The Dilemma of a Modern-Day Writer!
If we had a choice, we would rather be writing all the time. After all, we are writers. I am sure that we all would have the same answer. We all thought that writing was the hardest part initially. If we write, readers will come eventually. As the saying goes, we believe in it and started weaving our dream around it.
If we had a choice, I would rather not write for money or fame. After all, we are not only intellectual but also weird bunch and we pay more significance on artistic than materialistic value. We love to say that, how good it sounds, isn’t it? And self conscience and righteousness run in our blood like a river. A true writer never writes for money. We not only preach about it but also strongly believe in such principles and try to apply that as well in real life.
Had it been that easy, perhaps every person who has aspiration of writing would have been successful and nobody has to be disappointed in life again. Having said that this is still true in some extent, this is what we actually believe at the beginning of our writing career and if you find yourself in a similar position, you are not alone. We all have been there. If someone says otherwise, he/she is lying.
As I have always been saying and will say it again here, I never write as an expert, I only write through my experiences and this one is no exception. This piece is also intended for the new writers and mostly self-published ones like me and if you are a traditionally published writer, you are probably on the wrong page my friend and you might not want to continue reading it for obvious reason. I am not a traditionally published writer by choice, I don’t have experiences on traditional publishing and I don’t pretend about it.
Whether you are traditionally or self-published writers, one thing is pretty certain though. And that is, the real situation of writers has certainly changed in great deals in recent years. Internet and digitalization have revolutionized the publishing industry. Nowadays, anyone with a computer and internet connection can become a writer overnight. The market is overly crowded, competition is tough and hardly anyone can differentiate the good books from the not-so-good ones.
I have already said it before and will repeat it here again. According to statics, only 5-10% out of total writers makes big, 20-30% survives on providing services to the fellow writers, and the remaining bunches are only there for making up the numbers. The statics for the self-published writers are even worse, we don’t have big publishers with huge financial muscles and distribution clouts behind us, and as a result, only a very few can make it to the top and live a successful life.
That is only possible if we have enough time, money and passion with solid marketing plan and bucketful of luck.
It is all about discoverability, good writing and plenty of luck. You have to do a lot of things at once for maximum exposure and they have to be working very well as well. It is the reason why you need a solid marketing plan before the book launch and if you are a writer with no marketing background, you have a real problem here. In such cases, we have no choice but to rely on others but unfortunately most paid ads just don’t work.
Most of the writers I have noticed are coming from a single demography - the retirees and we are mostly, shall I say as mildly as possible, tend to be a tech-unfriendly. Needless to say, everything nowadays is done in computer and computer-savvy-person certainly has an upper hand to the luddites like us. Algorithm is said to be the holy grail of Amazon ranking, I have seen people who have made six figures through playing with it, and it is certainly not all about good writing.
It would be great if we could reach that status as well, a bestselling author title won’t hurt, but that is not what we are expecting from our writing. If we can sell a dozen of books in a day, a lot of folks like me would be more than happy. But even that seems to be a farfetched task for most of us and being tech-unfriendly also didn’t help much as well. But don’t worry. You are not alone.
If necessity is mother of all inventions, I think, desperation is mother of all excuses. I have seen writers shamefully pimping, begging and cajoling on social media like paupers. And if it wasn’t desperation, what is it then? I do certainly understand their position. We all want people to read our works and help spread the words. But we are writers, we have our self-pride, dignity as well as ethics, and we should know our limitation. If we don’t respect our own self, nobody will.
It also is the reason why I never write about sex, vulgarity, and malevolence.
Writing is the easiest part, the real works start after we have finished the actual writing and it is where many would struggle. Being a modern-day writer is not easy and we have to know about many things besides writing. And the dilemma actually begins when we have to keep on upgrading ourselves in a regular basis. Upgrade? What upgrade?
Until next week, keep writing and upgrade yourself as well!
TIM I GURUNG/AUTHOR AT ISSLCARE – http://www.timigurung.com
If we had a choice, I would rather not write for money or fame. After all, we are not only intellectual but also weird bunch and we pay more significance on artistic than materialistic value. We love to say that, how good it sounds, isn’t it? And self conscience and righteousness run in our blood like a river. A true writer never writes for money. We not only preach about it but also strongly believe in such principles and try to apply that as well in real life.
Had it been that easy, perhaps every person who has aspiration of writing would have been successful and nobody has to be disappointed in life again. Having said that this is still true in some extent, this is what we actually believe at the beginning of our writing career and if you find yourself in a similar position, you are not alone. We all have been there. If someone says otherwise, he/she is lying.
As I have always been saying and will say it again here, I never write as an expert, I only write through my experiences and this one is no exception. This piece is also intended for the new writers and mostly self-published ones like me and if you are a traditionally published writer, you are probably on the wrong page my friend and you might not want to continue reading it for obvious reason. I am not a traditionally published writer by choice, I don’t have experiences on traditional publishing and I don’t pretend about it.
Whether you are traditionally or self-published writers, one thing is pretty certain though. And that is, the real situation of writers has certainly changed in great deals in recent years. Internet and digitalization have revolutionized the publishing industry. Nowadays, anyone with a computer and internet connection can become a writer overnight. The market is overly crowded, competition is tough and hardly anyone can differentiate the good books from the not-so-good ones.
I have already said it before and will repeat it here again. According to statics, only 5-10% out of total writers makes big, 20-30% survives on providing services to the fellow writers, and the remaining bunches are only there for making up the numbers. The statics for the self-published writers are even worse, we don’t have big publishers with huge financial muscles and distribution clouts behind us, and as a result, only a very few can make it to the top and live a successful life.
That is only possible if we have enough time, money and passion with solid marketing plan and bucketful of luck.
It is all about discoverability, good writing and plenty of luck. You have to do a lot of things at once for maximum exposure and they have to be working very well as well. It is the reason why you need a solid marketing plan before the book launch and if you are a writer with no marketing background, you have a real problem here. In such cases, we have no choice but to rely on others but unfortunately most paid ads just don’t work.
Most of the writers I have noticed are coming from a single demography - the retirees and we are mostly, shall I say as mildly as possible, tend to be a tech-unfriendly. Needless to say, everything nowadays is done in computer and computer-savvy-person certainly has an upper hand to the luddites like us. Algorithm is said to be the holy grail of Amazon ranking, I have seen people who have made six figures through playing with it, and it is certainly not all about good writing.
It would be great if we could reach that status as well, a bestselling author title won’t hurt, but that is not what we are expecting from our writing. If we can sell a dozen of books in a day, a lot of folks like me would be more than happy. But even that seems to be a farfetched task for most of us and being tech-unfriendly also didn’t help much as well. But don’t worry. You are not alone.
If necessity is mother of all inventions, I think, desperation is mother of all excuses. I have seen writers shamefully pimping, begging and cajoling on social media like paupers. And if it wasn’t desperation, what is it then? I do certainly understand their position. We all want people to read our works and help spread the words. But we are writers, we have our self-pride, dignity as well as ethics, and we should know our limitation. If we don’t respect our own self, nobody will.
It also is the reason why I never write about sex, vulgarity, and malevolence.
Writing is the easiest part, the real works start after we have finished the actual writing and it is where many would struggle. Being a modern-day writer is not easy and we have to know about many things besides writing. And the dilemma actually begins when we have to keep on upgrading ourselves in a regular basis. Upgrade? What upgrade?
Until next week, keep writing and upgrade yourself as well!
TIM I GURUNG/AUTHOR AT ISSLCARE – http://www.timigurung.com
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