Thursday, June 30, 2016

Building While You Write

I think the dream of every author is to wake up when the sun is warm and focus on our next masterpiece.  We want to get engrossed in our story.  All that marketing crap?  We want someone else to do that.

Unfortunately, today’s world doesn’t allow that.  Once you reach the top, the way Stephen King or James Patterson has, then you can count on your name alone to draw fans.  However, most of us aren’t there yet, so we need to build an audience.  It takes time away from writing, but that doesn’t make it any less important than plot development.

The biggest thing you’ve got to do is to find a way to introduce yourself and interact with potential fans.  You can start small – create a Facebook page, or get friends and family onboard.  Once a few folks are in, create a Twitter account and a blog.  Then, with all social media platforms, keep them current(people get bored easily and will leave if you aren’t constantly entertaining them).

Once you’re finally published, implore those few readers you have to write reviews(yes, your readers at first will be few, no matter what fantasy says).  Don’t tell them what to write – just encourage them to write something on Amazon or Goodreads.  It’s an axiom of being human that we want to join crowds, and books with larger numbers of reviews get purchased more often since people want to know what all the hubbub is about.

Finally, never, ever, EVER argue with your audience.  Not everyone will like your stuff.  Some people are simply nasty and live to argue and fight.  Smile at them and either ignore them or wish them well.  Writer/reader disputes never end well, so don’t torpedo your career by starting one.  It’ll turn people off.

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