Focusing today on writing-related articles and tips that can hopefully be helpful for all of us who attempt to wrangle words into something coherent and enjoyable for readers.
At Writer Unboxed, a site with articles that I frequently read, and from which I often learn something new – or at the least, find support for what I do here alone in my office with cats on my desk – I recently read a terrific essay on How to be an Author by Therese Anne Fowler. She’s a New York Times, IndieBound, and USA Today bestselling author of multiple novels, and still she struggles with the dichotomy between the “art” and the “marketing.”
That dichotomy is something all writers face as they make choices about what to write. How to balance writing and marketing time, so we can still experience the joy of creating something. Therese sums it all up quite well in the following:
“Writing fiction is an art, a craft, a calling for some, and to do it well is hard, even for those for whom it is easiest. Selling fiction is an entirely different challenge, and whether one is on the traditional path or the independent journey, one is at the mercy of many, many factors outside of one’s control. How will the novel find its readers? Will it be featured in book clubs and on podcasts and throughout social media? Will it be handed off, recommended, commended, beloved? Will it be ignored? Will a worldwide pandemic be declared and shut everything down at the very moment it’s poised to soar?
We don’t know.
No one knows.
It depends.”
For those of us who are Indie authors for the most part, so much depends on the response a certain story can get from the public. Like Therese mentions, we wonder if people will tell other people about the book. Will it get some buzz that will create excitement among readers that will build and eventually lead to increased sales?
Without a marketing team from a major publishing house behind our books, we’re on our own, depending on word-of-mouth to boost visibility of the stories we write. Often we can get more of a murmur than a buzz, so I decided long ago that I can’t be doing what I do for the money. It’s nice when royalties trickle in and a thrill when I get a gusher now and then, but I can’t let my satisfaction hinge on the dollar amounts I get from Amazon every month, or the twice-a-year payments from a few small publishers.
I’m not saying I never wanted to be rich and famous. Heck, one of my long-ago dreams was to be on a late-night TV show and talk about my latest best-selling novel.
But somewhere along the line I had to talk myself down from fantasy to reality and decide how I want to measure my success. What is there besides monetary gain and world-wide popularity?
Is it the satisfaction of creating something new every day?
Is it the sheer joy of a new character and a new story idea popping into my head and entertaining me for hours that day?
Is it the thrill of a reader sending a message to say how much they loved a particular book?
Is it meeting a young reader at a signing event who stands looking at you in awe, enthralled with meeting a real live author? (One of my absolute favorite encounters by the way.)
Is it getting a complimentary review from an author whose works you admire?
I say it’s all of the above and more.
In looking back over the decades I’ve been doing this writing gig – yes, it has truly been that long – I see success in so many ways that have nothing to do with my bank account, and I am so humbly grateful for them all.
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Word Smarts is another site I visit often, and this recent one regarding changing punctuation rules was really helpful, especially the section on the use of hyphens. As someone who grew up with many compound words being hyphenated, like ice-cream, it’s been a bit of a challenge to know what works any more and what doesn’t. The following is just one example of the many changes, and it’s well worth reading the whole article to get up to speed on the changes.
“For example, “teenager” was “teen-ager” for decades, and The New Yorker is still using the hyphenated form. (For that matter, “to-day” was commonly hyphenated until the early 20th century.) Today, Merriam-Webster and other major dictionaries overwhelmingly favor the closed form.”
It was also most interesting to note that using an exclamation point in some short messages, such as “Thanks!” adds a note of politeness to the message, contending that the word alone, with only a period lacks the warmth and friendliness of adding an exclamation point. That makes sense when you look at the two ways the word is written side by side. Thanks! as opposed to Thanks.
Only in this new era of social connections does it work, but you know, I like it, and I’ve been using the exclamation point by instinct when thanking people online for kind words and encouragement about my writing and everything else in my life.
So,to everyone who has been in my corner all these years, as well as new friends and supporters, I offer this heartfelt “Thanks!”
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That’s all from me for today, friends. I hope your week has started off well as we end August and look to the start of a new month. For those of us who have been desperately waiting for Autumn to arrive, I do see it looming. Next week it will only be in the high 90s here in Texas during the day,maybe high 70s in the mornings. Still not the kind of cool temperatures that led themselves to wearing my favorite flannel shirts, but it’s getting there. Whatever the week ahead holds for you, I hope it involves fun times as well as days of productivity. Be safe. Be happy. Be kind.