, or if they even read it (I know I'm notorious for buying books and not having the time to read them). But that's what platform building is. You slowly build up readership. The nice thing about books, particularly ebooks, is they have no shelf-life. There is always a chance for the right reader to come along.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, the premise of your novel is awesome! I was enjoying myself in reading those two chapters. Keep writing and working on it. :)
@Cherie: I'd imagine it never goes away until you become psychic... which probably won't happen. Unless you can predict the future, you probably worry about how anything will go over before it goes out there. I hate that anxiety! I bet it'd be worse if I had already succeeded before with a good book, then had to follow it up with another. Total nail-biting and I don't even bite my nails.
DeleteThanks so much! I will for sure keep writing my novel. I hope you'll like the rest of it. :D
You're trying to figure out your audience. I guess you just have to imagine who would like your story and what else that person likes.
ReplyDeleteBut trust me, your audience might be much wider than you think!
@Alex: Oh, absolutely! That's what I'm trying to do, but it's not easy. You're very much on to something, though.
DeleteI hope so.... ;)
I think we all worry about our book(s) finding an audience, finding their niche. But because art is subjective, we're like singers who put out albums or producers with new movies -- some projects succeed and some fail and no one can predict it. That's why they say "write what you love." It may not succeed, but at least you enjoyed working on it. Good luck to all of us! :-)
ReplyDelete@Lexa: Yeah, I do believe we need to be writing what we love or we'd end up writing terribly. I know I could never write something I'd never want to read. I need to be able to read it and enjoy it myself. Good luck to you, too. ^_^
DeleteI agree. It's impossible to know. What I consider is a better book doesn't sell. What I consider is for a smaller audience does sell. Shrug. But obviously the traditional publishers don't know how to identify the next big thing either.
ReplyDelete@M Pax: It's tough to pin point the next big seller, even for professionals whose job it is to do so. Although, they do sometimes get it right, but certainly not always. That uncertainty is what makes me anxious.
DeleteI've thought a lot about this recently. As one manuscript is off in Querysville and the next few WIPs are in various stages of undone-ness, I wonder which one I should turn my attention to. Which one I should write first.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that always frustrates me about the "Write What You Love" mantra is that every time I hear it I want to scream "BUT I LOVE SO MANY THINGS" ... I could love Shiny Idea #1 or Sparkly Concept #2. If it's got magic, or fantastical creatures, or spaceships or pirates, I love it all.
So for me the question becomes not "What Should I Write" but instead "What Shouldn't I?"
And that question, at least in YA, is much easier to answer. It's all the things agents aren't looking for. All the things with which the market is saturated. It's all the books we've read a billion times over. Vampires/werewolves/angels/demons/post-apocalyptic dystopians etc.
That leaves a lot of space for new stories!! Which means as long as our WIPs seem new and fresh, hopefully *fingers crossed* there are homes for the new little stories. I hope !!!
@Carissa: You make a good point. It's hard to pinpoint what you should write about when there are so many directions you could go in. If you need to get past the agents, then writing what they are looking for is the best idea. If you self-publish, then you're more free to write what you want and see if readers will like it despite it being a tired subject.
DeleteGood luck with everything and thanks for stopping by! :)
Can you imagine that I read half the post before it started sounding familiar to me and then I looked at the comments and saw myself! Well, in addition to that comment, I'll say I doubt JK has a blog. Most successful authors don't need them and wouldn't waste their time blogging when they could be writing (or out spending their money). It's only us wannabees that need the platform. *sigh*
ReplyDelete@Lexa: I haven't blogged since last month's IWSG post! I really should have posted something in the meantime. Sorry about that.
DeleteYeah, I doubt JKR has a blog. She doesn't need to promote herself at all. Just us commoners do, lol. :p