It Must Always Be About The Writing

I've been asked many questions over the past two years as they pertain to being an independent author. Some of the most often asked questions have the same vein: How do you find your readers? How do you market your books? How do you sell so many copies?

While those are are very important questions, I think people miss the most important part about this business: The writing.

Before you worry about marketing, finding readers or selling
your work you must first realize the following:

It must always, always, always be about the writing.

I'll be the first to admit that my first book was not nearly as good as I think it could have been. But when I wrote it, I wasn't writing it for anyone other than my mother and myself. Had I known then that I'd sell more than 100,000 copies of that book then I would have done things a bit differently. But hindsight is always 20/20 isn't it?

Don't get me wrong. Laiden's Daughter isn't a bad book, its just that now that I look back at it, I see places where I could have improved it but I think that most authors will say that about their first couple of books. There is always something we'd like to change or improve about those first children we spawn. 

I've been writing since childhood. I love, love, love writing. I love creating rich stories with great characters. The difference between now and when I published my first book is that now I'm paying attention. I get it. I know that it must always be about creating good stories and writing them well. I continue to hone my craft, I strive not necessarily for perfection, but for as close to perfect as I can possibly get. 

My goal is always to improve my writing. I want each book to be better than the last and I believe that should be every author's first goal. It doesn't matter how much marketing you do, how much advertising you purchase or how much begging you do. If the writing isn't good then you need to look at how you can improve it. Don't be afraid to take a creative writing course. Don't be afraid to pay attention to how other authors write. I'm not saying you should plagiarize their work, I'm saying pay attention to how they play with the pretty words.

I also believe that in order to be a good writer you must first be a good reader. If you're not reading, you're not learning. Reading and writing go hand-in-hand.

I have said from day one that you must write from your heart, with fervor and zeal and without fear. Your heart will never let you down.

But no matter how much you write from your heart or how much passion you have for the craft, you must have an editor. And I don't mean the guy you shared a high school English class with. I mean a real editor. Someone you can trust to be honest with you and someone who has been doing this for a while. You can find great editors out there but that is a story for another post.

So it all boils down to writing well, paying attention and being honest. Writing is hard work. I liken it to stripping all your clothes off, standing on a box in the middle of Mall of America and asking strangers to give an opinion of your bootie. Terrifying prospect, isn't it?

Writing is like that. You can't have soft skin in this business. You must be able to take constructive criticism. (Keep in mind there is a tremendous difference between constructive criticism and 'trolls' and this is yet another topic for another post.)

Yes, we'll talk about marketing, finding readers and all that fun stuff but I felt I'd be remiss if we first didn't discuss the purple elephant in the corner of the room.